Joshua 20 – Cities of Safety In Joshua 20, we’re reminded of - TopicsExpress



          

Joshua 20 – Cities of Safety In Joshua 20, we’re reminded of how thorough God was in His government set up. Levites were His designated priestly mediators, and they were set apart by Him to have especially close communication with Him. Because God was supposed to be the Levites’ inheritance, they didn’t get their own portion of land like the other twelve tribes. Instead, each tribe was instructed to give up some towns in their territories for the Levites to live in. This meant the Levites were spread throughout the land, with some dwelling among each tribe. Among those Levite towns, six were to be designated as “Cities of Safety” or “Cities of Refuge” (Num. 35:6-8). These were places for people to run to after they accidentally killed someone. How thorough of God to set a system in place for this particular dilemma. It doesn’t come up all the time, but when it does, it’s a major problem. Suppose you’re plowing your field and you accidentally run your oxen right over a child who is sitting on the ground. The child is trampled on and killed. You feel terrible. Naturally the child’s father wants to hunt you down and kill you in revenge. What do you do? There are no police who can come arrest you and hide you in the safety of a jail cell until your trial. Everyone in the neighborhood is too shocked and upset to listen to your side of the story. You need a neutral third party that you can talk to. Your best chance is to flee to the nearest City of Safety. “When the killer runs to one of those cities, he must stop at the entrance gate, stand there, and tell the leaders of the people what happened. Then that person will be allowed to enter the city and will be given a place to live among them. But if the one who is chasing him follows him to that city, the leaders of the city must not hand over the killer. It was an accident. He did not hate him beforehand or kill him on purpose. The killer must stay in the city until a court comes to a decision and until the high priest dies. Then he may go back home to the town from which he ran away.” (Josh. 20:4-6) Being misunderstood is one of the most painful experiences we have in this world. To have others judge us by our actions and project nasty motivations onto us is very frustrating. Have you ever accidentally hurt people only to be accused of injuring them on purpose? Have you ever had your sincere apology scorned or your calls blocked by someone you desperately wanted to reconcile with? Some of us have made mistakes that destroyed lives. Some of us have done damage we can’t ever repair. Some of us know that there are people in this world who intensely hate us and wish we were dead. The wonderful thing about God is that He always makes Himself available as our City of Refuge. When people reject us, He welcomes us. When people won’t listen, He already understands without us having to explain. As Christians, we will never experience God slamming a door in our face or trying to punish us for something we didn’t do. With Him, we are never misunderstood or mislabeled or unforgivable. And unlike the cities that the Jews ran to, God offers us more than temporary shelter from those who are angry at us. He stays by our side at all times, helping us cope with the pain of rejection and bringing spiritual blessings out of our mistakes. Because God loves us, other people’s anger can’t stop us. Because He is our Judge, the world’s assessment of us doesn’t matter.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 06:39:55 +0000

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