Joshua 21 – Forty-Eight Cities

So what can we glean from these forty eight Levitical cites?

Last month we observed a correlation between the office of the Levites and the Church. Among many New Testament examples, the Apostle Paul makes a reference to this fact in 1 Corinthians 12 and his description of believers as a body with many different parts. There are many who are ‘called’ and among the called, there are many different parts to play in the Church according to ability and function. The pastor/elders are called to devote themselves to the Word – but the other members also have important  parts to play according to the many functions of the body of Christ. This month, I thought we might consider the Forty-Eight Cities.

Remember that the Levites, unlike their brothers, received no territorial inheritance. They had a higher privilege - the Lord was their inheritance! Dale Ralph Davis says,

“… the Levite is a parable for us to see and hear, a sort of visual aid of our fleeting, transitory, rootless existence. A reminder that we must always say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and so this or that” (James 4:15), a nudge that “even we ourselves who have the firstfruits, namely the Spirit, go on groaning within ourselves as we expect the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). Yet, strangely, recognizing this Levite aspect of our lives does not bring us to despair but to reality; it nurtures a certain humility that in turn begets hope in the Living One, who has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev. 1:17-18).”¹

Being consecrated to the Lord, we can identify with a natural desire to be associated with like-minded folk. Brother Blaikie said that it would have been natural, “if the Levites had clustered like a swarm of bees around the sacred establishment …”²  But we see that the Lord had other plans for the Levites. The Levites were consecrated to be the men who stood nearest to God, those who were divine witnesses to the supremacy of Yahweh’s lordship over all creation, including this very Promised Land.

“Designed to point God-wards and heavenwards, the mission of Levi was to remind the people over the whole country that they were not mere earth-worms, created to grub and burrow in the ground, but beings with a nobler destiny, whose highest honor it was to be in communion with God.”²

“The tribe of Levi was to furnish not only priest for the altar but also teachers for the law (Deut. 33:10) and, at various times, we see Levites or priests doing just that (2 Chron. 17:7-9; 35:3; Neh. 8:7-9; see also Mal. 2:4-7). Hence, the purpose of the allotment of these cities was surely related to the special Levitical ministry of covenant teaching among the twelve tribes. The Levitical cities were meant to serve as bases of operation so that the Levites could better infiltrate each of the tribes to instruct them in Yahweh’s covenant.”¹

Application: The Levitical cites are a parable for New Testament believers. We are not called to Christian convents or monasteries. God apparently wants Christians scattered around because he has important things for them to do. As Levites in their neighborhoods, they serve God by serving their local communities on his behalf. Believers, like the Levites, are ‘set aside’ people who are adopted into His family – with all the rights and privileges afforded to sons and daughters of the King. Believers enjoy ongoing conversations with the Lord (Rom 8:15; Gal. 4:6). The conversation is two-way: we make our requests known to God – and we listen to His Word. Perhaps we may get too busy or preoccupied to listen, but the Spirit prompts us to continue. Since we are ‘set aside’ or consecrated, and we are in communication with the Lord of Heaven, we are witnesses to the fact that we are not ‘mere earth-worms’ but truly those with a ‘nobler purpose.’ Not that it makes us proud, but for the purpose of encouraging fellow believers and as a testimony to a world infected with the depressing and hopeless thought that we are no better than earth worms. How encouraging for a lost world to see that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ actually live lives of purpose and meaning in their family life and at the work place.

In conclusion, though believers are not of the world they are to live in the world. Though we are just travelling through we are called to a purpose. We must ask ourselves if we are ‘a swarm of bees around the sacred establishment’ or are we reaching out to our lost neighbors? Is our church a mere club, spending its resources on its own agendas, or do we reflect the Levitical mission as God’s scattered people. “Christians are not to see ourselves as members of a religious club but as Levites, people dispersed to serve sacrificially and lovingly wherever God places us.”⁴

 Footnotes

¹ Davis, Dale R. No Falling Words Baker Books. Grand Rapids, MI 1988

² Blaikie, William Expository Lectures on the Book of Joshua Solid Ground Christian Books Birmingham, AL 1893

³ Calvin, John Commentaries of the Book of Joshua Baker, Grand Rapids. 1981 page 246

⁴ Hubbard, Robert. The NIV Application Commentary – Joshua. Zondervan Grand Rapids, MI 2009