Four Reasons the Levites Received No Allotment of Land - Sunday morning, 7.12.2009

Joshua 14:4 – “…The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasturelands for their flocks and herds…”

The tribe of Levi received no allotment of land when Joshua and Eleazer the priest assigned the tribal inheritances after conquering the Promised Land. The other tribes all received a region of the Promised Land that they would pass to their descendants for generations. There were four reasons for this special treatment of the Levites, each of which teaches a valuable spiritual lesson.

The first mention of this arrangement involved a sin committed by Levi himself, the ancestor of all the Levites. Levi and his brother Simeon carried out a violent massacre of an entire town (Shechem) as revenge for their sister’s mistreatment (see Genesis 34:25-29). When their father Jacob was prophesying on his deathbed about their future, he mentioned that there was a curse on the two brothers and their descendants for taking their revenge too far (see Genesis 49:5-7). God then said he would “scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel” (Genesis 49:7). Nearly 500 years later, when Joshua gave the Lord’s tribal allotments to the Israelites, Simeon’s was a small area completely within Judah’s territory (meaning that Simeon eventually disintegrated into the tribe of Judah, and had no clear area of its own). The Levites received no territory, but rather cities and towns spread throughout all the other tribes.

Even though this arrangement first arose because of Levi’s sin, God had a plan to redeem the situation and bring good out of it. The second reason the Levites received no tribal territory was their priestly duties, which they received centuries later. When the time came to construct a place of worship (the Tabernacle) after the Exodus, God assigned the Levites to be priests and caretakers of the holy things or consecrated items. This priestly role became their inheritance in place of a territory of land (see, for example, Numbers 18:21-26; Deuteronomy 14:27-29; Deuteronomy 18:1). God said that He Himself would be their inheritance (Deuteronomy 10:9; Joshua 13:14).

The third reason that God distributed the Levites throughout Israel was pragmatic, and related to the cities of refuge. God wanted to have places where those who killed someone accidentally could flee and hide, to escape from the revenge of the victim’s family members (see Number 35:6-14; Deuteronomy 4:41-42; Joshua 20:1-3). Of course, those who murdered intentionally could not avail themselves of this refuge. God wanted these “cities of refuge” spread evenly throughout the land of Israel so that everyone was close enough to flee to one if they needed it. The original cities of refuge were all towns of the Levites. The cities of refuge also provide a prophetic illustration of salvation through Jesus Christ – a place where sinners can flee for safety from the burden of their sins, a place where redemption is complete upon the death of the high priest. “The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest...” (Numbers 35:28; see also Joshua 20:6).

The fourth reason for dispersing the Levites throughout the land was prophetic. It relates to us as the faithful church. Today, the Bible says that all true Christians are a spiritual “priesthood.” “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ . . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.” (1 Peter 2:5-9). We are the spiritual equivalent of the priests and Levites in the Old Testament – interceding for those around us as they did, offering the sacrifices (worship) that God desires, and teaching the Word to those around us (2 Kings 17:27-28).

God has dispersed faithful believers all over the world to serve as a royal priesthood, praying for their neighbors, relatives, and co-workers, teaching the Word, inquiring of the Lord as they did, and testifying about our Holy God. We are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). Just as people sprinkle salt across the top of their food, God has sprinkled faithful Christians all over the earth to bring the gospel to every nation. We today are like the Old Testament Levites in that we have no permanent inheritance on earth, but rather in Eternity. Faithful believers today identify with the idea that the “Lord himself is our inheritance.” As Chritsians, we provide the cities of refuge (places of fellowship) for those fleeing from their own sins.

God did not call all the Christians to live together in one place. He places true believers all over the world so that everyone can have a chance to know salvation through Jesus Christ.