Joshua 20:1 - Meaning and Application

Many things were ordered by the law of Moses to be done when Israel came into Canaan, and this was one of them, the setting apart of safe cities for anyone who had killed someone by accident. This was a mercy to all Israel, because no one could be sure that such a case would never be their own. It was also good for the land that the blood of an innocent person, guilty only in action and not in heart, should not be shed, not even by the avenger of blood, the nearest relative who was allowed to seek justice.

God reminds them of this law because it was so useful to them, so that they would also remember the other laws he had given for his honor. Orders were given for appointing these cities at a very fitting time, when the land had just been surveyed and they could divide it into three parts, as God had told them, for the best placement of the cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 19:3). Yet it is likely this was not done until after the Levites received their share in the next chapter, since all the cities of refuge were to be Levite cities.

As soon as God gave them cities of rest, he told them to appoint cities of refuge, places where any of them might someday need to run for safety. In this way, God provided not only for their comfort at all times, but also for their protection in danger, and in this world we must expect and prepare for such danger. This also points to what God's spiritual Israel have and will have in Christ and heaven, not only rest to live in, but refuge to be safe in.

We should not think these cities of refuge were spoken of so often in Moses' law and guarded with so much care unless they were meant to point ahead to something greater. Their purpose could have been fully served in our law by letting the courts protect and clear the manslayer in all the cases where sanctuary was due. But Scripture gives them so much place because they pictured the help the gospel gives to poor, repentant sinners, and their protection from the curse of the law and the wrath of God in our Lord Jesus. Believers flee to him for refuge (Hebrews 6:18), and in him they are found (Philippians 3:9) as in a safe place, where they are protected from arrest, and there is now no condemnation for them (Romans 8:1).

The next instructions explain how these cities were to be used. The law on this matter had already been given in full (Numbers 35:10 and following). It is assumed that a person might accidentally kill someone, even his own child or dearest friend, without meaning to do it. He might not hate that person at all, but may have truly loved them before (Joshua 20:3, 5). Human life is so uncertain that we should thank God he has kept us from both killing and being killed by accident.

In such a case, the relatives of the one who died would naturally demand the life of the slayer, as payment under that old rule that whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. But if, after a fair hearing, it was shown that the killing was truly accidental and not planned, whether from old hatred or sudden anger, then the slayer was to be protected from the avenger of blood in any of these cities (Joshua 20:4-6). He was allowed to live there under the care of the government, but he had to stay there, as one under restriction, until the death of the high priest, and only then could he return home.

The Jews say that if such a man died before the high priest and was buried in the city of refuge, then when the high priest died his bones were to be moved with respect to his family tomb.