The Yale expositor., 1907-11-01
THE CITIES
OF REFUGE
Sunday School Lesson for Nov. 3. 1907
Specially Prepared for This Paper

llhfs.-Ine latter part or
IL Is uncertain how long he lived. Jo-
sephus says that his administration last
ed % years.
PLACE.-The administration capital
seems to have been transferred from the
military headquarters at Gigal to the
religious center at Shiloh. a town ten
miles north northeast of Bethel Josh.
ISL; 1851; 2l:2)
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
In order to understand the ordinan-
ces concerning the Cities of Refuge
which are referred to in four of the
first six books of the Bible, it is nee
essary to realize two great facts.
First. That there are some crimes
that must be removed If a nation
would exist and prosper. Such are
treason, which strikes at the life OF
the nation, and murder, which strikes
at the existence of the family as well
as the individual. Breaking the sixth
commandment wrongs not merely the
individual. 1t is a threefold crime:
l. Against the individual. 1t takes
away his most precious possession;
everything so far as this world is
concerned.
2. Against the family and the nation.
for it takes away a member, often the
support, of the family, and one of the
essential members and defenders OF
the nation
3. Against God, the giver of life.
Hence the severest punishment pos
sible is melted out to whoever per-
! petrates this crime, and ought to be,
in order to prevent as many as posi-
bic from committing the crime. No
other punishment is adequate. We
/ pity the murderer for his suffering.
| We ought to have still more pity for
the innocent victims. Murder would
be almost entirely expiated from the
/ list of crimes if every wilful murder
er was Immediately punished.
! Second. In the early days when
| nations were small and weak, when
there were multitudes of small semi
Independent tribes. there was no
! general government to enforce the
law and exact justice when the men
of one tribe committed a crime
against another Hence there grew up
the custom of blood revenge. accord
| ing to which the tribes, or the rela-
! tives of the murdered person, were
compelled themselves to punish the
murderer, who was naturally, in most
| cases, the member of another tribe.
! There was no one else TO do it. IL
was very much like lynch law, where
the people feel the need of punish
ment for safetys sake, and fear the
delays of the usual processes OF
criminal law. with the advance of
civilization and the gradual evolution
of the state, the duty of safeguarding
the rights of the community passes
to the state"
The Cities of Refuge and Their
Courts. VS.. 10. There was a scheme
for overcoming the dangers of blood
revenge, and dealing out exact and
merciful justice to all, and saving the
innocent, or partially innocent, from
indiscriminate injustice.
First. A Just Discrimination
1-3. V. 2. Appoint out for you, r. ".
Assign you the" "cities of refuge"
through Moses, but which could not
be selected till the Israelites had set
tied down in their new home. See
Nun. 35: 9-34; Deut. 1918, where
may be found more detailed account.
Second. The Right of Asylum
VS.. 4, z, 8. The necessity for some
inviolable place of refuge has been
recognized in the lawless ages of the
past. These refugees have usually
been religious places, as groves, al
tars, and temples. These have been
the safest, because to attack them
was to defy the gods to whom they
were dedicated, and to array against
the invaders the unseen forces sup
posed to be at their command.
Third. The Preliminary, or Grand
Jury Trial. V. 4. shall stand at the
entering of the gate of the city," 1. e.,
not outside of the gate of the city,
but in the forum, or public square,
which was near the city gates, and
used as a place for public meetings
and trials comp. Ruth Al, 81.
Fourth. The Right to a Regular
Trial before a Competent Court-Vs.
5, 6, 9. 5. If the avenger of the blood
pursue after him, as 1t was his duty
to do IL he believed the man to be a
murderer, they shall not deliver the
slayer up into his hand, because on
the face of ii he smote his neighbor
unwittingly, and should have fair
trial before the avenger of blood could
punish him.
Sixth. The Punishment of the less
Guilty. All this did not save the gull
ty from just punishment Mum. 35:
16-2D. There was no opportunity for
the Cities of Refuge to become hot
beds OF crime and breeders of crimi-
nails. Unpublished crime is, equally
with injustice, the means Of increas-
ing crime and the danger that threat
ems our country.
Christ is the City Of Refuge.
ct is not the church, IL is not the
altar; it is Christ himself who is the
one and only sacrifice for sin, and
/ therefore the one and only hiding