Fugitives

People fleeing, especially from persecution or punishment and seeking refuge. The OT makes special provision for the needs of such people.

Fugitives are those in flight

From family

Genesis 35:1 See also Genesis 35:7; Judges 9:21; 2 Samuel 13:34, 2 Samuel 15:13–15

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

From war

2 Samuel 24:13; Obadiah 1:14 See also Leviticus 26:36; Numbers 21:29; Joshua 8:20, Joshua 8:22; 2 Samuel 10:14; Jeremiah 46:22, Jeremiah 48:19; Ezekiel 17:21, Ezekiel 24:26

So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

Nor should you stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives, nor deliver up their survivors in the day of their distress.

From other people

Exodus 2:15; Matthew 2:13 See also Exodus 14:27; 1 Samuel 22:17; 1 Kings 2:39, 1 Kings 11:40; Isaiah 15:5, Isaiah 15:9, Isaiah 45:20; Jeremiah 48:6, Jeremiah 48:45; Matthew 24:15–20 parallels Mark 13:14–17, Luke 21:21–23; Acts 8:1

When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.

When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

From vengeance

Jeremiah 50:28 See also Genesis 4:14; Job 15:22; Proverbs 28:17; Jeremiah 44:14, Jeremiah 48:19

Listen to the fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple.

Comfort for the fugitives

Isaiah 21:14 See also Numbers 35:6; Deuteronomy 23:15; Isaiah 16:3–4

Bring water for the thirsty, O dwellers of Tema; meet the refugees with food.