So far we have seen that God and Moses have been very busy preparing the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land.
WAITING ON GOD’S PLAN TO UNFOLD
The people of Israel have been camped in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho for awhile now. This is because they are listening to God as He is helping them to organize their plan and getting them prepared to live in the promised land.
Things would be different there; and they needed to understand what would change, and how life would be arranged when they crossed over into the new life which God had planned for them.
BOUNDARIES, BORDERS AND LEADERS
The plans had all been mapped out as to exact boundaries and borders, and many new leaders had been chosen for the task of distributing the land to the people who were designated to inherit whenever they arrived.
This plan given by God to Moses, then the people, was a good, fair and abundant plan that would work well for all of the people. They were about to be very blessed!
MORE INSTRUCTIONS FROM GOD
Before the tribes of Israel crossed over the River Jordan into Canaan; there were several more things that God wanted them to understand.
One of those things was the fact that they must remember to provide townships and/or small cities where the Levites could live.
PROVISION FOR THE LEVITES
These Levite men and their families had faithfully served and ministered in the wilderness tabernacle, and now they would need a place to dwell in the promise land.
These lands for them to dwell in would come from a portion of the lands that the rest of the people would inherit. Each individual household would provide a certain portion of their land for the cities that would be set aside for the use of the Levites.
Remember that the inheritance of the Levites was The Lord.
They did not receive ANY land; but the people were supposed to provide use of land for them from a portion of their inheritance. This was NOT an inheritance of land though; the Levites were merely provided permission to dwell on that portion of land for as long as they lived.
These Levite families needed a place to live and carry out their lives as they ministered to the people and assisted the priests of God in the cities that would form in the towns where they would be living.
THE LAND OUTSIDE THE WALLS
The Levites would also require use of some more portions of the land so they could keep and raise their own livestock.
To provide for this need God told Moses to have the people to remember to build a wall around each designated city/town for the Levites.
Outside of each side of the four walls, an area of 2,000 cubits of land was always to be left empty and available and not used for any individual’s own purposes; this land left empty was so that the Levites would be able to use this land for growing their own crops and housing their own livestock.
In today’s language this would amount to about fifteen square miles of vacant land designated for the use of the Levites.
When they came into the land, the Levites used this designated land around the cities to build barns to store their animals and produce. They formed vineyards and gardens around the outskirts of the places where they housed their animals.
THE LAND WAS NOT FOR PROFIT
Everything that was produced from this land was for the nourishment of life; and not for profit.
There could be no individual businesses set up within these places; only farming could be done and that farming was used to feed the Levites and their families.
The only shelters would be those needed for tending to the farming that they did.
48 CITIES WERE FORMED
So; 48 cities were eventually set up for the Levites. Joshua 21:1-42 lists the names of those cities if you wish to look them up in the scriptures.
These cities were not four out of each tribe, which would have made 48 cities; but those of the Israelites who had many cities gave more cities, and those who had few cities gave few, since the inheritance of the land was divided up according to the number of the people in each tribe.
The larger tribes received more land and the smaller tribes received less land; but each had a portion that would allow for their needs according to their number.
In other words; those who received the most inheritance, gave the most support to the Levites.
SIMILAR TO THE TIME OF RUTH
Some of us can relate to how all of this happened when we study the story of Ruth.
Remember how she went to the corners of the fields and gleaned the wheat that was left for those who did not have their own provisions?
This type of charity started with the setting up of these city/towns for the Levites when the land outside the walls was made available to anyone who needed to use it; especially the Levites serving the people of Israel.
The people who had no possessions were still provided a way to live.
THE ABUNDANT LOVE OF GOD
God’s Kingdom is always abundant.
When life is set around the rules that God has laid out in the scriptures everyone has provision and no one is left out or in want.
Any person who is willing to work for their living is always well-fed and they are provided shelter for living and sleeping; no matter the amount of their wealth or inheritance.
God’s ways are so different from the ways of the world.
NO POOR
In The Kingdom of God there is no want and no one can be called poor.
God’s original intention for bringing people into the promised land was to set up a nation that would operate under Kingdom principles. It would be a place that thrived on God’s Best Ways instead of the ways of the world.
If only things had stayed that way.
Then there would be no race riots in our streets to deal with.
There would be no hunger or people without jobs.
No pandemics would exist because people would not be experimenting with things that only God should decide.
Everyone would have what they needed and no one would be in debt.
IF WE FOLLOW GOD’S BEST WAYS TO LIVE
If mankind could only trust God in this way now; no one would be worried about a new world order taking over the world; but all would be living in peace and harmony under their own roof with ample provisions for their families.
Life as we know it would be much simpler and happier.
The only way for this to come about would be for every head of every house in every nation to trust God and follow His ways. His ways are like no other form of government that we have already studied or know. They can only be found in the scriptures of our bibles.
GOD’S WAYS AS A FOUNDATION FOR GOVERNMENT
Israel and America are the closest nations and governments so far to adopt God’s ways as a foundation for their nation. Human intervention over time has even destroyed much of this progress.
Can we find our way back?
Maybe if we look at how Israel came into the Promised Land we can regroup and rethink where we have gone wrong and what we can do.
May the same God who lead Israel into The Promised Land look down and send healing and restoration to Israel and America. May God use those who are willing to live out His ways to heal and help the rest of the world.
These are important matters to consider and pray about as we near our end of our study of The Book of Numbers.