God really does think of everything, doesn’t he? Down to the smallest detail of individual and communal life, for every hypothetical question we could ask, for every unexpected or unwanted circumstance that may arise, God has already thought through how we as his people can pursue life, liberty and happiness within the confines of a kingdom society. In the case of sanctuary cities in Numbers 25, God even made it possible for people who accidentally take another life not to be forced to live as a fugitive. Yes, he has made contingencies for everything that might concern us, and that means everything that may be concerning you at this very moment!
The Journey // Focus: Numbers 35:6, 12, 15
The LORD said to Moses, “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety… These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death…. They are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.”
God really does think of everything, doesn’t he? Down to the smallest detail of individual and communal life, for every hypothetical question we could ask, God has already thought through how we as his people can pursue life, liberty and happiness within the confines of a kingdom society. He has made contingencies for everything that might concern us.
In the case of Numbers 25, God even made it possible for people who accidentally take another life not to be forced to as a fugitive. By fleeing to one of the designated sanctuary cities, they could live without always looking over their shoulders, not having to worry about the victim’s family exacting revenge on them, knowing that they could move forward in spite of the tragedy they caused.
Of course, some in our current cultural context might attempt to squeeze from this chapter a justification for sanctuary cities that can overrule federal law regarding illegal immigration. That is a worthwhile discussion, but this is not about justifying willful disregard of a law. This was about accidental events. Accidents happen! Sometimes they are simply the result of a set of circumstances for which no one was at fault, at other times they are the result of someone’s negligence. But never were they intentional. And when that was the case, God set up protections to limit the outrage of the victim’s kin; the punishment was not to exceed the crime, so to speak.
Keep in mind also that the offender was not offered a day at the beach in these cities. These sanctuary cities belonged to the Levites, the clerics and religious workers of that culture. So the person who took up refuse in one of these cities would have to live under the watchful eye of Israel’s spiritual leaders. Furthermore, fleeing to a sanctuary city didn’t negate the judicial process. A murderer couldn’t leverage a gracious system to his own advantage. If there were more than one witness who could corroborate murderous intent, the murderer would face the death penalty. But if the community found that the killing was accidental, the accused could find refuge in the city. Even then, “though he was innocent of murder, he was still guilty of manslaughter. An accidental killing still destroyed a human life made in God’s image, polluting the land God had given (Numbers 35:33). A person guilty of manslaughter still had to pay for his actions.” (Quest Study Bible) In this kind of a tragic case, while no one was happy, everything would be fair.
Yes, God had thought of everything. Again and again in the Books of Moses, we see God involved in the affairs, large and small, of his people. He is a God who cares. He is a God who provides, not just materially, but through laws and processes that kept his kingdom society civil.
Which brings us to the point extracted time after time in Leviticus and Numbers: God cares about you, too. He watches over the affairs of your life, large and small, and he has made contingencies for every possible circumstance that you might face. When it comes to you, God has thought of everything.
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