Read chapter in full: www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Joshua+020

Joshua Chapter 20 (ESV)

The Cities of Refuge

¹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. ⁵ And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. ⁶ And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

⁷ 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.⁸ And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

REFLECTION:

Cities of refuge are places where someone who killed another person accidentally might flee to. God deems it important to protect the innocent when dealing with criminal matters. We need to be careful that in our concern for justice, we do not violate the rights of the innocent.

Verse 6 describes what an accused criminal had to do to gain protection from an avenger. One had to stay in the city of refuge for protection. Leaving the city meant leaving the protection of the law.

What are some areas of our lives in which limits are set for our protection? Who sets these boundaries? Why?

Where do you go (or to whom do you turn) when you feel in danger?

In what way could your church be like a city of refuge for the needy?

PRAYER:

In you, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God. (Ps 31:1-5)