April 7, 2022 - Numbers 35-36

God provides for the people He instructs to be stewards of His possessions. I had a professor at Moody Bible Institute that told his students the last thing he would discuss with a church while being interviewed for employment was the financial package. He felt that if God was calling him to a place of ministry, God also knew his family's necessities.

As we conclude the book of Numbers, we are presented with the ways that God instructed the nation of Israel to care for the Levites and those who oversaw the tabernacle and later the temple. The Levites were assigned 48 cities which were given by the tribes so they could raise their families and pasture the livestock they had accumulated.

The cities were to be a designated size with pastureland surrounding them to accommodate animals. Six of these cities were designated as places of refuge where individuals could go when accidental or innocent blood was shed. Premeditated murder was to receive capital punishment with no sanctuary provided.

The final instructions of the book of Numbers cover tribal inheritance, boundaries and maintaining purity before the Lord. Previously, Manasseh had been confronted by daughters of Zelophehad maintaining the land rights of their father when no sons were in the family (Numbers 27:1-11). Here, it was further clarified the women were to be obedient to the law in order to maintain the ownership of the land within their father's tribe.

The nation of Israel, disciples, and the churches through the centuries have all experienced God's oversight of His people. During uncertainty and turmoil, the words of Jesus are a clarion-like promise, "'... I will never leave you or forsake you.' So we may boldly say; 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" (Hebrews 13:7-8). Draw comfort and strength from these promises God freely provides us to claim.