March 10: Numbers 35-36

March 10, Numbers 35-36

Well, you did it again! Another book of the Old Testament read by you - Congratulations! Hopefully you were able to see that, “The theme of Numbers is the gradual fulfillment of the promises to Abraham that his descendants would be the people of God and occupy the land of Canaan. The book shows the reality of God’s presence with Israel in the cloud of fire over the tabernacle, but the repeated displays of unbelief by Israel, delay the entry into Canaan and cost many lives. Nevertheless, by the end of the book, Israel is poised to enter the land.” (ESV study notes)

Numbers 35. We learn about how God tells Moses how to set apart land for the Levites, so that they can serve. God wanted to make sure that they had enough land to raise their animals and families. God also set up that the Levites land would be refuges for an alleged killer to flee (God is always thinking ahead!). If it was an intentional murder (with witnesses), the killer was to be killed. If it was unintentional, then the alleged murderer could go to the city of refuge until he was able to have his/her case heard before the congregation to be judged.

Numbers 36 is a bit of a twist from what we learned about from Numbers 27, where the daughters who’s father died were able to inherit the land. The big question now was, what to do if the daughters get married, having their own land, and move in with their husbands - what to do with the land during the year of Jubilee (everything is returned to original owner every 50 years as God is really the owner of the land)? God’s solution: marry within your own tribe! That way the land would always stay within the allotted tribal land and some tribes wouldn’t loose land, while others gained land. This way, they will stay fair and equal in land ownership. They obeyed the commands of the Lord. 

To sum it all up:

• As you can tell, the Israelites are getting ready to enter the Promised Land and God is with them. I love our God and how He works it all out His way. 
• God is always looking out for the needy, the lost, and the unjustly convinced. If you are in this category, God is looking out for you too. As we might not be able to flee to a City of Refuge, but instead we have Jesus, who is our Saving Refuge.