ethoughts weekly- Issue 168

July 1, 2007

Cities of Refuge

I’ve been learning about God’s laws in his ancient Treaty with the people of Israel. Recently, I’ve been struck by the gracious concept of “the cities of refuge”.

God set up just laws of compensations in the Israelite courts that most of us have heard before, “an eye for and eye.” This of course had nothing to do with mutilation, but meant a perpetrator had to compensate an eye’s worth for the damage of an eye lost, and so forth. For example, if a person had another person in service to them to pay off a debt, (a slave for six years maximum,) and they knocked out this person’s tooth, they would have to let them go free, no matter how much debt was left to pay. This compensated for the lost tooth. If you committed premeditated murder you forfeited your life. Unlike other cultures of the time, in the nation of Israel, a high value was paced on life. (In other cultures of the time, a child's life, a woman’s life, or a slave’s life where less valuable’s than an adult free man’s life. Not so in God’s law; it was very "forward thinking". Everyone was equal- this was utterly revolutionary.)

The interesting concept about the cities of refuge was that God understood the importance of the intent of the heart. In the case of accidental death, (what we might call involuntary manslaughter,) a person could escape the well-known and culturally expectable practice of blood revenge, and flee to a specific city, a city of refuge. There they could be protected. In the laws of all the others laws and cultures of the time, it was just cause to kill off a person and their family, if they killed one of your family members, even if it was accidental. God’s law looked beyond the circumstances, and at the heart. It looked to the intent, and gave mercy to the killer. He didn't want people to have to suffer at the hands of revenge. Very shocking. They would have a rough time fleeing their home, and their family, and relocating, but their life could be spared. By law the people of Israel were charged to protect them as they came to a city of refuge seeking security.

What does this tell us in our contemporary times? I think it tells us a few things. First of all, it tells us that God is incredibly compassionate and gracious. He cares about people and their circumstances when they’ve gotten themselves into quite a pickle. It also tells us the intent of the heart is what matters the most to him. We can fake what’s in our heart to people on the outside, but not to God, for better, or for worse, he knows, and he judges us by that. Humans make great errors being fooled by good-looking pretense, or being fooled by bad-looking circumstances or appearances, instead of seeing the real insides of a person. WE must be careful to look much deeper then we are use to looking.

Another thing we can take away from this theme is that grace is of utmost importance. Are you a “city of refuge”? Are you safe? Do others feel you are compassionate, or do they think you are apathetic, distant, harsh or judgmental? Do people come to you in times of need? Are you trustworthy, and will you protect them, or will you seek what is in your best interest, and what makes you look good? I believe it is our charge to be like cities of refuge. God’s laws are chockablock with provisions for protecting those who are under-protected or in need, and this shows the goodness and strength of his character, just as it will ours, when we have mercy and compassion.

Have a great week, my friends! Shine like cities on a hill.

Lisa DeLay

©2007