Joshua 15:42-63.  We are continuing our look at the list of places that were included in Judah’s territory.  As I pointed out yesterday this list is larger than the lists for the other tribes.  I mentioned that Judah had received a greater blessing as a tribe from their ancestor, Jacob (or Israel, see “What’s in a Name”) than the other tribes did. In the end though God decides what to do with the blessings and curses that we pronounce and in the case of Judah God’s decision was to give them both a large territory and a large amount of responsibility.

If you have a Bible with maps in the back or if you Google Bible Atlas and look at a map of the Twelve Tribe of Israel you will see that Manasseh actually has about the same amount of land as Judah does (especially when you subtract Simeon’s land which is completely inside of Judah’s).  Manasseh’s land was split between the east and west sides of the Jordan River.  The eastern side of the river seems to have been less populated but was good pasture land.  Remember God is wise and these divisions of the land were from him.  He knew just what each tribe needed for the things He wanted then to do.

Yesterday I mentioned that Ain and Beth Shemesh were Levitical cities and that there were seven more in today’s reading.  Those seven are;  Libnah, Jattir, Debir, Eshtemoh, Holon, Hebron, and Juttah, total of 9 Levitical cities within the territory of Judah (and Simeon).  In all there were 48 cities given to the Levites scattered throughout the land of Israel (Numbers 35:7, Joshua 21).

I also mentioned yesterday that one of these cities was a special city.  In Numbers 35:1-8 God commanded Moses to make sure that the Levites got places to live when they entered the land, specifically 48 cities.  Of those 48 six were to be “Cities of Refuge”.  The rest of Numbers 35 explains what a “City of Refuge” was all about.  Basically it was a place a person could run to if he accidentally killed a person.  In Israel if you killed someone intentionally it was called murder and the penalty was death.  It was the responsibility of a family member of the dead person to perform the execution.  You can imagine that the avenger could be pretty upset and might not wait to hear the facts before killing the other person.  So God set up a system of cities (3 on each side of the Jordan River) where a person could go and be protected until the facts were examined.  If they were guilty they would be handed over to the avenger.  The interesting part is if the death were an accident.  In that case the person was not free to go home they had to stay inside the City of Refuge until the person who was High Priest at the time died.  If they were found outside of the city before that High Priest died they could be killed by the avenger.  The High Priest was the Levite who was specially chosen and dedicated to enter the most holy part of the Taberncle (later the Temple) where the Ark of the Promise was.  The High Priest’s job, generally,  was to make offerings to God for sins (disobedience) (Leviticus 4).  Once a year though he would enter the part of the Tabernacle where the Ark was and make a special offering for all of the sins of all of the Israelites.  That day was known as the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.  Atonement means reconciliation.  The place on the Ark where he made the offering was called the “Mercy Seat” or “Place of reconciliation”.  In Hebrews 9 we learn that these rituals were symbolic and temporary and really only affected a persons spiritual life.  Jesus, however, acted as a much better high priest and made a much better offering, himself, which opened heaven for mankind.  His death permanently dealt with the sin problem (see “The Old Testament Connection”).  Perhaps a person was not completely free if they had accidentally killed a person was because ultimately all death is a part of the curse, a consequence of sin.  Even accidental death is because we are fallen people who made mistakes.  Jesus died to destroy forever all consequences of sin.  Our perfect High Priest will set us free completely (1 Corinthians 15:20-27, 42-57). But it was only because of His death.  Maybe that is the picture of the City of Refuge.  Jesus is our city of refuge.

I think this post is getting kind of long but I want to mention one other thing that seems cool to me.  Not all Levites were priests but all had a part in the worship of God.  Formal worship of God was restricted to the Tabernacle (sort of a portable church that the Israelites used while they wandered in the wilderness and for a while after they took the land).  Levi had three sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.  The descendants of the three sons had different jobs all related to caring for the tabernacle but not all of them were priests who made sacrifices.  It was these three groups that lived in the Levitical cities scattered around Israel.  It seems that they would have been a constant reminder of God to the people.  God is holy and pure but also close and among us.  Theologians call these two realities the transcendence (aboveness) and immanence (closeness) of God.

Lord thank you for being pure and holy.  Only a pure and holy sacrafice could cure my sin problem.  Thank you for doing that for me.  Thank you also for being close by and constantly being in my face about your existence.  Thank you for giving me a conscience that reminds me of your existence.  Thank you for putting your mark on the universes and each piece of it.  Thank you for writing the Bible to me.  Help me remember you each day.  And let me be content with the portion you have given me.