NUMBERS 35
Residence. The fact that the Levites were servants of God did not make them any less citizens of the land. They needed places to live and care for their families when they were not ministering at the tabernacle. The tribes’ provision of forty-eight cities for them was done in a fair way (v. 8). God’s people should care for God’s work and should share as God has provided for them (
Refuge. Six of the Levitical cities were designated cities of refuge. God makes a distinction between murder and manslaughter, the intentional and the accidental. In that day, the nation had no police force to investigate crimes and prosecute criminals, so the innocent had to be protected from angry family members who might want to take justice into their own hands. In the city of refuge, the fugitive was safe until the congregation decided whether he was guilty of murder or not (Deut. 19:11–13).
Redemption. Jesus Christ is our “city of refuge” (Heb. 6:18). When we trust Him, our sins are all forgiven and judgment is past (