How was God Himself the inheritance of the Levites?

The subject of inheritance is next treated. "I am their inheritance … I am their possession." The priests have no inheritance, no possession in Israel. Compare Num. 18:20; Deut. 10:9; Deut. 18:1. Is this a deprivation? Can it be that to be an heir of God, to have Him as one's inheritance and possession? Rather it expresses the highest possible place of nearness and blessing in which what God is becomes the portion of those so blessed. What more than this gives God His rightful place? The whole man is lifted up to Him in whom all his resources are found, from whom all his expectation must come. It reminds us of the Christian place — heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, who is the appointed Heir of all things, and He in whom we have obtained an inheritance into which we are brought according to the riches of His grace and to the praise of His glory. Now we joy in God, and rejoice in hope of His glory. Our city is of His building, our kingdom is of His preparation and giving.

Let us now consider the portion of the tribe of Levi. (Joshua 13:14, 33) By the commandment of the Lord, neither Aaron (Num. 18:20), nor the priests, nor any of the tribe of Levi could have any inheritance in Israel. Their inheritance was on the one hand, "the Lord God of Israel," and on the other "the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire." It is the same for us, His heavenly people. We have no portion on earth, but our privilege is to stand before God and to serve Him, and more than this to possess Him, to have communion with Him in the heavenly places, with the Father, and with the Son, who is with Him. But our portion in the Son is also "the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire"; that is to say, Christ according to all the perfection of His work and His Person before God; Christ, the perfect Man, the cake of fine flour anointed with oil, and covered with frankincense; Christ as a victim, the burnt offering, the sacrifice for sin, all that in which God finds His eternal delight. We have communion with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

The priests, the Levites, were the servants of Jehovah and had no inheritance with Israel, but Jehovah Himself was their inheritance. How the people were to minister unto them is now commanded by Moses. They were both dependent on the Lord and closely identified with Him. And this is true of us, who are in Christ constituted priests and called to the Levite service.

We may note also how repeatedly, even in this chapter, attention is drawn to the tribe of Levi as without any such portion by the will of God. (Verses 14-33) To the Levites was given no inheritance in the land. The sacrifices of Jehovah God of Israel made by fire, yea, Jehovah Himself, was their inheritance, as He said to them. The workmen of the Lord stood on a different footing from the rest of His people, and were called to special confidence in His provision for them and His word about them. If they failed in this, could they wonder that their words had little power?

The opening lines of this most interesting chapter set before us the gracious provision which Jehovah made for His servants the Levites. Each of the tribes of Israel was privileged — that we say not bound — to furnish the Levites with a certain number of cities with their suburbs, according to their ability. "All the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their suburbs. And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have many ye shall give many; but from them that have few ye shall give few: every one shall give of his cities to the Levites, according to his inheritance which he inherits." Verses 7, 8.

The Lord's servants were wholly cast upon Him for their portion. They had no inheritance or possession saving Himself. Blessed inheritance! Precious portion! None like it, in the judgement of faith. Blessed are all those who can truly say to the Lord, "Thou art the portion of my cup, and the lot of my inheritance." God took care of His dependent servants, and permitted the whole congregation of Israel to taste the hallowed privilege — for such it most assuredly was — of being co-workers with Him in providing for those who had willingly devoted themselves to His work, abandoning all besides.

The reader will notice, in this chapter, as elsewhere, that every fresh subject is introduced by the words, "And the Lord spake to Moses," or "to Aaron." Thus, from verses 20-32, we are taught that the priests and Levites — God's worshippers and workers, were to have no inheritance among the children of Israel, but were to be absolutely shut up to God Himself, for the supply of all their need. Most blessed position. Nothing can be more lovely than the picture here presented. The children of Israel were to bring their offerings, and lay them down at the feet of Jehovah, and He, in His infinite grace, commanded His workers to pick up these precious offerings — the fruit of His people's devotedness — and feed upon them, in His own blessed presence, with thankful hearts. Thus the circle of blessing went round. God ministered to all the wants of His people; His people were privileged to have the rich fruits of His bounty with the priests and Levites; and these latter were permitted to taste the rare and exquisite pleasure of giving back to God of that which had flown from Him to them.

We have the Levites presented in a different aspect from the children of Israel. They had no inheritance among the children of Israel; the Lord was their inheritance, and His provision for them was in another way: "The tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave-offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit" (Num. 18:24).

The priests had all the offerings and sacrifices of which man might partake; the Levites had the tithes from all Israel: the one fed from within, the other from without; but both received from Jehovah, for He was their inheritance. Otherwise they were miserable: what else had they?

Levi's peculiar portion is first to be considered: "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" (13:14). The Lord God of Israel was their inheritance (13:33). Levi was "scattered in Israel," according to the prophecy of Jacob; but Levi's portion was the most sacred and the most precious of all. Wherever the other tribes dwelt, there was Levi; wherever the devout spirits in Israel worshipped the Lord, there Levi had his inheritance. The Lord — not a position — was Levi's lot: "The Lord God of Israel is their inheritance." And so it is that the happiest and wealthiest Christians are they who find in the Lord Himself their portion. Whether dwelling among the two and a half tribes on the other side of Jordan, or among the nine and a half in Canaan, not the special position of the land where their cities were, but Jehovah Himself, and the sacrifices made by fire to him, were Levi's inheritance. "The breadth, and length, and depth, and height" (Eph. 3:18) are most truly comprehended by those Christians who have most of Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith; by those who, like Levi, have the Lord Himself and the sacrifices as their conscious portion. It is well to fight the giants and to overcome cities; but it is better to sacrifice burnt offerings and to partake of peace offerings, to worship God and to hold communion with Him concerning the Lord Jesus.

Levi's portion, in one sense, could never be assailed either by the dweller in the land or by the foreign foe; for even in the darkest day of Israel's departure, when the people of God had betaken themselves to caves and holes in the earth for fear of the enemy, Levi could look up to the unclouded heavens, and exclaim to Jehovah, "Thou art my portion and the lot of my inheritance." Yet in another sense, Levi would be the first to suffer in the day of Israel's adversity, for the sacrifices of Israel were Levi's portion, and these would fail when the foe held Israel captive. And so it is, those nearest to Christ, while they rejoice in a portion that can never be removed, and which never can vary, are the first to feel, in all its acuteness, the spiritual poverty of saints or their affliction by the enemy.

Israel, responsible to maintain their possession in Canaan, might and did utterly fail; the heathen and the idols might and did obtain the mastery over them; but the unchangeable God was Levi's inheritance, and wherever the spirit of worship to Him arose in any of Israel, and sacrifices by fire were offered to Him, there Levi had his inheritance.

Aaron occupied a position so truly elevated that any inheritance in the way of earthly things would have been to him most degrading; whereas the Levites (looked at in one aspect) had not this high standing, but had much hard labour; and consequently, while Aaron's very place and service was "his reward," the Levites had to get a tenth for "their reward."