Hebrew Word Study – Refuge – Machaseh – מחסה  Mem Cheth Samek Hei

Psalms 91:2:  “I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

The other day I had to drive a woman in my disability bus to a hospital in the downtown loop area of Chicago.  When I drove onto the entrance ramp of the Eisenhower Expressway which took us right through the heart of the hood, my passenger let out a cry.  “Oh, no don’t take the expressway, there have been so many shootings.”  Actually, there were no alternative routes. I could take Roosevelt Road which goes right through the heart of the hood, Ogden Ave which has the highest murder rate in Chicago or 16th Street which looks like a demilitarized zone.  She then muttered something about the bus not being much of a fortress.

Lately, the news media has been playing up all the drive-by shootings, carjackings, and road rage assaults and murders, and people are more afraid of being assaulted in their drive to the downtown area than they are of having an auto accident.  In reality, statistically, you have a much greater chance of dying in an auto accident than you do in a drive-by shooting on the expressway.  To put it another way, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than dying in a drive-by shooting on the Expressway. 

I keep that statistic in mind every day as I drive through gang-infested inner-city areas taking people to medical appointments at the Illinois Medical District, University Chicago Medical Center, or a number of other medical locations where you must travel into and through some of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago.  No, I am not brave or courageous, delivery people, cab drivers, Uber drivers, and many others take the same routes every day.  Not to mention the police, security personnel, and many others who make a living protecting those going through these areas. I mean if you like to eat, you work. I like to eat so, I work. I have learned that fear is normal but you have a choice to either let it control you or you control it.  

We all have our ways of controlling our fears. So, carry a defensive weapon, some take classes in martial arts, some just put it out of their mind and refuse to listen to the news. For me, every day I go to my refuge and fortress and that is not my disability bus. Psalms 91:2 tells me it is the Lord.

Do we really need both a refuge and a fortress? Actually, are not refuge and fortress the same thing?  A refuge is a place of safety and so is a fortress.  The only difference is that when you think of a fortress you imagine a castle or walled city.  The word fortress in Hebrew comes from the root word tsur which means to bind up, to press upon, to siege, to thrust forward, to advance. It is also the word for a neck and a rock.  Some translations render this as a stronghold or bulwark.  The context clearly indicates that God is a place of safety.  

Yet a refuge is also a place of safety.  I mean doesn’t it seem a bit redundant to say that God is both a refuge and a fortress. It gets monotonous.  Ok, this is poetry and poetry loves to use a different way of expressing the same thing and all that.  But in my forty five years of studying the Old Testament I have learned that the Bible does not waste words and time on redundancy.  If there is a redundant passage it is usually for a very good reason and odds are if you pass something like this off as saying that it means the same thing you may be missing out on a deeper message. 

Let’s look at this word refuge.  In the Hebrew, the word is machaseh which comes from a Semitic root word chasah which means a shelter, protection, or to go aside.  It is the same word that is used for a city of refuge.  It is also a word used for trust.  This is a little different than the word trust used at the end of the verse which is batach and means to adhere to or weld to.  This trust chasah doesn’t carry the strength of batch yet it still has the idea of confidence or a feeling of security in something or someone.  It is related to the word chavas which means to show pity or have mercy upon someone.  It is also related to the word chasas which means to consider.  In the city of refuge a fugitive who has killed another person will find asylum and protection.  He will put his trust in the laws of the city of refuge so that the offender who was responsible for the death of another person will not suffer the same fate by the relatives of the slain man. The law of the land was blood for blood.  It didn’t matter if the death was an accident, if you were in any way related to that death the family of the deceased had a right to hunt you down and kill you in an atonement for their relative’s death.  Note, I used the word atonement.  This is really the key to the whole idea here. 

I grew up and learned in Sunday School that the six cities of refuge were a place of safety and protection.  In Bible College, I learned that the cities of refuge were places of safety and protection.  I learned in seminary that the cities of refuge were a place of safety and protection. Then I studied Jewish literature and the Talmud and discovered that the cities of refuge were not necessarily a place of refuge.  Yes, someone who killed another person could find asylum and protection at the city of refuge but the city of refuge served another purpose.  It was called a place of atonement.  The fugitive was required to go through a number of steps to atone for the death he caused.  The first thing was that he was put on trial to determine if the cause was accidental or premeditated. If premeditated, he was turned over to the relatives of the deceased who did what they wanted to do with the old boy. If it was accidental they then determine if it was manslaughter or self-defense.  If it was either one of these he was kept at the city of refuge and allowed to go through a process of atonement without fear of harm from the relatives.  Once the death was fully atoned the person was allowed to go free with a guarantee that he would not be harmed.  If anyone should seek to harm him over this incident, they would pay with their own blood.  

In reading the Talmud I discovered a little footnote to this matter of atonement in the city of refuge.  This brings me back to Psalms 91:2 and causes me to wonder if David, who wrote this Psalm is not referring to the coming of the Messiah Jesus whom Paul declares is our high priest. Hebrews 4:14-16.   You see according to the Talmud if the high priest should die all the people seeking asylum for having killed someone who was living in a city of refuge would automatically receive atonement for their crime. The death of the high priest would atone for their crime.  Upon the death of the high priest, all were free to leave the city of refuge unmolested.  They were declared innocent of any crime. 

So, I do not see any redundancy in Psalms 91:2.   Ancient Semitic man when they heard the word chasah did not just think of refuge, but of atonement as well.  The Psalmist is saying that the Lord is his atonement and his place of protection.  When he says his God,  he uses the Hebrew word for God which is Elohim which is sometimes used for the word judge or a judge who is the supreme authority.   The Lord is his supreme judge and His Messiah Jesus would die for his sins and atone for them so that he will trust in his Judge to free him from his sin.

But, don’t despair, there is more to this Psalm which speaks of physical protection, but I believe the Psalmist is starting off with the most important protection of all and that is protected from the penalty of our sins through our high priest who died for us and His name is Jesus. 

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