Shabbat Shalom.

 

This week’s Torah Reading, contained in Numbers 35:9-36:13, is the 125th portion of our 3-year Torah Portion reading cycle. And for our discussion today, we will focus only on verses 9 through 34 of chapter 35. This is, by the way, the final reading in our 3-year Torah Reading cycle in the Book of Numbers (aka Bemidbar).

 

I’ve entitled this teaching: The Torah of the Cities of Refuge. It will be my thoughts and reflections on Torah Reading 125.

 

Key Terms and Concepts

 

• Refuge (aka asylum): miq-lat
• Die or dying: mwt (mem-vav-tav)
• Kill or killer or murder or murderer; manslaying or manslayer: rot-zah. In our reading, Yehovah distinguishing for us the difference between murder/intentional homicide and what we call here in the West, manslaughter, accidental, or unintentional homicide. Yah’s Torah of the Cities of Refuge clarifies the distinction between these two forms of killings/homicides. Besides distinguishing between intentional and unintentional homicide, Yehovah, through His instructions on the Cities of Refuge, further emphasized the extreme value that He places on life. Yah’s extreme value for life must serve as a mandate for us to value life as He does. We value life in a Godly manner when we keep Yah’s commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19.18) and to steadfastly enact righteous justice in our communities.
• Redeem; redeemer; avenger such as a blood avenger; to reclaim as one’s own; to right a wrong or restore equilibrium: ga’al
• Blood; the shedding of blood; bloodguilt: dam
• Bribe; ransom (given to one who holds sway in a case to avoid impending judgment or punishment against a guilty party): ko’fair (ko’per)
• Strike; smite; to strike someone dead; to hit or injure another: neekah
• To flee (such as flee to a refuge city): nun-vav-semach
• Enmity or hostility: ehvah
• Witness: ‘ed (ai-ed)

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge (arey hammiqlat)

 

Our reading today starts off with the command to choose for ourselves six cities to serve as Cities of Refuge for the commonwealth of Yisra’el:

 

9And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying, 10“Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, and say to them, ‘When you pass over the Yarděn into the land of Kena‛an, 11then you shall choose cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man-slayer who struck someone mistakenly shall flee there.

12‘And they shall be cities of refuge for you from the revenger, and the man-slayer is not to die until he stands before the congregation for right-ruling. 13‘And of the cities which you give, six are to be cities of refuge. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:9–13.)

 

Our Haftarah Reading, contained within Joshua 20:1-6, names these six designated Cities of Refuge. Those cities were Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead, Golan, Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh.

 

Besides these named cities, Yehovah gave instructions on the proper use of these refuge cities by those innocents seeking asylum or protection from a blood avenger. A blood avenger, by the way, was the direct male next-of-kin who, responding to the news of the murder or killing of their loved one, pursues their killer or murderer and avenges their death.

 

We established the six Cities of Refuge at the command of Yehovah. Their purpose was to prevent the shedding of innocent blood in the Commonwealth of Yisra’el (Deu 19.1-13). The shedding of innocent blood incurs bloodguilt upon a people and upon their Land. If a sanctioned court proceeding determines that the individual who killed the person in question did so with murderous intent, they would hand over the murderer to the blood avenger for execution. This would purge/expiate the bloodguilt that hung over the community and the Land, restoring God’s grace (Deu 4:41-43).

 

We find from last week’s reading that Yah tied these six cities or attached these six cities to the 48 cities that were given to the Levites (Num  35.1-8 of Torah Reading 124). These cities comprised pasturelands for the Levites’ domestic animals and their personal possessions (35.1-3). The confines of these cities are recorded in 35.4-5.

 

It makes sense that Yah required these six refuge cities be numbered among the cities belonging to the Levites. At this time in our history, the Levites served as our intermediaries or intercessors to Yehovah.

 

So, why did Yah command us to set aside these six Levite cities to serve as places of refuge for innocent killers to flee to?

 

1. Yah’s steadfast grace and perfect justice and righteousness reveal that He cares about the life of the innocent soul. Yah is not willing that any should perish, be it in this life or the life to come (cf. 2 Pet 3.9).
2. So as “to not defile the land on which we are living as He, Yehovah, is living in the midst of the land and in our midst” (35.34). This reality goes back to Yah’s demand that we ensure and maintain the absolute physical and spiritual cleanness/purity of our persons and our surroundings while He dwells in our midst (5.1-6.27).

 

The shedding of innocent blood in the Land, by virtue of Yah’s holiness and righteousness, and His demand that we, His people, also be holy, causes the Land to fall into an unclean state. Our God will not dwell amid either physical or spiritual filth. And the only way to return the Land to its formerly clean state — a state that is acceptable to Yah — is for the shed innocent blood to be atoned for by the shedding of the murderer’s blood. This principle not only applies to the blood that is shed by a murder victim, but it also applies to the blood that is shed when an innocent killer’s blood is shed by a blood avenger. Thus, Yah gave us the Torah of the Cities of Refuge to prevent the execution of an innocent soul.

 

Either way, we were commanded to ensure that the commission of such crimes did not sully (i.e. bring about uncleanness to) the Land in which we and Yehovah dwell. To forsake such righteous justice and atonement is to risk Yah abandoning us and the Land, and we, as His people, being exiled from the Land by Yah (Lev 18.28; Eze 36.17-18; Hos 4.2-3).

 

There is little wonder why this and other western nations, where the people once honored the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov, find themselves cursed as they are today. Innocent blood floods the streets of these nations and cities: From the millions of aborted babies, to the countless homicides and crimes that these nations’ judicial systems allow to go unpunished every single day, this and all other supposed Judeo-Christian nations of the world are cursed with a curse. But Yah will recompense the evil that has brought about the unacceptable filth that covers over the nation cities of this world, including the modern nation state of Yisra’el.

 

Many of the provisions of this parashah that we are reading today have been adopted and practiced by most Western nations of the world (at least at some point in their history). Yet the leaders and people of this and the other nations of the world have forsaken these God-given provisions in the name of and the religion we know today as “wokeness” and “progressiveness.” A new humanistic righteousness has replaced Godly-righteousness, and Yah has had about a belly full of this foolishness. Judgment is coming to this nation and to this world. And only those of us who possess the testimony of Yahoshua HaMashiyach and keep Yah’s instructions in righteousness will be spared and delivered from the wrath to come (Rev 12.17; 14.12).

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge applied to both the native born Yisra’elite and the foreigner/stranger/sojourner who worshipped the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov and who lived within the commonwealth of Yisra’el (35.15). And so it stands as it was when we first received Yah’s covenant proposal: Abba Yah asserted that His Torah — His instructions in righteousness — applied to all Yisra’el and every Yisra’elite whether they be native born or the sojourning stranger in our midst (Exo 12.49).

 

There is a prophetic shadow picture embedded in the Torah of the Cities of Refuge, in particular, the aspect of the law that involved the death of the High Priest effecting the release of the manslayer from the City of Refuge that once provided him protection from a blood avenger’s wrathful execution. Freedom — release from the mandated confines of the refuge city he temporarily lived in — came to the manslayer only upon the death of the Cohen Gadol.

 

We find in 35.27 that the killer or innocent manslayer was not under “house arrest” while residing in one city of refuge. He was, however, confined to the defined limits or borders of that city (Barry, John D. et al., ESV Study Bible; Logos 10 edition). While residing within the borders of the City of Refuge, where the city’s elders had acquitted him of murder, he was protected from the murderous wrath of the blood avenger. If the manslayer wanted to live, he had to remain within the confines of that refuge city until the sitting High Priest (aka the Cohen HaGadol at the time of his trial) died. Upon the death of the Cohen Gadol, the manslayer was free to leave that City of Refuge and return to his home. To defy this provision that offered the manslayer protection meant that he would be subject to the wrath-driven vengeance of the blood avenger, regardless of his innocence.

 

The [atoning] death of our Cohen HaGadol has made us, as believers and followers of Yahoshua HaMashiyach, free. Unlike the innocent manslayer who is granted refuge from the wrath of the blood avenger and ultimately achieves complete freedom and release upon the death of the presiding High Priest, we, as believers and followers of Yahoshua HaMashiyach, are feloniously guilty and deserving of the penalty of death and separation from the Creator of all things. Yet, the wholeness and perfection of our High Priest’s sacrifice frees and releases us from our death sentence, despite our overwhelming guilt.

 

The politically motivated so-called sanctuary cities of this nation are receiving attention, making this topic and reading timely, if you ask me. These cities are finding themselves regretting their claims to be sanctuary cities because of the devastating financial and criminal effects brought to their cities by a large influx of undocumented migrants. The obvious difference between this nation’s sanctuary cities and Yehovah’s mandated Cities of Refuge is that the leaders of this nation’s sanctuary cities are not of Yehovah. They are a rebellious lot. And now, they and their constituents are having to eat crow, so to speak, and face the consequences of their self-serving actions.

 

Yah Requires at Least Three Witnesses to Convict and Ensure Righteous Justice is Rendered

 

One of the greatest principles related to righteous judgment to be gleaned from our reading is that of Yah, requiring the testimony of at least two or more witnesses to convict someone of murder. In fact, Yah stipulated:

 

30‘Whoever strikes a being, the murderer shall be executed by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness does not bear witness against someone to die. (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:30.)

 

6 ⌊On the evidence of⌋ two or three witnesses ⌊the person shall be put to death⌋. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 17:6.)

 

The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict⌋ with respect to any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the ⌊evidence⌋ of two witnesses or on the ⌊evidence⌋ of three witnesses ⌊a charge shall be sustained⌋. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Dt 19:15.)

 

The righteous principle of establishing that a crime has indeed been committed through the testimony of two or more witnesses extends over to non-criminal matters, such as in resolving strife or disputes in the Body of Messiah:

 

15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go correct him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take with you in addition one or two others, so that by ⌊the testimony⌋ of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it* to the church. But if he refuses to listen to the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Mt 18:15–17.)

 

Thus, our Master extended the Torah precept of establishing guilt by the testimony of two witnesses to all matters of contention between brethren. (cf. 2 Cor 13.1; Heb 10.28)

 

The Torah of the Cities of Refuge serves as a prophetic shadow picture of the Person and ministries of Yahoshua our Messiah. He is our refuge. Death and Yehovah’s righteous wrath awaits and pursues after those who do not flee to the refuge that Yehovah offers to the world through His Son, Yahoshua HaMashiyach.

 

 Innocent or Guilt Determined by Righteous Judges

The intent of the killer must be determined by the refuge city’s elder-judges (35:16-21). Within these verses, Yehovah provided us examples of actions that constitute intentional homicide or murder.

 

Our judges (i.e. “edah,” which, according to Deu 19.11-12; cf. 16.18; 17.8, must consist of the elders of the city of refuge) determined the innocence or guilt of a killer based on their intent to cause deadly harm. The elders would rely on the testimony of two or more witnesses to arrive at their judgment. If the judges determined the killer did not murder the deceased (i.e. did not intentionally kill the deceased), they would remand the killer to the guardianship of the sanctuary city he first took refuge in. He was to remain there until the death of the presiding Cohen Gadol (aka the High Priest), at which time the manslaying was free to return to their home. If the court deemed the killer guilty of intentional homicide, the murderer was to be handed over to the deceased next of kin (aka the go’el or kinsman redeemer). The go’el was the deceased kinsman responsible (i.e. obligated) to represent the deceased family in avenging the murder of the loved one.

 

There is certainly some Messianic application to be seen here. Our Go’el, Yahoshua Messiah, stands as our redeemer, our deliverer, and the sole being to ransom us from the evil one and the Kingdom of Darkness.

 

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, convicted murderers were not given sanctuary in any of the six cities of refuge. There was no provision in Torah for a murderer to be spared execution through him paying a ransom to either the blood avenger or the judges (35.31).

 

The Necessity Mission of the Blood Avenger

 

The “blood avenger,” or the “redeemer of blood,” despite the bad press he receives from a casual read of this parashah, serves an important purpose as it relates to restoring the righteous equilibrium, — wellbeing — functioning, of our commonwealth. When the redeemer of blood avenges the murder of their loved one, he “restores the status quo” of his family, community, and the Land” (Hegg, Tim, Commentary on Numbers; pg. 225). He brings about necessary justice to the evil that has been perpetrated upon his family, the community, and the Land through his actions. This same principle of restoring the equilibrium or returning a people and the Land back to its righteous status-quo is founded in the concept of the kinsman-redeemer in the Book of Ruth; is like the soul who redeems their brethren out of debtor’s slavery or debtor’s prison (Lev 25.48); and similar to the buying back of one’s inherited land that was, out of some necessity, sold to another (Lev 25.25). (Hegg, ibid., p. 225).

 

The shedding of innocent blood knocks the deceased’s family, the community, and the Land off kilter. And in order to right the situation and restore the righteous equilibrium that befell the people and the Land, the blood avenger must mete out righteous justice.  

 

Now, that being all said, it should be obvious to us all that we do not live under a theocracy (i.e. a government that is ruled by God and His Torah). We instead live in a hollowed form of a republic and we are subject to the laws of this land whether we like it or not.

 

The Shedding of Innocent Blood Defiles the Land and Separates our Community from Yehovah

 

Lastly, we find in verses 33 and 34 that the shedding of innocent blood defiles the Land and separates our community from Yehovah.

 

33‘And do not profane the land where you are, for blood profanes the land, and the land is not pardoned for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34‘And do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, יהוה, am dwelling in the midst of the children of Yisra’ěl.’ ” (The Scriptures, 3rd edition. (Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009), Nu 35:33–34.)

 

37 They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons, 38 and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and so the land was defiled with the blood. 39 And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds. 40 So Yahweh’s anger burned against his people,     and he abhorred his inheritance. 41 Then he gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. (W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ps 106:37–41.)

 

Atonement must be made for all transgressions — one way or the other — so that the bloodguilt may be lifted from the people and the Land and the community’s relationship with Yehovah be restored. The shedding of innocent blood defiles the Land and, as we previously discussed, Yehovah will not dwell among us when we and our Land are unclean. And if there is just one thing we take away from this Torah Reading today, it should be that if we desire to have Yehovah perpetually dwell in our midst, we must be clean. Our actions, our bodies, our spirits, and our surroundings must always be in a pure state. We ourselves cannot purify our personal world. We must rely on the efficacious, atoning sacrifice of our Master Yahoshua Messiah to purify our individual world. It is imperative that we repent of any and all sins that we commit and stop sinning. Clean up our individual environment, both physical and spiritual. Utilize the power and strength of Yah’s Set-Apart Spirit to help us overcome those strongholds that so easily beset us and cause defilement in our lives.

 

Yah desperately wants to commune with us. But Yah will not compromise His holiness to commune with us. That’s why He has provided us with the means to make that communion between Him and us even more possible. We just have to take Abba Yah up on His offer to help us clean ourselves. Hold Yah to His offer to help bring equilibrium and righteousness to our lives. The Psalmist wrote: O taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. (The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ps 34:8.)

 

Today, we are beyond measure blessed to have full access to the atonement that Yehovah has put in place for those who are called by His Name. That atonement provision is now made possible through the Person and atoning ministry of our Master Yahoshua Messiah (Mat 20.28; Rom 3.23-26; 5.9; Eph 1.7; Col 1.14; 1 Joh 2.2; 4.10).