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Joshua 20 Bible study: The cities of refuge, named
Joshua 20 puts in place what the LORD "spoke to you by Moses" (20:2): six cities, three in the land set apart with the verb of holiness (20:7) and three beyond the Jordan (20:8), where one who killed "unintentionally" told his case to the elders at the gate and was taken in (20:4-5). They were for all Israel "and for the alien who lives among them" (20:9).
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“that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there. They shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Joshua 20, the man slayer declared his case to the elders at the gate of the city before they took him in.”
Is that in Joshua 20, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
What the LORD spoke by Moses
The LORD tells Joshua to say to Israel, "Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses" (20:2) (tap refuge). The promise was old. In the laws given at Sinai, the LORD said of one who kills and "it is unintentional", "I will appoint you a place where he shall flee" (Exodus 21:13). In the plains of Moab the LORD said, "you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you" (Numbers 35:11): "three cities beyond the Jordan, and… three cities in the land of Canaan" (Numbers 35:14). Moses set apart the three east of the Jordan (Deuteronomy 4:41-43) and told Israel to set apart three more in the land (Deuteronomy 19:1-2). Now it is done. Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19 teach the law itself; Joshua 20 is that law put in place, as the book says of Joshua: "He left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses" (11:15).
Where it leads to Jesus
I will in no way throw out
Joshua 20:4leads toJohn 6:37
At the city gate, the one who fled is heard and taken in: "They shall take him into the city with them, and give him a place, that he may live among them" (20:4), and "they shall not deliver up the man slayer into his hand" (20:5). Jesus said, "All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out" (John 6:37). Jesus doesn't cite Joshua 20, and the New Testament never names the cities of refuge, so setting his words beside this chapter is a reading. Some hear in them the same welcome the city gave to one who came to it for refuge. Others keep them apart: the city took in only one who "struck his neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate him before" (20:5), and kept him there until the high priest's death (20:6), while Jesus speaks of "All those whom the Father gives me" (John 6:37) and of eternal life (John 6:40).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Joshua 20
That was a taste
The rest of Joshua 20 is waiting in Favor
- A hearing at the gate
- Set apart, and named
- For Israel, and for the alien
- Shechem and Hebron, names the story knows
- The law and the lists
- 10 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Joshua 20 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
מוּעָדָהmu'adahsay moo-a-DAH
Strong's: "an appointed place, i.e. asylum appointed". Brown-Driver-Briggs: "cities appointed (for refuge)". The word appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, in this chapter's last verse: "These were the appointed cities" (20:9), in Hebrew arei hammu'adah. Elsewhere they are the cities of miqlat, "refuge" (20:2, Numbers 35:11), or in Deuteronomy simply "three cities" (Deuteronomy 4:41, 19:2). Strong's gives it as "from 3259", a verb Strong's glosses "to fix upon (by agreement or appointment)".
For your group
Joshua 20 Bible study questions
- 1The man slayer stood at the gate and told his side before anything was decided (20:4). When has someone listened to your side of a story before deciding about you, and what did it mean to you?
- 2The cities were for Israel "and for the alien who lives among them" (20:9). Who lives among you but might feel like an outsider, and how could you make room for them?
- 3The LORD told Joshua to put in place what he had spoken "by Moses" (20:2), long after he first promised a place to flee (Exodus 21:13). What promise of God are you still waiting to see kept?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Joshua 20 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home