Cherish Life

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This is where every morning we get together We get the guys word we grow in our love for the Lord together this morning. We're at numbers chapter 33 No, no, no, no, no numbers chapter 35 Verses 9 through 33. That's where the 33 came from numbers chapter 35 9 to 33 looking at the cities of refuge this morning and We're gonna this year hopefully get through numbers deuteronomy and the book of hebrews. Why don't we have some coffee?
We'll pray i'm getting to god's word Let's pray lord, we thank you so much for this day What a blessing it is to get to follow you To serve you as our god You are a king And you are the wonderful covenant lord We pray that you would please help us now. As we read your word, we pray that it would seep deep into our hearts. We pray that you would instruct us and help us in knowing the way we should go. In Jesus's name. Amen. All right. So Numbers chapter 35.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint cities to be the cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there.
They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And of the cities which you gave, you shall have six cities of refuge. You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.
If he strikes a man with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he strikes a man with a stone in the hand by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand, sorry, with a wooden hand weapon by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death.
When he meets him, he shall put him to death. If he pushes him out of hatred while lying in wait, hurl something at him so that he dies. Or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies. The one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
However, if he pushes them suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, or uses a stone by which a man could die throwing it at him without seeing him so that he dies while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, And the Avenger of Blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge. And the Avenger of Blood kills the Manslayer. He shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the day of the High Priest. But after the death of the High Priest, the Manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
And these sayings shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations and all your dwellings. Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.
Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to the city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. So you shall not pollute the land where you are, for the blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell. For I, Jehovah, dwell among the children of Israel.
Whew, wow, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So A, what is this about? Well, this first part, verses nine through 15, is talking about these six different cities of refuge. So nine through 16 is talking about cities of refuge. But what are these cities of refuge? Well, that's where the first 15 comes in.
Where it says that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there. So. If you accidentally murder someone, you get to go there. We would call that manslaughter today. So if there's manslaughter, well, how do you determine if somebody commits manslaughter or murder?
Well, that's where it goes on in verses 16 through 28. So murder specifically in 16 through 21. So if somebody hits someone with an iron implement or takes a rock and hits them with it or right there's this kind of a list of different scenarios that okay if a guy does this or if a woman does this and this is how they hurt someone it seems to be with malicious intent. So there to be put to death and so that's specifically verse 16 He is a murderer that murderer shall surely be put to death These are so murder in ancient Israel is a capital offense and who's to carry out this this This execution once it's been judged Well, this is the avenger of blood, the Goyal.
So this is often a nearest of kin type thing. This is somebody in the family who rises up to go and execute justice. And so this person could run to the city of refuge, but there's going to be a judgment that's going to happen. I'll talk about that in a moment.
But if there's premeditated murder, the Avenger himself, verse 19, the Avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death. So that's what that second paragraph is about. So the next section, verses 22 through 28 though, Not everybody who murders or takes somebody's life did so on purpose, right?
We live in a sad fallen world. There may be times where somebody throws a rock. They're just thrown rocks. Somebody accidentally walks across the path and they get hit in the temple and boom, they're dead. There was no malicious intent there. It was an accident. That person doesn't deserve to die. It's bad.
And they need to flee to the city of refuge. But if it's determined that this was not murder, but this is manslaughter, there's going to be judges in the city of refuge. He's going to be able to live in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Now, once the high priest dies, then he's able to go back home. But until that time, He's got to stay there.
Right. Even though it was even though it was accidental, even though it wasn't purposeful. Right. Even though he may have just been playing around, you know, and he pushed the guy and he tripped on him on on something and fell and hit his head and he died. And oh, my goodness, what has happened now? This guy is dead. This is my friend and here comes his brother and his brother wants to kill him.
This guy hightails it to the city of refuge, to the judgment. The elders say, no, he's not guilty. Not guilty of murder. This was just an accident. There's got to be time for this, this goyal, this avenger of blood to calm down. for there to be a time of grieving and eventually of healing before he can return home.
So it's a sad series of incidents but God is saying he's got a way to try to preserve this. Now it's interesting in verses 29 through 34 that it kind of sums these things up and gives us just a few more details. Right? And these statutes, verse 29, and all these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations at your dwellings.
Right? whoever kills a person the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses right so again murder is a capital offense but you cannot convict someone of murder on the testimony of only one witness why because the person could be lying. Because they may have, how are they to, maybe one person thinks that there's malicious intent. Maybe they don't like the other person and so they think poorly of them. And they think, oh, they must have wanted to do this, right?
And so God says, no, no, no. If it's going to be a capital offense, It must be on the testimony of two or three witnesses, right? That's what confirms, especially in a capital offense, you cannot take the witness of just one. So the other thing it says would be a miscarriage of justice if you were to take only one witness. The other miscarriage of justice is if somebody could just buy their way out of it. Somebody could just pay a ransom price.
The system of justice amongst Israel is a system of restitution. We live in a weird system where it's supposed to be rehabilitation. Our justice is largely rehabilitative. Often it's also punitive and people just go to jail for long periods of time and hopefully they learn their lesson.
But in Israel, it was very different. If you stole, you had to repay plus some. If you committed some harm against your neighbor, there was a monetary value that the courts could assign to it. We see this sometimes in our society with people suing people or corporations or companies, right? And so that's kind of the idea of what's going on here.
But if it's a murder case, There's no amount of money that can make up for it. Actually, God says that the land has been polluted and the only thing that will atone for that blood in the land, it's the blood of the murderer to be shed. This is the way the Lord says it's supposed to operate. And so in verse 34, he says, therefore, do not defile the land which you inhabit in the midst of which I dwell.
Why? Why all of these commands? What's the purpose of all this? Well, the very last statement. For I, the Lord, I, Jehovah, dwell among the children of Israel. God himself is in their presence, in their midst. What is this whole section about? This is about the cities of refuge, yes. This is about the difference between murder and manslaughter, yes. This is about murder being a capital punishment, yes.
But it's also about God being amongst his own people. When they went into the promised land, God wasn't just gonna desert them. But God is an omnipresent God. He is a covenant king, and he dwells amongst his people. So they are to be holy, as he is holy. What's the best verse to summarize all of this?
Well, in my Bible, interestingly, I only have verse 19, the avenger of blood underlined. I don't know why I don't have anything else underlined. But I might have Verse 30, whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses, but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty.
Maybe that, but see, maybe this is about cities of refuge too, right? Because this is just at the tail end of all these different cities that the Levites are going to inherit. So maybe I would also underline verse 11. maybe verse 11 and 12 on these cities of refuge. This would be a hard one. I might have to underline different paragraphs after we get off here. I'm going to actually go and highlight in my Bible.
Well, last see calling, what are we called to do? I think we are to still keep the sixth commandment. We are to not commit murder. We're not to kill. We're to preserve our life and the life of our neighbor. We're not to take our life or take the life of our neighbor unjustly. And we're not supposed to do anything else that might tend to taking their life or ruining their life.
We have to beat those I know that God still walks amongst us today. The Lord is still the same omnipresent God. We don't live in ancient Israel, but we can take the general equity, the principles of this law. We can say, if God was with them, is he surely not with us? Are we not the type of people who love justice? And love the life that he's given us, he's made us in his image. And so do we preserve life? Do we promote the preservation of life?
Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would please help us. Help us to be people who would cherish life. Help us to be the type of people who would serve you. Help us to be the type of people who would live our lives knowing that you walk amongst us. That you are in our midst. Lord, we know this is true because we know especially that your Holy Spirit is in our heart. So Father, we pray that you would conform our lives to your ways. Let us love what you love. Let us love you above all. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the ways of Jesus Christ. May you be conformed to Him's image. And may you love with the type of love that He has loved you. I'll see you next time. Bye.