"The slayer shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain the case to the elders of that city..." (vs 4 NRSV)
Standing and explaining your case at the entrance of the gate the elders conjures up pictures in my mind of a bunch of old men, sitting in a semi-circle at the gate, leaning back on two legs of their chairs, looking down through their bi-focals, at a dirty, dusty, bedraggled man who, exhausted, has come to beg for a place to hide out, so that the slayer cannot kill him. That's the picture that comes to my mind. I probably get it from having watched too many cowboy and gunfighter movies in the years that I thought I had time to watch television!
In reality, the gates of the city, were not just super-sized wooden picket fences. The walls were probably more like some of the forts in the Southeastern U.S. that I've visited. The walls and the towers within the walls and gates are thick enough to have rooms inside of them - thick enough to have a courtroom at the gate where the elders can hear the case of the one who killed a friend or neighbor by accident.
Now these cities of refuge seem to be a really great idea. Justice seems to be the prevailing purpose for them. However, I am not sure that I would want to raise a family living in one of these cities, where your neighbor could well be living next door only because he doesn't dare leave the city because the avenger of blood will get him.
In the U.S. we have this thing called presumption of innocence, or "innocent until proven guilty." Well, that is the presumption... But, if someone is arrested for murdering someone, they are not usually set free without a very high bail and sometimes they are not even allowed bail until after they have been found "not guilty." We may say that we presume that they are innocent all we want, what we do with them after their initial hearings, lets the world know what we actually think. Imprisoned doesn't exactly give the impression of innocence. On the other hand, maybe we might think of our jails as cities of refuge. They keep the suspect safe from the avengers of blood - not always - but usually.
May the LORD be your refuge and strength that you may never need walls to protect you from the avenger.
Standing and explaining your case at the entrance of the gate the elders conjures up pictures in my mind of a bunch of old men, sitting in a semi-circle at the gate, leaning back on two legs of their chairs, looking down through their bi-focals, at a dirty, dusty, bedraggled man who, exhausted, has come to beg for a place to hide out, so that the slayer cannot kill him. That's the picture that comes to my mind. I probably get it from having watched too many cowboy and gunfighter movies in the years that I thought I had time to watch television!
In reality, the gates of the city, were not just super-sized wooden picket fences. The walls were probably more like some of the forts in the Southeastern U.S. that I've visited. The walls and the towers within the walls and gates are thick enough to have rooms inside of them - thick enough to have a courtroom at the gate where the elders can hear the case of the one who killed a friend or neighbor by accident.
Now these cities of refuge seem to be a really great idea. Justice seems to be the prevailing purpose for them. However, I am not sure that I would want to raise a family living in one of these cities, where your neighbor could well be living next door only because he doesn't dare leave the city because the avenger of blood will get him.
In the U.S. we have this thing called presumption of innocence, or "innocent until proven guilty." Well, that is the presumption... But, if someone is arrested for murdering someone, they are not usually set free without a very high bail and sometimes they are not even allowed bail until after they have been found "not guilty." We may say that we presume that they are innocent all we want, what we do with them after their initial hearings, lets the world know what we actually think. Imprisoned doesn't exactly give the impression of innocence. On the other hand, maybe we might think of our jails as cities of refuge. They keep the suspect safe from the avengers of blood - not always - but usually.
May the LORD be your refuge and strength that you may never need walls to protect you from the avenger.
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