God Provides for Clergy through Laity; Justice for the Innocent; and Death for the Convicted.

Numbers Chapter 35: Cities for the Levites and Cities of Refuge

Intro to Numbers 35:1-34

Day 94 for our social distancing – although it’s Day 101 officially since this all started – the day that W.H.O. declared a pandemic was here. We were fortunate enough to be away for that first week. All the stats globally are continuing to go in the right direction with the number of deaths versus all known cases being at 5.28%. However, some local areas, especially in the U.S. are still experiencing concern with a high number of cases being discovered. This weekend we get to see our youngest grandchildren – the first time in 13.5 weeks and we can attend church as well for the first time in the same period. We were informed today that the on-line registration for the 30% capacity attendance at our church that opened on a Tuesday closed three days later and names could only be put on a waiting list. This will repeat itself each week going forward in accordance with whatever wisdom our Premier decides to apply to churches. Yes, the world has changed.

We personally are excited that we are coming to the conclusion of our study in the Old Testament Book of Numbers. Today we look at the cities that the Levites would have reserved for them to live in since being the tribe responsible for the priestly duties of the Israelites, they weren’t entitled to any land inheritance. And the chapter also talks about the cities of Refuge that would be available for people to go to under certain circumstances which the text describes. Again, we keep in mind God’s Providence for all.  Let’s read on. There’s a lot to try and unravel here. So, let’s first get familiar with the passage. You can read it here or in your preferred version of the text.

The Passage

35 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ² “Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities. ³ The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.

⁴ “The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city ^[a]outward a thousand cubits around. ⁵ You shall also measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.
⁶ The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. ⁷ All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, ^[b]together with their pasture lands. ⁸ As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits.”
⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has ^[c]killed any person unintentionally may flee there. ¹² The cities shall be to you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for ^[d]trial. ¹³ The cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge. ¹⁴ You shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities ^[e]in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the alien and for the sojourner among them; that anyone who ^[f]kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
¹⁶ ‘But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷ If he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand, by which he might die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁹ The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him. ²⁰ If he pushed him of hatred, or threw something at him lying in wait and as a result he died, ²¹ or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death, he is a murderer; the blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
²² ‘But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or threw something at him without lying in wait, ²³ or with any ^[g]deadly object of stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so that he died, while he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury, ²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood avenger according to these ordinances. ²⁵ The congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled; and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.²⁶ But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, ²⁷ and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood avenger kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of blood ²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.
²⁹ ‘These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
³⁰ ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the ^[h]evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.³¹ Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³² You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land ^[i]before the death of the priest.³³ So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.’”

Footnotes

1. Numbers 35:4 Lit and outward
2. Numbers 35:7 Lit them
3. Numbers 35:11 Lit smote
4. Numbers 35:12 Lit judgment
5. Numbers 35:14 Lit you shall give in
6. Numbers 35:15 Lit smites
7. Numbers 35:23 Lit by which he may die
8. Numbers 35:30 Lit mouth
9. Numbers 35:32 Or until

Thoughts on the Passage

These instructions were given to Moses when Israel was still in the plains of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan.

The cities that the Levites were to get was to come from the inherited land that all the tribes were to get (including the ones that were to stay east of Jordan and not reside in the Promised Land). The Levite cities were to be surrounded by land for the Levite livestock. Such pastureland was to extend outward from the cities the Levites were given, and the pastures were to be of a specific size. And the exact size of those parcels of land was given by God. Our God is a God of details. Matthew Henry points out that these lands were not to be ‘farmed’ or ‘tilled’ – as Levites had to devote themselves to the things of the priesthood rather than the work involved in actual farming.

If I read verse 6 correctly, there were to be 42 cities for the Levites, plus six cities of refuge, also to be under the care of the Levites. These cities and lands came from each of the tribes’ inheritance and that has two benefits: The tribes’ personal contribution to the priesthood via their own inheritance, as well as the benefit of having the Levites and their work near them.

Larger tribes would give more land than smaller tribes, proportionally. In verse 9 we learn that the cities of refuge were to be chosen by the tribes (not the Levites).

The purpose of these cities was made clear in verses 11-15. They were for those who had killed someone unintentionally. They were to protect them from avengers until they could stand trial. Also, these cities were for the aliens and the sojourners among the Israelites. Revenge killing was a tradition of the culture from which the Israelites had come. Some argue that it was not God’s preference, as He says elsewhere in Scripture “Revenge is Mine”, but for some reason He did allow it here, as something the Israelites could hold on to from their past. That puts us in a dilemma as to what should our posture on capital punishment and other forms of penalty should be for the crime of taking a life. It is not an easy matter to resolve, especially today.

What we can point out is how fair God wanted to be even in this practice, by establishing these refuge cities. He wanted to give the charged person every chance possible to be proven innocent if he was innocent. As Chuck Smith says, God created limitations and loopholes for the innocent parties. Smith’s words describe God’s approach here at this point in His People’s history:

“So, here God deals with a cultural practice, modifying it, bringing it within borders, within limitations, providing for the innocent. And yet the murderer was in no way to be set free. They were not to actually put to death a man with one witness. There had to be at least two witnesses.”

But God had no hesitation in actually having the guilty party put to death. Let us not forget that. But today our penal system seems to think God’s way was not the right one and many want to do away with capital punishment. So, our “polluted” land remains so, as we’ll see later.

Interestingly, out of the six refuge cities, 3 were on the east side of the Jordan and three in Canaan.”

Now the rest of the chapter seems to swing back to describe what happens to real murderers. Murderers, regardless of what means they used to kill someone, were to be put to death. And it was the blood avenger of the murdered person that would do the killing of the murderer.

From verse 22 on, we have instructions as to what is to happen in some other specific cases. Accidental deaths caused by others, would subject the murderer to the congregation who would decide between the murderer and the avenger.

Verse 25 goes straight into saying that the congregation will save the murderer from the avenger (I assume in the case where the congregation decides in his favor) but cause him to live in a refuge city until the death of the existing high priest. Unless of course, he tries to escape from his city of refuge, the blood avenger is free to find him and kill him without being guilty.  Once the high priest dies, the murderer could return to his inherited land and live freely.

All these ordinances are to be kept throughout all generations.

Now verse 30 talks about putting a murderer to death but only if there is more than one witness. And there is not to be a means by which the murderer’s life can be bought off with a ransom. He has to be put to death. The same is true for anyone who escapes his city of refuge.

Wrap-up

The whole purpose of these laws was given in verse 33: “so that you don’t pollute the land in which you are”.  And I like the next part – “for blood pollutes the land and no expiation (the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing; atonement) can be made for the land . . . except by the blood of him who shed it.”

Is there any land in the world anymore that by this definition has not been polluted? I hardly think so. Is much of our own countries under that same form of pollution? Even the blood of him who polluted the land is not able any longer to atone for the land – only the blood of Christ can do that now if we let it.

The chapter ends with, “Don’t defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.” Wow. We need to recognize that God lives among His people. And regrettably, we live in polluted lands. At the very least, we must make certain that our “hearts” – God’s true residence in lives of man now – are pure and without pollution. May it be so for you and me.

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

God gives Moses a heads up -- about his own death.

Numbers 27:12-23 Moses’ Responsibilities Are Transferred to Joshua

Day 84. Yesterday was the third memorial (this time the actual funeral) for George Floyd, the black man that died at the hands of police who used unnecessary force. His death has led to protests but also rioting, looting, and even deaths, all over the world. Now there’s a call to disband police forces.  The world has gone crazy.  Meanwhile, our Ontario Premier has moved to “2^nd phase reopening” for the province starting this Friday, but not for the Greater Toronto Area.  So, we’re still limited to doing a lot of nothing.  We continue to study our Bible.

The Passage

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. ¹³ When you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother ^[a]was; ¹⁴ for in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My ^[b]command ^[c]to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵ Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶ “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, ¹⁷ who will go out ^[d]and come in before them, and who will lead them out and ^[e]bring them in so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” ¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “^[f]Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;¹⁹ and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. ²⁰ You shall put some of your ^[g]authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him. ²¹ Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his ^[h]command they shall go out and at his ^[i]command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.” ²² Moses did just as the Lord commanded him; and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. ²³ Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord had spoken ^[j]through Moses.

Footnotes

1. Numbers 27:13 Lit was gathered
2. Numbers 27:14 Lit mouth
3. Numbers 27:14 Lit for My sanctity
4. Numbers 27:17 Lit before them and who will
5. Numbers 27:17 Lit who will bring
6. Numbers 27:18 Lit Take for yourself
7. Numbers 27:20 Lit majesty
8. Numbers 27:21 Lit mouth
9. Numbers 27:21 Lit mouth
10. Numbers 27:23 Lit by the hand of

Thoughts on the Passage

Imagine being Moses and reviewing your life from the time you were left in a basket in the Nile river in Egypt, by your mother and sister and now just finishing close to four decades in the wilderness leading God’s people to the promised land. In the back of your mind is the fact that God earlier [Numbers 20:12] had warned you about the fact that you would not, due to disobedience, be allowed to actually take your people, God’s people, into the Promised Land yourself. You wished that wasn’t true and you hoped God would change His mind. But you also know from experience that God keeps His word. You won’t make it to Canaan.

And then God tells you what He told Moses in verses 12-14: “Go up the mountain of Abarim; take a good look at the Promised Land; and then you will die. And by the way, let me tell you again why you won’t be going there – because you rebelled against My command in front of My people.”

David Guzik suggests it would still be many months before Moses was actually taken up to the mountain referred here, but God wanted him to be able to prepare his heart for when the time came. The actual account of that takes place in the next book of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, in chapter 34. However, Deuteronomy 3:23,24 come before that and there Moses did ask if God would change His mind and let him cross over to the Promised Land. And God refused.

Clearly, God does give all His servants this kind of notice, this kind of advance knowledge. We may wish He did – at least for us. But would that really be a good idea?  Could we handle it? Would we want to know much more like when, how, with whom, etc.? Maybe God knows that we wouldn’t be mature or spiritual enough to handle it like Moses did.

Moses had sinned against God and God’s word had to be fulfilled. Moses had to die. But God allowed him to see the promised land, not to torture him, but as a loving courtesy. I believe it grieved God just as much as it grieved Moses to prevent His faithful servant from getting over to the Promised Land. Finally, Matthew Henry notes that Moses had to die, but he was not being ‘cut off’. He was, in fact, being gathered “to his people, brings him to rest with the holy patriarchs that had gone before him. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, were his people, the people of his choice and love, and to them death gathered him.”

Furthermore, Henry suggests that Moses had seen how easily and cheerfully Aaron had put off the priesthood first and then the body. Moses would have to do likewise and not be afraid of dying. It is a good thing to gathered to one’s people. And Henry says we can learn from this too:

·       [1.] As an engagement to us to think often of dying. We are not better than our fathers or brethren; if they are gone, we are going; if they are gathered already, we must be gathered very shortly.

·       [2.] As an encouragement to us to think of death without terror, and even to please ourselves with the thoughts of it. It is but to die as such and such died if we live as they lived; and their end was peace, they finished their course with joy; why then should we fear any evil in that melancholy valley?

And notice how Moses responded. No argument. But rather his continued care for God’s people, his people. He wanted God (not himself) to appoint another man over the whole congregation. He wanted the people to have a shepherd and not be like sheep without one. And God agreed. This whole idea of a shepherd is developed further in the Bible elsewhere and developed ultimately with respect to Jesus Christ, our shepherd. It is also developed in reference to the pastor-shepherd of a local church. The Greek word for pastor is indeed the word shepherd. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd and the pastors are under-shepherds.

There is an interesting phrase in verse 16. Moses calls God, “the God of the spirits of all flesh”. Chuck Smith says this is where the Mormons get the idea or the doctrine of the ‘eternal spirit of men’. That is, you and I actually existed in heaven, but we had to be tested on earth, so God made a body for our spirit to cohabit while here. If you pass you can become a ‘god’. For more on this, let me refer you reluctantly to Mormon Cosmology. Sad, and yet another reason why The Church of Latter-Day Saints is not part of the true Christian Protestant movement.

So, what does this phrase really mean? Most commentators were silent on the matter. But I did find one, Robert Jamieson, who had something meaningful to say when he wrote:

“The request was most suitably made to God in this character, as the Author of all the intellectual gifts and moral graces [the spirits of all flesh] with which men are endowed, and who can raise up qualified persons for the most arduous duties and the most difficult situations.”

I like that.

God asked Moses to lay his hand on Joshua, the son of Nun, and have him stand before the high priest, Eleazar, and commission him in front of everyone.

In verse 20, God says to Moses that he put “some of” his authority on Joshua.

In verse 21, we read that Eleazar would, on Joshua’s behalf, enquire the judgment of the Urim before the Lord, so that the Israelites will obey him in their comings and goings. And all this happened as God requested.

Smith provides this insight into the Urim:

Now the Urim was a little thing that the priest wore, a little pouch of some kind, that they sought counsel from God through the use of the Urim and the Thummim. Lights and perfections is [sic] what the words Urim and Thummim mean. And some believe that they were just a little pouch and one had a white stone and a black stone and that when they would ask the Lord a question the priest would say, "Now God, show us which one" and he would pull out a stone. If it was the white stone, God would say yes, then they would ask the next question. And you know, they'd mix up the stones and you'd pull a stone again and they would get yes-no answers. So it's sort of a twenty-one question kind of a thing where you get yes-no answers to then ascertain the will of the Lord. Now, God had a more direct relationship with Moses. God said, "Hey, there's no one like this before after where I really speak to the fellow sort of face to face," I mean direct speaking, a very powerful way.

But even Smith agrees that we really do not know what these things were exactly. We do know that whereas Moses went to God, the new leader would enquire of God through the High Priest.

This passage should make the Christian:

1.     Think about those who have died before us (including the great company of witnesses that Paul talks about in the 12^th chapter of Hebrews); and looking forward to seeing them.

2.     Not being afraid to die especially if we are right with God.

3.     Attempt to have set up our affairs on earth in such a way that God will have helped us appoint a replacement for our responsibilities.

4.     Do his or her best to leave a legacy behind that will be a role model for others.

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