Cities for the Levites
35 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan oppositeJericho, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities. 3 The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.
4 “The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extendfrom the wall of the city [a]outward a thousand cubits around. 5 You shall also measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.
Cities of Refuge
6 The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. 7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, [b]together with their pasture lands. 8 As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits.”
As God had promised earlier, now he was ensuring a possession for the Levites, those who were dedicated to serving the Lord. He made sure that they would not be forgotten when the Israelites entered the promised homeland.
Further, in the interests of being fair, God states that the larger tribes would give more land than the smaller tribes, who had less land to give.
Now, life doesn’t always seem fair, but I know this. God gives each of us a gift. While we may not inherit a plot of land from generation to generation like the Israelites did, none of us comes into this world empty-handed. God fills each of us with potential, but each of us is different.
Some have flashy gifts, and others prefer to stay behind the scenes, but each has a gift to give, a gift that they received from God himself. What’s your gift? If you don’t know, start looking, it’s there waiting for you to discover it.