Joshua 21:1-421Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; 2And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. 3And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their suburbs. 4And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. 5And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. 6And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. 7The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 8And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. 9And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, 10Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. 11And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it. 12But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. 13Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, 14And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs, 15And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, 16And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs, 18Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities. 19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 20And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, 22And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Beth-horon with her suburbs; four cities. 23And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs, 24Aijalon with her suburbs, Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; four cities. 25And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; two cities. 26All the cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of the children of Kohath that remained. 27And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beesh-terah with her suburbs; two cities. 28And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs, 29Jarmuth with her suburbs, En-gannim with her suburbs; four cities. 30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 31Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities. 32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs. 34And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs, 35Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities. 36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs, 37Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities. 38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs, 39Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all. 40So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities. 41All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities. (Joshua 21:1‑42)
The provision for the slayer’s need being fully met, the inheritance of the Levites is set out. “Unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance.” “The sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance” (Josh. 13:33,1433But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto them. (Joshua 13:33)
14Only unto the tribe of Levi he gave none inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as he said unto them. (Joshua 13:14)). Thus, though “scattered in Israel,” according to the prophecy of Jacob, and possessing but a small territory, their inheritance crowns the blessings bestowed upon Israel, shines the brightest of them all.
To the tribe of Levi was committed the service of the sanctuary, the custody of Jehovah’s law, and the culture of the hearts of His people. “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law” (Deut. 33:1010They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. (Deuteronomy 33:10)). They were the influencing power in Israel, and their influence flowed from the nearness of their position to God.
With the material blessings of Israel before our eye – their land flowing with milk and honey, and fed with depths springing out of valleys and hills – it is not difficult to discern the peculiar position occupied by Levi. And, spiritually understood, in the Levites’ inheritance we see the believer’s most perfect portion; for while we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ – while we have in Him pleasures bestowed upon us for evermore, we have beyond all blessings which are conferred upon us through Christ – Christ Himself. Indeed we are brought into the blessings of Christianity that we may delight in Christ. God has saved us and brought us to Himself, for no less an end than being like the Lord and knowing as we are known (1 Cor. 13:1212For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)). His grace towards us reaches even beyond deliverance from wrath and entrance into life; thus while we contemplate His mercy – the forgiveness of our sins, the end of the first creation, death and resurrection with Christ – the Spirit of God dwelling in us would have us reach forth, in order that we may realize and abide in our portion now. “That I may know Him,” is the aim of the energy of the new life. Paul so longed to grasp his portion that he would fain have passed clean out of this earth to reach it, for Christ in glory was to him experimentally what He is verily to all believers, “the prize of the high calling of God.”
Every event recorded in the Book of Joshua has a voice in itself, and also in the order in which the events are recorded there is instruction, as in the inheritance of Levi following the cities of refuge. A similar order is usually to be found in the experience of God’s people, who most frequently learn their need of Christ before learning what Christ is for them. Our sins, the discovery of self, learning divine righteousness by His Spirit, enhance Christ to us as our Saviour, Acceptance, Life; but let us seek to go on to acquaintance with Him in His own intrinsic excellence. May it not be that some having full assurance that they are in the city where the Levites dwell, use little diligence to acquire the joy of their Levite inheritance?
The fugitive from vengeance, who entered the City of Refuge, would be at the first necessarily occupied with his own deliverance and safety, and would bless God fervently for having Himself provided and set apart the city for men in his case, and thus – though in a right way – self would be before him; but the Levite who dwelt in the city, and was at home there, was there that he might be free for God’s service; he was called into association with God, and it was for him to consider the depths of the Word, and to ponder the service of the sanctuary. Do we know more than salvation by Christ? Are we, while rejoicing as with the fugitive saved, yet also learning of God as with the Levite? And if while blessing God for salvation we are also rejoicing in Christ, in what degree have we attained to the fullness of the believer’s portion? We find some among the Levites fulfilling a more hallowed service; some handling more sacred instruments of the sanctuary than others; and there are degrees even among those who know Christ, as their portion.
There can be no other way of learning Christ than by communion with Him through the Word. We discover the heart – the character – of an earthly friend by intimacy; and in proportion as his moral excellence is beyond us, we must grow up into his stature before we can appreciate him. His gifts we may comprehend, perhaps, for the gift may be appreciated in itself or by its adaptability to our wants, but the motive and grace of the giver is not so easily discovered.
All Israel stood before God by virtue of the sacrifices, but the tribe of Levi alone had “the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire” as “their inheritance.” We may see God’s love in giving His Son to die for us, yet miss spiritual fellowship with Him.
The Levite could only dimly read God’s thoughts about Christ through the shadows of the law; in us God’s Spirit dwells, and teaches us all things. The Levite was set apart for the service of the sanctuary and the contemplation of God’s Word, and this should be our work, for thereto we are separated by God to Himself. The whole of that economy with which the Levite was busied set forth Christ in His intrinsic excellence, and as He is esteemed by God in His work for His people. We may well desire the service which attaches itself to the Lord Himself, and that separatedness which finds occupation in Him only.
When the Lord is seen, by faith, in His excellence, the glory of His light dims everything else. Saul of Tarsus saw His face eclipsing the brightness of the noonday sun, and thenceforth was no longer for the earth. The Lord in the heavens instructed him not only concerning the glory, but opened to him the wonder of His own heart there. Saul thereupon counted all things loss for Christ, and many years afterward, as Paul, he wrote, “Yea doubtless, and I count”; his mind had not changed; rather, we should say, his energy had increased.
One who is now present with the Lord, “absent from the body,” remarked, “Next to the simple, happy, earnest assurance of His personal love to ourselves (the Lord increase it in our hearts!), nothing more helps us to desire to be with Him than the discovery of Himself. If one might speak for others, it is this we want, and it is this we covet. We know our need, but we can say, the Lord knows our desire.”
When the inheritance of the tribe of Levi is marked out, and they fill their cities and dwell there, nothing more remains to be done for the Israel God loved, for the people He had brought up from the land of bondage into the land of promise; and there follows rest.