January 3, 2023

Passage Read: Joshua 18-21
Meditation Verses: 21:4-7

Thought

According to Jacob's prophecy or blessing, the Levites were scattered among Israel. They were given towns and villages from each of the other tribes. What seemed like a curse was actually meant to be a safeguard. The Levites were supposed to know the Lord and His commands best, and they should have been a safeguard in each town and village so that all the people knew, remembered and understood the Lord's will, not that it was too terribly hard to understand. They should have been reminders to the people in every place, teaching and encouraging the Israelites to walk in God's ways. Like salt rubbed into meat, they should have been the preservative that protected the nation. Sadly, it seems especially in the north where most ended up, there was very little retention of the ways of the Lord.

Application

Fellowship with other believers, especially those who are serious about knowing the Lord, is necessary for all. It is too easy to get caught up in fleshly thinking. The Levites were not just to teach the people, but they were to be a regular object of the care and concern of the people. Every third year, the tithes were to go to the Levites and the poor, an object lesson that our life was not to be about gathering wealth for our own sakes, but to remind us that loving our neighbor was to define our lives. No matter how good I am at reading the Bible, I still need others to help me live it out, both as reminders, encouragers, teachers, and as objects of my care.