The sermon, titled 'Cities of Refuge: Due Process and Justice,' explores Joshua chapter 20, where God instructs Joshua to establish cities of refuge for those who unintentionally kill another person. These cities ensure due process and justice, protecting the manslayer from the avenger of blood until a trial can be held. The sermon delves into biblical passages from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy to provide a comprehensive understanding of the importance of intent, motive, and the sacredness of human life. The cities of refuge, inhabited by Levites, offer temporary sanctuary and ensure that justice is not carried out in the heat of passion. The concept underscores the value God places on human life, requiring individuals to safeguard their neighbor's life while also emphasizing the consequences of taking a life, even unintentionally.

We now turn to Joshua chapter 20 where we just learned about just infinitely holy and just God and the ways he has Assured due process and justice for those that unintentionally Take another life So we'll be reading in Joshua chapter 20, the whole chapter consists of nine verses beginning in verse 1. The Lord also spoke to Joshua saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood and when he flees to one of those cities and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place that he may dwell among them. Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days.

Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house to the city from which he fled. So they appointed Kadesh in Galilee in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kurjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah. And on the other side of the Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan and Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwelt among them. That whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.

Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Almost holy and just God, we do thank you and praise you just for this section of Scripture, the ways Lord God in your infinite wisdom that you have designed and assured due process and justice for every human, Justice meted out according to the crime. And this week specifically, Lord God, how you have assured due process and justice for those that unintentionally take a human life. Lord God, we pray that you would open our eyes today. Help us to see clearly into your Word.

Give Jason wisdom as he speaks. Help him, Lord God, to proclaim your Word faithfully. Help us, Lord God, to see our sin. Give us hearts of repentance, Lord God. And most of all, may we see more of your glory today.

See more of your holiness, more of your justice, more of your wisdom, that we may walk out more conformed to the image of your Son than when we walked in here. Again Lord God we just praise you for this day, a day of rest. We thank you for your word. We know it will not return void. It'll set out and do what you attended for it to do.

Lord God, if it be your will, may souls be saved today. Hearts would be turned towards you, hearts of stone pulled out and hearts of flesh replaced, that the tents of your kingdom may be expanded even in this little room today. Again, Lord God bless this time in our service in your sons and we pray. Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is Cities of Refuge, Due Process, and Justice.

Two times ago, we tackled chapter 13, which was the distribution of the land east of the Jordan to two and a half tribes. Last time we were together, We looked at chapters 14 through 19, so we bit off six chapters and made it through six chapters together. I hope to never do that again, but we did it. That was the allotment of the west side of the Jordan River to the other nine and a half tribes. This week we'll look at all of chapter 20, the six cities of refuge.

Next week will be chapter 21, which is very, very related to it, which is the cities given to the Levites. Those cities will be sprinkled throughout all of the other tribes and the six cities that we're studying today the cities of refuge will all be mentioned as cities of the Levites next week. So that's really important information that we learn this week is that the cities of refuge are Levitical cities, cities that are given to the Levites to settle. And we're on a track to be done with the book of Joshua by the end of July. And we've got some things percolating about what's next, So I'll just leave that hanging out there.

But we're probably, end of July is probably end of Joshua for us. Let's ask God to help us. God, You are a God who loves truth and loves justice. And I thank you that you are perfectly wise in showing your people and the governments of the earth how to honor truth and secure justice in this world where there's so much that's not right, not as it ought to be. Your ways aren't blind to that.

Your ways aren't blind to the fact that sin is in the world and has to be dealt with. You've given us ways to honor truth and secure justice. And I thank you for that. I pray that you would teach us things in this chapter today in Jesus' name. Amen.

So we're going to have two major headings this week. I guess actually three. The first one will be what God spoke through Moses and the second one will be the contributions that our chapter actually makes to the body of truth about this call for due process and justice. And then I'll conclude with some observations and applications. So let's start with what God spoke through Moses.

Hopefully your finger is still in Joshua chapter 20. Let me re-read the first two verses. The Lord also spoke to Joshua saying, Speak to the children of Israel saying, Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses." So there's a lot of speaking to a lot of people, these first two verses. God speaks directly to Joshua, instructing Joshua to speak to the people of Israel to do what God had spoken through Moses. So, God spoke again, as He has Many times in the book of Joshua, God spoke directly to Joshua, and he commanded him to tell the children of Israel to do what God had told them to do through Moses.

So I want to begin by taking a tour of what God did speak through Moses to the people. And we're actually going to take a tour of the Pentateuch. We're going to hit every book in the Pentateuch. Genesis, Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So please turn first to Genesis 9 verse 5.

Genesis 9 verse 5 is actually the most indirect of all the places that I'm going, but it's actually the root of all of it. Even though it's indirect, all of it really sits on the foundation of Genesis 9 verse 5 and 6. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning. From the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man.

Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God, He made man. Man is a special creation. I know James preached on this a couple of months ago. And this is what makes human life precious beyond the life of all other creations, that all other creatures have a value to their life, but nothing compared to the value of humankind.

Why is that? Because we are made in the image of God. It's such an incalculably beautiful, wonderful, precious, valuable image that to take the life of a person who bears the imprint of this likeness of God is a terrible crime against the God who gave that life. So this really serves as the foundation for that. God has called for a corporate, civil taking, meaning governmental taking of the life of murderers who take the life of another human being.

The life of the human being is precious in a special way. Here's what Dale Davis, our commentator who's been so helpful in the book of Joshua says. He says, the chapter breathes the sanctity of human life. Our chapter, Joshua chapter 20, breathes the sanctity, the special nature, the value of human life. Then he says this, both the manslayers, both the life of the one who is responsible for the death, and the dead man's.

So we normally and rightly think about the life of the person who is dead, who has been killed, but the life of the killer also has value to it. And all killing is not created equally. So this brings us to Exodus chapter 21. So we start in Genesis 9 with the incomparable value of human life because we bear the image of God. Now we go to Exodus 21.

You know Exodus 20. Exodus 20 is the Ten Commandments. The Sixth Commandment is, you shall not murder. And then Exodus 21, this very next chapter, gives us laws pertaining to killing and communicating to us that not all killing is created equal. In fact, there's even a longer explanation if you go to Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy teaches us that some kinds of killing is actually lawful. What do you mean? Killing in war is lawful. Killing as self-defense is lawful. It's no crime at all if you're defending your life to kill while you're defending your life.

Our laws acknowledge that and that's just a reflection of biblical law. Killing in war is not murder according to the law of God or according to human laws either. Human laws reflect biblical law in that way. Exodus chapter 1 is explaining the sixth commandment from Exodus chapter 20. Look at Exodus 21 verses 12-14.

Exodus 21, 12-14. He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. So that's just right on the heels of Genesis chapter 9. It's a restatement of that. He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from my altar that he may die." So wherever the altar was, you could flee to the altar and take hold of the altar for sanctuary, But it was not to be a sanctuary for a murderer. And so if you could determine through due process that a person who had fled and taken hold of the altar for sanctuary was actually a murderer, it would be lawful to remove them from the altar and kill them. But here in Exodus, long before the people are anywhere near the promised land, they're still at Mount Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments on the edges of the wilderness, God is promising when he brings them into the promised land he's going to establish these places where a person who kills but unintentionally, they didn't mean to and it was accidental, they could fly to secure due process for themselves. So this is really the first mention in the Pentateuch in Moses' books of what would become specific cities on both sides of the Jordan where a person who had killed but not planned it, not intended to do it, had done it accidentally, could flee and plead for due process to bring witnesses and prove that they were not murderers even though they were responsible for the death of someone.

It is possible. So here's what Scripture is establishing. It's possible to absolutely be responsible for the death of another person, but not to have meant to do it, or to have accidentally done it, and so not be a murderer as scripture defines these things. We see here in Exodus 21 that intent matters. It's not you are the cause so your intentions, your motivations don't matter, you just get put to death.

No, that's actually the law of God makes distinctions that we are to honor and to observe. If you thought about it, and you planned it, and then you did it, the Bible calls this premeditation, and you're a murderer, and your life is forfeit as a murderer. Turn now to Leviticus 25. Leviticus 25 isn't about killing or murder, isn't about killing or murder, but it is about something that's central to our text. Look at Leviticus chapter 25 verse 25.

If one of your brethren becomes poor and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold." Notice that a possession is singular, not plural. So you have a close relative and he sold some of his possession singular. Not, he sold some of his possessions. He parted with some of his stuff and sold some of his stuff. No, no, no.

Possession singular. This is pointing to his land of inheritance. So in the last couple of times we've been together, the land was divvied up by tribe, and the tribe's territory will be divvied up, be divided out by family, and it's meant to stay in the family line. But you might become poor and in becoming poor the one asset that you have that's beneficial to get you the money that you need would be to sell your possession. But that's never meant to be permanent.

What's meant to be permanent is that your family's land remains your family's land. So much so that every 50 years, no matter who you sold it to, it's going to revert to your family, and if you didn't want that land, it would revert to you and you would have to sell it again if you didn't want it. But every 50 years, your family is going to get the opportunity to have that land come back to you as long as human history lasts, as what God intended. So there's a close relative. If you become poor, have to sell some of your possession for the resources that you need, A close relative can lawfully come and purchase it back into the family.

It's called redeeming it. So the Hebrew word in this phrase, redeeming relative, that word redeeming, establishes the idea of a kinsman redeemer. A kinsman, a close relative who has the right to buy back your inheritance if you sold it in order to get it back into the family because Your inheritance the the land that God gave to your family and your tribe is yours by right So your family maintains the right to go get that back within the family. This same Hebrew word, redeeming, of the phrase redeeming relative, is the exact same word that's translated avenger in our chapter avenger of blood so redeeming relative in Leviticus 25 and avenger of blood in Joshua chapter 20 it's The same Hebrew word is translated as redeeming in one place and avenger the other. Because it does have a different sense, so the translators haven't lost their minds.

They're trying to indicate the different sense of that word. But understand, it is the same Hebrew word. Literally in our chapter, if you were to make the translation consistent, you would have the Redeemer of Blood. In the sense that you're paying back the blood of your relative that was shed. The Avenger of Blood is not just anyone who happens to be offended by the killing of this person, but a person who has a special status in the eyes of the law that is empowered by the law, authorized by the law to pay back the shedding of the innocent blood of your relatives.

Someone to secure the family rights either through family property or to secure justice on behalf of your family. The idea is that close family members have a responsibility to safeguard the rights and property of the family. Close family members have an obligation under the law of God to secure the rights, property rights, yes, but also justice, the rights and property of the family, but also to make sure that justice is served when one of your family members is violated. So if a very close relative comes poor and sells his inheritance, then this very close relative can go purchase back that relative. The most famous example of this in all of scripture is Ruth chapter 4 and Boaz.

He is the kinsman redeemer and he's actually playing this family function. A famine came on the land, so Naomi and her husband sold their property and moved to Moab because of the poverty caused by the famine. And then Boaz acts as the kinsman redeemer to purchase back the land, and in purchasing back the land, undertakes the care of Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. And so takes a wife as part of buying back into their family the inheritance that God had given them. That's what's happening in Ruth chapter 4.

Likewise, if a very close relative was murdered or killed, there is a distinction sometimes. All murdering is killing, but not all killing is murdering. Self-defense isn't murdering. Killing in war isn't murdering. If a very close relative was murdered or killed, then the law authorized the kinsman redeemer to go and enact justice, take justice for the family.

But that was not an unlimited permission, meaning not just anyone could do it, it had to be the avenger of blood or the kinsman redeemer, this close relative who was recognized and authorized by the law to do it. Now to numbers 35. Numbers 35 really expands on this. And So it's a long reading. Sometimes this doesn't work out well, we'll see.

I'm going to sprinkle my comments into the long reading and I'm going to try really hard to keep them really clear when I'm commenting and when I'm returning to Scripture. Numbers 35, we'll be reading 6 through the end of the chapter. Numbers 35, starting in verse 6. Now among the cities which I will give to the Levites, you shall appoint six cities of refuge. Just like our text.

To which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities." So a comment. Next week we're going to get all forty-eight of these cities listed. Six of them will be cities of refuge and the other forty-two will be Levitical cities but not cities of refuge, just like what is called for here. Verse 7.

So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be forty-eight. These you shall give with their common land. And these cities which you will give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel. From the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller tribe you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance that each receives." Now verse 9.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge. You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be the cities of refuge. So this is exactly what we have in our chapter.

Three cities on the east side of the Jordan, three cities on the west side of the Jordan. Verse 15. These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there." So a comment. This is not just rights and privileges for Israelites. This is rights and privileges for anyone.

The stranger and the sojourner and the citizen all have the same rights if they kill accidentally to flee for their lives to the cities of refuge to seek due process and justice. Verse 16. But if he strikes him with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand by which one could die and he does die he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon by which one could die and he does die he is a murderer The murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death.

When he meets him, he shall put him to death. If he pushes him out of hatred while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him." Now this is helpful. I've got some comments before we continue.

This is really helpful because it gives us some examples. You use an iron implement. You have a reasonable expectation that when you take an iron implement to someone an enemy out of out of anger you you were meaning to do it then you there's a reasonable expectation that they're going to die that makes you a murderer If you take a stone in hand, there is a reasonable expectation that they may die, you're a murderer. If they use a wooden hand weapon, there is a reasonable expectation that they may die, You're a murderer. If you push out of hatred, having hated them in time past, there is a reasonable expectation that they could die.

You're a murderer. If you lie in wait and you hurl something at someone, there is a reasonable expectation that they could die, and that makes you a murderer. Now verse 22. So in other words, you can't take a wooden hand weapon to someone and then say, well I meant to hurt them, but not to kill them, so I'm not really a murderer, this is manslaughter. No, no, no, the law of God says there's a reasonable expectation that when you take a wooden hand weapon to someone that you should know that they might die and that makes you a murderer.

That makes it premeditated. Resuming in verse 22, Numbers 35 verse 22. However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait or uses a stone by which a man could die throwing it at him without seeing him so that he dies while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, And the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest.

But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. These things should be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses, but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.

So you shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore, do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell. For I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel." So this last section is really the punch line. And what is that? The shedding of blood defiles the land.

God is doing something in His wisdom, giving them due process in His wisdom, so that the things which have defiled the land and caused Him to bring Israel on the Canaanites in judgment, that they won't find themselves in the same position having shed innocent blood and having essentially forced the hand of God to bring judgment upon them for all of the innocent blood that has been shed. Here again we see that motive and intent matter and that this must be judged according to the witnesses. You actually need witnesses to prove that he hated him in time past, that he plans to do it, and then carried it out, that it was done in order to harm, and not just one witness. Deuteronomy here says that one witness is insufficient, every fact must be established by two or three witnesses. Life is precious regardless.

Understand, this teaches that even if you didn't mean to do it, that didn't make the life of the one who died any less precious. And it didn't make you innocent, it made you less guilty. You understand the distinction made in the law here. So a murderer must be put to death, but even an unintentional killer must face consequences. They can't just go home and resume their life even after what is essentially a trial with witnesses.

And it said, no you're not a murderer, you didn't mean to do it in advance, you didn't do it out of malice of heart. Oh, so now you can just go home and continue your life as usual. No, that's not what the law said. The law said essentially you are living under house arrest until the death of the high priest. There is a term limit, there is a limit to your term of confinement in the city of refuge, but you are not free to go home until the death of the high priest, which could be years or even decades.

That's possible. The high priest was usually not young, so there would be a reasonable time limit there. But you didn't just go home, just because you didn't mean that there were no consequences. The person who died suffered the consequences, and the relatives of the person who died suffered the consequences of your actions, and you actually suffered consequences of your actions too. Remember, when we went through the Ten Commandments, you'll remember this.

Most of the commandments forbid you to do something. Thou shalt not. There are two positive commandments, but eight are negative commandments in that they tell you what not to do. Okay, so when we would come to those, we would start with what does the commandment forbid? The commandment forbids murdering, adultery, lying, coveting.

But we wouldn't stop there. We would say every time there's another side of that coin, what does the commandment require? Because there's a heart to this. Because the New Testament teaches with such clarity actually the Old Testament teaches it too. The New Testament teaches it with breathtaking clarity that love is the fulfillment of the law.

The law isn't just to keep us from doing stuff. The heart of the law is actually loving God and loving our neighbor. So, God wants more from me than to just not murder my neighbor. The sixth commandment, thou shalt not murder, is about more than just me stopping short of murdering my neighbor. It actually is instructing me to count the life of my neighbor, his or her life, as precious.

I actually have a duty with the Sixth Commandment to safeguard the life of my neighbor. Because love is the fulfillment of the law. And if I love my neighbor, I'll do more than just not kill my neighbor. I'll actually safeguard the life of my neighbor. More on that in a minute, but that's a placeholder for now.

One final comment. Matthew Henry says this, and I found it very helpful. Matthew Henry says, it was also a kindness to the poor refugee that when he might not go up to the house of the Lord, nor tread his courts, yet he had the servants of God's house with him to instruct him and pray for him and to help make up the want of public ordinances." At least once a week, at least once a week when I read a commentator, I'm really thankful for the commentary because I realize that I've really thought about a portion of the passage at just the most surface level, and I haven't taken the time to trace out the implications of what is on the surface. And this was definitely true of the city of refuge. So let's just say I killed somebody on accident, I didn't mean to do it, I fled to a city of refuge, they essentially had a trial, and the witnesses were able to demonstrate I didn't hate that person, I didn't mean to do it.

I fled to a city of refuge. They essentially had a trial and the witnesses were able to demonstrate. I didn't hate that person. I didn't mean to do it. But I'm not just free to go back and resume my life.

The dead man's not free to do that. The close relatives of the dead man, those close relatives are never free to just go back and resume life as if nothing happened. These are things they think about all day, every day for a very long time. And so there are consequences for me too. I have to live inside the city of refuge.

What does that mean? When the people of God go up to worship God, I'm not going. Maybe for a year, maybe for five years, maybe for ten years, maybe for twenty years. I'm not going because I'm bound to stay within the city of refuge. But God made these cities of refuge the cities that are inhabited by people who are given to religious service and worship.

So that this is a kindness. This is part of the wisdom of the thing that God established that though I don't go with the nation to worship God. My neighbors are people who will pray for me and teach me the Word of God and help me with spiritual activity in my life. That was really a helpful way to trace out the implications of what's happening and to show the wisdom and mercy of God in these cities of refuge. Now turn to Deuteronomy 19.

Deuteronomy 19. This is the Deuteronomy text on cities of refuge. I'll be reading Deuteronomy 19 verses 1 through 13. When the Lord Your God has cut off the nations whose lands the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses. You shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Now a comment. Why is he saying just three cities? Well, because we're in Deuteronomy 19, we didn't stop at Deuteronomy 4, but if we had stopped at Deuteronomy 4, we would have seen that they've already conquered east of the Jordan, and Moses has already named the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan, and they're exactly the same cities that are mentioned in our chapter. So this is in Deuteronomy 19, he's talking about three additional cities, three plus three equals six, so this does perfectly match our chapter. Verse 3.

Deuteronomy 19, resuming in verse 3. You shall prepare roads for yourself and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there. And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past, as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. Lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past.

Therefore I command you, saying, you shall separate three cities for yourself. Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which he promised to give your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk in all his ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three. Lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you. But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you." So it ends, this text ends by saying one thing that ought to be very, very clear.

Cities of refuge are no sanctuary for murderers. It is No attempt to pity a murderer. In fact, the exact opposite is said at the end. If he's a murderer, don't you pity him. Turn him over to the avenger of blood that the avenger of blood can put him to death.

The cities of refuge are no sanctuary for murderers. What's new that we haven't encountered yet in Deuteronomy 19? Verse 3 is the instruction to prepare roads. Make sure there are clear Make sure there are clear paths, clear roads to get to the city of refuge. That they are very accessible cities.

The commentators in looking at Joshua chapter 20 and the placement of these six cities say that anywhere you are within the confines of Israel, anywhere within its borders, you would be able to get to a city of refuge within one day. No matter where you were, because of the placement of these six cities, three on both sides of the Jordan, wherever you were in Israel, you would be able to get to a city of refuge in less than a day. This is important. And this is what God is trying to secure. Prepare the roads, make these cities accessible.

Verse 5. We're given an example. What's the example? You go out to cut wood. You and someone else go.

You're swinging the axe to cut down the tree, and the head comes off the axe and strikes the person you went out with, and it kills them. You didn't mean to do it. So There's no intent, there's no motive, it was accidental. And so your duty would be then to fly to a city of refuge, to go there as quickly as you could so that you're not overtaken by the Avenger of Blood. Because in verse 6, we have the underlying concern.

Look at verse 6. Lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot. Did you know the Avenger of Blood might not care at all that it was an accident. You were the one who swung the axe, and their loved one is dead, and nothing's ever going to change that. And It is to hold back the Avenger of Blood from what we would call a crime of passion.

In the heat of the moment, while his anger is hot, if you give him a day, Cooler heads will prevail. If you give him a day, he won't want to just kill you on the spot. But you have to go secure due process for yourself by going, by fleeing to a city of refuge. And in doing that, you hold back the Avenger of Blood from a crime of passion, acting while his anger is hot. Did you know, if the axe head comes off, you could be very much to blame?

You think about that? There are parapet laws in Deuteronomy. You got a two story house? You have to erect a parapet. And it can't be a rickety old, this is a railing.

Okay, why do they do that? Because God wants us to do more than just not murder our neighbor. He wants us to safeguard the life of our neighbor. So if I've got a tall house, I bear the responsibility for putting up a sturdy railing to safeguard the life of the people who will go out of my roof, roofless living space in their houses. If you have an axe, you have a duty.

If you're going out to cut with someone else, you have a duty to make sure that the axe head is secure. Think of all the laws that we have that would fall into that bucket of actually taking measures to safeguard each other's lives. There are hundreds and hundreds of laws. We actually agree with God that this is a category that needs attention. This made me think of the biography of John G.

Peyton, the missionary to the cannibals. Went to the Pacific Islands. There were cannibals there. He went there knowing that there were cannibals there. And here's what he found there, an unending cycle of revenge killings.

Tribes. Oh, wait. Israel has tribes. Tribes. And way back when, Someone from this tribe had killed someone from this tribe, and in their culture it necessitated, it demanded revenge killings.

Not necessarily the finding of the perpetrator, but any person from that tribe would do to take revenge? Well, the revenge killing necessitated what? A revenge killing. And it was endless in this culture. It was endless.

God and His wisdom gave us a way out of that kind of living. Of securing justice, but also affording due process. The wisdom of God is here. In securing justice, and actually giving a close relative rights under the law to pursue and enact justice, you know, we don't have that. Have you thought about this at all?

We don't have that. If a close family member of yours is killed either intentionally or not, you are at the mercy of the justice system. And you can find cases where justice is not pursued vigorously. Actually, you have rights under God's law to vigorously pursue justice on behalf of your family and your loved ones. Not so for us today.

I'm not necessarily bemoaning that, but I am noticing the wisdom of God in giving family members certain acknowledged rights under the law to pursue justice. So when our text says, point for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that's where we started all of this, there is a rich body of revelation from God behind that. So In our chapter what we see them doing is what God commanded in Genesis, in valuing human life, in Leviticus, in giving rights to a close relative, and in Exodus, and the laws that we saw there, and numbers in Deuteronomy expanding out the city of refuge laws. Okay, what our text adds to that, what's unique in our text that we didn't encounter in those other places. Verse 4 is new.

Look at verse 4. We're back in Joshua chapter 20. We're in verse 4. And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place that he may dwell among them." So an Entrance into a city of refuge isn't an automatic right. You have this population of Levites whose job it is to know and teach the law of God.

And in that population, they have elders, and you come to the city, and you essentially apply for refuge by making your case to the elders. And if you have a plausible story, they will give you refuge in that city until things can be established through witnesses. So yes, The Levites helped the priests in worship, but they actually had duties among the people of God beyond that, and it was a population of Levites. And they had elders who were acknowledged leaders who would accept the testimony of these people who were applying to them for refuge, and either refuse them refuge, or grant them refuge until a trial could be had. The beginning of verse 6, I believe, is new.

And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days." Maybe not new, but what is implied in numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19 is explicit here. It's only temporary refuge unless it can be demonstrated that this death was actually unintended and or accidental. And then look at the end of verse 9, it really fills out that picture. End of verse 9. Whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.

Verse 7 is new. So they appointed Kadesh in Galilee in the mountains of Neftali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba which is Hebron in the mountains of Judah. Kadesh is central to the northern portion west of the Jordan. Shechem is in the middle of the central portion west of the Jordan. Hebron is central to the southern portion.

So if you go... If you kept a map from the map in the lap Sundays and you look, these three cities are actually on that map, you'll find that the northern part is really cut in half, and there's a centrally located city of refuge. The central part has a centrally located city of refuge. The southern part has a centrally located city of refuge. So either side of the Jordan, if you killed someone accidentally, if your axe head flew off and they died from it, then you would be able to get to a city of refuge within a day.

Observations and applications, I'll give you three. One, all human life is precious to God. All human life is precious to God. Why? Because we bear His image.

Yes, the life of the person killed is precious to God. It absolutely is. But also the life of the killer, if it was done accidentally or unintentionally. God wants to preserve that life if it was done accidentally or unintentionally. So that's one, all human life is precious to God.

Number two, safeguard the life of your neighbor. This actually drives home that point, the city of refuge, and the requirement that you live there if you kill someone unintentionally and or accidentally, that you don't just get to go home and resume your life when the dead man doesn't, and his family doesn't, and so your life is changed forever too when you do it. If you're responsible for the death of someone else, it will change your life forever. And every once in a while, We're wise to just reflect on that. You can do something.

You didn't plan to. It wasn't out of malice. You didn't mean to. It was an accident, but you didn't secure the axe head. You didn't check, and now someone's dead.

Your life's never going to be the same again. You're not going to spend a day of your life where you don't think about that moment. Where you were there with the dead man, and his life ended because of something you did or didn't do, and you'll not be able to escape that. We have a duty to safeguard each other's lives in how we drive, in what we're doing while we drive? Stop looking at me.

Number three. What about the cities of refuge as a picture of the Lord Jesus? Some commentators make more of this in their commentary on Joshua 20 than others. I'll say this, with pictures in the Old Testament which have realities which are fulfillment of those foreshadows in the New Testament, I have a lot of confidence when a New Testament writer connects those dots. Meaning the Old Testament is full of wonderful pictures about the Lord Jesus that are fulfilled in the New Testament, in the New Covenant by Jesus.

And man, I love to preach and pound on the pulpit when a New Testament writer has gone before me to connect those dots. And it makes me nervous to preach on them when none has. None of the New Testament writers actually connects those dots. For this one, Jesus Christ as a city of refuge, I think you can say things that preach good on it, But the analogy, when I try to think through the analogy...