Is That Fair? Joshua 13

“But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the LORD God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them.” (Joshua 13:33 ESV)

Unless you are itching for some laborious study, Joshua chapter 13 at first appears one of the more dull chapters of our readings lately. Mostly it details the boundaries of the lands of the various tribes, which lands were conquered and which enemies were yet to be conquered.

After Joshua conquered the land, he distributed the land between all the tribes. This was a big deal because this was part of the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 17. God’s promise and choosing was attached to the promised land beyond the Jordan.

Now this is one of those sections of the Bible that is easy to gloss over. Descriptions of maps just aren’t that interesting. Somehow though, a verse struck me as I was reading the section talking about the allotment to the tribe of Levi. The Levites, if you remember, were the priests of Israel. As such, they didn’t get any land. At first, you might feel bad for them. They fought alongside the rest of the other tribes. They suffered through the wilderness wanderings with the rest of the tribes. If anything, they worked harder and did more for the nation of Israel than any of the other tribes. They seemed the most deserving of the land that they waited so long for.

But then I was struck by Joshua 13:33. The reason they don’t get the land is because their inheritance is the Lord. They get the direct access, the presence, the sacrifice. Their inheritance is that they get to worship God constantly.

Think about this.  Isn’t it our tendency to treasure the effects of God and miss God altogether. Later we find that Israel, after being chosen by God and given the land of Canaan, abandoned God and made the land the important thing.   They started to treasure what God had given them more than him.  Sound familiar?

As Christians, the inheritance of the Levites is ours as well. We may not get earthly riches, we may not have all our dreams come true. But we get Christ! Our inheritance is confidence in approaching the throne of grace! 

I’m ashamed how often I envy the earthly inheritance of people around me. Or even worse, how often I look at God and wonder if this is all I’m get for following him. I wonder if some of the Levites felt this way.

I pray that this week we would examine ourselves and our ambitions. If God told you today that you get nothing of this world but him, would that be enough?

Does this remind you of a Song – All I Have is Christ!

Here is a link to the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsp-WuZR40g