GOD ALWAYS KEEPS HIS PROMISES
Now we will look at the last of the settlement of the tribes of Israel and see that Israel became a land known as the land of a God who keeps His promises.
This is my prayer for our country too!
May we ever strive to rise to the standards God set for Israel; and in turn may we forever stay a country blessed by the favor of The God who blesses His people.
Last week I mentioned that we would discuss what became of the Levites in The Promised Land; but I was getting ahead of myself. First; we need to stop and consider the land that Joshua chose to inherit (remember God gave him a choice?) After that we need to discuss the Cities of Refuge which were commanded to be set up. THEN we will explain what happened to the Levites.
JOSHUA’S CHOICE OF AN INHERITANCE
After all the tribes had been given their portions of the inheritance; it was Joshua’s turn to pick which part of the land he wanted. He chose Timnach Serah. Timnach Serah was located in the hill country of Ephraim’s inheritance. Joshua built up a town in that area and settled down there.
Once Joshua had his portion of the land; it was all distributed. Now each tribe had to do their part to make the land into the nation that God desired of Israel. A lot of thought was being put into new ideas about how a country should be.
How does this relate to Jesus in the millennium?
THE CITIES OF REFUGE
God chose to set aside certain cities in the land for certain purposes. One of those purposes was for the sake of refuge. If someone committed a sin by mistake; they could be protected within these cities from the revenge of people who might chose to take the law into their own hands instead of waiting on the decision of the courts.
There were six such cities, three to the east of the Jordan and three to the west of the Jordan. These were Kadesh in Naphtali, Shechem in Manasseh, Hebron in Judah, Bezer in Reuben, Ramoth in Gad and Golan in Manasseh. These cities were positioned to make it easy for people seeking refuge from any tribe to reach without trouble.
By creating the cities of refuge people could be protected from mistakes that looked like sins. We are all human and make mistakes. Christian people must recognize this difference. It also gave those who WERE guilty of sin a chance for a fair trial and time for the proper punishment to be weighed out in accordance with the sin and not in the heat of emotion and grief of humanity against the crime. Having cities of refuge in a nation is symbolic of the love and mercy of the grace of Christ.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LEVITES?
Another of the special cities that God chose to set aside were the cities that were for the Levites to live within.
42 cities were set aside for this cause.
CITIES OF THE KOHATH’S
The Kohath clan (members who were Aaron’s descendants) received 13 cities located within the lands given to Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. The rest of the Kohathites, excluding Aaron’s descendants, were given ten cities in Ephraim, Dan, and western Manasseh.
CITIES OF THE GERSHONITES
13 cities were given to the Gershonites.
These were located within Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and eastern Manasseh.
CITIES FOR THE MERARITES
The Merarites inherited 12 cities which were located within Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
Joshua 21:9-19 records the names of each of these cities.
By this arrangement any local person could find a Levite to teach and council them about the Mosaic Law. No one was out of reach of a priest. The people living in the areas took care of the Levites and saw that their needs were met.
It would be easy to stop here and assume that the story was now finished and all of God’s people had come into the proper inheritance that God had promised to Abraham so very long ago.
Not so.
CANAANITES REMAINING
God had completed His part of the promises. He had been so faithful to bring Israel into every blessing and more than expected. Each tribe had a home and each tribe had been well provided for. Even the Levites whose inheritance was The LORD (spiritual rather than physical blessings) had plans for their well-being. There was a new sense of rest upon the territories with the establishment of the cities of refuge and the righteous execution of God’s laws.
Only one thing remained and it was up to the people living in the land to take care of this. Whether they did it or not was related to how far the rest of their blessings as a nation would go. They had not removed all Canaanites from the land as God had requested. Some of them were still living in the land and these would be a source of contention as long as they were allowed to remain.
With the enemies of God and pagan practices still lurking out there among them; there would always be trouble.
TIME FOR A REST
God would be patient and allow the people time to grow in the land. Eventually their numbers would increase their strength and they would continue to remove the sinful Canaanites from God’s nation. For now, the enemies were very afraid. They had seen the victories that God had given to Israel. They knew that only a mighty and powerful God could have brought such a people into this land.
For the moment, the Canaanites were subdued and silent. They stayed out of the way of the progress of Israel out of fear. They did what Canaanites do when they don’t know what else to do; they quietly moved into the shadows and stayed in the background.
The land seemed to be enjoying a long-awaited rest.
It had taken seven years to conquer the territories they had gained so far. Seven years; as compared to seven days. The last year was a year of rest for Israel.
God always keeps His promises.