Joshua 20 Devotional

A Refuge with Open Gates

“so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.”Joshua 20:3 (BSB)

The LORD tells Joshua to set apart the cities of refuge he had described through Moses (20:2). They are for someone who has killed another person by accident, without prior malice. Such a person may run to one of these towns, explain his case to the elders at the gate, and be taken in and given a place to live, safe from the one seeking to avenge the death (20:3-5). He stays until he stands trial and until the death of the high priest, and then he may go home (20:6).

Six towns are named, three on each side of the Jordan, and they are open to foreigners as well as Israelites (20:7-9). Here is a God who cares about the difference between malice and accident and will not let grief become a second injustice. Hebrews describes believers as people who have run to grasp the hope God holds out to them (Hebrews 6:18). He is still a refuge whose gates stand open to everyone who flees to him.

To think about: What would it mean for you to run to God as your refuge today instead of trying to defend yourself?