And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of half the tribe of Manasseh, [they gave] the city of refuge for the slayer, Golan in Bashan and its suburbs; and Beeshterah and its suburbs two cities;
Two towns here go to the Gershonites, one of the families of Levi, and both come from the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan. Why does the tribe set apart for God's service get towns instead of land, and why put a refuge for the accidental killer on the far edge of Israel?
Bashan lay east of the river. Both towns named here were already known places in it.
Now best known for the Golan Heights, it is a large district east of the Jordan... it was the kingdom of Og the Amorite. Moses conquered it, and it became, with part of Gilead, the portion of the half-tribe of Manasseh. Its main cities were Ashtaroth (or Beeshterah), given to the Levites, and Golan, a "city of refuge"...
God had said long before that Levi's family would be split up among the tribes. These towns carry that word out, and one writer sees grace in it.
The inheritance has been described. Now the Levites, who as a tribe have no territory, receive their portion in the forty-two cities scattered throughout Israel. This shows at once the unbending judgment of God — "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel" — and His grace, which rejoices over judgment and turns it into a means of blessing.
With no land of their own, these men had to lean on God for a living. Their trust shaped the power of their words.
The Levites were given no inheritance in the land. The sacrifices made by fire to Jehovah God of Israel — yes, Jehovah Himself — were their inheritance, as He said to them. The Lord's workmen stood in a different place from the rest of His people. He called them to special trust in His provision for them and in His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?
This family's name and the part of the tabernacle they carried point the same way. The tabernacle was the tent where Israel worshipped.
Gershom means "a stranger there." It speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives. Gershom's service had to do with the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, the hangings for the door and for the court. So the spiritual meaning of his service is this: it encourages a godly walk through a world where we are strangers. That walk honors God, though the world does not understand it.
Golan heads the Gershonite list. One writer reads its name as a word for joy, and sets it beside the names of Gershon and Manasseh.
Golan is "exultation," the fullness of joy in Christ Jesus. Gershon, the "exile," is plainly close in spirit to Manasseh, "forgetter." For each of them, joy is a needed part of strength — joy in One who is absent. Peter puts it this way: "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory."
Golan lay among the tribes who settled east of the Jordan. One writer sees God's grace in giving them a refuge city there at all.
Here we have a lovely display of the grace of God rising, as it always does, above human weakness and failure. The two and a half tribes chose their inheritance on this side of the Jordan. So they plainly stopped short of the proper portion of the Israel of God, which lay on the other side of the river of death. But despite this failure, God, in His abounding grace, would not leave the poor slayer without a refuge in the day of his distress. If man cannot come up to the height of God's thoughts, God can come down to the depths of man's need.
Commentators differ over the second town's name. Does it carry the name of a pagan goddess?
Be-eshterah appears in Chronicles as Ashtaroth. Most commentators follow Gesenius in taking the prefix "be" as a short form of "beth," so that the whole name means "the house of Ashterah," or "Ashtoreth."... But shortening "beth" into "be" is more than doubtful. No one can point to a certain example of such a change. Israel changed other names that were tied to idolatry, so they were not likely to let one like this stand.
There was a purpose in spreading the Levites out like this.
The cities were also assigned by lot, so that the Lord gave them their homes... God scattered them over the land, no doubt, so that they might have a good influence in divine things: to urge the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness and to keep them from idolatry.
- Placed — Levi gets towns, not territory. God's old word about scattering Levi comes true, and His grace turns that judgment into blessing.
- Stranger — Gershon's name and his curtains mark service that never settles in the world.
- Refuge — Golan heads his list: shelter for the one who killed without intent, and its name reads as "exultation," strength for the exile whose joy is in One he cannot see.
- Purpose — Levites lived among every tribe to urge Israel to worship God and to keep them from idols.
- Reach — The refuge stands east of the Jordan, among those who stopped short. God came down to the depth of man's need.
and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its suburbs, Dabrath and its suburbs,
This verse belongs to a list of towns given to the Gershonites, one of the three Levite families. Here Issachar is the tribe that gives, and the question behind the whole chapter is why a tribe with no land of its own gets an address in everyone else's.
The list exists because of an older command that Israel had not forgotten. One writer points back to the command behind it, and to who placed the Levites in their towns:
In chapters 13:14, 33 and 14:3, 4 we read that Moses gave the Levites no inheritance. The Lord was their inheritance. After the tribes had received their allotments the heads of the Levite families came to Joshua and Eleazar with a request. They based their request on the Word of God spoken to Moses… The people obeyed and gave them cities out of their own inheritances. But the cities were also assigned by lot, so it was the Lord who gave them their homes. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted on! They were spread through the whole land of Israel… The Gershonites received cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali.
Being spread among the tribes was no compliment to Levi. One commentator reads the arrangement as two things at once:
The inheritance has now been described. Next comes the portion of the Levites. As a tribe they have no territory, so their portion is forty-two cities scattered throughout Israel. This shows two things at once. It shows the unbending judgment of God: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." It also shows His grace, which rejoices over judgment and turns it into a means of blessing. For the Levites, scattered through the land and linked with God's centre at the tabernacle, would live up to the meaning of their name. And as those "joined" to all the tribes, they would unite them into one whole.
Issachar's towns went to the family of Gershon. Their name and their work carry a lesson:
The children of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from Issachar, Asher and Naphtali and the half tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan (v.6). Gershom means "a stranger there." It speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives. Gershom's work involved the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, the hangings for the door and for the court. So Gershom's service stands for encouraging a godly walk through a world where we are strangers — a walk that honors God, though the world does not understand it.
Some commentators read these two names for their meaning. The first sounds unpromising:
First, Kishion, "hardening." As a city of the Levites and of Gershon, its meaning changes, and it shows us what the very opposition of the world may do for us. Such opposition breeds in us strength of character and an independence that dares to stand alone, obeying the will of God alone. All difficulties are only training for the soul that is in earnest. We can learn the habit of overcoming, as we learn other habits. So hard circumstances may be just as helpful — God making, as He has promised, all things work together for good to those who love Him.
The second name adds what the first lacks:
Daberath means "pasture." There are "pastures of the wilderness," and the world being what it is only makes the refreshment He has provided for it sweeter and more satisfying. There is also grace always equal to the need, where the heart turns to Him with its need.
The point of putting Levites in Issachar, and in every other tribe, was teaching:
Teaching Israel the law of the Lord was the Levites' solemn responsibility and high privilege. "They shall teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law." (Deut. 33:10.)… So, in this final ordering of the possessions in the promised land, Jehovah provided for keeping the knowledge of His word alive among His people. Without this their prosperity had to end, because if they did not obey the word of God they would lose their privileges.
- No portion — God. Levi received no territory. The Lord Himself was their inheritance, and their towns came from a request built on God's word through Moses.
- Portion by lot. The tribes gave the cities, but the lot placed them, so each Levite address was God's own choosing.
- Portion scattered. The scattering that began as judgment on Levi became the grace that joined every tribe to God's centre.
- Portion for strangers. Gershon means "a stranger there." Their service never settles down in the world. It encourages a walk the world does not understand.
- Portion balanced. Kishion means "hardening" and Daberath means "pasture." Opposition builds character; grace always matches the need.
Jarmuth and its suburbs, En-gannim and its suburbs four cities;
Joshua 21:29 closes the short list of towns given out of Issachar's land to one family of Levites. Two questions sit behind the bare place names: why did this one tribe get scattered towns instead of a country of its own, and what did God mean to do through them?
The Levites did not bargain for these towns. They asked for what God had commanded long before, and He placed them Himself, with a purpose in view.
Chapters 13:14, 33 and 14:3, 4 state that Moses gave no inheritance to the Levites. The Lord was their inheritance. After the tribes had received their allotments the heads of the fathers of the Levites came to Joshua and Eleazar with a petition. They based their petition upon the Word of God spoken to Moses... The people were obedient and gave them cities out of their own inheritances. But the lot also decided the cities, so the Lord Himself gave them their homes. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted upon!... God's purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, that they might have a good influence in divine things: to urge the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness and to keep them from idolatry.
The scattering of Levi across Israel was spoken long before as a prophecy. Grant says it came true in a way no one would have guessed.
In these Levite cities, scattered through the land, we see the prophetic word about Levi fulfilled: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Yet it comes true here in a very different way from what we would have expected! Grace shows itself in absolute sovereignty over all the sin. What seemed to be only punishment has become blessing. Fully in line with God's way in grace, the one who had been under it becomes a blessing to others... Seed must not lie in a heap, or it does not do its work.
These four towns went to the sons of Gershon. Their name describes the service they pictured.
The lot gave the children of Gershon thirteen cities from Issachar, Asher and Naphtali and the half tribe of Manasseh east of Jordan (v.6). Gershom means "a stranger there." The name speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives.
The four towns come from Issachar, and Grant reads that tribe as standing for the walk on earth:
And now Issachar, which speaks of the walk on earth, gives him in its four cities the means of keeping this power in spite of the world's opposing influences.
Grant takes the first name as pointing upward:
Jarmuth means "height." We have seen it speak once of Christ exalted, and once of our own exaltation in Him — things that belong together. And this height, we may say, feeds —
The next name says what that height feeds:
En-gannim, a "fountain of gardens," speaks of the Spirit's work in the world. A garden is a special enclosure, and implies the need of separation, protection, and a nurturing hand. So the Spirit's work is to separate and nourish the people of God, like foreign plants in a strange country. The world around remains a wilderness.
This final share-out of the land served Israel's whole future.
So, in the final ordering of the possessions in the promised land, Jehovah made sure the knowledge of His word would be kept alive among His people. Without this their prosperity could not last, for if they did not obey the word of God they would lose their privileges.
Living in these towns came with a duty — and with a promise for a day still ahead:
reason: archaic "without repentance"; restores the future-day content the lead-in needs
- Sentence — Levi's scattering came first as a judgment: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel."
- Reversal — Grace turned the judgment into service. The one who had been under it became a blessing to others, for seed must not lie in a heap.
- Portion — Moses gave Levi no land. The Lord was their inheritance, and the lot fixed their homes, so God chose where His servants lived.
- Reach — Thirteen towns for Gershon, four of them out of Issachar: God spread His teachers so every tribe kept the knowledge of His word.
- Purpose — The two names in this verse still preach it: a height to look up to, and a spring of gardens where God keeps and feeds His people in a wilderness world.
and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its suburbs, Abdon and its suburbs,
Joshua 21:30 records two of the four towns that Asher handed over to the Gershonite branch of Levi — Mishal and Abdon, each with its surrounding pasture. Two questions follow. Why did this tribe get no land of its own? And why did its towns sit inside every other tribe's land?
Here Levi receives towns instead of giving them. The reason lies in God's own arrangement for this tribe.
Notice how often, even in this chapter, the record points to the tribe of Levi as having no such portion, by the will of God. The Levites received no inheritance in the land. The offerings made by fire to Jehovah, God of Israel — yes, Jehovah Himself — were their inheritance, as He said to them. The Lord's workmen stood on different ground from the rest of His people. They were called to a special trust in His provision for them and in His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?
A word of judgment once fell on Levi: his descendants would be split up and scattered. The towns in Asher and elsewhere are that word coming true — and turned inside out.
The inheritance has now been described. The Levites, who as a tribe have no territory, receive their portion in the forty-two cities scattered throughout Israel. This shows the unbending judgment of God: "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." It also shows His grace, which rejoices over judgment and turns it into a means of blessing. The Levites were scattered through the land, yet linked with God's centre at the tabernacle. So they matched the meaning of their name. Being "joined" to all the tribes, they would unite them into one whole.
God chose these addresses, and the scattering served a purpose in every district.
The people were obedient and gave them cities out of their several inheritances. But the cities were also assigned by lot, so that the Lord assigned them their homes. They were scattered throughout the entire territory of Israel… The Gershonites were placed in cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali… God's purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, that they might have a good influence in divine things. They were to urge the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness, and to hold them back from idolatry.
Each Levite town came with land around it. The size of that land was fixed, and so was its use.
They were to receive forty-eight cities, scattered throughout the portions given to the other tribes. They were also to have land round each of these cities, reaching out 2,000 cubits — that is, at least 1,000 yards, and probably a little more. This land was for their cattle and their goods; for their support, we suppose, by farming.
The family receiving Mishal and Abdon had a name and a job that fit each other.
The children of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot. These came from Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half tribe of Manasseh east of Jordan. Gershom means "a stranger there." It speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives. Gershom's service was connected with the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle… So the spiritual meaning of Gershom's service is this: it encourages a godly walk through a world where we are strangers. It is a walk that honours God, though the world does not understand.
Some commentators read the town names themselves as a message.
We need not wonder that the first Gershonite town should be Misheal, "feeling after God"; nor the second, Abdon, "bond-service."
The next verse adds two more towns. Commentators read all four town names together as one message.
These four, where God is known and relationship to Him is established, are all blessedness, and therefore worthy of Asher. They show us the portion of the true Levite, which is in God Himself, and the heart of the ministry that the Levite pictures.
- Portion — Levi got no territory, because Jehovah Himself was his inheritance. The servant's calling was to trust God's provision. Where he failed there, his words lost their power.
- Scattered — A word of judgment on Levi turned into a means of blessing. Scattered men, linked to God's centre, joined all the tribes into one.
- Placed — The lot decided Asher's towns, so God chose the addresses. The aim was to keep every district worshipping Him and clear of idols.
- Provision — Each town came with pastureland. It fed the cattle of men who owned no estate: enough, not abundance.
- Portrait — Gershon means "a stranger there." His towns in Asher read as feeling after God, then bond-service. The servant's portion is God Himself, not the world he passes through.
Helkath and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs four cities;
This verse closes the list of towns Asher handed over to the family of Gershon, bringing the count to four. The list reads like bookkeeping, yet it answers a real question: how does God provide for a tribe He left without land of its own?
Levi's portion came out of everyone else's portion. The Levites asked for it on the ground of what God had already said.
Chapters 13:14, 33 and 14:3, 4 tell us that Moses gave no inheritance to the Levites. The Lord was their inheritance. Once the tribes had received their allotments, the heads of the families of the Levites came to Joshua and Eleazar with a request. They based that request on the Word of God spoken to Moses... The people obeyed and gave them cities out of their own inheritances. But the lot also assigned the cities, so the Lord Himself gave them their homes. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted upon! They were scattered through the whole land of Israel... The Gershonites received cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali.
One writer sees two things at once in this scattering.
The inheritance has now been described. The Levites, who as a tribe have no territory, receive their portion in the forty-two cities scattered throughout Israel. This shows at once the unbending judgment of God, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel," and His grace, which rejoices over judgment and turns it into a means of blessing. Scattered through the land, and linked with God's centre at the tabernacle, the Levites would answer to the meaning of their name. "Joined" to all the tribes, they would unite them into one whole.
These four cities went to one branch of Levi. Its name and its work at the tabernacle both carry meaning.
The lot gave the children of Gershon thirteen cities from Issachar, Asher and Naphtali, and from the half tribe of Manasseh east of Jordan (v.6). Gershom means "a stranger there." It speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves Him without selfish, material motives. Gershom's service had to do with the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, and the hangings for the door and for the court. So the spiritual meaning of Gershom's service is this: it encourages a godly walk through a world where we are strangers, a walk that honors God, though the world does not understand.
The names of these cities carry meaning.
Rehob, "room." These four, where God is known and relation to Him established, are all blessedness, and worthy, therefore, of Asher. They show us the portion of the true Levite, which is in God Himself, and the heart of ministry such as the Levite speaks of.
Another writer gives the meaning of the other name in the verse.
Helkath means "portion"; the Lord Himself is the portion of His people. He is our joy and happiness.
Each city came with pastureland, which older translations call "suburbs." The law treated that land differently from the houses inside the walls.
For the Levites, the law was different. They had no tribal possession of land, as the other tribes had. God assigned them their cities with the pastureland around them. They could sell their cities or houses, but these could be redeemed at any time and were certain to go free at the Jubilee. The fields around their cities they could never sell. Those fields were a permanent possession (32-34). So those set apart to serve God could never be wholly stripped of the possessions Jehovah had secured for them.
Placing Levites in Asher, and in every other tribe, served an end beyond housing them.
...now that the whole land has been divided among them, the crowning act is the spreading of the Levites through the nation. God entrusted the Levites with upholding His word in Israel... Israel's prosperity from first to last depended on their obedience to that word. The place of responsibility the Levites held stands out clearly, and so does that of the ministers of God, whom He has appointed to teach His people.
- Word — The Levites asked for these cities on the ground of what God said through Moses. The tribes obeyed.
- Lot — Asher gave the cities, but the lot placed them. Where each Levite lived was God's choice.
- Grace — What began as judgment became the means of joining every tribe to God's centre.
- Portion — Helkath means portion, Rehob means room. The Levite's real inheritance was God Himself, and his pastureland could never be sold.
- Ministry — Levites in Asher and every other tribe kept God's word among the people. Israel's welfare hung on obeying it.
and out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the slayer, Kedesh in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs three cities.
Joshua's list of Levite towns ends in the north with three cities given by Naphtali. One of them, Kedesh in Galilee, was both a home for Levites and the city of refuge for anyone who killed a person by accident.
The Levites, set apart for God's service, were the one tribe with no territory of their own. So their homes came out of what the other tribes received. And the lot, not human preference, settled which cities they got:
After the tribes had received their portions, the heads of the Levite families came to Joshua and Eleazar with a request. They based it on the Word of God spoken to Moses... The people obeyed and gave them cities out of their own inheritances. But the cities were also handed out by lot, so the Lord Himself chose where they would live. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted upon! They were scattered through the whole land of Israel... The Gershonites received cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali... God's purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, that they should be a good influence in the things of God. They were to urge the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness and to hold them back from idolatry.
Living on land that belonged to another tribe taught the Levites what the chapter keeps repeating:
The Levites received no inheritance in the land. Their inheritance was the offerings made by fire to Jehovah God of Israel — yes, Jehovah Himself, as He said to them. The workers of the Lord stood on different ground from the rest of His people. He called them to a special trust in His provision for them and in His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?
The verse names Kedesh as the place a manslayer could run to. Both names carry a message once you translate them:
Kedesh was in Naphtali. Kedesh means "sanctuary," and Naphtali means "wrestler-struggler." Christ is the refuge for the struggling sinner.
The refuge and the Levite cities belong together. One writer treats them as one plan:
The cities of refuge were part of the cities given to the Levites. They belonged with Levite ministry, in spiritual meaning as much as in fact. In both we find a provision for the control of sin. The Levite cities, scattered like this through the land, were like a garrison of the Lord to keep the people in the knowledge and fear of Him.
The third town, Kartan, has a longer form of its name elsewhere. The same writer finds meaning in it:
Kartan, the third city, is thought to be a shortened form of Kirjathaim, "two cities," or the double city. It seems to speak of fellowship in activity. Perhaps that name would suit any Levite city, yet it is especially fitting here.
Commentators read the refuge in two directions: as a picture of Christ sheltering any sinner, and as God's way with the nation of Israel. On the second reading, the difference between accident and murder is itself the mercy:
We see the holiness of God in this: He would not shield the guilty. Once qualified judges and witnesses had examined the case, the guilty man had to be handed over. We see the grace of God in the way He kept the man who killed by accident safe inside the refuge, so that the avenger of blood could not touch him. Here we see, in picture form, Jehovah's gracious dealings with Israel — the nation He loves, though it is blind, and which is responsible before Him for shedding the blood of Christ. In grace He treats Israel as a "slayer," not a "murderer," to be restored in due time to the good land, the land that belongs to them.
The manslayer stayed safe only while he stayed inside the refuge. One writer sets that shelter beside what believers have now:
Let us turn now to the blessed resources of grace in Hebrews 6:18-20... our hope is neither vague nor uncertain. It takes the form of a Person, so to speak. It is a heavenly Christ... This hope (Christ) we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, fixed to a rock that cannot move. There is no uncertainty... And more: it brings us now into the very presence of God, into the sanctuary itself.
- Given, not earned — the three cities came out of Naphtali's own inheritance. The Levites owned no land; God Himself was their portion.
- Given by lot — the tribes handed the cities over, but the lot chose which ones. Where a Levite lived was God's choice, not a human favour.
- Given for reach — spread through the tribes, these towns kept God's word near everyone, like a garrison holding the land in the fear of the Lord.
- Given as refuge — Kedesh means "sanctuary," and Naphtali means "wrestler-struggler." The city sheltered the man who killed by accident, and pictures Christ as refuge for the struggling sinner.
- Given something better — the manslayer was safe only inside his city. The believer's hope is a Person, an anchor already fixed inside the sanctuary.
All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities and their suburbs.
The list of Gershonite towns ends with a total: thirteen towns with open land around them, given by four tribes. Behind that total lies the chapter's big question — why does one tribe of Israel get no land of its own?
The Gershonites were one branch of the tribe of Levi. One writer puts their position in a single line:
The Levites have their cities defined, though they have no inheritance in the land like their brothers, since Jehovah is their inheritance.
So how did they live? God provided for them out of what the other tribes owned.
Levi is dedicated to the service of God, and separated from ordinary Israelites. No inheritance is given to them as to the other tribes. They are Jehovah's pensioners. He provides for them out of Israel's abundance. Each tribe gave a portion to the Levites, few cities from those that had less, many from those that had more. But God's care for His holy things is clear in the way He preserved the record of Levi's sons so exactly, and appointed to each his particular work.
The Gershonites did not pick their thirteen towns, and neither did the tribes who gave them up:
The people were obedient and gave them cities out of their several inheritances. But the cities were also assigned by lot, so that the Lord assigned them their homes. How it must have pleased Him to see His Word remembered, obeyed and acted upon! They lived scattered throughout the entire territory of Israel... The Gershonites received cities in eastern Manasseh, Issachar, Asher and Naphtali. God's purpose in scattering them over the land was, no doubt, to give them a good influence in the things of God. They were to urge the tribes to worship Jehovah, to remind them of His goodness and to hold them back from idolatry.
Being spread thin among the tribes could look like a loss. One writer finds both judgment and grace in it:
The Levites, as a tribe, have no territory. Their portion is allotted to them in the forty-two cities scattered throughout Israel. This shows at once the inflexible judgment of God, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel," and His grace, which rejoices over judgment and turns it into a means of blessing. For the Levites scattered through the land and linked with God's centre at the tabernacle would answer to the meaning of their name. As "joined" to all the tribes, they unite them into one whole.
The family's name carried its own message, and it matched their work at the tent of worship:
Gershom means "a stranger there." It speaks of service for God that does not settle down in the world, but serves God without selfish, material motives. Gershom's service was connected with the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, the hangings for the door and for the court. So the spiritual meaning of Gershom's service is this. It encourages a godly walk through a world where we are strangers, a walk that honours God, though the world does not understand.
The law drew a line between the Levites' houses and their fields:
God assigned them their cities with the surrounding land. Their cities or houses could be sold, with the right to buy them back at any time, and with the certainty of going free at the Jubilee. But the fields around their cities could never be sold. They were a permanent possession. So those set apart to serve God could never be wholly stripped of the possessions which Jehovah had secured for them.
Spreading the Levites out was the last act of settling the land, and it had a point:
Now that the whole land is divided among them, the crowning act is the spreading of the Levites throughout the nation. God entrusted them with upholding His word in Israel, and with teaching Israel the word of Jehovah. Israel's prosperity from first to last depended upon their obedience to that word. The Levites held a position of great responsibility. So do the ministers of God, whom He has appointed to teach His people.
- No portion. Gershon's family got no slice of Canaan, because Jehovah Himself was Levi's inheritance.
- A portion given. They lacked land, so they received thirteen towns with pasture. The lot drew them out of other tribes' plenty, and God chose their addresses.
- A portion secured. Houses could be sold and bought back. The fields never could, so God's servants could never be stripped bare.
- A portion spread out. The scattering began as judgment on Levi. It ended by joining the tribes into one whole around God's centre.
- A portion with a purpose. These towns put teachers of God's word near every tribe. Israel's prosperity hung on listening to them.