“What should we learn from the tribe of Levi?”……The patriarch, Jacob, gave each of his twelve sons a blessing just before he died. The twelve sons were the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the blessings contained prophetic information about the future of each tribe. In the case of the tribe of Levi, which was paired in the prophecy with the tribe of Simeon, Jacob prophesied about him and his brother at the same time: “Simeon and Levi are brothers-their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel" (Genesis 49:5-7). In addition to referring to the future of the tribe of Levi, the prophecy contains within it several lessons for all of us. ……Jacob pronounced a curse upon Levi's (and Simeon's) anger partly due to their treacherous and violent destruction of the Shechemites (Genesis 34:24-30). Levi's anger was evil because it was characterized by deeds of fierceness and cruelty. Righteous anger and indignation, the kind Jesus exhibited in cleansing the Temple, for example, is never characterized by cruelty. The swords of Levi, which should have been only weapons of defense, were weapons of violence (v. 5), to do wrong to others, not to save themselves from wrong or to protect the innocent. ……Jacob's pronouncement, "I will scatter them in Jacob, and disperse them in Israel" certainly came true. The tribe of Levi was scattered through Israel. But they became, by God's grace and through their loyalty to God (Exodus 32:26-29), the priestly tribe and residents of the cities of refuge.(see study below) They never possessed their own designated region, as the other tribes did, but Levi's priestly office was certainly a privileged one. ……As Christians, we learn from the tribe of Levi that unrestrained anger is the cause of a great deal of sin. Anger leaves devastation in its wake, often with irreparable consequences. Jacob's statement, "let me not enter their counsel; let me not join their assembly" is a lesson for us as well. We are not to take the counsel of angry people because they are unstable and exhibit an inability to control their passions. When anger is a defining trait in another's life, it is an indication of the lack of the spiritual gift of self-control which characterizes all believers (Galatians 5:22-23). An angry person makes a poor counselor and in fact, his company should be avoided, especially when the sin of anger is unconfessed and there is no attempt to deal with it in a godly manner. ……Finally, the ultimate lesson in the tribe of Levi, for Christians, is that of restoration of the sinner to the privileged position of children of God. Through the high-priestly intercession of Christ, who exchanged His righteousness for our sins on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), we become a nation of priests in our own right. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).

“What were the cities of refuge in the Old Testament?”……The cities of refuge were part of the distribution of the Promised Land among the twelve tribes of Israel. Only one tribe, the Levites, was not given land to develop. Instead, they were to be the priests of the Lord and the overseers of the tabernacle and all its rites and furnishings. Only the Levites could carry and set up the tabernacle (Numbers 2:5-13). As the Levites were to have no territorial domain allocated to them like the other tribes on the conquest of Canaan, they were to be distributed throughout the land in certain cities appropriated to their use. Part of their inheritance consisted of forty-eight cities spread throughout the land (Numbers 35:6-7). Of these forty-eight cities, six were designated as cities of refuge. The cities were Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Romath, and Golan (Joshua 20:7-8).……The Mosaic Law stated that anyone who committed a murder was to be put to death (Exodus 21:14). But for unintentional deaths, God set aside these cities to which the murderer could flee for refuge (Exodus 21:13). He would be safe from the avenger-the family member charged with avenging the victim's death (Numbers 35:19)-until the case could go to trial. The congregation would judge to find if the attacker acted unintentionally. If he did, he would return to the city of refuge and live there safely until the death of the high priest who was in office at the time of the trial, at which point he could return to his property. If the attacker left the city of refuge before the death of the high priest, however, the avenger would have the right to kill him (Numbers 35:24-28).……The establishment of those privileged sanctuaries among the cities of the Levites is probably traceable to the idea that the Levites would be the most suitable and impartial judges, that their presence and counsels might calm or restrain the stormy passions of the blood avenger. By their consecration as priests, the Levites were mediators between the Israelites and God. As such, they would have been gifted to calmly mediate between the attacker and the victim's family, ensuring that no further bloodshed would occur.……The cities of refuge are types of Christ, in whom sinners find a refuge from the destroyer of our souls. Just as the guilty person sought refuge in the cities set up for that purpose, in the same way we flee to Christ for refuge from sin (Hebrews 6:18). We run to Christ to escape the danger we are in from the curse and condemnation of the law, from of the wrath of God, and from an eternity in hell. Only Christ provides refuge from these things, and it is to Him alone that we must run. Just as the cities were open to all who fled to them for safety, it is Christ who provides safety to all who come to Him for refuge from sin and its punishment.