“And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.”
If the avenger of the blood pursues him, they shall not give the manslayer over to him, because he struck his neighbor without intent and had no enmity against him in the past — The city's protection operates against the avenger's private justice. The phrase 'without intent' (lōʾ biʿdyānāh) and 'no enmity in the past' emphasize the unintentional nature of the killing. The refuge city thus functions as an institution mediating between the kinship justice system and covenant law; it creates space for proportional, rational judgment rather than automatic blood-vengeance.
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Mary Patel (test user)4h agoThe cost of discipleship — Joshua 20
Faith isn't the absence of doubt — it's choosing to believe despite it.. I love how this passage doesn't shy away from the difficulty of obedience. The promise here is not conditional on our strength ...
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Tobias van der Berg (test user)1d agoThe covenant promise — Joshua 20
We bring nothing; He provides everything.. Reading the Psalms alongside this gives a fuller picture of what the author was experiencing — both the anguish and the hope.. God is faithful in every circu...
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