"Refuge Cities" tells how tribal Israel dealt with "involuntary manslaughter" -- the accidental killing of one person by another.
Refuge city -- a place to which the killer could flee for safety from family members out for revenge
Read or hear the story from Joshua 20:1-6
 Family Feud
- Ever heard of the Hatfield's and the McCoy's?
- Their culture handled justice by a system of private vengeance
- each family sought justice on their own
- no provision for mercy
- no way to stop the bloodshed
- In the Ancient Near East, private vengeance
- What about today?
- Think of movies that indicate the acceptability of private vengeance
- Dirty Harry
- Slingblade
- Burning Bed
These are all cases of private vengeance against intentional killers.
What about private vengeance for unintentional killing?
The normal expectation in many cultures of the Ancient Near East was that if someone killed your relative, whether intentional or unintentional, you should hunt them down and kill them.
Israel, get ready for a NEW THING!
The Lord spoke to Joshua,
Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses…
When the people of Israel settled in the land, they organized their communal life in ways that would move toward divine ideals of
PEACE and JUSTICE
 
- This entailed the establishment of an intricate system of laws...
- Laws about:
- Divine-human relationships, religious activities and spiritual matters
- Human-human relationships, how to handle conflict between people
Genesis |
Exodus |
Leviticus |
Numbers |
Deuteronomy |
The first five books of the Bible are commonly called "The Law" or "Torah" in scripture and in the church. These books contain lists and statements of laws, along with stories of how God acted in and for the world.
The book of Joshua is the very next book after the Torah.
Visit a site that tells more about the organization of the books of the Bible, and about the five books of The Law. (note*)
They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.
Biblical law seeks to restrain private vengeance and move justice into the realm of communal responsibility.
For more details about the concept of refuge cities and how the people of Israel responded to various kinds of killing, check out these passages:
If you read on past verse 14 in Exodus 21, you notice that other offenses punishable by death include:
- Striking your mother or father
- Stealing a man (taking someone else's servant or slave)
- Cursing your mother or father
Hold on! There has been a change.
Today we do not consider that offenses like cursing your parents deserve the death penalty, despite what the Bible says.
But some people do think there are offenses that warrant the death penalty.
Visit the United States Sentencing Commission website to learn more about contemporary ways of administering justice. (note*)
The movie "Dead Man Walking" deals with
 capital punishment
mercy
repentance
forgiveness
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 Have you seen "Dead Man Walking"? What was your reaction? What is your opinion about capital punishment?
Click here to add your response and/or read others' responses.
…a trial before the congregation
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"Congregation" is a key word. It refers here to adult male Yahwists. Read about this important word and the societal organization of Israel during the days of Joshua in Joshua and the Promised Land, pp. 48-50.
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- Visit the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization which: (note*)
- strives to bring about justice through peaceful means and communal responsibility (using the legal system)
- opposes personal vengeance of hate groups
- develops/promotes educational programs to encourage change
The notion of a refuge city is closely related to the notion of the altar or sanctuary
as a…
Place of Safety
| What are places of |
| REFUGE |
| | or |
| | | SANCTUARY |
| | | | today? |
Animals and birds need a place of safety from human culture.
Visit a website about the National Wildlife Refuges. (note*)
People need a place of safety from the hostility of other people.
Visit this page from "The City of Refuge" United Church of Christ. (note*)
Human spirits need a place of safety from the noise & busyness of life.
Visit a virtual retreat house. (note*)
God is sometimes thought of as a place of safety from life's troubles.
Read Isaiah 26:1-5 which praises God as being "a refuge for the needy in their distress."
What do you need safety from? Where do you go to feel safe?
Click here to add your response and/or read others' responses.
Note* These links jump to outside sites for further information. Links do not constitute an endorsement by the Women's Division of the information on other web sites. These links expose United Methodist Women to diverse perspectives, afford us an opportunity to compare them to United Methodist positions, and encourage United Methodist Women to critically analyze the issues raised by the Joshua web pages.
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