Cities of Refuge – Joshua 20 (Nathan Pust)

Major Points: God wants to transform our fears into safe places.

The signs we hold up to others must point them to a safe place.

Alliance Fellowship must be a safe place, a city of ministers.

Josh 20

Then the Lord said to Joshua: "Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.

"When he flees to one of these cities, he is to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state his case before the elders of that city. Then they are to admit him into their city and give him a place to live with them. If the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the one accused, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. He is to stay in that city until he has stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then he may go back to his own home in the town from which he fled."

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. On the east side of the Jordan of Jericho they designated Bezer in the desert on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh. Any of the Israelites or any alien living among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.

Introduction (Attention Getter)

v. 1-3 Who is the “avenger of blood”, and why is he threatening?

Short answer: He was the person who was expected to avenge a relative’s death by killing the perpetrator.

Story time: So suppose two teenagers, the first one named Ahaziah and the second one named Joe, from Jerusalem decided to cross the Kidron valley and climb the Mount of Olives one afternoon. As they climb the mountain neither is that satisfied with just the conquest of the mountain. Instead, they notice that among other things the Mount of Olives has many rocks on it—many round rocks.

So Ahaziah gets the grand idea that they should start rolling rocks down the mountain to see who can get his rock to roll the farthest. So they beginning picking up rocks and throwing them trying to get them to build enough momentum to make it down the whole mountain. After many tries, Joe finally gets the perfect rock and he throws it. It starts off smooth and then, begins to find its stride and tears down the mountain at a horrendous speed.

Unbeknownst to them, two shepherds, Solomon and Ezekiel, are just resting while watching their sheep at the bottom of the mountain. Suddenly, they hear these echoes of up the mountain, they look up to see two young Jewish boys heaving rocks down the mountain.

Solomon decides to yell at the boys, but just at he gets up. One final rock comes flying down the mountain so fast that he cannot dodge it. It hits him the head and leaves him dead at the scene.

Now in any culture, Joe would be in a lot of trouble. But in ancient Mesopotamian culture Joe would be in much more trouble.

Why an “eye for an eye”? (Background of the Culture)

Because in Mesopotamia, there was a belief that God would not allow a man to be an instrument of another man’s death. If a man killed someone, then he possessed some amount of the guilt. For this reason, a near relative of the deceased was expected to avenge the death. Even if a man accidentally killed another, his life was in danger from the nearest relative, called the “avenger of blood”. There was no waiting for juries, just a culture of revenge.

For those who had killed someone either accidentally or otherwise, their lives were in constant danger. There was no judicial system to protect them. Living in fear of being killed at all times.

So our young Hebrew, Joe, would always be in danger from Ezekiel. He would have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder because nothing protected him from Ezekiel’s revenge.

Nothing that compares in our culture—maybe INS.

Although this type of justice seems crude and unfair, it was widely accepted because it put all classes of people on an equal playing field. For in a culture that was very corrupt, the rich could pay their way out of any punishment, while the poor were often overpunished by powerful rich accusers.

When this “eye for an eye”, morality was used, everyone was equal. If you hit me, I hit you. If you killed my brother, I killed you.

Still, this very simple form of serving justice did not protect those wrongfully accused or those who committed a negligent homicide. They would be in as much danger as a first degree murderer.

God’s provision—a city of refuge

Into this early Mesopotamian culture, God stepped in and revolutionized their justice system by creating protection—in the form of cities of refuge--for those in danger of vengeance.

When God gave Moses the law, he directed Israel to set up cities of refuge evenly spaced over the Palestine landscape. Each of these cities provided a place of protection for someone being chased by an “avenger of blood”.

Show Locations of the Cities of Refuge

6 different cities of refuge where set up.

3 on the west side of the Jordan, Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron.
3 on the east side of the Jordan, Golan, Ramoth Gilead, Bezer.

So in my story, the young Joe who was guilty of slaying Solomon would probably want to quickly go to either Shechem which was north of Jerusalem or even closer to Jerusalem—Hebron to see safety from Ezekiel until he was tried.

Hebron

Now, over the past three months, we had looked at the life of Joshua. We looked at his life as a servant to Moses, as a spy, and as a young and maturing leader. Now while we are looking at Hebron, I would like to point an interesting side point out.

Hebron is the place where when Joshua was a very young man—the spies had seen the Anakites, the giants, in Canaan. So now 40 years later, we see that God has taken this place, Hebron, that created so much fear and turmoil for the Hebrews….and he has turned it into a place of refuge, a safe place.

God wants to transform our greatest fears into our greatest safe place.

Illustration: Cliff analogy.

Some of you hear what God is calling you to, but what he is calling you to is something that is one of your greatest fears and it looks like a huge cliff in front of you with what God wants at the very top. And you think that if you say “yes” to God, he will instantly make you free climb this huge cliff, totally unprotected.

So many of you never scale that cliff, you find ways of second guessing God’s voice or even justifying disobedience because you feel trapped between your greatest fear and what God is asking you to do.

I just want to say, “If you were to say “yes” to God, and begin climbing. God doesn’t leave you unprotected.” He doesn’t push you farther than you can go.

He isn’t some judge that is never satisfied. He wants to protect you, but he also sees how much more fulfilled you will be in life if you overcome your fears.

And I will say that in my experience, he doesn’t just expect you to climb that cliff to get to what he wants. If you were to start climbing that cliff, he would actually pull you off and say, “Come over here”. Then he would take you around the back side of the cliff, were a sloping mountain takes you to the top—to what he wants. Instead of forcing you to take the dangers of free-climbing head on, he takes you to the back side and shows you a safe hike where you can climb one step at a time. God is a safe guide. His is a safe place.

For me that cliff has been public attention, fear of public speaking, fear of preaching, doing announcements, etc.

Yet God did not ask me to preach a sermon immediately after calling me to it. Instead, he worked me up to it by first asking me to join a small group where I could articulate my thoughts, then having me lead a Sunday school class of non-threatening high school boys, then having me lead a small group, then occasionally I would be asked to do announcements at AF—which I still hate, and now I am in a season of learning to preach. But God did not throw me up here right away.

And he won’t throw you into your worst fear, without preparing you for it. Look for what his next step is, not what you think his ultimate calling will be.

God is a safe place

A city of ministers

One interesting fact about the cities of refuge is that each City of Refuge was a Levite city, a city of ministers. The Levites were a tribe of Israel that was responsible for the duties of worship. They were in a sense an entire trip of ministers. So when someone escaped to a city of refuge, they would be greeted by a town of full-time ministers.

Could you imagine if the vast majority of people in town were pastors?

It was by no accident that each city was a Levite city. What better place to send those who were wrongly accused, chased, and alone than a city full of ministers? It was in these Levite cities that many who had been uprooted from their own towns could find a place of healing.

What a blessing to be a place that God trusts to bring His healing? It makes us ask the question: at AF, how can we be a city of ministers and a safe place to those who have been uprooted, who have moved from out of town, or who are needing a fellowship of believers?

In February, Dan will be emphasizing connecting people into Alliance Fellowship for 2008.

Are we as the church a safe place for those who move from other places, those who are on the outskirts of society, those who are falsely accused, those who are unaccustomed to church? Do they feel welcome at AF or do they feel like they must hide to cover themselves?

Is Alliance Fellowship a place that is safe to those who are seeking, doubting, and searching for what they believe?

If you are here and you don’t know what you believe but you want to check out what is going on here, or you are not sure about faith and have doubts about Jesus and who he was, or you don’t know how God a good God can allow suffering, or how evolution fits with Christianity, or why TV evangelists smile so much, or you just want to learn more about what Christians believe. And you come back week after week, because you want to know about God and Jesus and how it all fits together. I just want to tell you that you are welcome here. There are no requirements of belief for you to come here and we are glad that you are here. We want you to be comfortable here. We definitely want you to find God here, but we want to be a safe place for you.

What do we need to do in our own personal lives to become a safe place for visitors?

What sign are we putting up?

If you living in the times of the Old Testament and were on a journey, you come across signs on the roads. They would say the word “Refuge” pointing the way to the nearest city of refuge. Much like we have EXIT signs throughout buildings showing the nearest exit in case of an emergency. In the same way, the way to a city of refuge was clearly marked to show the shortest route for someone needing immediate shelter?

Our cultureàa relationship with God is safe

What markers exist in our lives that point people to a safe place? Along these lines, if we want to show that God is the safe place, are we safe ourselves?

As we look to connecting people to Christ, we must first evaluate whether people view us as a safe place. Because people will never open their lives without first knowing that we are trustworthy. We must ask questions like:

How can I become the person at the office who people confide in first?

How do I become a person who listens well?

How do I become a person who is vulnerable, so others will be trust me?

How do I become a safe place for people?

As we seek to find ways to connect people to God, we must evaluate what signs we are putting up to those who are closest to us.

Do we really listen when our co-workers tell us the same problems for the 5^th time? Is our sign love and care, or do we non-verbally tell them to EXIT?

Are people’s secrets safe with us? Are we the dead-end of gossip, or do people question whether they can trust us by the hot information they learn from us? Do people see a DEAD END sign to gossip in our lives or a sign of betrayal of trust?

Do our agendas run our lives or do people remain our first priority? Do we show people a sign that says no vacancy—that we don’t have time or attention available for them?

Do we let people see into our lives, our relationships, and our inner struggles? Or are those places off-limits for non-Christians? Do we model vulnerability? Or do we tell people that our lives are PRIVATE-NO TRESPASSING?

Unused Notes

By fleeing to a city of refuge, you admitted that you had committed the act.

Each city of refuge necessarily had many untried guilty criminals.

U.S. Forefathers kept this commitment to unbiased justice. This value carries into investigative journalism, civil rights, workers rights, sweat shops, Martha Stewart’s conviction, Bill Clinton’s impeachment, etc. A desire for justice is engrained in our culture.

If the assailant left the protection of the city, the avenger of blood could kill them. In the same way, when we stay within the moral bounds that God has given us, we remain inside a refuge that protects us from our accuser, Satan, but if we voluntarily put ourselves out of God’s boundaries we open ourselves up to danger. (Check theology on this.)

Sanctuary, shelter, refuge, safe place, asylum, etc.

Comparison to an illegal immigrant

The closest thing in our culture to this sort of cat and mouse game, may be the plight of the illegal immigrant in the US. Chasing a better life in the United States, they live in constant apprehension of the coming knock on their door. I heard many stories—some closer to home—of homes where one immigrant works legally in the United States but his spouse who has come here illegally to be with him stays shut in, living in fear of the INS. In fear of being taken from her US born children, she stays trapped, living in fear of the police, the INS, or anyone who might expect that she was illegal. Could you imagine? Sitting on your couch, staring at the back side of your door every day wondering when you hear the knock on the door, the knock that would tear your family apart.