You may have heard of Gun Sanctuary – or Sanctuary Cities – in the news.
Did you know the concept of sanctuary comes from the Bible?
Before there was a King in Israel, sanctuary was a way for people who had unintentionally caused the death of another to seek refuge and safety. If by some accident or without malice someone died by your hands, how were you to avoid being killed in retaliation?
This was the time when an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” was practiced. If a person was killed – whether the death was intentional or not – it was the duty of a kinsman to avenge the death by killing the individual.
In Numbers 35, God told Moses to have the Levite priests set aside six cities of refuge. The cities were Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan. These were the cities one could flee to and avoid death by the blood avenger.
Once you arrived at the city, you claimed asylum, pleaded your case and had a right to trail. If you had not committed murder, you were safe … as long as you stayed in the city. In some ways, the city would become your prison, as you were exiled there.
Christianity continued the tradition of sanctuary. In the famous scene from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Quasimodo swings on a rope from the cathedral and saved Esmeralda by clutching her and swinging back to the church. He holds her high above his head and cries, “Sanctuary, Sanctuary.”
She is safe for the moment.
In Christianity, the church building is sacred space and the medieval Church continued the tradition of sanctuary. It was expanded beyond manslaughter and included other crimes. Once inside the churchyard or at the door, you were safe and could try and work out a deal for your freedom or be exiled to another country.
In England, you had a time limit of 40 days and they changed the law of sanctuary in the 17th century. The tradition continued in many countries.
In the 1980’s, American churches begin offering sanctuary to people fleeing the conflict in Central America. This movement evolved to not just churches offering sanctuary but cities being places of refuge for undocumented immigrants.
In Joshua 20, sanctuary was available to the Israelites and the stranger – or alien – living among them. In North Carolina, there are at least four churches that are offer sanctuary to immigrants.
Whether it is cities, guns or people, the concept of sanctuary is controversial.
Eric Reece is a faith columnist for The Graham Star. He is the pastor of Robbinsville United Methodist Church.