Joshua 20- The Citites of Refuge
I think I'll skip doing chapters 13-19, as they deal with the land being divided up for all the different tribes of Israel. But picking back up with chapter 20:
The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth 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. And 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. And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that 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 whence he fled.
Joshua 20:2-6
Here, God was laying out the instructions for accidental murder and revenge. If someone had accidently killed someone else, then they could flee to a refuge city appointed for them. If they got to the city, before the avenger of blood (a relation of the one who had been killed), got to them, then they were safe. The murderer could not return to his city
until he 'stood before the congregation for judgment, and he also had to wait until the high priest died. God, in His mercy, provided justice to His people.
Will He do the same for me?
Will He see that all of us get the justice we deserve for the right or the wrong we have done?
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