The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 460

hop~ is _that we have not ~!fully and deliberately preferred sin as such (Acts iii. 17; 1 Tim. 1. 13). 3. That it presupposed that the avenger was on, foot to take the life of the manslayer. Even so the gospel testifies by its very offers of mercy that tf1e Divine justice is surely gone forth with the edict of death agninet every soul that bath sinned, and that it is a mere matter of time when that justice shall overtake Uie sinner (Gen. iii. 3; Ezek. xviii. _4_; Ro!31, iii. 9, 1~, &c.), 4. That it pleased (?od to open a door of safety t-0 thtfUQ1tive Wlt/wtd staying the alJfflger. For the mission of the goel was very needful for that age, and yet it was the will of God to spare the unwitting homicide. Even so it has pleased God in a wonderful manner to pro- vide a refuge for the sinner without compromising the Divine justice. The wrath of God against sin and the necessary punishment of sin are declared by the very means which bring salvation to the sinner (Rom. iii. 26, &c.). 5. That t/i,i,s refuge was so distrib'/Ued in. si.1: ci,ties, three on each 8UU Jordan, that it was everywliere accesmle. Even so the sinner's refuge in Jesus Christ is everywhere and by all 11Ccessible, if they will without delay flee into it (Heh. vi. 18, &c.). And note that whereas almost all other religious privilege and promise was concentrated at Jerusalem, this refuge was distributed to all quarters of Jewish settlement, intimating that salvation in Christ is attainable wherever men call upon his name (Rom. ix. 33, &c.). 6. That in order t-0 be sa/e the manslayer m'!tSt flee to the city of refuge, whi.ch was a Levitical city (not a soluarv post or a mere sanctuary), and tliere must take up his abode among the Levites. Even so the sinner who desires to escape from the sentence of Divine justice must flee for refuge unto Christ to take hold on his merits ; but in doing so he does ipso f.acro find a home in the society of the truly faithful, and in that society he will abide. The life of one that is escaped from wrath is not a soli- tary walk with God, but a dwelling in a populous city (Acts ii. 42; Col. iii. 15; Heh. xii. 22, 23; cf. Ps. x:xx:i. 21, &c.). 7. That the m,anlllayer mmt never stir outside his refuge at risk of his life; if he did, the goel was at liberty to slay him. Even so the sinner must never quit his refuge in Christ for one hour, lest he perish ; neither may he (which is part of the same thing) withdraw from the society of the faithful, for that is his ( outward) protection. .At whatever risk and loss of things temporal, he must abide under the shelter of the atonement. Consider again, with respect to the death of the high priest, and the staying of blood-feuds-I. That the high priest typified Christ, not in that he died by virtue of individual mortality, hut in that he lived by virtue of official immortality (see on eh. xx. 28 ; Heh. vii. 24, 25) ; wherefore it is contrary to the whole analogy of Scrip- ture to attribute any power of atonement to the death of the high priest. 2. That the high priest was not only the mediator and intercessor for Israel, but was also the chief minister of the law of God, and therefore the avenger of all iniquity against lsra.el, especially of all blood-guiltiness; in a word, be represented Divine justice as well as Divine compassion. 3. That the death of the high priest, which set the escaped manslayer free from all constraints and restrictions, must be taken to represent the passing away ( as far as we are concerned) of the law of God as directed ' against sin. But this will only be when sin itself shall have wholly ceased, i. e. at the resurrection of the just; then,, and only then, will all restraints, all constraints, all necessities for sacrifice and renunciation, all penalties for forsaking the society of tha faithful, be for ever abolished as no longer needful. Consider also, in connection with this-1. That the word goel is translated avenger, kinsman, and redeemer ; the same personage sustaining in fact all these characters, and that by a natural law due to the circumstances of the age. 2. That our Lord is unquestionably our Goel, in that he is our Kinaman, who has made himself our nearest blood relation, and in that he is our Redeemer, who bath redeemed for ue our for• feited possession in the kingdom of heaven. 3. That he is also our Goel in that he ia in readiness to avenge as Judge all wrongs done unto the temporal or spiritual lives of his own. This is indeed little considered, but is certainly true, since he alone wields all power in heaven and in earth (see Matt. n:viii. 18; Heb. iv. 12, 13, where the " Word of God" is evidently the personal Word; Luke xviii. 7 ; 2 These. i 6; Rev. vi. 10 • xix. 2, &c.). 4. That the work and office of Christ as .Avenger and Defender of iiie own will cea.se and determine with the final end of all wiuked• ness, and then he will be Goel no longer in this eenee (see 1 Cor. xv, 24-28 compared <JB. XXXV. 1- 34.) THE BOOK OF NUMBERS.