CHAPTER 20

(1444 B.C.)

SIX CITIES OF REFUGE

¹The LORD also spoke unto Joshua, saying,

²Speak to the Children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you by the hand of Moses:

³That the slayer who kills any person unawares and unwittingly may flee there: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. (The cities of refuge were not for murderers, but rather to protect those who had killed someone accidentally; protect them from members of the family of the victim who sought revenge, and for whatever reason.)

⁴And when he who does flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the Elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

⁵And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime (there was no bad blood between them, so to speak).

⁶And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the High Priest who shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from where he fled. (The High Priest is a Type of Christ. When the High Priest died, the man was free to return to his home, and would be protected by law. When Jesus died on the Cross, this made it possible for men to be free, at least those who would accept Him, of which all of this was a type [Rom. 8:2].)

⁷And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

⁸And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the Tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the Tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the Tribe of Manasseh. (Hebrews 6:18 sets forth Christ as the City of Refuge for sinners guilty of His Blood; and the six cities appointed by Joshua display, by the meaning of their names, something of the sufficiency of that Saviour; for in Him is found: Holiness [Kadesh]; Strength [Shechem]; Fellowship [Hebron]; Safety [Bezer]; Uplifting [Ramoth]; and, Happiness [Golan]. God puts Holiness first and Happiness last. Man reverses this Williams.)

⁹These were the cities appointed for all the Children of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whosoever kills any person at unawares might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.