And the Lord said to
Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have
any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people
of Israel." (Bemidbar / Numbers 18:20; ESV)
A key
component of the life of ancient Israel was their tribal land allotments. God
through Joshua apportioned the land of Israel tribe by tribe based on
population distribution. God determined that the tribal clans should retain
their land portions, generation by generation. Safeguards were put in place to
ensure that if due to circumstances such as poverty, a clan lost a land holding,
it would return to that clan eventually, after a set number of years.
This land
inheritance applied to every tribe but Levi. The Levites had a special role in
the life of the nation as they were set apart by God as ministers, teachers,
and judges. Many would live in the proximity of the Mishkan (English:
Tabernacle), the special semi-portable structure where the sacrifices were to
be offered. Others of them would be scattered among the other tribes. Because
of their unique place in the nation, the Levites had no land inheritance.
Instead, as we read, God himself was their inheritance.
Note that
their inheritance was not the special work they were called to even though this
is what it was that made them unique in the nation. Their inheritance was God. But
perhaps saying that God was their inheritance was just a metaphorical way to
refer to the priestly service that only they were entitled to. To come to that
conclusion, however, reveals a great misunderstanding of what it means to serve
God.
Many years
ago I met with an ultra-orthodox rabbi almost every week for a year. His
commitment to his understanding of Judaism was intense. One day we were talking
about the concept of having a personal relationship with God. He told me flat
out that he did not, though, according to him, the leader of his particular
sect did, much like the prophets of old. But as for himself, his experience of
God was solely through the keeping of the mitzvot (English: commandments).
Doing his God-given duty was all it meant to him to know God.
It's not
that he didn't believe that God was personal. After all his venerated leader
apparently had some sort of intimate relationship with God. Yet there was
something about his understanding of God that prevented him from sharing his
leader's experience. I don't presume to know what it is, just as I don't know
what it is that is keeping anyone else from truly knowing God personally.
Some people
don't think it is possible to know God personally. I wish they would read the
Bible and see the intimate encounters contained within its pages and the type
of people who had them - people just like you and me. Others, are like the
rabbi, happily or not so happily, substituting doing things for God in place of
actually knowing him. Others use highly personal, relational language. But it's
not the language we use that ensures true and intimate relationship with the
Master of the Universe. It's really knowing him that is what really knowing him
is all about. At the same time it is the language of Scripture that properly
clues us in to the reality of God he desires for us.
The
Levitical inheritance of God is a case in point. That it was God himself rather
than their duties that was their inheritance demonstrates for all of us that
legitimate service for God stems from a personal relationship to him. Busying
ourselves with good things is no substitute for truly knowing him.
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