Numbers. Day 113, The Boundaries Of Canaan, Part Two

The Lord has been laying out the boundary lines of the promised land and today we'll learn who the men are who will parcel out the territories in the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel. We'll also look at a map that outlines the territory of each tribe, including those which requested as their inheritance the land on the other side of the Jordan River.

"Moses commanded the Israelites: 'Assign this land by lot as an inheritance. The Lord has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes, because the families of the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance. These two and a half tribes have received their inheritance east of Jordan across from Jericho, toward the sunrise.'" (Numbers 34:13-15) Below is a map that outlines the territories of each tribe as assigned to them according to the book of Joshua.

The Lord instructs Moses how the parceling out of the land is to be overseen. "The Lord said to Moses, 'These are the names of the men who are to assign the land for you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.'" (Numbers 34:16-17) Moses will not go into the promised land with Israel and will not be there when the land is assigned. His successor, Joshua, and his brother Aaron's successor, Eleazar, will perform this work.

A man from each of the tribes that will inherit land within the borders of Canaan will be appointed to represent his tribe in the distribution of the land. No one will be able to accuse Joshua and Eleazar of showing favoritism to any particular group when assigning the territories. "And appoint one leader from each tribe to help assign the land." (Numbers 34:18) It's important for everyone to be fairly represented and to have their interests protected. The Lord has said that the amount of square mileage assigned to each tribe is to be determined by the size of each tribe, so some tribes will receive more land than others, but the representatives will be present to make certain land is parceled out according to tribe size and not according to partiality. Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim and Eleazar was of the tribe of Levi but we can see from the map above that the tribe of Ephraim did not receive the largest land mass in Canaan and this proves that Joshua showed no favoritism to his own tribe. The tribe of Levi was not to inherit land mass but the members of this tribe were to inhabit the cities and towns of Canaan, for their work revolved around the tabernacle, and we can see from the map that no portion of land is named for the tribe of Levi. It's clear that neither of these men took for their tribes anything that wasn't due them according to the will of the Lord.

Next we'll take a look at the list of men who represented their tribes. "These are their names: Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah; Shemuel son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon; Elidad son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin; Bukki son of Jogli, from the tribe of Dan; Hanniel son of Ephod, the leader from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph; Kemuel son of Shiphtan, the leader from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph; Elizaphan son of Parnak, the leader from the tribe of Zebulun; Paltiel son of Azzan, the leader from the tribe of Issachar; Ahihud son of Shelomi, the leader from the tribe of Asher; Pedahel son of Ammihud, the leader from the tribe of Naphtali. These are the men the Lord commanded to assign the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan." (Numbers 34:19-29) There is no need for a leader from the tribes of Reuben or Gad to be involved in this; their tribes' land will be on the other side of the Jordan River. There is also no need for a man from the tribe of Levi, other than Eleazar, to be involved since the tribe of Levi won't inherit farmland in Canaan. Some of the tribe of Manasseh will live on the other side of Jordan with Gad and Reuben, but some of the tribe will live on the Canaanite side (the promised land) side of Jordan. This is why we find a representative from the tribe of Manasseh included in the work of land distribution. Though Joshua is from the tribe of Ephraim, a representative from the tribe of Ephraim will also be present when the land is parceled out. We see that a system of checks and balances is in place so that no one can claim their tribe was not equally represented or that they were not allowed to bring up any concerns or questions.

If we pull up the Biblegateway website and do a word search for "partiality" or "favoritism" we'll quickly see how much the Lord hates such things. We are to treat our fellow man fairly. We aren't to treat the rich better than the poor. We also aren't to judge cases in favor of the poor simply because we view them as the underdog; we must go by the facts when determining legal guilt or innocence. We aren't to cheat people we don't like. We aren't to allow ourselves to feel prejudice toward anyone and we aren't to discriminate against anyone. The same Creator created us all. We are equally loved and valued in His sight. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His life for every person on the face of the earth and if we keep this in mind we'll be better able to esteem everyone equally, regardless of background or religion or race or language or sex or any other factors.