Today I wanna take a closer look at the so-called 6 Sanctuary Cities God ordered to be established inside the land of Canaan
To get things started, let’s take a look at an excerpt from the Book of Numbers where this idea was first introduced.
“Adonai said to Moshe, “Tell the people of Israel, ‘When you cross the Yarden into the land of Kena‘an, you are to designate for yourselves cities that will be cities of refuge for you, to which anyone who kills someone by mistake can flee.”-Numbers 35:9-11
The first thing I want you to pay attention to is the timing of when these cities were to be set up.
Notice it says AFTER the Israelites crossed the Jordan River they were to establish the Cities of Refuge.
My point is…
…even though a heckuva a lot of time had passed since these instructions were first given, Joshua was NOT late in carrying out these orders God first gave to Moses many, many years ago.
In fact, the timing was right on the money and this shouldn’t surprise us because when we obey the Lord, the timing will always be perfect.
Onward.
In verse 1 of Joshua 20, it starts off by saying “And the Lord spoke unto Joshua“.
The Hebrew term being used for “spoke” here is DIBBER and it’s an interesting word.
It doesn’t carry an atmosphere of cheerful conversation.
It’s not a word used to describe a couple of buddies chatting among themselves at the water cooler.
This word is much, much more intense than that.
The sense of DIBBER is like a general in the army issuing a stern command to his subordinate soldiers to get off their butts and get a move on.
For those of you who can read Hebrew fluently, whenever you encounter the phrase “and God DIBBER-erd so and so”, understand that what comes after is no laughing matter.
It’s always a serious issue requiring prompt attention and quick action with an emphasis on the words “prompt” and “quick”.
In other words, these 6 Cities of Refuge are to be set up immediately as in today, not tomorrow or the day after.
And notice the reason WHY these sanctuary cities are to be set up.
“These cities are to be a refuge for you from the dead person’s next-of-kin, who might otherwise avenge his kinsman’s death by slaying the killer prior to his standing trial before the community.”-Numbers 35:12
So we see these cities are to provide a place of protection for those who are fleeing from a figured called the “Blood Avenger”.
In Hebrew, “Blood Avenger” is GO’EL HADDAM.
The verb form of GO’EL is GA’AL and literally it means “to act as a kinsman”.
But what does that mean exactly?
Well, the GO’EL was the next of kin and it was his duty to vindicate a family member within the…here’s another Hebrew word for you…within the MISPAHA which literally means “family” but it could also mean “a clan”.
And this responsibility extended to brothers, uncles, cousins, really any other blood relative.
This was no light matter.
The GO-EL HADDAM was duty bound to avenge the murder of a kinsman…even if it was accidental.
Here’s another thing that might surprise you especially if you’re from a so-called progressive Western nation.
I’m well aware the idea of relatives taking vigilante action against a person who had killed one of their family members is illegal and not a common thing in the west.
That’s because this is a custom firmly rooted in tribalism.
Here’s the thing.
Avenging the death of a family member by another family member was not only a universal custom in the ancient world, it is still how most of the world operates today in the 21st century.
I’m not even kidding.
While it may seem backwards and primitive to us in the West, the tribal laws first established gave the family or clan the right to be the accusers, prosecutors, judges and executioners all in one.
Outside of the clan, there was no such thing as an outside legal body who possessed the authority to override the clan’s authority.
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