Feast: Refuge! Refuge! (Part Two)
#FT16-06-AM
Martin G. Collins
Given 22-Oct-16; 74 minutes
description: Realizing that human nature is prone to mistakes and sin, God commanded the ancient Israelites to construct six cities of refuge to protect those who had accidentally committed manslaughter from being themselves killed by the Avenger of Blood. The name of each of the six cities is significant: 1.) Kedesh signifies sanctifying others with godly presence.2.) Shechem represents patience by bearing up under a horrendous trial. 3.) Hebron represents unrequited love by being a home for refugees. 4.) Bezar represents defending the weak against the strong, reminding us that God is no respecter of persons. 5.) Ramoth signifies the necessity of making the Church a home. 6,) Golan signifies striving to be a joy for others. Jerusalem subsumes all these qualities and adds the capstone principle of making peace. Six cities of refuge represent mankind's attempt at perfection, while seven (represented by Mount Zion) is God's number of completion and perfection—a type of the World Tomorrow. God is our refuge; if we call upon His name in repentance, we will be saved.
transcript:
In my last sermon we saw the parallel between the six original cities of refuge listed in Joshua 20:7-8, and God's feast days. The Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes our calling out of the wilderness into a church relationship of safety and refuge. Christ is our refuge for the whole church.
Now, similarly, as we come to the Feast for spiritual refuge in Christ, our responsibility is to make the Feast experience a refuge for others. The six cities describe our responsibilities toward others. As a reminder, let me briefly summarize the intention of these cities.
The six cities of refuge were taken from among the 48 cities of the Levites, and they were established as refuge cities at the specific command of God, which is recorded in Numbers 35:9-34 and repeated with some variations in Deuteronomy 19:1-14. The need for these cities grew out of the fact that in the ancient world, and to some extent in the Near East even today, there was a custom according to which if a member of a family or clan was killed by someone, either intentionally or accidentally, the family would gather together and appoint one of its members to be an avenger of blood for his relative.
This was a world in which the basic legal maxim was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. So if a member of the family was killed, it became the duty of the avenger of blood to track down and kill the murderer. For the Israelites, God set down rules for carrying this out in a just way rather than the way that the Gentiles carried it out. God was very specific, as we saw in my last sermon. A person could be killed by accident and if that were the situation, it would be an injustice if the avenger were allowed to carry out his duty.
Moses was instructed to establish cities of refuge into which the accidental manslayer, who was not a true murderer, could flee for safety. For instance, Numbers 35 imagines a situation in which two men are working together chopping wood when suddenly the head of one man's ax flies off killing the other man, and that is a situation in which an avenger of blood could be appointed to kill the killer. But in this case, the manslayer would be innocent of any real evil. So instead of waiting patiently for his fate, having to flee the country like a fugitive, or going into hiding, he would immediately run to the nearest refuge city before the avenger of blood could catch him. Once in the city, the frightened man was to appear before the elders, as Joshua shows, and he was to state his case explaining why the death was accidental. Then, if the elders of the city judged that there was no malice aforethought and the death was indeed accidental, they were to admit him to the refuge city where he was to live in safety, of course, until the high priest in Jerusalem died.
Turn with me, if you will please, to Joshua 20. It is important to note that this was not an arrangement by which a murderer could avoid justice. The one who murdered another was to be judicially executed. This was a device designed to save someone guilty of manslaughter but innocent of murder.
Joshua 20:7-9 So they appointed Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, Schechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in the mountains of Judah. And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who sojourned among them, that whoever killed any person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.
Now there are personal lessons for the Feast of Tabernacles that we can learn from Joshua 20:7-9. This festival of temporary dwellings symbolizes our calling out of the wilderness into a church relationship of safety and refuge. Christ is the refuge for the church, and the firstfruits in turn had the commission to become a refuge for the world.
Similarly, as we come to the Feast for spiritual refuge, our responsibility is to make the Feast experience a refuge for others. And the six cities describe our responsibilities toward others both in and out of the faith. Now I am going to list those six cities and what lessons we can learn from them, with just a very brief comment afterwards.
The first is Kedesh. We must sanctify, set apart others in our mind and attitude with deep, godly respect.
Second, Shechem. We give the gift of patience by bearing up under the burden of others who cause a problem or who are not bearing their own load until they see clearly enough to shoulder their own responsibility.
Third, Hebron. We express unconditional and sometimes unrequited love by being a friend and making a home for those who are not friends or friendly.
Fourth, Bezer. We defend the weak against the strong. We are no respecter of persons. We provide a secure place.
Fifth, Ramoth. We make a home of the church, which is a high privilege.
Sixth, Golan. We strive to be a source of joy for others through the Holy Spirit, especially here at the Feast.
And then we add to the six cities of refuge, a seventh city as a capstone, Jerusalem. We strive to make peace with others. Peace includes all of the above cities as a summary statement.
Why do I mention Jerusalem as the seventh city in the list of six cities of refuge? Although Jerusalem is not actually a city of refuge, it is the capstone of the whole salvation process, seen through the association of the cities of refuge. Now Jerusalem means possession of peace or foundation of peace. Therefore, it is called the city of peace. This eternal peace includes all six definitions above. Now it represents the Last Great Day which pictures the culmination of all the above benefits and blessings, spiritual grace and salvation offered to all who have ever lived, and given to all who submit to their Creator God. This yields true peace between God and all mankind. God's final solution is to remove Satan permanently, and all can be reconciled because demonic influence is permanently removed at the end of the White Throne judgment.
Now the Last Great Day looks forward to a time after the Millennium when an awesomely wonderful period of salvation will take place. And during this time, the majority of mankind, rich and poor, young and old, men and women, will be resurrected and have an opportunity to inherit eternal life. Billions will qualify to enter the God Family. On the other hand, those who will not repent, who will not submit to God and His way, will be cast into the Lake of Fire and die the second eternal, instant death. We hope there are not very many of those, but we know that beast and false prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire.
The offerings required on the Last Great Day in the Old Testament were the largest of all, typifying Israel's thankfulness to God for all He provided. And today, God's people keep this day with praise and thankfulness, that is, with spiritual sacrifices and thankfulness for His abundant spiritual blessings. And there are so many that we cannot count them all, and we are receiving so many spiritual blessings we do not even know all that we are receiving. We are just not conscious of all of them, but someday we will know. God will reveal them openly to us. But our loving Father is doing it without us even knowing and being able to be thankful for them. So we have to make sure that we thank God, not just for the ones we know of that are spiritual blessings that we get, but also those that we do not know.
Turn with me please to Psalm 147, verse 12. Twice before the sermon in the second hymn that we sang today, it talked about refuge, God being our refuge, and also Ted quoted from a psalm (again) which also mentioned that God is our refuge. And so even subliminally, so to speak, that idea was put in our minds, even just looking at those two psalms. When the high priest died, the accidental killer was released from the city of refuge. The high priest was located in Jerusalem and so the reprieve came from Zion, a code word for Jerusalem.
Psalm 147:12-14 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; and He has blessed your children within you. He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest wheat.
This is what makes Jerusalem the capstone of the cities of refuge. Although Jerusalem was not one of the original cities of refuge, it nevertheless is tied into the principle of refuge as the seventh city, completing the concept of refuge.
To further this thought, let us go to Isaiah 30, verse 19. Now the main mount of Jerusalem is Mount Zion. Thus the term Zion and Jerusalem are used interchangeably.
Isaiah 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. [His peace has that effect of weeping no more] He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
So Zion is a symbol or a metaphor for the historical city of Jerusalem, but behind this metaphor lies a complex cluster of interlocking themes of immense theological or spiritual significance. In various parts of the Scriptures, we find the following concepts associated with the city of Zion.
First, the Temple as Yahweh's dwelling place. Second, the covenant people of God, both as the apostate Israel under judgment and the purified remnant who inherit God's blessings.
Another concept associated with the city of Zion is the royal Davidic kingship leading to the idea of the Messiah. And then another association with the city of Zion is the world's center from which God's law will be promulgated and to which all nations of the world will flow. And then finally, the renewed heavens and earth where peace and prosperity will reign. So those are some of the concepts that are associated with the city of Zion.
Now in both the Old and New Testament, the city stands for the people of God. And in Revelation 21, verse 9, the holy city is the bride, the wife, and the lamb. In the Old Testament, what happens to Zion is blessing or cursing is a microcosm of God's purpose for His people.
Turn with me to Isaiah 2, verse 2 please. It is characteristic of the prophets that they oscillate rapidly between references to historical Zion under judgment and references to glorified Zion in the last days.
Isaiah 2:2-4 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house [that is, Zion] shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn more any more.
We are all very familiar with that passage, because it is so often connected, as it should be, to the Millennium. So we hear that probably every Feast of Tabernacles.
Turn over to Psalm 48, verse 1, please. Now Mount Zion is portrayed as the seat of God's world government. Peace will prevail, God's Word will issue from it, and all the nations will flow to it. God will reign from there in the city of the great King. We will rule from there.
Psalm 48:1-3 [The caption in my Bible is The Glory of God in Zion.] Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge.
There again we see the reference to refuge there. The whole world will be a safe refuge for all mankind originating from the city of God in the Millennium.
Perhaps one of the most dramatic uses of Zion imagery appears in Hebrews 12. Here, Zion is contrasted with the other theologically significant mountain, Sinai. Turn with me to Hebrews 12, verse 22. Mount Sinai represents a formal legal relationship with God, while Zion stands for a relationship of grace. The author of Hebrews encourages his readers to come to Zion to join the fellowship of other saints in the worship of the living God.
Hebrews 12:22-23 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven [that is speaking of you and I], to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.
Now flip over to I Kings 2, verse 36. Jerusalem to some extent possessed the privilege of a place of sanctuary under similar restrictions, a privilege accorded to Shimei but forfeited by him. So we are going to see that Jerusalem was used by Solomon as a place of refuge for Shimei in a sense.
I Kings 2:36-46 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head." And Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my Lord the king has said, so your servant will do." So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, "Look, your slaves are in Gath!" So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.
And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on that day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die'? And you said to me, 'The word I have heard is good [meaning he understood what the king said].' Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I gave you?" The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your wickedness on your own head. But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever." So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. [He was assigned to be the avenger of blood.] Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
So we see Jerusalem being used as a type of a refuge city by King David for Shimei. Thus Jerusalem is tied into the principle of refuge as the seventh city completing the concept of refuge. And remember that the high priest resided in Jerusalem, and it was not until he died that the manslayer was able to go back to his home.
Turn over to Numbers 35, verse 29. I mentioned earlier that Zion stands for a relationship of grace, and the grace of God is seen in the cities of refuge. Spiritual grace and salvation will be offered to all who have ever lived and given to all who submit to their Creator God.
Numbers 35:29-31 'And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations and all your dwellings. Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.'
That means nobody can buy their way out of things. Today we see the elite commonly buying their way out of things. Even the Clinton family has been associated with more than 60 murders. I am not saying they did it personally, but the people they have known. How many here in this room know 60 some people who have died, either mysteriously or died otherwise. You are hard pressed to come up with a list like that. So see they buy, not just them, but the elite buy their way out of these things, and they are untouchable. But God says that that is not to be done in Israel.
Numbers 35:32-34 'And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.'"
So if Israel failed to keep the land from being polluted, the implication of Numbers 35:34 is that God would no longer be with His people in the land and that Israel would no longer be successful in the land, meaning it would not produce the bumper crops that God blesses it with. We have seen bumper crops for decades, if not centuries, in this nation and now they are starting to have more and more problems with fires and drought and so on. God warned of this many, many times in Scripture, but they do not read Scripture, so they do not know, so history repeats itself.
The cities of refuge were therefore a provision to enable Israel to keep the land. Without such a place the avenger of blood would hunt the person down and kill the accused without any determination of guilt or innocence, which would pollute the land. Though if the accused was innocent and killed by the avenger of blood, this would pollute the land and lead to the loss of the land. And this system was thus part of the Lord's gracious provision that enabled a sinful people to live with a holy God.
Turn with me please to Deuteronomy 4. The second place I want to show you the grace of God, as seen in the cities of refuge, is in Deuteronomy 4, verses 41 through 43 where the cities of refuge east of the Jordan are mentioned.
Deuteronomy 4:41-43 Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Now the point is that Israel had failed. But the Lord had been faithful, and after the historical survey, Moses begins to exhort the people to obey the Lord by drawing upon the spiritual implications of God's actions at Horeb and His power displayed against the Egyptians. In other words, the Lord is strong enough to give the land to Israel, and Israel must obey the Lord. And the cities mentioned in Deuteronomy 4:41-43 then serve as a concrete example of the faithfulness of God to take the land east of Jordan and give it to Israel.
God is making sure that there is a way in which the land can keep from being polluted, knowing the character of the Israelites, since they did not have the Holy Spirit, although the heroes of faith did of course, those God called as He does today. The cities also assumed that Israel will fail, but the cities are a gracious provision for Israel's anticipated failure. The cities of refuge are thus part of the pattern of proof laid out in Deuteronomy 1 through 4 that the Lord is worthy of trust and obedience, and they are an acknowledgment of Israel's need for grace.
Now turn with me to Deuteronomy 19 for the third place I want to show you the grace of God, as seen in the cities of refuge. We are going to read the whole section there in Deuteronomy 19:1 through 13, where again, only the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan are mentioned. And this time I will read that whole context. This is also found mentioned, as we just saw, in Numbers 35:9-28 and also in Joshua 20:1-3.
Deuteronomy 19:1-7 "When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You shall prepare roads for yourself and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving to you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there. And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with an ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. Therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall separate three cities for yourself.'
So the promise of more cities and land is also held out as an inducement to further obedience here.
Deuteronomy 19:8-9 "Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three.'
What we are seeing here is that the second set of cities of the six, first three he is talking about here, and the second three showing His grace in that way.
Deuteronomy 19:12-13 'Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.'
Let us jump over to Genesis 12, please. Obviously this sermon is scripture heavy, but it is always good to keep our nose in the Scriptures. I had one of the evangelists of Worldwide Church of God in Ambassador College tell me "hide behind the Scriptures." In fact, I think he said it in one of our classes, which Richard also may remember him saying that, hide behind the Scriptures, and that is what I like to try to do.
Moses once more picks up on the theme of God's grace by reminding the people that the Lord was giving them the land originally promised to Abraham, and this happens here in Genesis 12.
Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
So as a result of that grace, Israel must obey the Lord and set up cities of refuge in the land so that the people will not be guilty of that bloodshed.
What we see here is that the cities of refuge are evidence of God's grace to the nation of Israel. And if Israel will acknowledge the grace of God and obey Him, the nation will have even more land and additional cities of refuge, which God did bless them with showing that He is reliable and faithful. A refuge is also a place of safety and security, as we have mentioned before. A place into which to run is a universal need for all creatures, including human beings. We can all remember childhood games in which there was a place where one was safe and could not be touched by a pursuer or opponent. I think everyone in the room has probably done this. Out there it was danger, but to reach the sanctuary or haven, even if it was only a circle drawn in the dust, meant security. We used to call it Tag or You're It. I think there is different names for it in different parts of the country. So we were actually reenacting a place of refuge at that time and did not realize it as children.
A number of Hebrew words in the Old Testament suggest images of refuge, a place of safety from danger, relief after stress, defense from an enemy, protection from the heat of the sun, and overall security. These images incorporate both rocks and fortresses on the one hand and houses or homes on the other. The rock in the desert could be seen as a military outpost and therefore a refuge for those in flight. The home is a refuge of a more permanent nature, one to which a wanderer can finally return. And the preponderance of biblical references to refuge declare God to be the believer's refuge.
Now turn over to Hebrews 6, please, all the way to the other end of the Bible from where we were. It is also important to note that the image is largely an Old Testament image. Of 60 references in the New King James Version of the Bible to refuge, the only New Testament reference is very telling, and it is in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:18-20 That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
The refuge cities were a type of God's throne of grace and our relationship with Jesus Christ. And so in a sense all the cities of refuge and the capstone Jerusalem all are fulfilled in Jesus Christ for us in the church.
Prominent in the Old Testament concept of refuge are detailed arrangements for dealing with fugitives who had accidentally caused the death of someone, as we are talking about. Designed to prevent endless cycles of vengeance, a network of cities of refuge enabled anyone who had unintentionally or accidentally committed a murder to be safe from retaliation by relatives of the murdered person.
Now something of the aura surrounding these places of refuge can be gleaned from such stipulations as lending a helping hand. Deuteronomy 19:3, 8-10 requires that the congregation help to rescue an inadvertent murderer from his pursuers. So you can see right away the parallel to the church today and how we as members of the church, as the firstfruits, should be lending a helping hand whenever necessary and helping out those who have been sinners but who want to come to Christ who God has called.
In Numbers 35:26-28 God specified that enough cities of refuge be established to make the distance for reaching them a practical possibility, and that a person fleeing from vengeance would be safe only within a city of refuge and subject to vengeance if he strayed outside it.
So what did the image of the city of refuge mean to the ordinary Israelite? It was an image of safety, protection from pursuit, a renewal of life that would otherwise be doomed, and a kind of salvation. The picture of the harassed fugitive finding safety is central to the Old Covenant ideas of justice and salvation, and it may partly account for God inspiring the composers of the Psalms to repeatedly refer to refuge in the Psalms. It is interesting to realize how many New Testament types there are of the cities of refuge. I want to read you a long list of them at this time, and I do not think you will be able to get it all down because I just cannot go slow enough to repeat them all, but you will get a wonderful idea of how magnificent God's blessing in this way was to the Israelites and in the spiritual sense is to us.
The New Testament types that there are of the cities of refuge:
The avenger, kingsman, redeemer, justifier is Jesus Christ. Refuge cities were a type of God's throne of grace and our relationship with Jesus Christ. Protection for the innocent, not the guilty. Christ's sacrifices offered to repentant sinners. All citizens had responsibility in a capital crime. All sin affects the entire spiritual family and all members have responsibility to not accept or condone it. Deliberate willful sin not covered. Christ's sacrifice given once for all, and some presume to crucify Christ afresh. (I have scriptures to go with this, but for the sake of time, I will not give them to you unless you would like them, which you can come up to me later for them.)
The next one. God's special care protection program. So in a sense, it is not a witness protection program, it is a fugitive protection program. Cities kept an abundant supply of water and food, no weapons of war allowed within the gates, and they are a type of the city of God in the church. The next, until the death of the high priest; we were not free until the death of Christ, our High Priest, is applied to our lives. As I said, for all analogies and parallels, you can only take them so far before they start breaking down. So we have to be careful of that as well.
The next one. No safety on your own. Same with us spiritually if we leave the protection of God through rebellion. Next one, no ransom allowed. No price for human life is adequate but Christ's lifeblood. Another one, active participation. A manslayer had to flee with haste, and we should seek refuge speedily. Another one, the roads maintained, kept unobstructed, twice the normal width, streams bridged, clearly marked "Refuge Refuge" at all crossroads. The next one, became fellow citizens of the priests in their priestly city and were given a job. We become fellow heirs with Christ and are given a part of the work of God.
The next one, the land must be cleansed to maintain God's favor. The church of God must be cleansed to maintain God's favor. Another one, Christ is the way, that is, the roads; the truth, true judgment of the congregation; and the life, saving the life of the repentant. Next one, why just six cities? Human perfection, that is what the number six stands for, a complete safety and justice can only be achieved beyond the bounds of the physical. So physically, we can only reach so far. The number of man is six, but to reach spiritual perfection we must reach seven. That is what seven stands for, spiritual perfection, and it has other meanings as well.
And next one, a type of the church. The church should be our home, a place of peace, protection, comfort, and solace as the household of faith. (I have two more.) A type of the World Tomorrow, the millennial reign of Christ. And then the last one, the whole world will be a safe refuge for all mankind originating from the city of God.
All these are New Testament types of the cities of refuge and some are more closely associated than others.
Turn with me, if you will please, to Psalm 144. For the writers of the Bible, God is the ultimate refuge, and the book of Psalms is the primary text with nearly 50 references. The writers mainly picture God as someone with whom the covenant people take refuge. But sometimes the refuge is given a more specific picture. The refuge given by God is therefore variously portrayed as rock—as a rock, wings, a fortress, and a strong tower.
Psalm 144:2 [it is a good composite image] My lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.
Also Psalm 31, verses 1 through 3 emphasizes rock and fortress refuges.
Psalm 31:1-3 In You, O Lord, I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me.
What a powerful passage that is. It says so much in so few words. I am always amazed at the dynamic character and attribute of the inspired written Word of God. Every time you read a scripture, you can get something new out of it that applies to your life immediately, at that time.
You may recall, but Habakkuk also relates this idea. To the faithful Jews in the land, God would be a refuge and strength, but to the godless Babylonians invading the land, He would be a judge and eventually punish their sins and give them what they deserved. We sing a very encouraging hymn from our hymnal based on based on Psalm 46 about God being our refuge and our strength. I am going to read verses 1 through 11, and you will immediately recognize the hymn if you do not already.
Psalm 46:1-11 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be removed; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. The nation's raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
So God is not only our refuge while we are mortal human beings. That the Lord of hosts is with us is an eternal promise. If we are in God's church, we are among the firstfruits.
We are going to shift gears at this point into a related subject, but slightly different. We are going to look at the significance of the second group of special cities, the priestly Levitical cities and how they relate to the cities of refuge.
Please turn with me to I Peter 2, verse 9. So many of these scriptures I am using are just so familiar to all of us. It is amazing how many different ways that you can put them together to help us learn lessons of different sorts. We are in training as a royal priesthood, and so there are wonderful lessons for us here.
I Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but who are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy.
So Peter there tells us that we are already a royal priesthood, but we are one in training. The six cities of refuge were taken from among the 48 cities of the Levites, and they were established as refuge cities at the specific command of God, which is recorded, as we know in Numbers 35:9-34 and repeated with some variations in Deuteronomy 19:1-14.
The last and crowning act of the distribution of the tribes of Israel is described in Joshua 21:1-42. The leaders of the tribe of Levi stepped forward and laid claim to the towns which had been promised to them by Moses. Turn with me to Joshua 14, please. The Levites, then, lived in these towns without actually owning them because it is stated repeatedly that the inheritance of the Levites would not be land, but the service of God.
Joshua 14:4 For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except cities to dwell in, with their common lands for their livestock and their property.
So the Levites may have lived in these towns side by side with members of that particular tribe, from whose territory the town had been selected.
Now flip over a few chapters to Joshua 21 which is where the cities of the Levites is mentioned and described. Joshua 21 is the last chapter in the book dealing with the distribution of the people of Israel in the land. And it concerns the appointment of 48 special cities to the Levites, and these were scattered throughout the land so that the benefit of the Levites' presence, service, and teaching might be widely available to all Israel and within, in a sense, walking distance. Well, they were, being 48 cities they were all easily arrived at unlike the cities of refuge where you had to run there and you might be running for 10 miles. These were much closer. This was a wonderful thing because it was an example of God turning what was originally a curse on the Levites into a blessing, and I will explain that.
Joshua 21:1-3 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came nearer to Eleazer the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock." So the children of Israel gave the Levites their inheritance, at the command of the Lord, and these cities and their common-lands.
Forty-eight towns with pasture lands, including the six towns of refuge, were now assigned to the Levites. The distribution of the Levites among the tribes fulfills Genesis 49:7 and Numbers 35:1-8 and provides all the tribes with people to teach the law of God. They are readily available. There was no excuse for not knowing because the knowledge was throughout the land of Israel, as it will be in the Millennium. So there you have another parallel.
Turn with me to Hebrews 8, verse 8, please. Their teaching prefigures the knowledge of God from the heart in the New Covenant.
Hebrews 8:8-13 Because finding fault with them, He says, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
This New Covenant involves a transformation of the inner life of its recipients by writing God's laws into their minds and hearts so that everyone knows Him. So the cities of the Levites and the cities of refuge were all a type of this, making sure that everyone had the knowledge of God readily available to them. As I said earlier, the children of Israel did not have God's Holy Spirit, but there were individuals who did have it and whose hearts had God's law written in them—David and all the heroes of faith.
Turn with me, if you will please to Exodus 32, verse 25. Now, back to the Levites. In the case of Levi's descendants, God had mercy on them to preserve their tribal identity and make them a blessing to all Israel. He did this because the Levites stood with Moses and therefore God at a time of acute crisis. Here is two examples of the Levites' loyalty to Moses and Israel that God was very approving of. The first one is here in,
Exodus 32:25-26 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, "Whoever is on the Lord's side—come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him.
Also, second, because Phineas, a Levite and Eleazer's son, vindicated God's righteous name in the plains of Moab, God made an everlasting covenant of priesthood with him and his descendants, the Levites.
Numbers 25:11-13 "Phineas, the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron the the priest, has turned back My wrath [God speaking here through Moses] from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal. Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.'"
Take careful note of verse 13 because this is also our commission and our command on what we should do to remain under that everlasting covenant of priesthood. "And it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel."
Let us move on to Joshua 21 again. But at the time of the assignment of the cities, many of the Levites towns were under Canaanite control and had to be conquered. Apparently the Levites did not always succeed and the other tribes did not offer to help. This seems to be the simplest explanation for the lack of complete correlation between the list of Levitical cities in Joshua 21 and the list in I Chronicles 6:54-81.
The potential for good in the dispersion of Levites among the other tribes was almost unlimited. Moses, in his final blessing of the tribes, said of Levi in,
Deuteronomy 33:10 "They shall teach Jacob Your judgments, and Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You, and a whole burnt sacrifice on your altar."
So this was the responsibility of the Levites to the rest of Israel. They were given the responsibility of teaching God's judgments and law, statutes and precepts to the people. So we are in training as priests who will be those who teach in the Millennium. It is just hard to fathom the excitement of that.
The solemn responsibility and high privilege of the Levites was to instruct Israel in the law of the Lord to maintain the knowledge of His Word among the people. Especially in the north and east, the Levites should have been barriers against the idolatry of Tyre and Sidon, as well as against the perverse heathen practices of the desert tribes. It has been estimated that no one in Israel lived more than 10 miles from one of the cities of refuge, and it was even less for the 48 towns of the Levites. As a result, every Israelite had nearby a man well versed in the law of Moses who could give advice and counsel on the many problems of religious, family, and public life. And it was essential that Israel obey the Lord, the Word of the Lord in all areas of life, because without this their prosperity would cease and the privileges would be forfeited, which this nation, if it has not already, is about to do.
Please turn back to Genesis 49. Back in Genesis 49, Jacob had a particularly harsh word for Simeon and Levi, his second and third sons. He said there,
Genesis 49:7 "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! [already they were well known for that] I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."
In one sense, it is hard to imagine the Levites being that way. But on the other hand, they were also given the responsibility of butchering the cattle for offerings and things like that. So they were given something that they probably were a little more attuned to, they could butcher something and it probably did not affect them like it would other tribes who maybe had more compassion. This was because years before these two brothers, Simeon and Levi, had led in the massacre of the Shechemites, which Jacob said made him a stench to the Canaanites.
Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perezzites [or is that parasites?]; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I."
So they caused quite a bit of worry to Jacob.
The scattering of the descendants of these two brothers through the land was their punishment and a way of saying that they were to receive no inheritance. So here they stand at this point, cursed in that way at that point, without them knowing what their future responsibilities would be; and all that would be devastating, I would think. In Simeon's case, this was fulfilled by having his descendants live in Judah's territory. It was a punishment, but it was a punishment mixed with blessing since Judah remained close to the things of God throughout its long history, and Simeon inevitably benefited from Judah's faithfulness. It was a blessing to Simeon.
So God knows how to turn something around for even a person who has sinned and caused Him to be angry. He still is compassionate but also wise in that He was putting them right where they would get the most training spiritually. For example, although the northern kingdom of Israel contained 10 of the 12 tribes, fell to the Assyrians in 721 BC, Judah, which contained Simeon, endured until 587 BC, quite a bit longer, more than 100 additional years longer. So Simeon was even blessed in this judgment in this way.
The case is even more striking with Levi, which is our main concern here. Levi was scattered throughout Israel in the 48 Levitical cities. In addition, the Levites traveled back and forth to perform their share of the duties connected with Temple worship. So although the descendants of Levi had no land of their own, it was nevertheless no small honor for them to have been made priests. It was said of them that they had no portion in the land because their portion was the Lord Himself. So how many in here would rather have the Lord Himself as your portion rather than physical land? I think every one of us. If we are thinking straight we would rather have that anyway. So God turned that around and gave them an even greater portion or blessing in a sense. Sadly though, they did not stick to it forever.
Also, they produced great leaders among the people. With the exception of the tribe of Judah which produced most of the kings, the tribe of Levi contributed more distinguished leaders to Israel than any other.
Turn with me to Hebrews 11, verse 24, please. Moses was a Levite. Moses was born in Egypt during the greatest oppression of the Israelitish people. He had godly parents, Amran and Jochebed, both of whom were of the Levitical tribe, and he was more highly educated than anyone else of his day. He held a position of great privilege and power in Egypt. It is possible that he could have been a future Pharaoh. But Moses did not side with the Egyptians. He sided with his own people. And you know very well that it was God who inspired that in his mind for him to think that way. But God trained him all along the way so he would come to a point where God could use him and he would think in the way that God wanted him to.
Hebrews 11:24-25 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
We could add the world, the passing pleasures of the world. So if we want to have the faith of Moses, the first thing we have to do is exactly this: suffer affliction with the people of God and not enjoy the passing pleasures of the world and sin.
Hebrews 11:26-28 Esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
The next person. Aaron was a Levite. He was Moses' brother and was given special duties as the high priest of Israel.
I Chronicles 23:13 The sons of Amran: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to give the blessing in His name forever.
So Aaron was not only highly regarded, even after what he did with the Golden Calf and allowing the Israelites to go ahead and worship that. God forgave him, he obviously turned around and God could use him in a great way as high priest.
The next person, Phineas, was a special leader in the tribe of Levi. He was the third high priest and he served faithfully in that role for 19 years. He is primarily known for an incident recorded in Numbers 25. Now you remember we touched on Phineas a little while earlier. The people had been enticed into sexual immorality with the women of Moab, who had invited them to the sacrifices of their gods. As a result, the judgment of God in the form of a plague had fallen on the people, and Phineas was offended by this wickedness. So when he saw Zimri, a member of the tribe of Simeon, take a Moabite woman into his tent, he snatched up a spear, followed them, and drove the spear through Zimri and into the woman's body. Because of this, the plague was stopped, and God praised Phineas for his zeal.
Why did God do that? Was that not murder? Well, no. Phineas' part was approved by God because it was the just penalty for breaking the first three commandments, no other God's, idolatry, and the Lord's image being disregarded. And so he had every right to do that under the direction of God.
The next person was Ezra. Ezra was a Levite. He was a distinguished scribe who served with Nehemiah at the time of the return of the people of Israel from Babylon. He wrote the book of Ezra, the first of the post-captivity writings.
The next person, John the Baptist, was a Levite. He was the son of Zacharias who was a priest in the division of Abija, and Elizabeth, who was in the line of descent from Aaron. God called John to be a forerunner of Jesus Christ and fulfillment of the last words of the Old Testament, which are in,
Malachi 4:5-6 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet [that is, John the Baptist] before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
And Jesus praised John extravagantly, saying in,
Matthew 11:11 "Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there was not risen one greater than John the Baptist."
Let us begin to bring this to a close. What an encouragement this should be to us. In the scattering of Levi, we see God's righteous judgment on sin, but we also see judgment turned into blessing. If you are suffering from what others have done, perhaps from the sin of a parent, as the descendants of Simeon and Levi suffered for the sin of their parents, do not think that you are excluded from God's favor or that it is impossible for you to gain God's favor again by godly living. According to Exodus 20:5, God punishes children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him. But He also changes His mind about long-term punishment and brings blessing where He sees repentance. And so even though God punishes children to the third and fourth generation, that is, if they continue to do what their parents did. But if there is repentance along the way, God will intervene, and He will bless the person.
Let me quote a series of scriptures that express God's sympathy and His taking a softer stand when people repent. And this is in the face of the harm, the disaster, the calamity, and the doom that God had promised He would bring upon Israel.
Exodus 32:14 The Lord relented from the harm which He said he would do to His people.
Jeremiah 18:8 "If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it."
Jeremiah 26:3 "Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings."
Jeremiah 26:13 Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you.
Sometimes God is stirred to stop one course of action in order to choose another. The divine changes of mind emphasize God's purity of character, and holiness, and just anger over sin, and at the same time, His absolute mercy and love, a love that intervenes and qualifies the terrifying hand of just punishment. So do not despair. Even if we are suffering from our own sins, we can draw near to God and find that He is far more ready to alter the punishment than we are to go to Him.
Now for a final scripture, please turn to Joel 2, verse 12. The specific attributes of God that are most often pictured with declarations of His forgiveness are mercy, grace, and steadfast love. In fact, a standard formula that appears verbatim seven times in the Bible is that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The prophet Joel has an inspired word for God's church today. So in closing, we are going to read and end with this.
Joel 2:12-13 [this is titled in my Bible, A Call to Repentance] "Now, therefore, says the Lord, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning" So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him."
Joel 2:21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done marvelous things!
Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be [refuge and] deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
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