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Chapter 1: Why were the Israelites waiting for land allotments?
Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. Today we continue looking at the land allotments for the tribes. Remember, they've been waiting 40 years for this. They've been fighting for this, quite literally. These assignments are where they will build their lives and raise their families.
If you've ever been in a military family or you've ever waited to find out where your residency is or to see what colleges have accepted you, you might know a little bit about how this feels. But chances are you weren't waiting 40 years to find out where you'd live. Plus, for the Israelites, this wasn't a temporary placement.
This was marked out as the home of the people of their tribe forever, provided they kept up their end of the covenant they made with God. Since many of the ways these places are referred to in scripture mean nothing to us, I'm going to give a short description of each place we see today.
Chapter 2: What is the significance of the land allotments for the tribes of Israel?
Imagine you're one of the seven tribes who haven't gotten their land yet and you're waiting to find out where your family will live. We're also including that general map of the tribal allotments again in today's show notes. Simeon gets the land assigned in the midst of Judah's plot of desert in the south. Pass. Zebulun gets a tiny plot in the north.
It's the smallest plot besides Benjamin's, but it's a lush green area with lots of plants and flowers. By the way, you may have noticed that Zebulun got the city of Bethlehem, but that's a different Bethlehem than the one you're probably most familiar with. There are two Bethlehems in the Promised Land. And this one in Zebulun is further north than the one where Jesus was born.
Chapter 3: How are the different tribal allotments described?
That one is just outside of Jerusalem. Issachar also gets a really small fertile area near the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. Asher gets the Mediterranean coastline to the north, some of which belongs to Lebanon of today. Naphtali gets the mountainous north, including a mountain range that reaches over 9,000 feet high. You can ski there if you visit Israel in the winter.
The people from the tribe of Dan get the awesome coastline near a major port city called Joppa. You may recognize that as the place where Jonah caught a boat to escape going to Nineveh. But Dan loses this land later, and they relocate to part of Naftali's plot in the north. Stay tuned to find out how and why that happens.
Chapter 4: What unique features do the tribal lands possess?
Today, the plot of land where they relocated is a gorgeous nature preserve, complete with a rushing river and lots of wildlife. As far as I'm concerned, Dan had good land both times around, but they're kind of a terrible tribe, as we find out later. Since Joshua was one of the two spies who believed God 45 years earlier, he gets to choose where he wants to live.
And like a gentleman, he waits until everyone else gets their land first. He chose the hill country of Ephraim, north of Jerusalem, in a somewhat isolated area. He probably wants to be alone and knows his years are drawing to a close and doesn't want to have to yell at a bunch of young Israelites to get off his lawn. Most people don't realize how diverse this little nation is.
Chapter 5: What choice did Joshua make for his land and why?
It may only be the size of New Jersey, but it covers a wide range of climates and altitudes, from the lowest spot on earth, the Dead Sea, which is 1,400 feet below sea level, to snow-capped Mount Hermon. And yes, I know in English we probably say Mount Hermon, but the first time I ever heard this said aloud, it was pronounced Hermon, so that's how I say it. Bear with me.
Anyway, the land given to these different tribes is pretty diverse from group to group, which makes it even more of a big deal which land God assigns to you. After all the land has been distributed to all the tribes, it's time to set up the cities of refuge.
Those are the places where a manslayer, someone who accidentally killed someone, can go to live without fear of retribution from the avenger of blood, which is the next of kin of the person who was killed. These cities of refuge are less like prisons and more like safe houses. But the manslayer is never allowed to leave, not until the high priest dies.
God spread out these cities of refuge throughout the territories of the tribes so that any manslayers would have a good chance of getting to one before the avenger of blood caught up with him. Don't tell me God didn't think of everything.
The last assignments we saw today were for the Levites, who had no land allotment of their own, so they were distributed among the tribes like local pastors of sorts. My God shot was in the last few sentences we read today. I couldn't help but think of all it took to accomplish this for the Israelites.
Not just generosity, not just faithfulness, but strength and power and persistent love, forgiveness and grace and mercy. God had ushered them into this land He promised them long ago despite themselves.
I feel a little nervous for them, knowing they'll soon be going their separate ways, apart from the presence of their leader Joshua and their high priest Eliezer, and mostly the manifest presence of God. He has been so good to his people. He has given them everything. But most important of all is himself, because he's where the joy is. Okay, a lot of you have told me that I talk fast.
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