Joshua 20 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Joshua 20

The Cities of Refuge

20:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. 6 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

Commentary

v1-3: Joshua had instructions to set aside six cities of refuge, for those who accidentally killed someone. This highlights two important details:

- the nuance; a difference between murder and manslaughter. The law sought to delinate between those offences.

- God's mercy, that a person who had not intended to take a life, would not be put to death.

v4-6: The 'guilty' man had to present his case upon arrival at the city. His pursuers would have an opportunity to put their case also.

v7-9: The cities were set out so that an Israelite could conveniently reach one. No one, apart from those living in the extreme south (the desert) was more than about 50 miles from any of them (my estimate).

The cities west of the Jordan were all on mountains; a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Each of the cities belonged to the Levites; 21.13, 21, 27, 32, 36, 38; thus Levites were present to rule on any case that arose.

The cities point us to Jesus Christ, to whom we flee for refuge. There is safety from the avenger of blood, the law, before which would be guilty, and worthy of death.