Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”
God believes in due process. In our US judicious world, due process is a basic foundation block for all we do. We believe, whether someone is guilty or innocent, they deserve due process under the law. There was a time when we rejected those who wanted to skip due process and go right to punishment. As I write this in 2022 I am not sure this is true in our country anymore. In the above passage we see God’s plan to ensure due process. We see that a person who takes a life of another, without prior intent (what today we be classified as “manslaughter”) is given a place of asylum and allowed to be safe from revenge and/or rash behavior. Today our country tends to condemn those simply because social media has deemed them unfit or wrong. Today we skip due process when it fits our political agenda. God knows the heart of mankind. He sees the way we can turn on someone or someones, rather quickly. Blood revenge is in the heart of most people. God sees that and knows that. So, God, thousands of years ago, established for His chosen people a way to ensure that due process is carried out. We should be slow to condemn. We should be hesitant to want to exact revenge. That type of behavior is NOT what God wants for those who claim to love Him. It may not fit our political agenda, but it does fit our faith agenda.
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