Joshua 20:1-3, 6-9
The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood…And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): This chapter is but short, but the contents of it are interesting…Had the merciful provision made by the Lord for unintentional blood-shedding, been the only thing intended from the appointment of those cities of refuge, surely a court of enquiry among the elders of Israel, would have answered every purpose, in acquitting innocent persons upon those occasions. Doth it not strike the mind therefore with full conviction, that the whole of this was typical of some greater thing? And what so likely as that of representing the great shelter and deliverance to sinners from the blood-shedding of our poor souls, when by unbelief and sin we unintentionally destroy ourselves.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): The cities of refuge are a type of Christ.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The cities of refuge were a manifest type of Christ as He is presented and offered to sinners in the Gospel. They were appointed by God Himself. They were not of man’s devising, as the Gospel is no human invention. They were an expression of the Divine mercy: and how rich the grace thus evidenced, for it provided not merely one, but no less than six, of these cities!
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): These regulations were for all in the land, whether inhabitants or foreigners. God thought of all.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Some observe a significancy in the names of these cities with application to Christ as our refuge.
D. L. MOODY: Their names are significant in that connection.
A. W. PINK: The names of these cities spoke of what the believer has in Christ.
MATTHEW HENRY: I delight not in quibbling upon names, yet I am willing to take notice of these. Kedesh signifies “holy,” and our refuge is the holy Jesus.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It signifies “holy,”—or “holiness;” Christ is holy in both His natures, divine and human; and so abundantly qualified to be the Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer, Psalm 16:10; and is the fountain of holiness to His people, and is made sanctification to them, 1 Corinthians 1:30.
A. W. PINK: Shechem means “shoulder.”
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The shoulder, because of its readiness to bear burdens, prop up, and sustain—and from this ideal meaning, it has the metaphorical one of Government.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): On His shoulder, the government is laid, Isaiah 9:6.
JOHN GILL: Not only the government of the church and people of God is on the shoulder of Christ, but all their sins have been laid upon Him, and bore by Him; and every particular soul in conversion, every lost sheep, is looked up by Him, and taken up and brought home on His shoulder, Luke 15:5.
A. W. PINK: Hebron means “fellowship.”
JOHN GILL: In the effectual calling, the saints are called into fellowship with Christ, and their fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ; through Him they have access to God, and communion with Him now, and shall have uninterrupted communion with Him to all eternity, 1 Corinthians 1:9, John 17:24.
A. W. PINK: Bezer means “a fortified place,”—and the Lord is “a strong hold in the day of trouble,” Nahum 1:7.
MATTHEW HENRY: He is a strong-hold to all those that trust in Him—for in Him all the saints are justified. Ramoth, means “high,” or “exalted,” for Him hath God exalted with His own right hand.
A. W. PINK: In Christ we are elevated above the world, “and made to sit in heavenly places,” Ephesians 2:6. Golan means “exultation,” or “joy,” and “we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:11.
JOHN GILL: Golan also signifies “revealed,” or “manifested;” so Christ has been made manifest in the flesh, and is revealed to sinners, when they are called by His grace; to whom they flee for refuge.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): There were six cities of refuge, in order that one of them might be at a convenient distance from any part of the country.
D. L. MOODY: As the cities of refuge were so situated as to be accessible from every part of the land, so Christ is ever accessible to needy sinners.
A. W. PINK: They were available for Gentiles as well as Jews, Numbers 35:15. How thankful we should be that “there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him,” Romans 10:12.
ROBERT HAWKER: Here we find that by the death of the High Priest, the poor captive got his freedom, and was permitted to return to his own city.
A. W. PINK: It was the death of the high priest which secured full and final deliverance from the avenger of blood.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: A change in the priesthood, through death, brought liberty to those who were prisoners in the cities of refuge. The appearing of the Lord’s anointed, in the exercise of His Melchisedec priesthood, will be the great antitype of that ancient law.
ROBERT HAWKER: Reader! was it not the death of thy High Priest and sacrifice that procured thy ransom? Did not our Jesus, liberate all His people in the day He died on the cross?
JOHN GILL: Certain it is, that the death of Christ, our high priest, atones for every sin of those that flee to Him, and by which they are reconciled to God.
A. W. PINK: Seven is the number of completion and of rest after a finished work; see Genesis 2:3.
C. H. SPURGEON: Seven is the number of perfection—to show that there was a perfect offering made by the sprinkling of the blood. Even so, Jesus has perfectly presented His bloody sacrifice…Now, there are not six Christs—there is but one…Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Divinely-appointed way of salvation! Whosoever among us shall make haste away from our sins and flee to Christ, being convinced of our guilt, and helped by God’s Spirit to enter that road, shall, without doubt, find absolute and eternal security! The curse of the Law of God shall not touch us, Satan shall not harm us, vengeance shall not reach us, for the Divine appointment, stronger than gates of iron or brass, shields everyone of us “who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” in the Gospel!
THOMAS COKE: Thus, in the perfection of our Redeemer’s merits, lies the security of the sinner’s hope; on His shoulder the government is laid, so that no enemy can hurt us; the sweetest communion is that which can be enjoyed through faith in Him; His arms of love are a strong-hold, and His exaltation is the pledge of our own; for He shall bring all who have fled to Him for refuge, and cleave to Him, to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.
A. W. PINK: Therefore, “I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust,” Psalm 91:2.
