Refuge

The vocabulary of refuge runs along two parallel tracks in Scripture. On one track is the legal institution: six walled cities set aside in the conquest allotment so that a person who killed unintentionally would have somewhere to flee from the kinsman-avenger. On the other is the figural use: Yahweh himself addressed as rock, fortress, high tower, and refuge, and the believer's act of fleeing for shelter as the basic posture of faith. The two tracks meet at last in Hebrews, where the gospel hope is described as having "fled for refuge" (Heb 6:18).

The Cities of Refuge

The institution is announced before the conquest. Even at Sinai, beside the law of murder, Yahweh promises a place: "And if a man does not lie in wait, but God delivers [him] into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he will flee" (Ex 21:13). The boundary is set at once in the next verse — the altar itself does not protect the deliberate killer: "And if a man comes presumptuously on his fellow man, to slay him with guile; you will take him from my altar, that he may die" (Ex 21:14).

In Numbers the institution becomes concrete. Israel is to "appoint yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you⁺, that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally may flee there" (Nu 35:11). They are "to you⁺ for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer will not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment" (Nu 35:12), six cities in all, "three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities you⁺ will give in the land of Canaan" (Nu 35:14). The protection is wide: "For the sons of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, will these six cities be for refuge" (Nu 35:15).

Numbers also draws the line between manslaughter and murder by the killer's instrument and intent. "If he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death" (Nu 35:16); the same verdict follows for a stone or a wooden weapon "by which a man may die" (Nu 35:17-18). For such a man, "The avenger of blood will himself put the murderer to death: when he meets him, he will put him to death" (Nu 35:19). Hatred or ambush makes the act murder (Nu 35:20-21). But sudden thrusting "without enmity," casting an unseen stone, striking one "not his enemy, neither sought his harm" (Nu 35:22-23), all fall under the refuge provision: "the congregation will deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation will restore him to his city of refuge, where he has fled: and he will dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil" (Nu 35:25). The refugee is bound to the city. "If the manslayer will at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge … and the avenger of blood slays the manslayer; he will not be guilty of blood" (Nu 35:26-27). The release comes only with the high priest's death, after which "the manslayer will return into the land of his possession" (Nu 35:28). No ransom may commute either sentence — neither the murderer's death nor the manslayer's confinement (Nu 35:31-32).

Moses then sets aside the eastern three himself: "Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; that the manslayer might flee there, who slays his fellow man unawares, and did not hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: [namely], Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites" (De 4:41-43).

Deuteronomy presses the system further. Israel is to "set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it" (De 19:2), and to engineer the access roads themselves: "You will prepare for yourself the way, and divide the borders of your land … into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there" (De 19:3). The case is illustrated with the woodsman: "as when a man goes into the forest with his fellow man to cut wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and hits his fellow man, so that he dies; he will flee to one of these cities and live" (De 19:5). The reason for the road-system is named: the avenger's pursuit "while his heart is hot, and overtakes him, because the way is long" must not catch the innocent (De 19:6). If the territory grows, three more cities are to be added (De 19:8-9). The same statute, however, has teeth against the abuser of the asylum: "if any man hates his fellow man, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him in the soul so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities; then the elders of his city will send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die" (De 19:11-12). The refuge does not pity the murderer: "Your eye will not pity him, but you will put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you" (De 19:13).

Joshua executes the command. Yahweh tells him, "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Assign for yourselves the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you⁺ by Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally [and] unawares may flee there: and they will be to you⁺ for a refuge from the avenger of blood" (Jos 20:2-3). The procedure of admission follows: the refugee will "stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they will take him into the city to them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them" (Jos 20:4). Should the avenger arrive, the elders are not to surrender him "because he struck his fellow man unawares, and did not hate him formerly" (Jos 20:5). His residence runs "until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest" (Jos 20:6). The six cities are then named: "Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah" west of the Jordan, and "Bezer in the wilderness in 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" east (Jos 20:7-8). The closing summary makes the protection inclusive of the resident alien: "These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes any soul unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands before the congregation" (Jos 20:9). See Cities for the cities of refuge inside the wider Levitical land grant.

The Avenger of Blood

The institution is unintelligible apart from the role it limits. The avenger of blood (Hebrew go'el) is the kinsman whose duty is to avenge a slain relative. Numbers makes him the executor against the murderer (Nu 35:19), and Deuteronomy assumes that without the system of refuge his pursuit will overtake the manslayer in hot blood: "then the elders of his city will send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood" (De 19:12) — but only after the elders have judged that the killing was murder, not manslaughter. Joshua reaffirms the manslayer's right to flee "and they will be to you⁺ for a refuge from the avenger of blood" (Jos 20:3). The refuge city, then, does not abolish the avenger's right; it interposes a public process between the death and the kin.

The principle survives outside the cities-of-refuge laws. Joab uses the avenger's vocabulary against Abner — "And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly" (2Sa 3:27) — and the Maccabean wars repeatedly invoke vengeance for kin: "I will avenge then my nation and the sanctuary, and your⁺ children, and wives: for all the nations are gathered to destroy us" (1Ma 13:6); "And they took vengeance for the blood of their brother: and they returned to the bank of the Jordan" (1Ma 9:42). Ben Sira generalizes: "He who takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord, And he will closely observe his sins" (Sir 28:1), and again, "Against [his] enemies he has left an avenger, And to [his] friends one who repays favor" (Sir 30:6).

Yahweh as Rock and Refuge

The legal institution is matched by a figural one in which Yahweh himself is the refuge. The figure is concentrated in Davidic poetry. After his deliverances, David sings, "Yahweh is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine" (2Sa 22:2), and again, "Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation" (2Sa 22:47). Hannah's earlier song uses the same vocabulary: "There is none holy like Yahweh; For there is none besides you, Neither is there any rock like our God" (1Sa 2:2). The Song of Moses opens on this note: "The Rock, his work is perfect; For all his ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, Just and right is he" (De 32:4), and presses the figure polemically against the gods of the nations — "For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges" (De 32:31).

The Psalter takes the figure up and presses it. "For who is God, but Yahweh? And who is a rock, besides our God" (Ps 18:31). David calls, "To you, O Yahweh, I will call: My rock, don't be deaf to me; Or else, if you are silent to me, I will become like those who go down into the pit" (Ps 28:1). "He only is my rock and my salvation: [He is] my high tower; I will not be greatly moved" (Ps 62:2). The figure compounds image upon image: "But Yahweh has been my high tower, And my God the rock of my refuge" (Ps 94:22). Even amid Isaiah's threats of judgment, the same picture serves the righteous: "He will stay on high; his place of defense will be the munitions of rocks; his bread will be given [him]; his waters will be sure" (Is 33:16), and Yahweh's own promise to his people, "When you pass through the waters, [my Speech] will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you" (Is 43:2). The figure underlies the assurance that the trusting will not be moved: "Those who trust in [the Speech of] Yahweh Are as mount Zion, which can't be moved, but remains forever" (Ps 125:1); "I have set Yahweh always before me: Because he is at my right hand, I will not be moved" (Ps 16:8); "God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved: God will help her, and that right early" (Ps 46:5); "Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you: He will never allow the righteous to be moved" (Ps 55:22). And the figure is set polemically against false refuges: "Cease yourselves from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for what is he to be accounted of?" (Is 2:22); "Look, this is the [prominent] man who did not make [the Speech of] God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches" (Ps 52:7); "It is better to trust in [the Speech of] Yahweh Than to put confidence in princes" (Ps 118:9). See Shield for the closely linked figure of Yahweh as shield.

The Divine Deliverer

The figural language of refuge passes naturally into the language of divine deliverance. David's own testimony before Saul names the pattern: "Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine" (1Sa 17:37). The same David sings, "He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me" (Ps 18:17), and again, "I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, And delivered me from all my fears" (Ps 34:4); "For you have delivered my soul from death: [Have you] not [delivered] my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?" (Ps 56:13). Daniel's testimony in the lions' den is summarized in the same vocabulary: "He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions" (Da 6:27); and Daniel himself, "My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions' mouths" (Da 6:22). Lot is brought from Sodom in the same idiom: "But he lingered; and the men laid hold on his hand … Yahweh being merciful to him; and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city" (Ge 19:16), and the Red Sea pattern is summarized once: "Thus Yahweh saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians" (Ex 14:30).

The prophets keep the figure: "even to old age, I am he, and even to hoar hairs [my Speech] will carry [you⁺]; I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver" (Is 46:4); "Don't be afraid because of them; for my [Speech] is with you to deliver you, says Yahweh" (Je 1:8). Ben Sira gathers the same strand: "For you have redeemed my soul from death, You have kept back my flesh from the Pit, And have delivered my feet from the hand of Sheol" (Sir 51:2); "You helped me, according to the abundance of your mercy, Out of the snare of those watching for my downfall" (Sir 51:3); "Until death strive for the truth, and Yahweh will fight for you" (Sir 4:28). The Maccabean wars are cast in the same pattern: "let us cry to heaven: and he will have mercy on us, and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and will destroy this army before our face this day" (1Ma 4:10); "all nations will know that there is one who redeems and delivers Israel" (1Ma 4:11); "So Israel had a great deliverance that day" (1Ma 4:25); "It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the God of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company" (1Ma 3:18).

The New Testament reads its own deliverance into the same language. Paul writes of God "who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us" (2Co 1:10); and at the end of life, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me to his heavenly kingdom" (2Ti 4:18). Hebrews extends the figure to the universal deliverance from the fear of death — Christ took flesh "that … through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery" (Heb 2:14-15). Peter generalizes the principle: "the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment to the day of judgment" (2Pe 2:9), and Paul gives the temptation case its classic statement: "No trial has taken you⁺ but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not allow you⁺ to be tried above what you⁺ are able; but will with the trial also make the way of escape, that you⁺ may be able to endure it" (1Co 10:13).

The Cry for Deliverance

The same figure becomes prayer. The psalmist asks not only that Yahweh be his refuge but that he act as one. "Oh keep my soul, and deliver me: Don't let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you" (Ps 25:20). "Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man" (Ps 43:1). "Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from the bloodthirsty men" (Ps 59:2). "Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked" (Ps 71:4). "Redeem me from the oppression of man: So I will observe your precepts" (Ps 119:134). "Deliver me, O Yahweh, from [the] evil man" (Ps 140:1). "Deliver me, O Yahweh, from my enemies: I flee to you to hide me" (Ps 143:9). "Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of aliens" (Ps 144:11). The same posture is heard in the Maccabean prayers: "deliver us out of their hands, for many of us have been slain" (1Ma 5:12); "Now therefore cry⁺ to heaven, that you⁺ may be delivered from the hand of our enemies" (1Ma 9:46); and in Ben Sira: "Save the oppressed from his oppressors, And do not let your spirit be weary with right judgment" (Sir 4:9); "For Yahweh is merciful and gracious, And he saves in time of trouble" (Sir 2:11).

Quiet Dwelling

The opposite of refuge is the unquiet dwelling. The promise of refuge therefore takes shape as the picture of safe rest. "My people will remain in a peaceful habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places" (Is 32:18); "In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will stay safely" (Je 23:6). Wisdom promises the same: "whoever harkens to me will stay securely, And will be quiet without fear of evil" (Pr 1:33); "Then you will walk in your way securely, And your foot will not stumble" (Pr 3:23); "No mischief will happen to the righteous; But the wicked will be filled with evil" (Pr 12:21). The psalter takes it up: "No evil will befall you, Neither will any plague come near your tent" (Ps 91:10); "His heart is established, he will not be afraid, Until he sees [his desire] on his adversaries" (Ps 112:8); "He will not allow your foot to be moved: He who keeps you will not slumber" (Ps 121:3). And the Maccabean settlement is celebrated in identical idiom: "every man sat under his vine, and under his fig tree: and there was none to make them afraid" (1Ma 14:12). Even the proverb that "victory is of Yahweh" (Pr 21:31) belongs to this circle: the safe outcome is not in the war-horse but in Yahweh.

The Refuge of the Hope Set Before Us

In Hebrews the two tracks meet. The vocabulary of fleeing for refuge — the manslayer's flight to the city — is taken up and applied to the believer's flight to the gospel hope: God has acted "by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, [so that] we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Heb 6:18). The same letter elsewhere makes the figure of deliverance Christological: through his death he delivers "all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery" (Heb 2:15). The believer's posture is the manslayer's posture transposed — flight, in confidence, to a place secured by oath.