Where do we go when we’ve messed up? Or when we simply need protection from whatever form of violence? Is there a place of refuge - physical, real - inner, emotional, where our complex humanity and sometimes dangerous identities, our faults and occasional failures, minor or major, can find safety, protection, perhaps even love and forgiveness?
For our ancestors this was not just theoretical. In the biblical, bronze age ‘eye for an eye’ culture, actual sanctuaries were set up, often connected to the sacred sites. The tradition remains today -- quite a few immigrant families found shelter in brave churches during the Trump years, evading ICE. Safe houses were an integral part of the railway underground, assisting escaped slaves on their path to freedom. Protection programs for witnesses operate along similar, more secular lines.
Where do these traditions come from? How can they matter again now - in our civic and our inner landscape?
As the Book of Wilderness winds down, the last lists of who gets what land across the Jordan river are articulated, including the Levites - who technically don’t get any land at all. As the tribe associated with the religious authorities, Levites are connected to the temple and gain their livelihood from communal offerings. But the system also made sure they have their own dwellings and cities - 42 in total throughout the land. Yes, 42 seems to still wink at us as a magic number for some mystical reason, but in this case it is quickly covered up with 6 more cities of refuge- bringing the total of Levitical localities to 48.
“The towns that you assign to the Levites shall comprise the six cities of refuge that you are to designate for a person who has killed someone to flee to, to which you shall add forty-two towns.” Ba. 35:6
What are these cities of refuge, equally divided on both banks of the Jordan? Places of refuge and asylum were known in the ancient near east, often under the protection of local deities. These asylums were used by people accused of crimes but claiming their innocence, or by others fleeing law for various reasons. Biblical scholars suspect that israelite culture adopted these measures, with priority access to murderers whose killing is presumed to be in error, as a way to prevent blood-revenge, still sadly popular in that and other parts of the world. The original size and site of these safe sanctuaries were the altars themselves - within temple structures. One had to literally hold on to the altar stones - as a few biblical stories will demonstrate later on.
Over time, these grew to be larger areas around the sacred precincts and eventually became larger settlements, and even cities operated by the Levites in charge. (Maybe that’s how Vegas started?)
This chapter outlines the laws of these 6 cities, likely echoing a much later historical reference that the biblical editors were familiar with. One of the interesting facts was that killers who were declared innocent by the authorities-but still in need of protection from avenging relatives, had to stay in the city until their death -- or until the presiding High Priest dies. Much like a presidential pardon, the highest religious authority’s death seemed to offer a societal ‘time out’. The Mishnah in Tractate Makkot elaborates that the high priest's mothers would traditionally supply these asylum seekers in cities of refuge with clothing and food - so that they would not wish for the deaths of their sons.
But the cities of refuge, according to some scholars, were not just protection places - they offered opportunity for atonement. Perhaps like halfway houses or recovery programs, these known civic centers acknowledged our human faults and failure, offering a physical place for redemption and a second chance at better living. No high priests preside today and no such cities, but in just a month we'll read about the high priest’s presiding over our annual atonement.
Perhaps these are days for each of us to find our inner city of refuge, taking responsibility for harms done, hurts, even if in error, that we’ve committed, and begin the journey of repair. How can we be each other’s cities of refuge?
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The reference to Vegas made me laugh out loud (though I can see how it could be true!) & your final question, How can we be each other’s cities of refuge? brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you for these awe-inspiring and eloquent daily depths and breadths! 🙏
The reference to Vegas made me laugh out loud (though I can see how it could be true!) & your final question, How can we be each other’s cities of refuge? brought tears to my eyes.
Thank you for these awe-inspiring and eloquent daily depths and breadths! 🙏