Numbers 34

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 2 Command the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that will fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its boundaries:) 3 Your south quarter will be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border will be the outer coast of the salt sea eastward: 4 And your border will turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim and pass on to Zin: its end will be from the south to Kadesh-barnea, and will go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon: 5 And the border will turn from Azmon to the river of Egypt, and its end will be at the sea.

• God gave Israel the best land on earth for their possession (Ezekiel 20:6, Deuteronomy 8:7-10).
• He set the boundaries.
• He gave them ten times more land than they ever claimed.
• Judgment for idolatry turned it into a wilderness (Psalm 107:34).
• He, as Lord of all, set the boundaries of the nations.

• Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness of it; the world, and those that dwell in it. 2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.

• Acts 17:26 (God) has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined the times before appointed, and the boundaries of their dwelling.

6 And as for the western border, you will have the great sea for a border: this will be your western border. 7 And this will be your northern border: from the great sea you will point out for you mount Hor: 8 From mount Hor you will point out your border to the entrance of Hamath; and end of the border will be to Zedad: 9 And the border will go on to Ziphron, and the end of it will be at Hazar-enan: this will be your northern border. 10 And you will point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham: 11 And the border will go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain; and the border will descend, and will reach to the east side of the sea of Chinnereth (sea of Galilee). 12 And the border will go down to Jordan, and the end of it will be at the salt sea: this will be your land with its borders all around.

• This is an enormous piece of land including much of the Middle East.
• God Himself specified the borders of the Promised Land.
• It includes all of Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, 2/3 of Jordan, 1/2 of Syria, and the northern part of Saudi Arabia.

God told them who got what property in His land

13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel saying, This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 14 For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh has received their inheritance: 15 The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sun rising.

• Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing of it is of the LORD.

16 And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 17 These are the names of the men who are to divide the land to you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 And you are to take one prince from every tribe to divide the land by inheritance. 19 The names of the men are these: From the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20 And of the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21 From the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23 The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24 The prince of the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25 The prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 The prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. 29 These are the ones whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.

• God chose the leaders to disburse the property.
• He gave equal representation.
• This homeless, wandering nation inherited the most prime real estate on planet earth.
• God is awesome. He has a better inheritance for you than for the Israelites, if you overcome by faith.

• Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

                                             Numbers 35

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 2 Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession; and you will also give to the Levites open land around the cities. 3 They will have the cities to dwell in; and the open lands will be for their livestock, for their property, and for all their animals. 4 And the open lands of the cities that you give to the Levites, will reach from the wall of the city and outward 1500 feet all around. 5 Measure off 3,000 feet outside the town walls in every direction—east, south, west, north—with the town at the center. This area will serve as the larger pastureland for the towns. and the city will be in the middle: this will be to them the open lands around the cities.

• God commanded the children of Israel to give the Levites a place to live.
• The Levites did not inherit property in Israel with the rest of the nation.
• God was their inheritance.

God set aside cities of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone without premeditation or hatred

 6 And among the cities that you give to the Levites there are to be six cities for refuge, which you will appoint for a person who accidentally kills someone, that he may flee there: and to them you will add 42 cities. 7 So all the cities that you are to give the Levites is 48 cities and the open land around them. 8 The cities that you give will be from the possession of the children of Israel: from those that have many you will give many; but from them that have few you will give few: every one will give of his cities to the Levites according to his inheritance which they inherit.

• God spread the Levites throughout the land of Israel.
• The Levites served regulated terms at the tabernacle and then went home to their cities richer with knowledge of God that they gave to the people.
• They were the salt of the nation.

• Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, with what will it be salted? it is therefore good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trampled under foot of men.

• Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things. And I will be His and he will be my son.

9 And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 10 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you have come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 11 Then you are to appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the killer may flee there, who kills any person unintentionally. 12 They will be cities for refuge for you from the avenger; that the manslayer does not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. 13 From these cities you are to give six cities to have for refuge. 14 You are to give three cities on this side Jordan, and you are to give three cities in the land of Canaan that will be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities will be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, for the foreigner, and for the visitor among them: that every one who kills any person unintentionally may flee there. 16 But if he strikes him with an instrument of iron so that he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer will definitely be put to death.

• God required murderers be put to death because He made man in His own image.
• Accidental killing was not punishable by death according to Exodus 21:13.
  

• Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed: for in the image of God He made man.

17 And if he strikes him by throwing a stone with which he may die, and he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer will certainly be put to death. 18 Or if he strikes him with a hand weapon of wood with which he may die, and he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer will definitely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself will kill the murderer: when he meets him, he will kill him. 20 If he pushed him from hatred, or threw something at him by lying of wait, so that he dies; 21 Or in enmity strikes him with his hand so that he dies: he that struck him will surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood is to kill the murderer, when he meets him.

• The avenger of blood was the nearest living male relative.

• Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is to be shed: for in the image of God he made man.

22 But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity/hatred, or has thrown something on him, any thing without lying of wait, 23 Or with any stone, with which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he dies, and was not his enemy, nor sought his harm: 24 Then the congregation will judge between the killer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments: 25 And the congregation will deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation will restore him to the city of his refuge, where he fled: and he will stay in it until the death of the high priest that was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the killer comes outside the border of the city of his refuge where he was fled at any time, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer; he will not be guilty of blood: 28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer will return into the land of his possession.

• God has made his judgments clear and expects and empowers man to follow them.

• Micah 5:15  I will execute judgment in anger and wrath against the nations that have not obeyed me! (NIV)

29 These things are to be for statutes of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 30 Whoever kills any person, the murderer is to be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: one witness is not enough to testify against any person to cause him to die. 31 Moreover you are to take no bribe/ ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death: he will definitely be put to death. 32 And you are to take no ransom for him that fled to the city of his refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. 33 You will not pollute the land in which you are: for blood defiles the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it. 34 Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, where I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.

• God allowed no bribes to get the murderer out of the death penalty.
• A person or his family couldn’t purchase the murderers freedom.
• Murder is driven by evil.
• God remembers the victims. God dwells among us.

• Psalm 9:12 When He makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: He does not forget the cry of the humble.

• Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

• Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

                                            Numbers 36

God commanded that the property not move from tribe to tribe

1 The leaders of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph approached and spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the head fathers of the children of Israel: 2 And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 And if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be put into the inheritance of the tribe in which they are received: so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 Then, during the jubilee of the children of Israel, their inheritance will be put with the inheritance of the tribe in which they are received: so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. 5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks right. 6 This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad saying, Let them be wives to whom they think best; only marry within the family of the tribe of their father. 7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel will not move from tribe to tribe: every one of the children of Israel is to cling to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And every daughter, that possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, will be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father so that every man of the children of Israel may enjoy the inheritance of his fathers.

• God commands rather than suggests.
• God settled technical difficulties with wisdom and fairness.
• He kept the property within the tribal boundaries by having the inheriting daughter’s marry men of their own choosing but of their own tribe.
• Notice also in verse 8 that God wanted them to enjoy the inheritance that He gave them.

9 The inheritance is not to move from one tribe to another; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel is to keep himself to his own inheritance. 10 So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses,: 11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father's brothers' sons: 12 They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

• God is the author of order, not confusion.
• God said they were to marry someone of their own choosing.
• This is the scriptural directive rather than fathers or family choosing for them.
• The scriptural example of this principle is Rebekah of Genesis 24.
• The Lord had shown the servant who He had made to be Isaac’s wife, but she was asked.
• The decision rested with her.
• God gives us freewill.

• 1Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

• Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married to you:

• Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth will he be called.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments that the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

• Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

• Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

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SUMMARY: Numbers 34-36

• The LORD says who gets what property
• He set cities of refuge for accidental murder
• He defines what murder is
• He guarded each man's property rights