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Scripture Reading: Num. 35:1-34
In this message we will consider the cities given to the Levites and the cities of refuge.
The Levites were not priests directly but were the serving ones of the priesthood. This means that they served the priesthood. In the priesthood, or in the ministry of the priests, there were many business affairs that required the service of the Levites. The Levites, therefore, were a tribe separated to these business affairs. As such a separated tribe, the Levites were not given a portion of the good land. However, God ordained that cities with their suburbs should be given to them.
Forty-eight cities from the inheritance of the possession of the sons of Israel were to be given to the Levites for them to dwell in (vv. 7, 2a). Forty-eight is a meaningful number. According to its spiritual significance, this number can be composed in two ways. The first way is six multiplied by eight. The number six denotes man, who was created by God on the sixth day. God spent six days in creating the old creation, and man was the completion of God's creation. The number eight signifies resurrection. The eighth day, the day after the Sabbath, was the beginning of a new week. The man who was created on the sixth day became fallen. However, man has been saved in resurrection and into resurrection.
The forty-eight cities given to the Levites signify the natural man, who became fallen, being brought into resurrection through the Levitical service. The Levitical service was a service to the priesthood, and the goal of the priesthood was to bring fallen man back to God in resurrection. The number of cities given to the Levites thus signifies the purpose of the Levitical service.
The number forty-eight is also composed of four multiplied by twelve. Like the number six, the number four also signifies man as God's creature. Twelve is the number of perfection and completion in God's eternal administration. Hence, the number forty-eight as composed of four multiplied by twelve indicates that man, created by God, will be perfected and completed in the eternal administration of God.
Pasture lands of three thousand cubits from the wall of the city outward all around each city were also to be given to the Levites for their cattle, livestock, and animals (vv. 2b-5). This was a rather large piece of land, and it indicates that God's giving is without scarcity. God's gift is always plentiful.
For the forty-eight cities given to the Levites, the large tribes were to give more and the smaller tribes fewer (v. 8). This was right and fair, and it was according to the riches given by God. How much we can give and should give depends upon how much God has given us. If God gives us a large amount, we should give more. If He has given us a smaller amount, we may give less.
The forty-eight cities given to the Levites were to be scattered among Israel, changing Jacob's curse on Levi in Genesis 49:7 into a blessing. According to the Bible, it is a blessing to be gathered but a curse to be scattered. As Jacob was blessing his twelve sons, he pronounced a curse on Levi, saying that because of his cruelty he would be scattered. In Numbers 35 the forty-eight cities were also to be scattered among Israel. In this way the curse on Levi was changed into a blessing.
Out of the forty-eight cities given to the Levites, six were to be the cities of refuge (v. 6).
Numbers 35:9-34 speaks of the cities of refuge.
The cities of refuge were to be selected after the sons of Israel had crossed the Jordan into the good land (vv. 10-11a). This indicates that the land east of the Jordan was not a part of the land of Canaan.
The cities of refuge were provided so that the manslayer who killed any person without an intent might flee there (v. 11b). Verse 12 says, "The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the assembly for judgment." In this way, a manslayer could be protected from the avenger.
The cities of refuge were to be six, three beyond the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan (vv. 13-14).
The number six signifies man, who was created by God on the sixth day (Gen. 1:26-27, 31), making mistakes.
The number three signifies the Triune God as the refuge for the man who makes mistakes. God regards us as those who make mistakes, and He has ordained that there be a refuge into which we may flee.
The number two (the two sets of three cities each) signifies a testimony standing in the universe.
The cities of refuge were to be not only for the sons of Israel but also for the strangers and sojourners among them (Num. 35:15). This signifies that the Triune God as the refuge for the mistake-making man is for all mankind. Today we all, both Jews and Gentiles alike, have a refuge, a place of protection, in the Triune God.
The cities of refuge were not for those who killed with an intent (vv. 16-21). Adam sinned without intent, and we, the descendents of Adam, have sinned in the same way. Our sinning today is foolish and nonsensical. Therefore, in the sight of God, we are those who sin without intent, and He considers our sinning as being without intent.
The cities of refuge were only for the one who killed a man without an intent, that he might be free from the hand of the avenger of blood, under the judgment of the assembly (vv. 22-25a). This means that the one who fled to a city of refuge was not judged immediately. Rather, the assembly, the congregation, was to have a group to judge whether or not one's fleeing to the city of refuge was legitimate.
The rescued killer was to remain in the city of refuge and live in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil, and after the death of the high priest he could return to the land of his possession (vv. 25b-29). The high priest here signifies Christ, who died for our sins. The Old Testament saints like Abraham, David, and Isaiah remained, spiritually speaking, in the city of refuge until Christ died. This was a refuge prior to direct salvation. Since Christ, our High Priest, has died, He is our refuge, not in the Old Testament sense but in the New Testament sense. This refuge is a matter of direct salvation. Christ has died and has resurrected, and now we are in Him, not merely as a refuge in the Old Testament sense but as our direct salvation. Christ is both the refuge and the direct salvation. Before His death, He was the refuge for the Old Testament saints. But now, after His death, He is our direct salvation.
The one who murdered with intent was to be put to death at the mouth of witnesses; however, no one was to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness (v. 30).
No ransom was to be accepted for the life of a murderer, who was guilty of death and who was to be put to death (v. 31).
Verse 32 says, "You shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest." If a member of his family tried to ransom him, that ransom would not be accepted. Since no ransom was to be accepted, the one who fled to a refuge city had to remain there until the death of the high priest. Spiritually speaking, for the Old Testament saints, the refuge city was like the fold in John 10. Those saints had to remain in this refuge, in this fold, until Christ, the High Priest, had died. No ransom could have released them before the time of Christ's death.
"Thus, you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him who shed it. And you shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I Jehovah dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel" (vv. 33-34). The land in the midst of which the Lord dwelt was not to be polluted or defiled by the shedding of blood for which no propitiation had been made. If the people followed the regulations concerning the cities of refuge, there would be no blood shed for which there was no propitiation. Then the entire land would be clean in the sight of God.
In human history, other than the nation of Israel, there has never been a country with the kind of regulations found in chapter thirty-five of Numbers. These regulations include giving forty-eight cities to God's serving ones, designating six of these cities as cities of refuge, and requiring that the one who legitimately fled to one of these cities had to remain there until the death of the high priest. The regulations in this chapter bear a divine significance and reveal God's mercy, grace, wisdom, and sovereignty. As the book of Numbers reveals, in that narrow strip of land, the land of Canaan, God exercised His mercy, grace, wisdom, and sovereignty. Surely this book was inspired by God! If there were no God, such a book could never have been written. Only through God's mercy, grace, wisdom, and sovereignty can we understand the book of Numbers.
