DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2014 May 6
Aeneas' Flight from Troy (1598)
Federico Barocci (1535-1612)
Renaissance Style
Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy
Image Source: Wikipedia
Explanation: In Joshua 20 the Israelites appointed cities of refuge where people might flee to save their lives, as in the painting above. Joshua commanded that the Israelites appoint cities of refuge in accord with the previous instructions of Moses (Numbers 35). These were to be havens for anyone who killed another accidentally and needed to flee from the avenger of blood who was kin to the slain man. When the refugee came to one of these cities he would declare his cause to the elders at the gate of the city. The elders would give him a place to live. They were not to turn him over to the avenger of blood, because the death was accidental. Only when the current high priest died could the slayer safely return to his own city and to his own house (1-6). They appointed three cities on the western side of the Jordan River and three on its eastern side. These cities were for Israelites and for strangers who sojourned among them where they could flee from the avenger of blood if they accidentally slew someone (7-9).
Joshua 20
1 The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying,
2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:
3 That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.
8 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.
9 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.
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copyright 2014, Scott Souza
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