Christ Our Accessible Refuge Text: Joshua 20:7-9
Introduction: Regulated Justice
Our modern world is squeamish about justice, particularly the kind of justice we find in the Old Testament. We like our justice to be therapeutic, abstract, and managed by professionals in sterile environments. The Old Testament, in stark contrast, presents us with a justice that is earthy, personal, and frequently bloody. And because we don't understand the framework, we often recoil from it. We read about things like the "avenger of blood," and our enlightened sensibilities are offended. It sounds like vigilante justice, like some kind of Hatfield and McCoy feud sanctioned by God.
But this is a profound misunderstanding. We must first recognize that God, in giving His law, was not writing on a blank slate. He was stepping into a world that already had deeply ingrained customs, including the ancient practice of blood vengeance, where the nearest relative of a slain man was honor-bound to avenge his death. This was a system of very rough justice, driven by grief and honor, and it could easily spiral into multi-generational chaos. So what does God do? He doesn't abolish it with a wave of His hand. Instead, He regulates it. He civilizes it. He puts the brakes on it, hems it in with due process, and in so doing, He teaches His people the crucial distinction between murder and manslaughter, between malicious intent and a tragic accident.
The cities of refuge are a master stroke of divine wisdom. They are God's stopgap solution, a gracious provision that simultaneously upholds the sanctity of human life while protecting the unintentionally guilty from the heat of raw vengeance. This is not a primitive law; it is a profound legal and moral innovation. It inserts the rule of law into a situation that was previously governed by pure passion. And as with everything in the Old Testament, this provision is not just a dusty piece of ancient legislation. It is a living picture, a glorious type, that points us directly to the ultimate refuge we have from the ultimate Avenger of Blood, who is God Himself.
The Text
So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. Now beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes down any person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.
(Joshua 20:7-9 LSB)
The Appointed Places (v. 7-8)
In these first two verses, we see the practical implementation of God's command. The abstract law is given a concrete, geographical reality.
"So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. Now beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh." (Joshua 20:7-8)
The first thing to notice is the verb: "they set apart." The Hebrew word here is qadash, which means to consecrate, to make holy. These were not just randomly selected towns. They were designated, consecrated, and made holy for this specific purpose of providing refuge. This tells us that mercy is a holy attribute of God. The provision of a safe haven for the accidental manslayer is a sacred activity. It is not a denial of justice, but a holy expression of it. The shedding of human blood, even accidentally, pollutes the land, and this setting apart of cities is part of God's holy remedy.
Now look at the distribution of these cities. There are six in total. Three are west of the Jordan River: Kedesh in the north, Shechem in the center, and Hebron in the south. And three are east of the Jordan: Golan in the north, Ramoth in the center, and Bezer in the south. The geographical layout is deliberate and brilliant. No matter where you were in the land of Israel, a city of refuge was never more than a day's journey away. God did not provide a theoretical mercy; He provided an accessible mercy. He put it within running distance. The roads to these cities were to be kept clear and well-marked, so that a man running for his life would not be hindered. God's grace is not an obstacle course.
Notice also that they are located "in the hill country." This is not an incidental detail. Cities on hills are visible from a great distance. A man fleeing, panicked and out of breath, could look up and see his destination, his hope, set on a hill. It was a visible, tangible promise of safety. This is a picture of the church, which is to be a city on a hill, a visible beacon of God's grace and refuge in a world that is running from the consequences of sin.
The provision is made for all the tribes. The tribes on the east side of the Jordan, who had chosen their inheritance there, were not excluded from this grace. God's covenant care extends to all His people, in all their allotted places. He is the God of the whole nation, and His justice and mercy are uniformly applied.
The Universal Provision (v. 9)
Verse 9 broadens the scope and clarifies the purpose of this entire system. It is a magnificent statement of the breadth of God's covenantal mercy.
"These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes down any person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation." (Joshua 20:9 LSB)
The provision is first for "all the sons of Israel." This is a family matter, a provision within the covenant community. But it does not stop there. It is also "for the sojourner who sojourns among them." This is a detail we must not miss, because it blows a hole clean through the modern caricature of the Old Testament as being tribalistic and racist. Here, in the law of Moses, we find that the same legal protections, the same access to mercy, are explicitly granted to the non-Israelite living in the land. God's justice is not based on ethnicity. If a Gentile sojourner accidentally killed someone, he had the same right to flee to Kedesh or Hebron as a son of Judah. This is a radical statement of equality under the law, and it is a clear foreshadowing of the gospel, where the dividing wall of hostility is broken down and there is one new man in Christ, neither Jew nor Greek.
The purpose clause is crystal clear: "that whoever strikes down any person unintentionally may flee there." The law makes a sharp distinction that our emotional, therapeutic age wants to blur. It distinguishes between the man who kills with premeditation, with a heart full of malice, and the man whose axe head flies off the handle while he is chopping wood with his neighbor. The first is a murderer and must be executed. The second is a manslayer, and his life must be protected. God cares about the heart. He cares about intent. This is the foundation of true justice.
And what are they protected from? They are protected from dying "by the hand of the avenger of blood." The avenger, the goel, was not an outlaw. He was the next of kin, and custom gave him the right and duty to exact payment for the life of his relative. But God steps in and says that this right is not absolute. It must be subject to a higher principle of justice. The city of refuge was God's ordained "cooling off period." It prevented a hot-headed response from leading to a second tragedy.
But notice the final clause. The manslayer is protected "until he stands before the congregation." This is crucial. The city of refuge is not a lawless hideout. It is not a way to escape justice. It is a way to ensure justice. Fleeing to the city guaranteed the man his day in court. He would have to stand trial before the elders, and the facts of the case would be heard. If he was found guilty of premeditated murder, he would be handed over to the avenger. If he was found to be truly unintentional, he was protected, but he had to remain within the city until the death of the high priest. This system protects the innocent, provides for due process, and upholds the rule of law over the rule of passion. It is a marvel of divine jurisprudence.
Christ, Our City on a Hill
As we read this, we cannot help but see that this whole arrangement is a magnificent type of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not just about ancient Israelite law; it is a living sermon about the gospel.
Every single one of us is a fugitive. We are not innocent manslayers; we are guilty sinners. We have not accidentally broken God's law; we have done so with high-handed rebellion. And because of this, there is an Avenger of Blood on our trail. That Avenger is the holy justice of God. The law of God demands our life. "The soul who sins shall die." The wages of sin is death. And God, in His perfect righteousness, is the Goel, the Avenger, who must see that this penalty is paid.
So what are we to do? We must flee. God, in His astonishing mercy, has set apart a refuge. He has appointed a place of safety. But this refuge is not a place, but a person. His name is Jesus. Jesus Christ is our city of refuge. He is the one "set apart" and consecrated by the Father, the holy one who provides a safe haven for guilty fugitives like us.
He is an accessible refuge. Just as the cities were within a day's run, the gospel is preached near to us, in our hearing. "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (Romans 10:8). You do not have to perform some great feat to reach Him. You must simply run to Him in faith.
He is a visible refuge. He is the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. He was lifted up on the cross, lifted up in the preaching of the Word, so that all who are fleeing the Avenger can look to Him and be saved. Look and live.
And His protection is for all. It is for the son of Israel and for the sojourner. It is for the religious person who grew up in the church and for the pagan from a distant land. "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him" (Romans 10:12). Whoever you are, whatever you have done, the gates of this city are open to you.
When we flee to Christ, we are safe from the Avenger. Not because justice is ignored, but because justice has been satisfied. In Christ, we stand before the congregation of heaven, and we are not condemned, because He was condemned for us. The death of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, has secured our final liberty. He died so that we might not only find refuge, but be set free forever. The avenger of blood has no claim on us anymore. The law has no condemnation for us anymore. We are safe, not because we were fast enough to outrun justice, but because we were wise enough to run to the place where mercy had already satisfied it.