JOSHUA 21
We come in this chapter to the climax of the book. The Levites had their definite place in all Israel, which I take to be the crowning feature in the book. Eleazar is mentioned before Joshua here, suggesting that the priestly element has the most prominent place in the allotment of the land, and in securing what is for the pleasure of God. The bringing in of the priest would indicate that the thing is looked at from the standpoint of the pleasure of God — not merely that the people get a good portion, but that there is a ministering to God. It is said of the priest, “He shall minister to me in the priest’s office”. Securing God’s portion is greater than the inheritance, and that is suggested in this chapter. The inheritance having been divided, and the cities of refuge introduced as a gracious provision, now we come to what I consider to be the climax of the book. The priest secures things for God. The priests and Levites represent what is for God; the inheritance is for man. The inheritance is not an end in itself, but a means to [p. 85] an end; all the blessing and wealth which God bestows on His people, immense as it is, is not God’s end, but a means to an end.
The end is that God should have His place in the midst of His people. These forty-eight cities for the Levites were distributed among all the tribes. The Levites represented what was for God; that is why they were so carefully excluded from participating in the inheritance. Almost every scripture that refers to the Levites calls attention carefully and specifically to the fact that the Levite has no part in the inheritance; he represents another idea greater than the inheritance, and the inheritance is a means to reach it. The Levites represent what is for God; we see that at the beginning. God said, Sanctify to me the first-born. Every first-born is hallowed, that is the basis of the levitical idea. Afterwards God took the tribe of Levi in place of all the first-born; they were hallowed or sanctified to Him. The Levites and their cities represent God’s portion, but the inheritance is our portion.
The Levites represented first-born sons and the assembly of the first-born ones enregistered in heaven, but the great thought here is that the pleasure of God in a priestly way is secured. There is a close link between priesthood and sonship. In Ephesians we read of “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”, Ephesians 1: 18. God has His portion, His inheritance. For God to enjoy what is due to Him must be greater than for me to enjoy God’s gifts. If I enjoy what His love has given, that is very blessed; nothing could be more blessed for the creature; but is it to stop there? If it does, the creature is to be everything and God nothing; and that would not do.
When the tent of meeting is set up at Shiloh, there is a divine gathering centre where all the tribes come, and in connection with that the inheritance is apportioned. The levitical cities are seen in connection with the divine gathering centre. I believe that in the last hundred years the Lord has given His people to come in some measure to the divine gathering centre, and the result of the movement of separation from human ordinances to the divine gathering centre has been that there has been light as to the inheritance and as to the principles of God’s ways, and light as to what is due to God and His holy service. That is connected with the Levites; they are altogether set apart for the service of God. Christ is [p. 86] the true Shiloh — Shiloh means He whose right it is. As He has His right place as the true gathering centre, everything falls into its divinely appointed place in the inheritance — the cities of refuge, and the Levites. Everything falls into its appointed place if we know what is to come to Shiloh.
The cities of the Levites were distributed in Israel; in every tribe there was a levitical city. They were within reach of every Israelite. God kept before the people that there was something greater than the inheritance; if we kept that before us it would have a profound effect on us. We are so self-centred even as to our own blessings. When I was a young Christian and first began going through the villages trying to speak to people, one of the first things I noticed was that people were very interested if one spoke to them about what was for them, but they were not interested if one spoke ever so feebly about what was for God. The moment you give the Levite a place, they are not interested. The Levites were entirely separated to be for God; God was their portion. If we look at the references to Levites in this book we shall find it very interesting — see chapter 13: 33; chapter 14: 3; chapter 18: 7. God is calling attention in the references to the Levites to the fact that they had something better than the inheritance. The One who gave the inheritance is greater than the inheritance, and the offerings by fire were His own peculiar portion. The priesthood was what God had, and God points out that what was for Him was greater than what was for man.
The sons of Aaron had thirteen cities and the rest of the Kohathites had only ten. The Levites had two great offices, as we see in Deuteronomy 33: 8: “Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one, whom thou didst prove at Massah ... They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thy nostrils, and whole burnt-offerings upon thine altar”. That was the place of the Levites; they were to teach and to offer. The last three verses of the chapter are brought in after the allocation of the cities of the Levites.
Not a single thing had failed, every enemy was laid low, and every thought of God was fulfilled. If we give what is due to God in connection with His service, we shall find there will not be a single thing lacking on our side. We shall get the full satisfaction of every spiritual desire if we give God His whole portion. The Levite was a man who had God before him, and [p. 87] who considered for God: if he taught the people God’s law and covenant, and if he offered sacrifices unto God, he was thinking of the pleasure of God — that is the crown of everything. We are never so happy, our cup never so full and running over, as when in some measure we are able to minister to God. The great tendency is to put the levitical thought out of its place and make it consist in ministering to man: I do not think that is the thought at all. The pleasure of God is to be secured in His people by instruction; there is the instruction side of the levitical service, “They shall teach thy law”, and there is the sacrificial side, but both have in view the pleasure of God.
Abraham had to recognise that there was something greater than the land, because he gave tithes to Melchisedec — see Hebrews 7. The great vessel of promise, the one to whom God had sworn that He would give the land, had to recognise that there was something greater than the inheritance; he found himself in the presence of the priest of the most High God, and he gave him tithes of all he had. The service of God was greater to Abraham than the inheritance, and it ought to be to all of us. Why do we come to the prayer meeting? Is it to get a little comfort after a trying time? We can get it, but is that all? No, we come to serve God in a priestly way in connection with His interests and glory and all that is due to Him. Then in coming together to eat the Lord’s supper we do not lose sight of our side; it is a most precious ministry to us of the love of Christ. The Lord Himself calls attention to it — “This is my body which is for you”, that is our side. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” — that is our side. But if we really take it up, it would qualify us to minister to Him. We should think of the profound joy that is found in ministering to the Lord and in carrying on His service. We can go up to Jerusalem, to what is universal. We leave what is local and connected with time, and go up to minister there to the pleasure of God. See the great place God has in Ephesians; we should all read and study that epistle in connection with our present subject. In chapter 2 we have the saints in all the full enjoyment and blessedness of the inheritance, but what is the end in view? If we read the epistle carefully, we notice the immense place that God has in it. The whole drift of the epistle to the Ephesians is intended to work out to the end that there should [p. 88] be glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. God is to have His portion, and that is involved in this levitical chapter; so it is the crown and climax of the book.
It is good to realise what we mean when we sing, “Eternity’s begun”. When saints come together in assembly it is a great thing for them to realise, if only for two minutes, that eternity has begun: a character of things has come about, even here and now, that is properly eternal in its character. God is getting what is due to Him and what will be His satisfaction and joy throughout eternity.
We begin by thinking of Christ in relation to ourselves, but the turning point in our spiritual history is when we begin to think of Him in relation to the pleasure of God. When you kneel down in private you feel you have something that sets aside all your little anxieties, worries, and cares, and you can speak to God of His delight in Christ. I wonder if we do. We pray about all kinds of things connected with ourselves, our spiritual exercises, our soul needs, what we would like to feel. That is not ministering to the pleasure of God. If you can speak to Him of Christ, His delight in His beloved Son, you have the Levite and have given him his city. We are full of infirmity and we find ourselves pressed and pre-occupied with a thousand things; the least little thing distracts us. We go and pray; one thing after another comes into our minds and we do not get to God; but the Priest is for all that weakness. If I am distracted with a thousand things, I need the Priest, and He is able to set me free — I have proved that He can. I have gone to God with many burdens, and in half an hour I have been ashamed that they ever were burdens.
We need to get over to the levitical side: the Levite thinks of what is due to God, and he looks at the people of God in relation to the pleasure of God. Paul preached the gospel in a levitical and priestly way: “carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”, Romans 15: 16. Paul wanted something for God. I am to go out to tell poor sinners how good God is, but I am to do it all with a view to God getting something. I am carrying out a sacrificial service. Paul was a true Levite. I heard once of a young man who was brought into fellowship through hearing a young man preach in the street. He went home and said to his wife, ‘We often preach in the street, but we consider for man, but that young man I heard preach considered for God’. That brought him out from what he was in and brought him into fellowship. He found a levitical city.
The thought of rest is introduced in three connections in this book. First in connection with the enemies being all destroyed so that the land had rest from war; and secondly in connection with the allotment of the inheritance — the people of God get their assigned portions. Then thirdly at the end of chapter 21 it is introduced in connection with the Levites having their portion; so the complete thought of God is reached. Not only are the enemies destroyed, and the inheritance possessed, but provision is made, as a result of that, so that the pleasure of God is served. Priestly and levitical service become universally characteristic of Israel. The complete thought of God is secured; the climax of the book is reached.