Joshua 21
God is a Promise Keeper!
Joshua 21:41-43 summarizes the fulfillment of an old promise:
All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. These cities each had its surrounding pasture lands; thus it was with all these cities. So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it.
The Levites did not receive an allocation of the Promised Land, like the rest of the tribes of Israel, but these priests and temple workers still needed homes to live in, places to raise their children, and pastureland to feed their animals (Numbers 18:20). So, God spoke to Moses promising the Levites cities in Numbers 35:1-8.
It was up to Joshua to ensure that the promise was kept. Under his leadership, all the tribes had their land allocated to them, the six refuge cities have been declared, the forty-eight Levites cities have been selected, and the tabernacle was centralized at Shiloh. Joshua 21:44-45 captures this crowing moment’s significance to the nation of Israel:
And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
God is a promise keeper! While there was much work to do to settle the land, and, we know, there is much about their future that is not to be envied, God’s people stopped at this moment in time, and this place in their history, to celebrate God’s faithfulness to keep His promises!
Seize the moment and celebrate God’s faithfulness to keep His promises to you! God will never fail you!