Theological Commentary: Click Here
I’ve spoken
about the cities of refuge at great length.
Understand that the cities of refuge are not a place for guilty people
to go and find salvation. The cities of
refuge are for people who accidentally kill someone to find salvation. There is no way to avoid punishment of execution
for the person who premeditates the death of another person.
Naturally,
it makes sense in a chapter to put things into perspective. In this chapter, we are talking about
physical punishment as physical consequence.
Regardless of anything said in these kinds of chapters, there is no
implication on spiritual salvation. God
forgives the truly repentant. It is entirely possible for a person to find
spiritual salvation and rest eternally with God even as they suffer the
physical consequences of their actions.
The reason
that this is important is because the distinction between spiritual consequence
and physical consequence helps us look at justice in life. If we confuse spiritual and physical
consequence, then we are always worrying and fretting over capital
punishment. We worry and fret over death
sentences for criminals who intentionally commit murder.
God’s Word,
however, does not spend time worrying and fretting. If a person dies accidentally at the hands of
another – farming accident, construction accident, some other kind of accident –
the city of refuge was there to protect them until the case could be heard by
the community and the unintentionality declared. On the other hand, if a person died from the
intent of another person, they were executed and the city of refuge is of no
help. The person who committed the crime
goes before God, who determines the spiritual consequences of the person’s
life. It’s a very cut and dry process.
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