[0:00] I want us to see this section as a whole, but I want to pretense it, okay? What we read in Numbers 34, 35, and 36 are the instructions which the Lord is giving through Moses.
[0:13] Again, put it in context. Moses is nearing the end of his life. Moses knows his day of departure is coming. God has told him that, right? They're on the edge of the Promised Land. They're literally in the plains of Moab.
[0:25] And the only thing left is the Jordan River and Jericho. There are those things before them. They're about to go into the Promised Land. God is calling Moses to prepare his people to take possession of the end result, right?
[0:39] He has brought them out in order to bring them in. He has brought them out of Egyptian slavery in order to bring them into the Promised Land. I love what Warren Wiersbe says, and I love the application of it, that Moses could never, from the very beginning, Moses could not be the one who led them into the Promised Land because the law can never deliver you into the Promised Land, right?
[1:00] Only grace can. And Joshua means what? That God is our strength. God is with us, right? And so it couldn't be Moses. It couldn't be the law, the representative of the law. But Moses could prepare because the law is a tutor which leads us to Christ.
[1:14] The law is a tutor which prepares us. As Paul says, it fences us in, if you will, and it leads us to that great need. So Moses is fulfilling his responsibility, and some of the last responsibilities he has is to give very practical instructions and to tell them what it is they should do and how it is they should operate.
[1:33] He's going to give the most practical of instructions in the book of Deuteronomy, which, just for a side note, was for a long time my favorite book in the Old Testament because Deuteronomy 4.24 is my favorite verse in all of Scripture for a long time.
[1:47] For the Lord our God is a jealous God. He is a consuming fire. I know it's kind of an odd favorite verse, but it was my favorite verse for a long time. I love the book of Deuteronomy. It's so practical.
[1:57] And it's what Moses is given right before he leaves because the end of the book of Deuteronomy is Moses' departure. He climbs Mount Pisgah's lofty heights, looks upon the Promised Land, and God buries him. No man knows where, right?
[2:08] So we're here at the end of the book of Numbers. We are through with our wilderness wanderings. We're really on the verge of that, right? So what he does in these last three chapters is he gives them practical instructions.
[2:23] But the practical instructions for them in history also have practical applications for us throughout history. And I want you to see what it looks like in Numbers 34, 35, and 36 to take possession of the inheritance.
[2:38] Taking possession of the inheritance. It was never a question of would they take it. It was when they took it. It was never of if God allows you to.
[2:51] But it's always when you go in. And this is what you should do when you go in. So we'll attempt to read all the way through it. And then we'll see some truths that we glean from and hopefully apply those in our lives.
[3:02] Numbers chapter 34 says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Command the sons of Israel and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance.
[3:14] Even the land of Canaan according to its borders. Your southern sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zen along the side of Edom. And your southern border shall extend from the end of the salt sea eastward.
[3:25] Then your border shall turn direction from the south of the ascent of Akrabim. And continue to Zen. And its termination shall be to the south of Kadesh Barnea. And it shall reach Hazardar.
[3:37] And continue to Asmon. The border shall turn direction from Asmon to the brook of Egypt. And its termination shall be at the sea. As for the western border, you shall have the great sea.
[3:48] That is its coastline. It shall be your west border. That's the Mediterranean Sea. And this shall be your north border. You shall draw your border line from the great sea to Mount Hor. And you shall draw a line from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath.
[4:00] And the termination of the border shall be at Zedad. And the border shall proceed to Ziphron. And its termination shall be at Hazard-Inan. This shall be your north border. For your eastern border, you shall also draw a line from Hazard-Inan to Shepham.
[4:15] And the border shall go down from Shepham to Arriblah. And the east side of Ain. And the border shall go down and reach to the slope on the east side of the Sea of Chinnareth. That is the Sea of Galilee.
[4:25] In the Old Testament, the Sea of Chinnareth is the Sea of Galilee. In the New Testament. So the Sea of Chinnareth. And the border shall go down to the Jordan. Its termination shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its borders all around.
[4:38] So Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, This is the land that you are to apportion by lot among you as a possession, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes.
[4:49] For the tribe of the sons of Reuben have received theirs according to their father's households, and the tribe of the sons of Gad according to their father's households, and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their possession.
[5:01] The two and a half tribes have received their possession across the Jordan opposite Jericho, eastward toward the sun rising. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you for inheritance.
[5:14] Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. You should take one leader of every tribe to apportion the land for inheritance. These are the names of the men of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Samuel the son of Mamehad, of the tribe of Benjamin, Eladad the son of Chishlon, of the tribe of the sons of Dan, a leader, Buki, the son of Jachli, of the sons of Joseph, of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, a leader, Haniel, the son of Ephod, of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, a leader, Akamul, the son of Shifthan, of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun, a leader, Elizephan, the son of Parnak, of the tribe of the sons of Issachar, a leader, Paltiel, the son of Azan, of the tribe of the sons of Asher, a leader, Ahihud, the son of Shalomi.
[6:04] Of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali, a leader Padahel, the son of Amihud, these are those whom the Lord commanded to apportion the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.
[6:15] Chapter 35. Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live him.
[6:27] And you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities, and the cities shall be theirs to live in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle, and for their herds, and all their beasts. The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around.
[6:43] You shall also measure outside the city to the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center.
[6:55] This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities. The cities which you shall give to Levites shall be the six cities of refuge which you shall give for the manslaughter to flee to.
[7:08] And in addition to them, you shall give 42 cities. All the cities which you shall give to Levites shall be 48 cities together with their pasture lands. As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller.
[7:24] Each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, so that the manslayer who has killed any person unintentionally may flee there.
[7:44] The cities shall be to you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for trial. The cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge.
[7:57] You shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They are to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the alien and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.
[8:12] But if you struck him down with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. If he struck him down with a stone in the hand by which he will die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer.
[8:23] The murderer shall be put to death. Or if he struck him with a wooden object in the hand by which he might die, and as a result he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. The blood of injure himself should put the murderer to death.
[8:35] He should put him to death when he meets him. If he pushed him of hatred or threw something at him lying in wait, and as a result he died, or if he struck him down with his hand in enmity, and as a result he died, the one who struck him should surely be put to death.
[8:47] He is a murderer. The blood of injure shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or threw something at him without lying in wait, or if any did lay object of a stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so that he died while he was not his enemy, nor seeking his injury, then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the blood of injure according to these ordinances.
[9:08] The congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the blood of injure, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who is anointed with the holy oil.
[9:21] But if the manslayer at any time goes beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he may flee, and the blood of injure finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the blood of injure kills the manslayer, he will not be guilty of the blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest.
[9:39] But after the death of the high priest, the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession. These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations and all your dwellings. If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
[9:56] Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.
[10:08] So you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of the land of which I dwell.
[10:23] For I, the Lord, am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel. Chapter 36. And the heads of the fathers' households of the family of the sons of Gleed, the sons of Meshir, the sons of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the leaders and the heads of the fathers' households of the sons of Israel.
[10:41] And they said, The Lord commanded my Lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as inheritance. And my Lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.
[10:51] But if they marry one of the sons of the other tribes, the sons of Israel, so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong. Thus, it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance.
[11:04] And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong, so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements.
[11:22] This is what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry whom they wish, only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father. Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
[11:39] Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
[11:54] Thus no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each hold to his own inheritance. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did.
[12:06] Mala, Tirzah, Hogla, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married their uncles' sons. They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of the family of their father.
[12:24] These are the commandments and ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
[12:37] Appreciate your patience. Numbers chapter 34 through 36. I want you to see this evening some truths that we can glean from taking possession of the inheritance.
[12:48] The truths that we gain from this text and hopefully we can apply to ourselves as well. Number one, we see that there was a definite, determined land.
[13:00] There was a determined piece of land. I know that seems kind of insufficient, but I believe that it is very sufficient. God had a place in particular that he was taking them.
[13:15] And God knew the boundaries of the place in particular that he was taking them. God had taken them out of Egypt and was leading them into the promised land.
[13:26] When Abram was yearning upon the land of Canaan, he was Abraham. God looked at him and said, Everywhere the sole of your foot treads, I will give you this land.
[13:37] And he walked across that land and he walked from the north to the south and the east to the west. And this was a promise, right? But God did not dictate this solely based upon where Abraham was treading.
[13:47] We understand this here, that the Lord God commands Moses and he says, These are your borders. And he gives them the southern border. He gives them the western border, northern border, and the eastern border.
[14:01] And he gives them the locations based upon cities because they didn't have pens, right? They didn't have survey equipment. They didn't have survey pens out there. He didn't say that this longitude and latitude will be this stake and this one this stake and this one this stake.
[14:13] He was based upon cities. Cities which we don't know much of, but they would have known much of. And if you think about it in particular, Moses probably had no idea where most of these were. He never would because he wasn't going in there.
[14:24] But God knew. And he knew that the people would come upon these cities. And here's what we see. When they came upon this city, they would say, Hey, this is where our land stops.
[14:34] Because first and foremost, with this definite land, God was making it clear to his people, What I am providing for you is more than sufficient for you. You don't need to be concerned about expansion.
[14:46] You're not in it to grow a kingdom. You're in it to possess a land, right? We're not going to make a world empire out of you. In the grand scale of things, when it comes to land mass and all of the known earth that we know of, It's a very small portion of land.
[15:02] But God was giving them more than enough. God was providing for them a very definite, determined piece of land. And he set his borders. We understand that. God said, This is where you are going to live.
[15:15] You are not to be concerned with getting outside of these borders. But at the same time, you are also not to be content not to live to the edge of these borders. This is your land.
[15:29] We've said it before. Unfortunately, what we find in the history of the nation of Israel is that, Except for a very, very small time during the prolific reign of David, When they were really about military campaign and David was expanding, And then it went into his son.
[15:45] We understand it really even after his son, it began to break apart. We understand that. Well, I was King Solomon. But what we see here is that, except for that very, very, very brief time, The nation of Israel never possessed all that God promised.
[16:02] As a matter of fact, when it went in, they never possessed the most fertile portion of it, That land next to the Mediterranean Sea, because the Philistines stayed on their western border. They allowed them to stay there. And even throughout their history, there were pockets of uninhabited lands That the nation of Israel did not inhabit.
[16:18] But really, the Canaanites were there. There were pockets of land that was theirs. That God said, This is your land. But they didn't take possession of, because the book of Joshua tells us that they failed to push them out.
[16:29] So, the spiritual application is this. They failed to take possession of everything God was promising them, Because of their complacency and their sin.
[16:43] The reality is, even today as believers, Too often, we fail to take hold of all that has been promised to us, Because of complacency and sin.
[16:55] All that has been promised to us, Tony Evans refers to it as that kingdom agenda, right? That kingdom authority. The things that have been promised to God's people, Too often, is not claimed, Because we're content to stay with as much battles as we've faced.
[17:13] And we stall back, and we pull back. But what we see is, God had a definite, determined amount of land. This is your land, go get it. What we see here, Is in the New Testament, When we begin to open up the portion of scripture in the New Testament, And we see all that has been promised to us.
[17:32] All that we have been called to. All that we have to do is just hang out in the gospels, And see everything that Jesus promises to his people. How many of those things do we not see being fulfilled in our life?
[17:44] Yet they're promises to us. And we see that this is the parameters. We can operate within these parameters. We are not to seek to go outside those parameters.
[17:56] But we are also not to be content, Not being to the edge of them. We want to lay hold of all that God has promised. And God sets the boundaries, Because he wants them to know the area they can live in.
[18:11] The reason God has made so many rich, deep promises to us as his people, Is he wants us to know, This is where you live. This is where you're free to reign, Free to roam, And free to hang out.
[18:25] This is your land. Unfortunately, we get content and we stop. We don't push further into the things that God has promised us, And therefore do not lay hold of all that he's called.
[18:37] And I'm not talking about some, You know, Crazy, Off the wall, Name it, Claim it, Theology. I'm just talking about, Sure, Grounded, Biblical, Authoritative, Promises.
[18:51] And we fail to lay hold of that, Which he has set as our boundaries. So first and foremost, We see there is a determined land. Secondly, We see here, There are designated leaders.
[19:03] There are designated leaders, Because as they take possession of this land, There's a great task that lays before them. God has already said the land would be distributed by lot.
[19:14] They would cast a lot, Right? But that it would be determined by size. So we know that Judah gets more land than anyone else. And that shouldn't surprise us, Because Judah is the largest tribe of all other tribes.
[19:25] Judah has the most soldiers. Judah has the most mass. Judah has the most people. Judah is always prominent. That should not surprise us at all, Because Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Right?
[19:36] So Judah should always rise to prominence. And he should always do that. And Judah is always going to have all these things. But we understand here, Even in the midst of Judah, Simeon has an inheritance and allotment in the middle of Judah.
[19:46] Literally, Like Judah is around him. And some say that's because Simeon was such a wild ox, It took Judah to confine and hold him in. I don't know what it is, But we see that it's right there, When you look at the distribution of the land.
[19:57] But think of the task, Rather than having everybody go and say, This is your land. Here is your southern border, Your western border, Your northern border, Your eastern border. Everybody go claim it. Right? It's like those old westerns, Where you look at the old land claims, From the days back, People getting ran over by wagons, Because wherever you could put a flag, That was your land.
[20:14] Right? Claiming land. And the Bible says it wasn't like that. God says we're going to do this decently in order, Because God does all things in order. Right? God is not the God of confusion.
[20:25] So God says this is what we're going to do. We're going to have leaders who do this. And think of the task of these men. It's going to be Eleazar and Joshua. I found myself often saying Joshua and Eleazar, Joshua and Eleazar.
[20:40] But then when I come to the text, It usually names Eleazar first, Because the spiritual always precedes the political. You need to understand that. Eleazar is the spiritual leader. Joshua is the political leader. Right? And Moses, it's Moses and Aaron, Because Moses is both political and spiritual.
[20:53] But we understand that. Eleazar and Joshua are there. And he says, But I'm going to give you ten other men. The reasoning for ten is because two tribes, Two complete tribes, Already have their inheritance.
[21:05] And then the half tribe of Manasseh. But the half tribe of Manasseh is over here, Also needing an inheritance. So there are ten non-complete tribes, And one half tribe that need to be proportioned out.
[21:15] So there are ten. And he said, We're going to take a man from each one. But God just doesn't leave it randomly. God doesn't say, You know, It's a popularity contest. God names the men. God names them.
[21:28] These are the ten men. The Eleazar and Joshua, They need to be there. But these are the ten men. And with the exception of Caleb, These are the only times we read their names. This is all they do in history.
[21:42] They have but one task. Now they're leaders. We understand it. It says they are leaders. But as far as biblical history is concerned, The only thing these other nine people did, Was lead in the distribution of the land.
[21:59] They had one task. And they did it well. What does this show us? What's the application? God has a task for all of his people.
[22:12] As Brown says in his commentary, Even sometimes what seems to be the most insignificant, God knows the name of the one who's going to do it. The book of Numbers, By nature, Is a listing of names.
[22:28] But even if we go to the book of Exodus, And we read about the construction of the tabernacle, God knew the name of the people who were going to do the work. Right? God knew the name of the people in the book of Numbers, Who were going to help count, And take a census with Moses.
[22:41] God knows the name of the people who were going to distribute the land. God knows the work. And God knows the people that are going to do the work. That means, God knows our name in connection with a work.
[22:52] He has a portion for us to do. And we all need to be readily listening for the calling of our name. And maybe our name is just called out one time.
[23:06] But whatever that one time is, We need to do it to the best of our ability. Because God has designated leaders. They may not have been leaders on grand scales, But they were leaders in that realm.
[23:18] And wherever God has called you to labor, God has called you to work, God has called you to effort, You are a leader. Called of him in that realm to do that particular work.
[23:30] Therefore, assume that responsibility. Assume. I'm preaching to myself there. Right? Assume that responsibility to what God has called you.
[23:41] Because God has designated you to that work. If you say, Well, pastor, I don't know what that work is. Well, then come to me. I can find it for you. I'm joking halfway.
[23:52] But I got a lot of stuff you can do. But pray. I'm joking, but then I'm not. Because the reality is, There's a lot around every church. My brother knows that. There's a lot.
[24:02] Every church, no matter its size, Has a lot to be done. And God's got a great work for you. God's got a great work. And we're just listening for when he calls that name.
[24:15] And each work is equally important. And you lead in that work that he's called you to do. So we see there's the determined land. There's the designated leaders. Now we transition into chapter 35.
[24:27] And in chapter 35, we see the dispersed Levites. The dispersed Levites. And again, it's a very sure sign of God's grace. Because God says, And when you go into the land, Give the Levites these cities.
[24:39] 48 cities you are to give the Levites. 48 cities. And the cities were not to be clustered together. The cities were to be spread out, right? 48 cities from each tribe.
[24:52] And the tribe that had the most was to give the most cities. So Judah would have given the most cities to the Levites. The tribe that had the least would have given the least amount of cities. Simeon would have gave the least amount of cities. But every tribe was to give a city to the Levites.
[25:06] And in this, we see two great things. Number one, we see God's concern for the Levites. Because God says that they would not have an inheritance. The tribe of Levi would not have an inheritance in the land. For the Lord their God would be an inheritance. But he was providing for them, at least materialistically, if you will, in the world's affairs.
[25:22] Because he's going to give them city and pasture lands, right? So while he was their inheritance, he was also their provider. And he was ensuring that they would have provisions of places to live and land to graze their cattle and sheep upon.
[25:36] And he designated around these cities a very designated amount. Said no one can touch this because this belongs to Levites. And he gave it to them. And we see here that God is providing for them.
[25:48] But on the other side, even so much more, God is providing spiritually for the entire nation. Because he knows that when they go into the land, they're going to be dispersed. Hopefully, they should have been dispersed throughout this grand piece of property that God was giving them.
[26:03] And he says, now, I want you to distribute or disperse these cities. And the Levites are going to live among you. And he said, I don't want the Levites all living in one location. I want the Levites living among the people.
[26:16] Each and every tribe is to give a city to the Levites. That was intentional because now, leaders of spiritual matters were to be readily available to all people. Levites were going to be scattered among the nation.
[26:33] And they were to be those who were to give instructions and guidance and counsel in spiritual matters. And God and his grace and his mercy. We can call it probably one of the greatest plans for church planning you had ever seen.
[26:48] God said, I want them spread out everywhere. So that everybody has access. And he distributed the Levites among them. And he dispersed them. And he wants them there so that nobody could say they were outside of the realm of the spiritual influence of the Levite people.
[27:04] Now, practically, that should concern us when people are outside the influence of God's people. It should concern us when there are people who live who are outside the influence of spiritual matters.
[27:15] Because there needs to be a witness there, right? There needs to be a light there. There needs to be a concern there. And we need to pray for that. We need to seek God's wisdom and counsel on how we should partner with that. We need to pray for that.
[27:25] Hopefully, I'll have Brother Kirk. She'll talk to us soon. Because God is being gracious to them right now. And they're able to see it. We are taking a part in that. There is a darkness there.
[27:36] But yet, we are helping make sure that there's at least one presence in Springville, Utah. But anyway, we see here that God spreads them out. But a portion of that spreading them out, too, there were six of the 48 cities.
[27:49] So six of the 48 were to be cities of refuge. And again, if you look at a map, they are perfectly spread out, which means that they are accessible to everyone. Now, the cities of refuge were very particular cities.
[28:01] And they were cities that were designated by name that a manslayer, someone who accidentally killed someone else, could flee to it and therefore be safe. Now, one thing we notice is the cities of refuge are accessible to all because it could be one of their nation.
[28:14] It could be a sojourner among the nation or even an alien, someone who lived there, right? Or had to be passing through. So anybody could run to this city of refuge. Now, by alien, it doesn't mean green or gray guys.
[28:26] It means someone who happened to be traveling through. And accidentally killed someone. Didn't mean to, but they needed somewhere to go. There was a city of refuge provided. When you went to the city of refuge, you would stand before the gate.
[28:38] And standing before the gate, you would have the elders of the city who were Levites, right? Spiritual matters. And they would come hear your calls. And they would hear your plea. And then they would make a determination. Was it truly accidental?
[28:50] Or did you intentionally kill someone? And they would make their decision. So here we see God's grace. God's grace, number one, in providing protection for those who accidentally did something.
[29:01] God's grace, number two, in providing justice for the ones of the family of someone who was intentionally killed. And God's grace, number three, in giving a place for someone that was guilty, even unintentionally, to have a place of refuge.
[29:14] Now, you had to stay inside of that city, right? Jesus is our city of refuge. So you need to understand this, right? Jesus is our city of refuge. So if you had unintentionally committed a sin, which was deserving of death.
[29:26] And all murder is deserving of death because all shedding of the blood pollutes the land. So even if it was accidental, it was deserving of death. In order to be atoned for or to have protection for that unintentional act, because there was no protection given for an intentional act.
[29:45] So in order to be protected due to an unintentional act, you could go to the city. But you had to stay in the city. Did you catch that? Because if you ever decided to walk outside the city or to go live somewhere else outside the city, say you say, well, what if I give you so much amount of money, I'm going to buy my way back.
[30:01] That wasn't possible. You couldn't redeem yourself, right? You couldn't buy your way back. But say you were in the city of refuge and you were safe because it was proven, you know, you just dropped something. You didn't mean to do it. You still did it, but you didn't mean to do it.
[30:13] And so you're safe inside the city. But it said if you left the city and you walked outside the city and the avenger of blood, that is that person's family, found you and slew you, then they were innocent because you left your place of refuge.
[30:27] Why? Because even for the unintentional actors, but one place to be safe, that is in the city of refuge. Jesus is our city of refuge, right? You can't leave Christ. You've got to stay in Christ. But it says the only time you could leave was with the death of the high priest.
[30:40] Now, I want to bring that to our application first. Our high priest has already died and is alive and will never die again. So we need to stay in Jesus from now on. You know, he's not going to die. We're not free to leave at any time.
[30:50] But you say, well, why could he leave after the death of a high priest? Because another life has already died in his place. And now the high priest has died in the place and forgiven.
[31:02] It was a custom, some say, in history of major cities that when the leader, and it was something that's even displayed in Egyptian history, that when Pharaoh died, those who had committed some of the grossest crimes were released.
[31:16] They were pardoned upon his death. And that seems to be what God is saying here is that when the high priest dies, he's died in your place. I think it's pointing to the fact that Jesus is our high priest and we don't ever leave because he's not going to die.
[31:30] He is to live forever. He's our great high priest, so we stay there. But we see this disperse Levites. And the fourth and final thing we see in chapter 36, which kind of wraps it up for us, is that diverted loss.
[31:44] Which means there was something that was at least feasible. And the feasible thing was is that some of the tribes would suffer loss. Because some chapters back, there were this group of daughters who came to Moses.
[32:00] Someone pointed out, I think again it was Warren Weirsbeck, he pointed out, we see the maturity in this younger generation. Because unlike their fathers before them that just bickered and fought and complained against one another, at least when they had a question, they sought wisdom and counsel from Moses.
[32:17] And the daughters had this problem because their father was dead. He had not sinned in the sin of Achan, but he had died in his own sins, the Bible tells us.
[32:27] And he had no sons, and therefore he was not going to get an allotment of inheritance. And Moses sought the Lord, and the Lord said, well, if a man dies and he has no sons, then inheritance will fall to his daughters. Sounds great, right? Problem solved, no problems.
[32:40] But there's this other thing that is there, and it is this possibility of loss. And the daughters belong to the tribe of Manasseh. And the leaders of the tribe of Manasseh, again, rather than revolting and complaining and bickering and fighting, came to Moses and said, hey, we've got this great concern.
[32:54] And the concern is, it is at least feasible. It is possible that we begin to lose a portion of our inheritance. Well, how can that happen? Well, say these daughters all get married.
[33:06] And say they married someone outside of our tribe. Well, at the moment of marriage, their land now belongs to their husband. And even in the year of Jubilee, it reverts back to the husband. And if the husband is from a tribe of Gad rather than the tribe of Manasseh, now what used to belong to Manasseh is going to belong to Gad.
[33:25] So we're going to lose a part of our inheritance. And that's a problem. Because that which God has promised and that which God has allotted does not really ever belong to man.
[33:38] We need to understand this. It's much like what Paul said in the book of Acts when he was in Athens on Mars Hill. God has determined the place, the time, and even the historical setting of where men live.
[33:54] And I'm kind of paraphrasing, but God has appointed a day for each man. God determines where they live. You say, oh, no, I made my decision. No, I believe in a God so big that he overrules your decisions. Because the Bible says man plans his way, but the Lord directs his step.
[34:09] Right? And the best of your plans, God is still omnipotent and omniscient. He's still moving. So this is God's land. He alone gets to determine who lives where. So Moses, again, seeks and it says that he spoke according to the word of the Lord.
[34:23] And the word of the Lord was this. Then don't marry outside of your tribe. Now to us that seems kind of minuscule, not big. But again, the possession of the land was a sign of God's favor and God's blessing.
[34:43] And God says, I'm going to make it where you will not suffer loss. Here's the wisdom so as not to suffer loss. What is the application for us? And I know I'm closing here.
[34:54] When God has called us to take possession of all that he has promised us in our inheritance, God is not desiring that any of his people would ever suffer loss in that which he has promised them.
[35:07] And he has always got a way to divert that loss in his wisdom and his counsel. And he's always called us to do as the book of Numbers ends. It says, just as the Lord commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did.
[35:23] You remember what we said about the book of Numbers when we started it, right? I forgot to look and see how long we've been in the book of Numbers, but it's been some time. But you do remember. The book of Numbers starts out with the people doing, just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
[35:35] Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did. Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did. And then they started in the wilderness and so they did not. They began to complain, they began to murmur, but look, the good news is, is the book end, the other end, just as the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
[35:53] Let's not get stuck in the wilderness wandering around. Let's be those that just as the Lord has commanded, so we do. And we take possession of our inheritance.
[36:06] Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day. God, thank you for your gracious provisions for us. Thank you for your love and concern of us. And thank you for every opportunity you give us.
[36:16] We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.
[36:39] Thank you.
[37:39] Thank you.
[38:09] Thank you.
[38:39] Thank you.
[39:09] Thank you.
[39:39] Thank you.
[40:09] Thank you.
[40:39] Thank you.
[41:09] Thank you.
[41:39] Thank you.
[42:09] Thank you.
[42:39] Thank you.