Are We Protecting the Wrong People In our Sanctuary Cities? Scripture Says We May Well Be.

[photo courtesy of Center for American Progress]

Deuteronomy 19:11-14 -- Who Cities of Refuge Aren't For

In our last study, we looked are the first ten verses of Deuteronomy 19 which provided for us a valid use of Cities of Refuge.  They were to protect from the "avenger of blood" those who unintentionally killed someone.  This section tells us who we should not let hide in the Cities of Refuge.

Verses 11-12 tell us what the Israelites were to do with those who "hated" someone and attacked them in a way which would kill them. Such a person would also seek "refuge" in one of the cities so designated.  However, the city elders were to go to the City of Refuge, take the intentional murderer from there and deliver him to the proper "avenger of blood" -- usually a relative of the victim. And the avenger of blood was to deal with him in kind -- that is, the murderer would die.

Verse 13 tells the Israelites that they are not to have "pity" on him. If they wanted things to go well for them, they were to "purge the blood of the innocent from their land".  Commentator David Guzik says, on this verse, that "God was just as concerned about the guilty being punished as He was that the innocent be protected."

So, where have we gone wrong today?  Well, for starters we have a hard time distinguishing between wilful or intentional murders and unintentional ones. In fact, we look for ways to turn what may well be intentional into unintentional.  Second, we seem to take a lot of pity on those that Scripture would tell us not to have pity on -- out and out hardened criminals. "There but for the grace of God, go I" we say, so "let him go free!"  I believe in having mercy and pity, and I believe the Bible and the Christian life call for it. But I also believe that God says "no pity" for certain things, especially within the realm of criminal justice.

While we can argue over the merits or demerits of capital punishment, we can hopefully agree that if we were to be true to Scripture, we would as a minimum, be incarcerating intentional murderers for life.

Now what is interesting to me is that in the Old Testament, the avenger was a family member. These were close kin of the victim. There is some argument to be made that they and they alone could, today, exercise forgiveness.  That is not the job or the right of the state.

Finally, in the last verse of this section, Moses, in his Second Sermon to the Israelites tells them that they are not to "move their neighbor's boundary mark" -- because that was all part of their inheritance in the land that God gave them.

Again we turn to David Guzik for some help with this.  He says, "God here established and supported the basic right to private property. When your neighbor has a lawful landmark, you must respect it -- and are forbidden to change it as you might please."  That remains a basic right in today societies -- the right to hold property.  Guzik goes on, "God has clearly entrusted certain possessions to certain individuals, and other people or states are not permitted to take that property without due process of law."

This speaks volumes to the whole idea of robbing and looting that we see run rampant, and worse still hearing some of our legislators condone it as appropriate reparations for things that were done to people centuries ago by the forefathers of the storeowners being robbed and looted.

And then Moses gives the people one other piece of advice in this passage -- what we may call some sound spiritually-based advice -- "do not ignore what the 'men of old' have set up when doing the work of the Lord. Guzik says, "Many a young man, or a new man, has greatly hindered his own work by being a revolutionary -- and ignoring the 'landmarks' which the men of old have set."  Moving forward successfully cannot be accomplished without keeping in mind the lessons of the past.

So, lots to digest here in these four verses.  I would welcome your thoughts and comments on any aspect above.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.