God Wants to Surprise You
3. Surprised by humaneness
As Pippa and I have travelled around the world over the last twenty years for various international Alpha events, we have often visited the local prisons. In some countries the justice system seems to be relatively humane. In other places the prison conditions and penalties imposed seemed to us to be inhumane.
We are often surprised, even shocked, by parts of the Old Testament law. The Israelites would also have been surprised, though in a different way, because these laws were surprisingly humane by the standards of the time.
If a situation arose that seemed to be an accidental homicide, a person could be admitted to a city of refuge. Thereafter they could stay if, after the trial, the avenger failed to prove it was murder. The city had a duty to protect them until it was time for them to return (Joshua 20).