Joshua 20:1

Joshua 20:1 says, The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying,  After the land was divided, God spoke to Joshua with further instructions.  When we have completed one thing that God has directed us to do, we should expect Him to give us our next task.  Verse two states, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:  God told Joshua to appoint cities if refuge, as He had instructed Moses to do.  Just because Moses was not there did not mean that God's plan was altered.  Even if we, as Christians, die before we complete God's plan for us, and His foremost plan is to share the gospel with everyone, it doesn't mean that His plan will change.  Someone else will be chosen by God to continue the task.  Verse three says, That the slayer that killeth anyperson unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.  The cities were to be a place of sanctuary for those who accidently killed someone so that they could not be avenged by the relatives of the one who was slain.  Christ is our spiritual refuge if we accept Him as our Savior and Lord, because He removes the penalty of our sins from our lives.  Verse four states, And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.  The person seeking refuge had to stand before the city gate and tell the elders what he had done.  I am not sure if this really applied to women or not, since they were under the authority of a father or husband, but we can be certain that salvation applies equally to men and women.  Verse five adds, 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 elders believe that he man did not deliberately kill his neighbor, then if someone comes pursuing him, he would not be turned over.  The man could not just come to the city without telling the elders what had happened and expect to find sanctuary.  We cannot come to God through faith in Christ without confessing our sins.  Verse six continues, And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.  The person who sought sanctuary in the city would remain there until the high priest who was in power when he sought sanctuary died, and then he was to return to his own city.  We as followers of Christ should never return to the state of sin that we lived in before putting our faith in Him, but then our High Priest, Jesus Christ, will never die.  Verse seven declares, And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.  Verse eight continues, And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.  This lists seven sanctuary cities, some on both sides of the Jordan.  Verse nine concludes, These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.  These sanctuary cities were for both the Jew and the stranger, just as God's salvation plan today is for all people.  It is stated once again that the man had to stand before the congregation and acknowledge what he had done before claiming sanctuary  We cannot accept the salvation of Christ without confessing our sins to Him.