Until the Death of the High Priest

Until the Death of the High Priest

 

Numbers 35:22-34

 

If a person is accidentally killed without malice, he is sent to the city of refuge to live there until the death of the high priest. But if the murderer goes out of the city of refuge, the avenger of blood meets the murderer and kills him, but he is innocent. When the high priest dies, the murderer can go to his own land. And he said not to kill a murderer according to the testimony of a witness, and not to receive a ransom from a murderer. Blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be redeemed except by the blood of the one who shed it. Because I, the LORD, am in Israel, I tell you not to pollute the land where you live, the land where I live.

 

God sends those who kill people unwittingly to the cities of refuge and let them live there until the death of the high priest. And when the high priest dies, the murderer is allowed to go to his own land. Today, Jesus, who is the true High Priest and our refuge, paid the penalty for our sins and died on the cross for us, freeing us from sin and salvation. Let us thank Jesus for setting us free from sin.

 

God tells us not to pollute the land we live on. We must live a life of loving our neighbors as ourselves so that we do not commit not only the sin of shedding blood but also the sin of hating our brothers and sisters.

 

God, thank you for the grace of forgiving our sins through Jesus, who is our true High Priest and our refuge, through the blood of the cross. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves, lest we pollute the land on which we live!