The Book Of Joshua. Day 52, Towns For The Levites, Part Two

Chapter 21 deals with the towns allotted to the Levites. This tribe was not given a parcel of territory in the promised land but instead was assigned towns located within the other tribes. Yesterday we learned in which tribes each clan of the Levites received towns. Now we'll begin looking at the names of the towns themselves.

First we'll study the towns given to the Kohathite line of the tribe of Levi. Aaron and his brother Moses and his sister Miriam were descended from Levi's son Kohath. The priests of Israel were of the line of Kohath, though not all Kohathites were priests. "From the tribes of Judah and Simeon they allotted the following towns by name (these towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them): They gave them Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) But the fields and villages around the city they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as a possession." (Joshua 21:9-12) 

Those of the Kohathites who were priests receive their allotments before the remainder of the Kohathites who are not priests. In most cases the Levites will also be given the pasturelands surrounding their towns but the land surrounding Kiriath Arba already belongs to Caleb of the tribe of Judah. You'll recall that Caleb was the first of the men of Judah to receive his allotment.  

One of the towns is designated as a city of refuge. "So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah and Beth Shemesh, together with their pasturelands---nine towns from these two tribes. And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth and Almon, together with their pasturelands---four towns." (Joshua 21:13-18) 

"The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim: In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer, Kibzaim and Beth Horon, together with their pasturelands---four towns." (Joshua 21:20-22) It's interesting to note that part of the Kohathite clan of the Levites was given the town of Shechem. You'll recall from our study of Genesis that one young man of Shechem named Hamor violated the chastity of Jacob's daughter Dinah. Hamor thereafter wanted to marry Dinah and Jacob's sons pretended to accept a marriage contract between Hamor and Dinah if all the males of Shechem would become circumcised. Wanting to ally themselves with a wealthy family like Jacob's, the men of Shechem agreed, but while they were lying at home recovering from their procedure, Levi and Simeon came with their swords and killed not only Hamor but every male of the city. Then they carried off as plunder the women, children, livestock, and household possessions of the men of Shechem. 

Now, several centuries later, some of the descendants of Levi receive Shechem as one of their towns and it also becomes a designated city of refuge for those accused of murder. I believe we see here the redemptive and restorative power of the Lord! Levi (along with his brother Simeon) reacted far out of proportion to the sin that was committed against their sister. They killed men who had nothing to do with what happened to their sister. They affected the lives of those men's families, making their wives into widows and making their children fatherless and then carrying away these women and children (who were formerly free citizens) as captives. Levi and Simeon sinned against these people and against the Lord; they committed premeditated murder. But the descendants of Levi are not guilty of Levi's crime and now, as a symbol of redemption and restoration, the town of Shechem has become a refuge for men awaiting trial for murder. 

You may have heard the term "generational sin", "generational curse", or "ancestral curse". It's a doctrine that individuals can inherit judgment for the sins of their ancestors or that certain weaknesses for certain sins can be handed down through the generations. Earlier in the Bible we saw the Lord saying that the sin of a person's ancestor can affect the descendants up to the third or fourth generation. We talked about how, in the early days of the Old Testament, lifespans were long enough for a sinful man to affect his descendants for three or four generations. A sinful man could perpetrate his sins upon his offspring for many generations. A sinful man could influence many generations into being ungodly like he was. I talked about how my maternal great-grandfather was a pedophile who perpetrated his perversions upon his children, his grandchildren, and some of his great-grandchildren. His sins affected the way several generations of his family felt about themselves. His sins may even have warped some of his descendants' views about appropriate or inappropriate sexual conduct (one of his grown sons was accused by at least one female family member and by at least one non-family female of forcing himself upon them). So we see how one person's sins can become an ongoing thing that can affect his victims for life: mentally, emotionally, or physically. We see how being sinned against can even lure them into sin themselves. But the Lord can break a generational curse! He can redeem and restore. That's what I believe is happening when He allots the city of Shechem to some of Levi's descendants. Levi was an angry and violent man but he is long dead. His descendants don't have to live under a generational curse; they are given the city where Levi slaughtered the men of Shechem and the Lord makes this city---this city where murders took place---into a city of refuge for those accused of murder.

The remainder of the towns given to the Kohathites were these: "Also from the tribe of Dan they received Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Aijalon and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands---four towns. From half the tribe of Manasseh they received Taanach and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands---two towns. All these towns and their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans." (Joshua 21:23-26) Sometimes a town lay across the border of two tribes and it will be mentioned twice. In my local area we have a city called Bristol that spans the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. It's only one city, so we refer to going there as "going to Bristol", but technically it's split in half so that there is a Bristol, Tennessee and a Bristol, Virginia. In the Bible we may see a city like Gath Rimmon, for example, being said to be in both the territory of Dan and in the territory of Manasseh. Dan and West Manasseh shared a border---a "state line" in other words. This is why Gath Rimmon is said to be in Dan and Manasseh both. 

Does your family have something you'd call a generational sin or generational curse? Have the sins of a parent or grandparent or great-grandparent affected more than one generation? Have they affected you personally? The Lord is able to restore and redeem. Even if the person who sinned is unrepentant or even if they are long dead, the Lord can heal the damage they did. He can change the way you feel about yourself if someone victimized you. You are not what they did to you---you are the child of the living God! Your identity is found in Him, not in what someone did to you or in what someone said about you. The Lord can reveal those lies for what they are and give you the confidence and the inner peace that comes from being a son or daughter of the King of kings and Lord of lords.