Justice for an Unjust World | Numbers part 38
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:15-20
How do we deal with conflict?
For some, ‘conflict’ is a four letter word they would rather avoid. They don’t have a lot of conflicts because they know how to get along with people, so it’s confusing why everyone else can’t just get along.
On the other end, ‘conflict’ is a sport. I have met guys who find great joy in stirring up others to argue. I had a good friend in high school who would purposefully say things he knew were wrong just to goad people into getting upset. I thought it was hilarious, but I wasn’t in a great head space myself, so there you go.
The majority of people are somewhere between these two extremes.
As Christians, our goal should be to follow the standard Jesus prescribes for us. In Matthew 18, we read the goal is restoration. We are to establish the truth—seeking a one on one restoration. If we can’t do that with the person, then we are to gather witnesses who can help us decide the truth. Only after the culprit is proven unrepentant that we take the matter before the community of faith. If they still refuse to repent, then we treat them as those outside the faith. Rather than ‘discipleship’, we turn to ‘evangelism’.
This teaching is further reinforced by the context of Matthew 18. The entire chapter is about seeking the lost and forgiving those who have wronged us. As we turn our attention to Numbers 35, we can examine it in light of this teaching because Old Testament Law also has the goal of restoration. Retribution is never allowed unrestrained. Justice, mercy, and restoration all work together.
In Dru Johnson’s Understanding Biblical Law, Dr. Johnson offers a helpful question when studying biblical law—“Who does this law restrain or protect?” There is a certain level of imagination required for interpreting the law, and this question helps us use our imagination. I recognize that “imagination” is not a word we typically use with “law,” but we must remember we are at least 3000 years removed from when the Lord gave Moses the Torah. Yes, many things still remain the same about humanity, but much is different now, too.
A few things to keep in mind:
There was no separation of religious and civic life. The same men who taught Sabbath lessons were the same men who adjudicated the law.
There were no jails built in Israel. Criminals had to face their accusers with only the Levites serving as intermediaries. Victims had to face their perpetrators, because they would be there awaiting the verdict.
Communication between cities and families required a messenger. “Instant communication” only occurred the ‘instant’ you stood face to face with someone.
And so, when we ask “who does this law restrain or protect,” we ask it in this context of little communication, no jails, and no actual police force. What we find is typically the law is meant to restrain those with power and protecting those without power. As mentioned last week, the Lord is fair and just to all people, and He requires His people to be fair and just, as well.
Justice is demanded in the Torah, but not without mercy or restraint.
“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.”
And so, as we turn our attention to the Cities of Refuge, their function becomes fairly obvious. These are the places in which justice can be served and vengeance can be avoided.
The City of Refuge | Numbers 35:9-34
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there.
Numbers 35:9-15
I find “manslayer” to be an interesting word choice for translation. The Hebrew here is the same as the verb in “Thou shall not murder.” It is the same word used in the next verse translated “murderer.” I believe the translators, taking a cue from the KJV, are reserving the title “murderer” for after a verdict.
I bring this up because it is another example of how we can bring modern ideas to the ancient text. When we think of a murder trial, we probably have something like an episode of Law & Order in our head. The police investigate the crime. They arrest their suspect. The prosecuting attorney looks over the evidence and argues the case in court. The defending attorney argues on behalf of the defendant. Eventually, the judge and jury come up with a verdict.
In the ancient world, there are no police. When the community finds a body, the families involved investigate. If they know who the killer is, or if they think they know, they go and kill the perpetrator. When left unchecked, these family killings could create a blood-feud in a community ultimately leading to a small war. City officials would intervene to keep the peace in urban or suburban areas, but in rural life, it may take too long for news to reach such officials.
The City of Refuge allowed for a suspected murderer to flee to safety while justice was served dutifully.
It is one of the earliest examples of “the rights of the defendant.” Not only does the city protect the defendant while his case was heard, it protected the community from blood feuds. Whether or not the suspect was guilty, it was vitally important for the community to work together to seek justice.
The first step towards family reconciliation was to understand the truth of what actually happened. In order for that process to happen, they needed a safe, neutral space to conduct the investigation. That was the City of Refuge.
With a literal understanding for how justice worked back then, how now can we live holy lives?
Our context is ver different. We have civic laws, a secular justice system, police, and about 250 years of US Case Law. Murderers are taken care of by the State.
What if we looked at in light of church conflict?
After all, ‘Israel’ is the Church in the typological sense. Praise God, most churches don’t have murder problems, but we do tend to have ‘bitterness’ problems. It’s worth remembering Jesus said,
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:21-22
For the Christian, anger and bitterness have the same culpability as murder. And so, the City of Refuge becomes a neutral ground for the two Christians to restore their relationship. In cases of church conflict, the church building itself is the City of Refuge. The two parties can meet together in this location because the Church is called to the same neutrality and fairness the Levitical City of Refuge was called.
Jesus said to go to your offender first. Meet them where they are to restore the relationship. But if that does not work, then you have a neutral place to continue the discussion.
The Church is a neutral and fair location to resolve conflicts.
The following verses deal with case law—“if this, then you should do that” type statements.
In the Case of Purposeful Harm | Numbers 35:16-21
“But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died, or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
Numbers 35:16-21
Here, we have a series of scenarios describing the murder. When looking at a series of ‘if’ statements, it is helpful to determine what links them all together. Sometimes the link is easier to discover than others. This particular list is fairly straightforward. The murderer has grabbed a tool for death or has planned the murder. In this case, notice the city of refuge does not come up. The avenger of blood has the right to execute the murderer on the spot.
The title “avenger of blood” refers to the person appointed by the victim’s family to execute the murderer. Not just anyone was allowed to execute judgment. It had to be someone responsible enough to finish the process of justice without overextending retribution to others.
Now, again, we live in a different context. You do not have the right to kill or beat your offender.
But we do have the right to face the offender straight away. Again, Jesus said “Go straight to the person who offends you.”
Yes, we are called to forgiveness, to mercy, and to restoration. But these things cannot happen if we do not confront the offending party first. Jesus also said, “Blessed are the Peacemakers.” Peacemaking requires us to engage with the other person. Avoidance is not peacemaking; it’s peace-faking. Likewise, vengeance is not peacemaking. That is peace-disruption.
The goal of the avenger of blood was not vengeance, but rather bringing peace back into the community.
In the Case of Accidental Harm | Numbers 35:22-29
“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
Again, when we look at this series of conditions, it would appear to be situations in which the death was an accident. It’s still murder, just not premeditated. Today we would call it murder in the second degree or manslaughter, depending on the context of the crime. In this case, the avenger of blood still has a legal right to justice for the family, but the Law now restrains this right.
Why is that?
The congregation has to determine whether the crime warrants immediate execution or if the death really was an accident. There could be any number of reasons why the person should not be put to death, but if the congregation decides it truly was an accident, then the perpetrator can choose exile inside the confines of the City of Refuge. Because the City belonged to the Levites, then we can assume his life would be in service to the Levites. He will find restoration in the community through serving the Lord among the Levites.
But, if he ever left the city. His life would be in the hands of the avenger.
His time in the City would continue until a new High Priest was chosen.
Moving to today, we can pull principles for conflict resolution. The first is to ask a simple question: was it a mistake? Did the offender truly desire to cause harm?
I can tell you, in my life, it has been very rare that someone wanted to cause harm or offend. I mentioned by friend from high school, but he is the exception that proves the rule. The majority of people, especially Christians, do not try to upset others. It just happens because people are people and have different views about things. Coupling this section with Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 helps us see the need for empathy on both sides. The avenger of blood is not allowed to avenge the family member without knowing exactly what happened. Likewise, we are not to skip ahead to treating someone like a tax collector or Gentile without knowing what truly happened.
We are called to understand the offender’s point of view in order to seek restoration.
Again, I want to be clear I am talking about situations within the church. Legal matters and criminal actions require involvement from the legal authorities. But it is few and far between that a church will deal with legal matters. It is far more frequent that we deal with personal conflicts. Miscommunications, misunderstandings, and misspoken words have torn apart far more churches than any illegal actions.
Two Witnesses Required | Numbers 35:30-34
“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And 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 high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Here we find the precedent for Jesus’ requirement of at least two witnesses. Justice should never be a “he said, she said” endeavor. The truth is required for justice. The truth is required for conflict resolution. The truth is required for restoration.
Once the truth is discovered, there can not be a price paid to avoid justice. The law does not allow for a ransom to either save the life of the murderer or to allow him to return home before the High Priest passes away. In other words, wealth does not allow someone to avoid justice. Blood pollutes the land, and so blood must be shed by the one who shed first blood.
To reinforce this truth, the Lord reminds the people He is not bound to the tabernacle alone. He dwells “in the midst of the people of Israel.” Just because they live far from the tabernacle does not mean that God does not see what is happening.
Justice is demanded for all people, and God sees when justice is withheld.
Before we close, I want to return to the two types of people I mentioned at the beginning. For some of you, when I say things like “justice is demanded for all people,” you thought, "Amen! Bring the criminal to justice!” For the other group, though, you thought, “But what about…” and you had a number of reasons why a person should not be put to death.
This is why the church needs both of you.
Justice and mercy are never separated in Scripture. People tend to lean to one or the other. The Bible holds them both evenly and demands both evenly. Our God is both just and merciful. He calls His people to be both just and merciful.
And that is what the Gospel is all about.
To explain, allow me to have a little Hebrew fun.
The Hebrew word translated “avenger” is the same word translated “redeemer”—ga’al. The avenger of blood’s job is to redeem the blood lost by the family by taking blood from the perpetrator—blood for blood, life for life.
Christ our Redeemer redeems us from our own sin and the price on our heads because of our sin. But rather than condemning us to death, He chooses to take our sin on Himself and goes to the cross. It is as though we killed someone, and their family member chosen to put us to death says, “I will take their place instead of executing them.”
We do not follow Christ because we are guilt-less. We all have sinned. That’s a given.
We follow Christ because He took our sin and our death on the cross. And He rose again to offer cleansing and forgiveness. If you have never trusted in Christ for cleansing and forgiveness, today is the day to quit running like a criminal on the lam. Go to the City of Refuge and find your Redeemer waiting to greet you with open arms.