Today is the final study in the book of Numbers! It started out with explaining the boundaries of the land. It listed the names of the cities and locations according to the North, South, East, and West edges of the land.
The listing of the four borders was not only for information, but also to display again the dimensions of God’s great gift to his people.
Moses spoke to the people of Israel saying how the land they were given was divided by lot, which the Lord had commanded. It was divided among the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. For the people of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manassah had settled and received their inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.
It went on to list the names of the men who would divide up the land. Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun would be in charge. They would also have help from one chief from each tribe. The listing of the new tribal leaders recalls the listing of the leaders of the first generation. This time the promise will be realized; these new leaders will assist Eleazar and Joshua in actually allotting the land.
Since the Levites would not receive an allotment with the other tribes in the land, they would need towns in which to live and to raise their families and care for their livestock.
The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to command the people of Israel to give some of their inheritance to the Levites for them to dwell in, and pastureland for their cattle and livestock. It described what that pastureland would be, giving measurements in cubits.
The Levites were to be spread throughout the land, not in an isolated encampment. Six cities were stationed strategically throughout the land as cities of refuge, where a person guilty of manslaughter might escape blood revenge. The Levites were also given an additional forty-two cities; so forty-eight in all.
The refuge cities were used for any person who murdered another to flee to while the judges determined the case; and as protection from anyone seeking revenge. The manslayer could not die until he stood before the congregation for judgement.
There were many different examples listed, but ultimately if someone purposefully murdered another they would be put to death. The avenger of the person killed would be the one to kill the murderer.
If a person was killed accidentally without malicious intent, then the judges would decide between the manslayer and the avenger with accordance to the rules.
This book ended with a final rule on the marriage of female heirs. Since the daughters of Zelopehad had no brothers, they were the ones who inherited their fathers land. However, the concern was that if they married, then that inheritance would be passed on to another tribe. The Lord handled this by declaring that they could marry whoever they wanted, as long as they were from the same clan.
The inheritance of the people of Israel would not be transferred from one tribe to another, as the people of their fathers would continue to inherit the land of their fathers. So, the daughters married the sons of their father’s brothers….their cousins. Great, right at the end they had to throw in one last bit of incest. I thought we had gotten past this!
“These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.”
-Numbers 36:13