Bob Russell
March 19, 2025
In Chapter 21, God provides the Levites with a distribution of land and reminds them that He alone was their inheritance. In chapter 22, we see the eastern tribes return home with blessings beyond borders to share with their brothers.
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Numbers 3:12–13 I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first
male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, 13 for all the firstborn are
mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself
every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal. They are to be mine. I am
the LORD.
Deuteronomy 10:8–9 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to
carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister
and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. 9 That is why the Levites
have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the LORD is their
inheritance, as the LORD your God told them.
Exodus 25:8–9 Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
9 Make this
tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
Matthew 27:50–51 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his
spirit. 51 At
that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
Joshua 21:1-3 Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua
son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel 2 at Shiloh in Canaan and
said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live
in, with pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So, as the LORD had commanded, the Israelites
gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own
inheritance:
Philippians 2:3–4 (NKJV) Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or
conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4
Let each of you look
out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
5 Let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
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God calls His saints to be servants.
Numbers 35:1–3 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the LORD said to
Moses, 2 Command
the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the
Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns. 3 Then they will have towns
to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other
animals.
2 Chronicles 17:9 (NLT) They took copies of the Book of the Law of the LORD
and traveled around through all the towns of Judah, teaching the people.
Romans 10:14–15 (NLT) But how can they call on him to save them unless
they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard
about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15
And how will anyone
go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, how
beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!
Joshua 21:43-45 So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their
ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. 44 The LORD gave them rest on
every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies
withstood them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one of all the LORD’s
good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.
Genesis 15:18 (NLT) So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and
said, I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border
of Egypt to the great Euphrates River.
Joshua 22:1-4 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of
Manasseh 2 and
said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded,
and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. 3 For a long time now—to
this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out
the mission the LORD your God gave you. 4 Now that the LORD your God has given them rest as he
promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD
gave you on the other side of the Jordan.
Joshua 1:14–15 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that
Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle,
must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15
until the LORD gives
them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of
the land the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and
occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan
toward the sunrise.
Joshua 22:5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the
servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience
to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all
your heart and with all your soul.
Mark 12:30–31 (NKJV) And you shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This
is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: you shall love your neighbor as
yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
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Love God and others passionately.
Joshua 22:6-9 Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their
homes. 7 (To
the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other
half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with
their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, 8
saying, “Return to
your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver,
gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder
from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.” 9 So the Reubenites, the
Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan
to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with
the command of the LORD through Moses.
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