Sat.’s Devo - Cities of Refuge

Read: Numbers 33:40-35:34, Luke 5:12-28, Ps. 65:1-13, Pr. 11:23 God made sure we had a detailed map of their journeys. I know there is a reason He had Moses journal all the towns and one day we will understand it. Until then, it makes a good map. Once they started taking the land from the inhabitants, I thought is was interesting that they were to destroy the pictures of their enemies. The Hebrew name for pictures is maskiyth which means a carved figure on stone, the wall, or any object; figuratively it means imagination, conceit, or imagery. This reminds me of what 2 Co. 10:5 says about casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. God had the people set up 48 cities of refuge for the person who accidentally killed someone. If the slayer had no eye-witness, he was to flee to one of these cities. If he got there before the avenger of blood got him he could present his case at the gate and if they thought his story was legit, they let him in. He would live there until the death of the High Priest then be set free. (The avenger of blood would be a relative of the one who was slain.) This is a picture of what happened to the righteous people when they died. All people in the Old Testament went to a place called Sheol, the place of the dead, or the grave, when they died. They lived there in a gated community to protect them from the evil people in Sheol. When Jesus, our High Priest, died he went to Sheol and defeated death and led captivity captive. Our avenger of blood is also our accuser of the brethren - Satan. Abraham bought the cave at Macpelah in Hebron to bury Sarah. He, Isaac, Rebeccah, Jacob, Rachael and their families were all buried there. Joseph made a big deal about his bones being buried there. Hebron was a city of refuge. The place where Aaron and his family were all buried was in the mountains of Ephraim which was also a city of refuge. Lord, Your ways are past finding out. How marvelous are Your ways! You are our city of refuge.