| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, |
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| 2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you through Moses, |
Cities of refuge – A step in advance (of other nations) along the lines of tempering justice with mercy. R3092:3
Christ is our refuge from the demands of justice. R4079:6
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| 3 that the slayer who unwittingly without intent smiteth any one mortally may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. |
Killeth any person – Nephesh, soul, sentient being. E334
Unawares – The trial sought to determine whether the slayer had laid in wait for his victim, hunted him, or smote him in secret; maliciously or with guile; whether there was previous enmity between the two men or hatred of the slain on the part of the slayer. R3092:5
And unwittingly – Christ is a refuge from unintentional sins only. R3093:2
From the avenger – Anyone who, even through error or accident, took a life was worthy of death under the decree, "He that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." (Gen. 9:6) R3092:3
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| 4 And he shall flee unto one of those cities and stand at the entrance of the city-gate, and shall declare his matter in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. |
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| 5 And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; for he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not previously. |
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| 6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he have stood before the assembly in judgment, 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. |
He shall dwell – Antitypically, it is necessary that we continue to abide in Christ, that we do not put off the robe of Christ's righteousness, or we become liable again to the demands of justice, and that without mercy. R3093:4
Until the death – Thus putting a heavy penalty upon carelessness, passion, etc. R3092:6
Of the high priest – Until Christ, Head and Body, will have died. Then the new dispensation will be ushered in. R3093:4
As long as Christ continues in the priestly office, until he is able to present all the redeemed faultless before the throne of God, at the end of the Millennial reign. R4080:1
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| 7 And they hallowed Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kirjath-Arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill-country of Judah. |
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| 8 And beyond the Jordan from Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh. |
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| 9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever smiteth any one mortally without intent might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the assembly. |
Killeth any person – Nephesh, soul, sentient being. E334
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