True Grit
“Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.”
Today’s Text: Joshua 20:1-9 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The 1800s in the United States was a period of westward expansion. I have never studied what life was like then, but the entertainment industry has consistently portrayed that era as the “wild, wild west.” Although that characterization is probably exaggerated to some extent, I have never heard or seen anything to dispute it, either.
My impression from all those movies and shows is not that there was no law around, but simply that law enforcement was few and far between. And so people tended to take the law into their own hands—especially when it came to matters of revenge.
One of the first movies I ever saw after immigrating to the United States was “True Grit” with John Wayne. It still ranks as one of my favorite movies ever. But in that movie, a fourteen-year-old girl hires a former lawman to hunt down and kill the man who murdered her father.
Part of the power of that movie is that we can empathize deeply with the young woman in her determination to get revenge for her loving father against a despicable, heartless murderer.
Anyway, God’s instruction about the “sanctuary cities” makes me think that the ancient days of Palestine must have been sort of like the wild, wild west. It’s not that there wasn’t law enforcement around, but there just wasn’t enough to promote peace and justice.
And so people tended to take the law into their own hands. It even seems like it was expected for someone to avenge the death of a family member, and there didn’t seem to be much consideration of whether it was an accident or whose fault it really was.
In that light, God provides for these sanctuary cities—not to protect the guilty, but to protect the innocent and to help prevent further unjust bloodshed.
Today, the justice system is more robust. However, we regularly hear cases, also, not of justice being served, but of injustice. Without jumping to conclusions, we cannot help but think that in some cases, if not many, “justice” seems to favor wealthier people, as well as white people.
Maybe in some places, that injustice has led to another imbalance—an uncritical favoring of poorer people, as well as black people.
But the Bible is clear that we should not show favoritism at all to either the rich or the poor (Exodus 23:3; Leviticus 19:15). And of course that impartiality extends to everything, not just to economic factors.
That teaching in the Bible is incredibly important. Because people instinctively show favoritism for all kinds of reasons, and it takes “true grit” not to do so.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we should treat those we naturally favor more poorly. We should treat those we naturally do not favor more richly.
Father, You are the Judge over all. Who are we that You would be mindful and kind to any of us. Yet you are. Teach us, Lord, to be impartial. Teach us, Lord, to love others with wisdom. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
