WHAT IS A LIFE WORTH?
Opening Prayer
Thank You, Spirit of God, for Your Word that gives life to my soul.
Read Deuteronomy 19:1–14
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Cities of Refuge
19 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.
4 This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. 5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. 7 This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.
8 If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, 9 because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities. 10 Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
11 But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
14 Do not move your neighbor’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
We live in a world where it seems that life is cheap. How much does God value a human life?Unlike the bloodthirsty nations around them, Israel was to be a nation that reflected God’s value on human life.
To that end, God gave them instructions to set up three cities of refuge on the other side of the Jordan. God also told them to set up three more in the land, and if they ended up with the full land God had promised to Abraham, then they would need a further three (8–10; Num. 35).
The city of refuge concept feels foreign to us, but it was fairly simple. If someone accidentally killed someone, perhaps in a work accident, then the city of refuge was a place of safety to prevent the killed person’s relative (the avenger of blood) from killing someone who was innocent of murder. God wanted murderers to be punished, but God did not want innocent people caught up in overzealous justice.
When we think of our situation, we are guilty and deserve to be punished, but we can run to Jesus and be protected from punishment. What’s more, since our high priest has died (Num. 35:25), we are living in freedom!
Apply
God has forgiven us so much. Is there someone whom you are “holding” in a city of refuge through unforgiveness? How can you extend your forgiveness and the truth of God’s forgiveness to them?
Closing prayer
I praise You, God, that You valued my life enough for Jesus to give up his life for me. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
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