Something I never fully understood just made sense to me. Maybe this is not new to you and I'm just dense.
In the Old Testament law, a murderer received a death sentence. Provisions were made for people who accidentally killed someone "without enmity." Cities of refuge were scattered over the land of Israel so they could be reached in a day or less if needed. As long as the guilty person remained in the city, he was safe and relatives of the deceased person could not take revenge. It was a sort of house arrest that lasted until the death of the high priest. Then the accused was released, pronounced free of guilt, and allowed to go home. (Numbers 35:26-27)
There was no limit on the time a person would have to remain in the city of refuge. It could be a short time or many long years, for no one knew when the high priest would die. An indefinite term of confinement didn't seem fair to me. Someone who had been in the refuge city two months might be released the same day as someone who was there twenty years. How long they were confined depended on the death of the high priest.
This rule, like many of the other Jewish laws and ceremonies, makes sense when we understand how they portray the Redeemer revealed in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews explains how Jesus is our eternal High Priest. He offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sin and is the mediator between God and man.
The guilty were pardoned and freed upon the death of the high priest. That portrayed what was coming in the New Covenant. The death of Jesus, the eternal High Priest, pardons and sets us free from the guilt and power of sin. Then we can go Home!
