Cities of Refuge

“Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 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. 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. 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. 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.’” 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.” - Joshua 20:2-6, 9 ESV

I was reading from Joshua this morning and specifically about Cities of Refuge and a couple of questions popped into my head. First, the purpose of a city of refuge was to protect a person who unintentionally killed another person from revenge.  Does this mean that God is ok with revenge?

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”- 1 Corinthians 4:3-5

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” - Romans 12:17-21

It seems obvious that God does not condone revenge.  Maybe the command to create Cities of Refuge is because God knows that people may not be able to restrain their sinful nature in these situations.

Second, and perhaps more paradoxically, if we are supposed to leave judgement to God, why does the congregation in each City of Refuge need to listen to the story by the person fleeing to evaluate its truth?  Why is it the whole congregation and not an appointed judge?

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.” - Deuteronomy 19:15

I propose that God expects us to administer the law until his second coming.  There are lots of examples in the Bible of describing a crime and prescribing a punishment.  Thank God because our whole society today is based on that Judeo-Christian legal process.  God also makes allowances for false reporting (intentional or unintentional) by prescribing the need for more than one view point. Today, in a criminal trial, 12 individuals have to concur to declare a person guilty or not guilty.  Not an easy task.

My son and I were having one of those deep philosophical discussions one day and he asked me how I could be ok with the concept of capital punishment.  After all, murder is a sin and people make mistakes in judgement.  My reply was that some crimes are so horrible that the only course of action is to permanently and definitively eliminate that person from society.  We need, and have, many layers of review in Capital murder cases to help ensure that doesn’t happen errantly.

God knows us and our limitations and weaknesses because he created us.  Some of the most beautiful man-made things I’ve ever seen have also been extremely delicate.  Maybe that is the real reason for the need of the Cities of Refuge.