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Sacred Geometry and Marked Men

Chapters 35-36 bring us to the end of this structural analysis of the book of Numbers. The position of this final cycle is in red.

Overview of Numbers

If you are like me, the first time you read through the Bible you wondered why it was thrown together in such a haphazard manner. Why would Numbers end with directions concerning cities for the Levites (which included the six cities of refuge) and stipulations for the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad? Now I know!

1. The last day of the Creation week is Rest.
2. The final feast is Booths (shelters).
3. The final section of the Covenant pattern is Succession.
4. And, what ties these all together here is that the entire Bible begins with garden oases and ends with bridal cities.

So, as odd as these final two chapters appear, they are not only carefully composed and placed, but their position in the landscape of the text is a combination of all the relevant coordinates. As a landscape, the Scriptures contain “ley lines,” if you will, and their convergence dictates the subject matter in any given place. This might imply a great deal more repetition than we find, but I am constantly surprised at the ingenuity of the Author in filling the expectations of the structural requirements in entirely unexpected ways. These final chapters are no exception.

As a bonus, the very first sentence of chapter 35 clearly contains the complete structure:

Firstly, what is the significance of Levites here?

Priests were Levites but all Levites were not priests. Israel was holy among the nations. Levi was holy among the tribes of Israel. The priests were holy among the Levites. The final step in the Covenant pattern concerns inheritance. Here, the other tribes are giving part of their inheritance to the Levites to dwell in. Thus, each Levitical city was a miniature of Israel herself, dwelling among the nations in a Land that was a gift.

The Levites were given 48 cities to dwell in, and in some sense these were precursors of the more cosmopolitan synagogues. With the Lord as their king, Israelites were to be self-governing, with the Levites ministering among them. We know from the book of Judges how this turned out, don’t we?

Six of these 48 cities were cities of refuge. The number 48 seems at home here. It is a multiple of 12 and 4, twelve tribes and four corners. But 48 is also divisible by 6, which ties it to Atonement, and also the Holy of Holies, which was a golden cube (four corners, twelve edges, six sides). Israel’s being a shelter (Booths) for the nations depended upon the success of the prior Day of Atonement, during which the High Priest was a refuge for the nation.

The manslayer was only safe to leave his chosen city of refuge when the High Priest died. This does not mean that the manslayer needed protection from the High Priest, but that the blood of the High Priest atoned for the blood that was accidentally shed. The High Priest was a “kinsman redeemer” for every Israelite.

There were three of these cities on each side of the Jordan, east and west. The Bible’s liturgical structure also ties the Jordan River to the opening of the Veil on the Day of Atonement. So these cities, outside the Veil and inside the Veil, as gifts from the tribes to the Levites, extended the ministry of the High Priest throughout Israel.

These last two points can be tied together when we understand Israel’s Law as an exposition of the primeval crimes in Genesis. Adam was given a single, temporary prohibition, to humble him, test (prove) him and prepare him for rule. Israel, as Eve, was given many temporary prohibitions, for exactly the same purpose (Deuteronomy 8:16, and you will notice the focus on food in each case.) So, these “Evian” or corporate laws are a “multiplication” of an Adamic event. Is there an “Adamic” event where blood polluted the ground and rendered it barren? James Jordan traces these laws back to the crime of Cain:

Before the Flood, God did not give to His people the right to exercise judicial office. Sinful men, having seized the robe, did not hesitate to use it in terms of their own perverted standards. Thus Cain, unwilling to judge himself for his sins and bring a blood sacrifice as his substitute, chose to execute capital punishment against his innocent brother, who had shamed him. The ‘adhamah, drinking Abel’s blood, cried out for vengeance, but God appointed Himself a city of refuge for Cain. Cain, however, did not want to hide in God, and built his own city, ramming it into the ground which kept trying to throw him off. In time, Cain’s descendants prided themselves on the violence with which they abused the robe of office, as seen in the hymn of Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the Cainite line (Genesis 4). [1]

So, in a Land from which Cainites were being dispossessed, Israel herself, “the congregation,” would not only judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, but provide cities of refuge as a gift. This would not only teach Israel the mercy of God, but include her in its administration. Instead of Lamech’s “seventy-sevenfold” vengeance, she would learn forgiveness, mercy and covering as a Bridal City, a river which was an outflow of the Holy of Holies.

Interestingly, a division is made between a murderer and a manslayer. Both have shed blood, but the murderer’s own blood would atone for his sin. Here we have the “two goats” once again. Both men are under the curse of death, but the murderer multiplies the curse, whereas the other man only suffers under the curse. Jesus was surrounded by murderers: Herod, the Pharisees, Judas, the High Priest, Barabbas, Saul. All were filled with hatred. Like a Levite, Jesus had no house or land of his own, and became a refuge for marked men (like David in the wilderness). When He died, marked men would return to their inheritance.

Numbers 35-36 has a head and a body. The Levitical section is the sacrificial “head,” and the laws concerning female heirs is the glorious “body.”

Finally, as evidence of the unity of chapters 35 and 36, in verse 13 we have an ending that matches the beginning.

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[1] James B. Jordan, Rebellion, Tyranny and Dominion in the Book of Genesis, p. 47.