Joshua and Judges: God alone fulfills His covenant with Israel. The curse upon Simeon and Levi. The refuge cities; Jos 20.

Title: Joshua and Judges: God alone fulfills His covenant with Israel. The curse upon Simeon and Levi. The refuge cities; Jos 20.  

 

Announcements / opening prayer:  

 

 

JOS 18:10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.

 

The lot fell in the order: Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan.

 

Let's skip down to Simeon's lot.

 

JOS 19:9 The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of Judah's inheritance.

 

We don't hear of any complaints by Judah over this decision to lose some of their land.

 

This allotment was the fulfillment of the curse pronounced by Jacob upon Simeon and Levi. Levi's was fulfilled in another way.

 

GEN 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers [had the same mother - Leah]; Their swords are implements of violence.

 

In Gen 34 these brothers attacked the city of Shechem and killed all the males after the prince of the land forcibly took their sister Dinah and lay with her.

 

GEN 49:6 "Let my soul not enter into their council;

Let not my glory be united with their assembly;

Because in their anger they slew men,

And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

 

GEN 49:7 "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;

And their wrath, for it is cruel.

I will disperse them in Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel.

 

After settling the promised land over four hundred years later we see this prophecy perfectly fulfilled in Simeon and Levi.

 

Some of our mistakes have repercussions that last our whole lives, but that doesn't mean that we can't glorify God in the midst of what we have reaped. Simeon and Levi, though they will never have a great land, can still follow God in the land they have and glorify Him and reap His blessings.

 

[back to Jos 19]

Joshua 19 describes the borders and the cities that were allotted to each tribe. The last to draw a lot was Dan and interestingly Dan was formed by Judah giving up some of its northern towns, and Ephraim some of its southern towns so as to furnish them with a territory proportionate to their number.

 

As the great leader, Joshua takes his allotment only after everyone else has gotten theirs.

 

JOS 19:49 When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun.

 

JOS 19:50 In accordance with the command of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and settled in it.

 

Once all the land was given as an inheritance, Joshua receives his own inheritance, Timnath-serah.

 

Timnath-serah stood upon two mountains in the land of Ephraim, Joshua's tribe. He built the city and settled in it until his death.

 

This land was likely given to him by God at the same time that Caleb received his inheritance from the Lord since they were to the two good spies.

 

Joshua waits until all others are served before he takes what is his. He loves the Lord and his neighbor.

 

JOS 19:51 These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

 

It is finally done. What was promised to Abraham 400 years earlier has finally come to pass. In all of our study so far, the Exodus and the wars of Joshua, is there any doubt that this monumental and historic accomplishment had anything to do with anyone besides God alone?

 

GEN 15:12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.

 

GEN 15:13 And God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.

 

GEN 15:14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve; and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

 

GEN 15:15 And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.

 

GEN 15:16 Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

 

GEN 15:17 And it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.

 

The stove, is a cylindrical fire-pot, such as is used in the dwelling-houses of the East. The phenomenon, which passed through the pieces as they lay opposite to one another, resembled such a smoking stove, from which a fiery torch, or brilliant flame, was streaming forth. In this symbol Jehovah manifested Himself to Abram, just as He afterwards did to the people of Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire. Passing through the pieces, He ratified the covenant which He made with Abram. His glory was enveloped in fire and smoke, both symbols of God's wrath, which He would bring up on the Egyptians and the Canaanites. To establish and give reality to the covenant to be concluded with Abram, Jehovah would have to pass through the seed of Abram when oppressed by the Egyptians and threatened with destruction, and to execute judgment upon their oppressors.

 

The Lord alone passed through the pieces as a symbol of the unconditional covenant with Abraham. It was common for both parties to pass through when making a covenant, but this one depends on God alone.

 

GEN 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,

 

"To your descendants I have given this land,

From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:

 

GEN 15:19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite

 

GEN 15:20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim

 

GEN 15:21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite."

 

 

This would have to go down as one of the greatest events in human history. Unfortunately, the subsequent generations would not understand this.

 

Next God instructs Joshua on setting up cities designated as refuges so that criminal justice can be fairly carried out in the land.

 

God provides protection from revenge for the unintentional manslayer by allotting six towns as places of refuge.

 

After the distribution of the land by lot among the tribes of Israel, six towns were set apart as Moses had instructed them to do in NUM 35:9-15 and DEU 19:1-13, as places of refuge for those who have unintentionally killed another man.

 

Places of refuge were promised by God at Sinai.

 

EXO 21:12-13 "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

 

EXO 21:13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee."

 

JOS 20:1 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

 

JOS 20:2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'Designate the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

 

JOS 20:3 that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood.

 

JOS 20:4 'And he shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may dwell among them.