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Safe Towns
(Numbers 35.9-28; Joshua 20.1-9)
Moses said to Israel:
1 Soon you will go into the land and attack the nations. The Lord your God will destroy them and give you their lands, towns, and homes. Then after you are settled, 2-4you must choose three of your towns to be Safe Towns. Divide the land into three regions with one Safe Town near the middle of each, so that a Safe Town can be easily reached from anywhere in your land.
Then, if one of you accidentally kills someone, you can run to a Safe Town and find protection from being put to death. But you must not have been angry with the person you killed.
5For example, suppose you and a friend go into the forest to cut wood. You are chopping down a tree with an ax, when the ax head slips off the handle, hits your friend, and kills him. You can run to one of the Safe Towns and save your life. 6You don't deserve to die, since you did not mean to harm your friend. But he did get killed, and his relatives might be very angry. They might even choose one of the men from their family to track you down and kill you. If it is too far to one of the Safe Towns, the victim's relative might be able to catch you and kill you. 7That's why I said there must be three Safe Towns.
8-9Israel, the Lord your God has promised that if you obey his laws and teachings I'm giving you, and if you always love him, then he will give you the land he promised your ancestors. When that happens, you must name three more Safe Towns in the new territory. 10You will need them, so innocent people won't be killed on your land while they are trying to reach a Safe Town that is too far away. You will be guilty of murder, if innocent people lose their lives because you didn't name enough Safe Towns in the land the Lord your God will give you.
11But what if you really do commit murder? Suppose one of you hates a neighbor. So you wait in a deserted place, kill the neighbor, and run to a Safe Town. 12If that happens, the leaders of your town must send messengers to bring you back from the Safe Town. They will hand you over to one of the victim's relatives, who will put you to death.
13Israel, for the good of the whole country, you must kill anyone who murders an innocent person. Never show mercy to a murderer!
Property Lines
Moses said to Israel:
14 In the land the Lord is giving you, there are already stones set up to mark the property lines between fields. So don't move those stones.
Reflect
Life is sacred. The Lord sets up an expectation that innocent blood should not be shed in the land that he was giving his people. Life is to be respected and provision made to protect the innocent. In this case that meant cities of refuge should be established where people could flee if they accidentally did something that caused the death of someone else. In this city they would find safety and refuge. The innocent needed places that would protect them, even as the guilty needed places that would condemn them. A framework for justice was incredibly important to the Lord.
The Lord warned in the early chapters of Genesis, in the case of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:10), that innocent blood cries out to our Lord. Judgment on the entire nation would ultimately come by the prophets as a result of the innocent blood shed throughout their land, and the Lord would say “enough” and bring judgment (Isa 26:21).
This is a type of how Christ would be our refuge. It is to Jesus that we are to flee. It is only in our abiding in Christ and appealing to his righteousness that we are offered protection. Justice matters to God. The sanctity of life matters to God.
Respond
Father, I thank you that you are the standard for righteousness and justice. I pray for justice. I confess that we live in a land where innocent blood cries out to you. Heal our land. We long for justice and look forward to the day when you will rule in righteousness.
Dwayne Uglem
Dwayne and his wife, Janell, have made Caronport their home for the past 26 years. The Lord has blessed them with four daughters: Amy married to Caleb and their first grandchild, Hudson; Victoria; Carlie; and Lindsey. Dwayne's 26 years on staff at Briercrest College and Seminary has included a variety of administrative roles: Registrar, Associate Dean, VP Research and Planning, VP Finance and Operations, and VP Education. After a year serving as interim president, Dwayne was appointed president in July 2005. A graduate of Briercrest College and Seminary, Dwayne completed his Ed.D. with Nova Southeastern University. A love for numbers, research, and organizational culture have lead Dwayne into teaching areas that focus on organizational learning and planning, research, and assessment strategies. Dwayne thoroughly enjoys gardening, teaching the Bible, cooking, history, and mechanical work.