Joshua 21:1-3
Then the heads of households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.” So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, according to the command of the Lord.
Joshua is drawing to a close and the nation is still possessing the promise land. They will never fully possess it (see the book of Judges), as they will start very quickly after Joshua's death to fall in love with the evil in the land. However, prior to that time, intentions and passion for God was running quite high. In the above passage we read about the designated religious leaders coming to Joshua and the leadership of Israel to claim their "share" of the promise land. Unlike each individual tribe, the descendants of Levi were not given a plot of land. Instead, their inheritance was God, Himself. They would be the spiritual leaders of the people in the land, rather than the owners of the property in the land. It should be remembered that, later, in the fall of Israel and the captivity of the Nation, it was the religious leaders who would stand in full blame for failing to lead the Nation away from sin. God would hold them responsible (1 Samuel 2:22ff; Jeremiah 32:32). But, here they are quick to claim the promise of God that He would take care of them via the generosity of the people of God. That is a truth we can't ignore, despite what these very religious leaders would soon become. God takes care of His workers through the generosity of His people. God instructed it for these Levites, the priest in the Old Testament, and for the pastors and leaders in the New Testament:
1 Timothy 5:17-18
The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
God does not expect His ministers to be poor and broken and destitute. God expects the nation of His people to care for those ministers. They, on their behalf, are to realize this is not a "rich" or "wealthy" occupational endeavor. Believers should not go into the ministry of God's service expecting to get rich or gain wealth. In fact, one of the requirements of an elder is that they don't love money or wealth (1 Timothy 3). In our country today there are more than too many ministers of God who forgot this blanket principle. The wealth accumulated by some of the most prominent preachers today should be shocking to us. But, their abuse doesn't mean it is our job to keep the rest poor and needy. Each of the tribes in the Nation of Israel were required to give the Levites a city with the surrounding fields. They gave 48 cities in all. The truth is that God's people are to take care of God's ministers. We are all in one of these categories. We are either caring for the ministry or receiving the care. There was no middle ground. This is a truth of God's Word repeated and demonstrated in both Testaments.
No comments:
Post a Comment