When reading a biblical passage, do you ever daydream wondering: "what was that like?"  or "how did people live like that?" As a City of Refuge reader, you step into the Bible and live those passages. See below for biblical quotes and corresponding City of Refuge excerpts.
Topic

Biblical Quote

City of Refuge Excerpt
 

 

Biblical Civil Law

      At the precipice, several men pulled the ox forward, while others shoved the behemoth’s flanks.  The legs of the briefly airborne creature were stretched out in a galloping position before it hit craggy ground with a resounding thud. The great animal bellowed piteously as it tried to roll over onto its fractured legs.  The townspeople scavenged for the largest boulders they could lift. They stood at the cliff’s edge and cast their boulders down on the beast. The wrath of the townspeople was spent. They left the stoning area in small groups.
     Self Mutilation      “You mothers will be marked with a mourning sign."

      The sorceress took a mug of beverage held out to her by an aide. With her thumb, she opened the slack jaw of one of the bereaved mothers. Holding the woman firmly by the shoulder, the sorceress encouraged her to drink the beverage. The sorceress pulled her jeweled blade out of its sheath and pierced the woman’s skin between her eyebrows. Trickles of blood rolled down her face on either side of her nose. The startling blue of Bat-Shachar’s eyes was obscured by her black pupils, grossly dilated by the beverage. Bat-Shachar stood gaping at the marked women.

Plague      Unseen and unheard, Efrat hastened towards her empty dark home, carrying a lamp. She opened the door and shone the light on the walls. As El and Astarte live! Look at this!  Last week the priest said there were some spots. Now the wall is speckled red! It has spread like the pox of a fever. If those priests see this, they'll bring a sledgehammer and smash my wall. I’ll scrub this wall with all the strength I have so that there isn’t a single stain when those priests come in the morning. But, what if there is something to those old tales. Could it be that this is a curse, a plague directed at me? Could the plague really creep into our clothes and bodies? With frenetic motions Efrat held a length of the coarsely woven cloth of her dress between her thumbs and forefingers. She squinted, and clawed at a tiny imagined spot. Her hand rose to the soft hollow of her throat, then she turned her thumbs outwards and inspected the supple flesh of her inner forearms.
Vengeance

     “My brother and cousins, and mostly my sons,” his voice reverberated suddenly as a clap of thunder. The eyes of his clansmen rose upwards towards Ardon, who stood as a warrior rallying his soldiers. “You know of the iniquity that has been done to our name and to our family, that our Eliav,” Ardon steeled his voice, “a fine lad, young in years, has been murdered, taken from us!” He tightened his fingers into fists. Wrath rattled his entire body. Subconsciously, his clansmen watching him flexed their fists, raise their arms, and breathed heavily in response to Ardon’s call. “My blood runs hot as I lay the body of my boy in the burial cave!” shouted Ardon.

     “As does ours, uncle,” shouted a boy of Eliav’s age.

     "Will we, the men of this family, simply lay our dead in the cave, tear our clothes, and sit whimpering in the house for a week wailing like a bunch of women?”
Aura of Tabernacle

     “Brothers and sisters,” called the Levite, extending his open palms as if to welcome close relatives to his home. “I feel your joy at arriving at this holy place.” The Levite held his hands together at his waist while eyeing the pilgrims until the hum of the crowd abated.

     “Please,” the Levite’s wide green eyes commanded the pilgrims’ attention. His cheeks, small patches of skin not overlaid with luxuriant facial hair, crinkled when he spoke. “This is an awesome and holy place. The spirit of Elokim hovers here. The spirit yearns for our prayer and our sacrifices. You will describe your pilgrimage around the hearths of your homes to the little ones sitting at you feet. But-" the Levite’s ominous tone silenced all chatter.

     “With the spirit is a terrible exacting holiness that tolerates no deviation.”
Flight to city of refuge

     A low rumbling of hoof beats was audible from the west, from Mount Gerizim. The fugitives looked to their left. .The vigilantes thundered downwards towards them. Ardon, high on his stallion, led his men..

     “There’s no way out for them now!” whooped Zimran, leading a second band of vigilantes from the Tirzah River bank to the east..

     Tzuriel wrenched Bat-Shachar from her saddle and slipped her behind Yerachmiel on his donkey.

     “Go now!” Tzuriel shouted. “You can make it! Thread the needle between them! Save her and save yourself!”

     They sat on the donkey, staring back at him.

     “Go now!” Tzuriel thumped the donkey’s rump, looking right and left.

     The donkey jittered, about to bolt. Yerachmiel pulled its reins tightly. Bat-Shachar shook her head.

     “Go! Protect yourself and save my girl!” Tzuriel’s eyes pleaded as he looked towards the galloping group of vigilantes approaching them. “They’ll be upon us in a minute! Their rage won’t be spent on me alone!”