0:00
Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.
0:13
Today we continue looking at the land allotments for the tribes.
0:16
Remember, they've been waiting 40 years for this.
0:18
They've been fighting for this quite literally.
0:21
These assignments are where they will build their lives and raise their families.
0:25
If you've ever been in a military family or you've ever waited to find out where your
0:29
residency is or to see what colleges have accepted you, you might know a little bit about
0:34
how this feels, but chances are you weren't waiting 40 years to find out where you'd live.
0:39
Plus, for the Israelites, this wasn't a temporary placement.
0:43
This was marked out as the home of the people of their tribe forever, provided they kept
0:48
up their end of the covenant they made with God.
0:51
Since many of the ways these places are referred to in Scripture mean nothing to us,
0:55
I'm going to give a short description of each place we see today.
0:59
Here are one of the seven tribes who haven't gotten their land yet, and you're waiting
1:02
to find out where your family will live.
1:05
We're also including that general map of the tribal allotments again in today's show notes.
1:11
Simian gets the land assigned in the midst of Judah's plot of desert in the south.
1:17
Zebulin gets a tiny plot in the north.
1:19
It's the smallest plot besides Benjamin's, but it's a lush green area with lots of
1:26
By the way, you may have noticed that Zebulin got the city of Bethlehem, but that's a different
1:30
Bethlehem than the one you're probably most familiar with.
1:33
There are two Bethlehem's in the Promised Land, and this one in Zebulin is further north
1:38
than the one where Jesus was born.
1:40
That one is just outside of Jerusalem.
1:42
Issacar also gets a really small fertile area near the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River.
1:48
Asher gets the Mediterranean coastline to the north, some of which belongs to Lebanon
1:53
Afterley gets the mountainous north, including a mountain range that reaches over 9,000
1:59
You can ski there if you visit Israel in the winter.
2:02
The people from the tribe of Dan get the awesome coastline near a major port city called
2:08
You may recognize that as the place where Jonah caught a boat to escape going to Nineveh.
2:13
But Dan loses this land later and they relocate to part of Naftalee's plot in the north.
2:19
Stay tuned to find out how and why that happens.
2:22
Today the plot of land where they relocated is a gorgeous nature preserve, complete
2:26
with a rushing river and lots of wildlife.
2:29
As far as I'm concerned, Dan had good land both times around, but they're kind of a
2:34
terrible tribe as we find out later.
2:37
Since Joshua was one of the two spies who believed God 45 years earlier, he gets to choose
2:42
where he wants to live.
2:44
And like a gentleman, he waits until everyone else gets their land first.
2:47
He chose the hill country of Ephraim, north of Jerusalem in a somewhat isolated area.
2:53
He probably wants to be alone and knows his years are drawing to a close and doesn't
2:57
want to have to yell at a bunch of young Israelites to get off his lawn.
3:01
Most people don't realize how diverse this little nation is.
3:05
It may only be the size of New Jersey, but it covers a wide range of climates and altitudes
3:10
from the lowest spot on earth, the Dead Sea, which is 1400 feet below sea level.
3:16
To snow-capped Mount Hermon.
3:18
And yes, I know in English we probably say Mount Hermon, but the first time I ever heard
3:22
this said aloud, it was pronounced Hermon, so that's how I say it.
3:27
Anyway, the land given to these different tribes is pretty diverse from group to group,
3:31
which makes it even more of a big deal, which land God assigns to you.
3:35
After all the land has been distributed to all the tribes, it's time to set up the cities
3:40
Those are the places where a manslayer, someone who accidentally killed someone, can go
3:45
to live without fear of retribution from the Avenger of Blood, which is the next of
3:49
kin of the person who was killed.
3:51
These cities of refuge are less like prisons and more like safe houses, but the manslayer
3:56
is never allowed to leave, not until the high priest dies.
4:01
God spread out these cities of refuge throughout the territories of the tribes so that any manslayers
4:06
would have a good chance of getting to one before the Avenger of Blood caught up with
4:11
Don't tell me God didn't think of everything.
4:14
The last assignments we saw today were for the Levites, who had no land allotment of
4:18
their own, so they were distributed among the tribes, like local pastors of sorts.
4:23
My God shot was in the last few sentences we read today.
4:27
I couldn't help but think of all it took to accomplish this for the Israelites.
4:31
Not just generosity, not just faithfulness, but strength, and power, and persistent love,
4:37
forgiveness, and grace, and mercy.
4:40
God had ushered them into this land, he promised them long ago, despite themselves.
4:45
I feel a little nervous for them, knowing they'll soon be going their separate ways, apart
4:50
from the presence of their leader Joshua and their high priest Eliasar, and mostly the
4:54
manifest presence of God.
4:56
He has been so good to his people.
4:59
He has given them everything, but most important of all is himself, because he's where the joy
5:07
Okay, a lot of you told me that I taught fast, I can't help it, there's so much I want
5:13
to share and so little time, but if you wish you had a way to digest and process the content
5:19
a little more, I have a great solution.
5:22
Literally every word I've said on the podcast is available in print form.
5:26
Many people love to listen to TBR and read the transcripts so they can take it all in,
5:31
highlight, and make notes.
5:33
Sounds great, right?
5:34
Here's how you can get these.
5:36
Our recaptains who sign up at the transcript level or higher have access to all our transcripts
5:42
When you become a recaptain, those are our financial supporters.
5:46
You can sign up for various levels of support, and our transcript level is super popular
5:50
because it's affordable and provides great resources.
5:53
Find out more about being a recaptain by visiting thebiberecapt.com, forward slash recaptains,
5:59
or click the link in the show notes.