Joshua 20: The six cities of refuge.

Once all twelve tribes of Israel had received their inheritance, the Lord commanded Joshua and the Israelites to designate six cities of refuge, which were spread throughout the land on both sides of the Jordan. These cities would serve as safe havens, so that anyone who accidentally killed another person could flee to safety there. At the gate of the city, the refugee would declare his case to the city elders, and they would shelter him there until the high priest died. Then, the refugee could go back to his own city.

The six cities of refuge were evenly spaced throughout the land. In the north, Kedesh; in the center, Shechem; in the south, Kirjath Arba. Across the Jordan: Bezer, in Reuben; Ramoth, in Gad; and Golan in Manasseh. The three cities in Canaan are all said to be ‘on the mountains’, while the three cities across the Jordan are said to be ‘in the wilderness’ or ‘on the plain’.

There is a humanitarian purpose in granting safety when someone is accused of murder, a crime punishable by death. The spiritual meaning of this provision partly lies in the difference between justice and mercy. Justice has to do with the penalty of the law, while mercy recognizes that there could be more to the picture than just the intention to harm.

The Word acknowledges the place of both justice and mercy. Truth condemns, but love forgives. Ultimately, it is not we who know the real intentions of human hearts. This is something known only to the Lord, who will treat us justly, but also feel tender mercy and compassion towards us “for our low estate” (see Psalm 136:23 and Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 6180).

In his work, True Christian Religion, Swedenborg writes: “We acquire justice the more we practice it. We practice justice the more our interaction with our neighbour is motivated by a love for justice and truth. Justice dwells in the goodness itself or the useful functions themselves that we do. The Lord says that every tree is recognized by its fruit. Surely we get to know other people well through paying attention not only to what they do but also to what outcome they want, what they are intending and why. All angels pay attention to these things, as do all wise people in our world” (see True Christian Religion 96[2]).

Innocence is the wish not to harm, and it is one of the cornerstones of heaven. We can easily begin to feel guilt when we cause harm to someone without intending to. They suffer and we suffer also. Reconciliation is needed for everyone in that kind of situation. Spiritually, these cities of refuge mean giving others and ourselves the time and space to let go of harmful feelings – which hell often plays on – and after finding refuge, allowing the Lord to bring us healing (Arcana Caelestia 9011).

There are six cities of refuge because the number ‘six’ represents all the labors of regeneration and spiritual temptation. ‘Seven’ follows after ‘six’ and refers to the Sabbath, the day of the Lord’s rest, when He has brought us through hardships into a new peace (Arcana Caelestia 8975).

The fact that the six cities of refuge were spread on both sides of the Jordan also holds a valuable spiritual meaning. Being in Canaan means that we are consciously living with a sense of the Lord’s guidance in our thinking and actions. This gives us a higher level of understanding, rather like seeing life from up on the mountain. Being across the Jordan means that we are more acutely experiencing the uncertainties of life, although we still try to do what is good because of our faith and trust in the Lord. No matter what situation we face, we need our personal cities of refuge where we meet the ‘elders’ of the city – the leading truths in the Word – who bring us in, and offer us sanctuary with the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 8578).

7381. 'Say to Aaron' means an influx of inward law into outward law. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752; from the representation of 'Aaron' as teachings presenting what is good and true, dealt with in 6998, 7089, these teachings represented by 'Aaron' being nothing other than outward law emanating from inward law, that is, from the Divine through inward law; and from the meaning of 'saying' as influx, as in 6152, 6291, 7291. The reason why at this point 'saying' means influx is that Moses is commanded to 'Say to Aaron'; 'Moses' is inward law, and 'Aaron' outward law, and influx from the Divine takes place through what is inward into what is outward. Inward law is God's truth itself as it exists in heaven, while outward law is God's truth as it exists on earth. Thus inward law is truth suited to angels, while outward law is truth suited to men.

[2] Since inward law, represented by 'Moses', is truth suited to angels, while outward law, represented by 'Aaron', is truth suited to men, let something be said about them here. Truth suited to angels is for the most part beyond the comprehension of men. This is clear from the consideration that in heaven things are seen and spoken such as eye has never seen, nor ear ever heard. The reason for this is that the things spoken of among angels are spiritual, which are withdrawn from natural things and consequently are far removed from the ideas and words belonging to man's speech. For man has formed his ideas from things in the natural order, especially its grosser aspects, that is, from things which he has seen in the world and on earth, and has had physical contact with, that is, material things. Even though the ideas belonging to a person's inward thought exist on a level above material things they are nevertheless founded on material things; and the level that ideas are founded on is the level on which they seem to exist. That is the level on which a person perceives the things he thinks about. From this one may see what the situation is with the truth of faith, and also the nature of that which comes within man's range of thought, namely that which is called outward law and is represented by 'Aaron'.

[3] Let the following example serve to shed light on this. Man can have no thought at all without ideas involving time and space; such ideas cling to practically every detail of what man thinks. If ideas formed from time and space were taken away from man he would not know what he thinks, and scarcely whether he thinks. Yet angels' ideas have nothing of time or space within them, but states instead. The reason is that the natural world marks itself off from the spiritual world by the existence of time and space within it. The reason why time and space exist in the natural world, but states instead in the spiritual world, is this: In the natural world the sun appears to give rise to days and years by its apparent revolutions. It divides the days up into the four periods of night, morning, midday, and evening, and the years too into the four seasons of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, which it effects by means of variations of light and shade, as well as of warmth and coldness. And these divisions are the source of ideas of time and varying periods of it. Ideas of space arise from the use of periods as measurements; therefore where one exists, so does the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world the Sun of heaven, which is the source of spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make circuits and revolutions which give rise to ideas of time and space. The light which flows from that Sun is God's truth, and the heat which flows from that Sun is God's goodness. These give rise to ideas of states among the angels, states of intelligence and faith being the product of God's truth, and states of wisdom and love the product of God's goodness. Variations in these states among the angels are what states of light and shade in the world, and also of warmth and coldness, correspond to, which are attributable to the sun since it is responsible for the existence of times and seasons and of spatial measurements. This example demonstrates to some extent what inward truth or truth suited to angels, called inward law, is like, and what outward truth or truth suited to men, referred to as outward law, is like. It also goes to explain why the things that angels discuss with one another are beyond man's comprehension and also indescribable.