02/25/08: Deuteronomy 17-19
Category: Deuteronomy
Posted by: sejje
Chapter 18:
When the Levites are given God as their inheritance, what exactly does that mean? Are they "shooed in" to the elect?
Ted: The Levites were not to receive any permanent physical compensation (such as land) as their inheritance. Being that they were the people's intermediaries to God, they in turn were to receive all of their daily necessities (money, food, lodging, etc.) from the people. Thus, God would be their "inheritance" by seeing to it that all of their needs were met, though the people they represented.
I do not believe that all of the Levites, through Israeli history, are necessarily part of the elect who will be saved unto eternal life. Probably many of them realized that the regular sacrificing of animals, and spilling of animal blood, was not enough to atone for their sins permanently. Maybe the Levites, more than the other Israelites, would have been more likely to understand this: that what they were doing was a "shadow" of something better to come (that is, the once-for-all blood atonement by the Messiah: Hebrews 9:24-26). If so, I believe that those who understood and accepted this are part of the eternal elect.
Similarly we, as "priests" of God who minister to others about the saving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, are not to look at worldly things as our permanent inheritance. Rather, God is our eternal inheritance, and He is guarding that inheritance for us until the day He returns (2 Corinthians 5:18,19; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 9:15).
I don't really understand 18:8. I thought the Levites didn't really have any possessions. Also, why is it wrong for them to sell their possessions?
Ted: I think that Levites could have possessions, which were things that other Israelites gave them as everyday necessities. Mainly, it was not land that they could possess, as the members of all the other tribes could. I think Deuteronomy 18:8 indicates that the Levites could sell their possessions. Even if a Levite had received money from the sale of anything, he still was to share equally in the benefits which all Levites received on a regular basis.
Doesn't 18:22 contradict some things that have already happend? For instance, Moses promised the Israelites in Egypt that God would lead them to the land God promised their forefathers--later they are wicked and God chooses for them to perish in the desert, therefore some of what God has said through Moses did not come true.
Ted: God had stated, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession" (Exodus 19:5). When Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, they responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey" (24:7). Later God said, "Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites" (34:11). God made the stipulation that if the people obeyed Him, then He would uphold His side of the covenant, and the people agreed to that. However, they didn't uphold their end of the bargain; there were numerous cases of their disobedience and rebellion.
Besides, God didn't necessarily make the covenant with THOSE Israelites; He made it with THE Israelites. Actually, He originally made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and with their descendants. It wasn't necessarily the descendants who came out of Egypt. It COULD have been, had these people kept the covenant set before them; but they failed to do so, mainly by not trusting God to eliminate their enemies in the land that Caleb and Joshua assured them that God WOULD do.
The bottom line is that the prophecy of God's promises to the Israelites just hasn't happened YET. However, it WILL happen when Jesus, the Messiah, returns. God never reneges on His word. It's up to Him to fulfill His promises in His own time, but all of them ultimately will be fulfilled.
When the Levites are given God as their inheritance, what exactly does that mean? Are they "shooed in" to the elect?
Ted: The Levites were not to receive any permanent physical compensation (such as land) as their inheritance. Being that they were the people's intermediaries to God, they in turn were to receive all of their daily necessities (money, food, lodging, etc.) from the people. Thus, God would be their "inheritance" by seeing to it that all of their needs were met, though the people they represented.
I do not believe that all of the Levites, through Israeli history, are necessarily part of the elect who will be saved unto eternal life. Probably many of them realized that the regular sacrificing of animals, and spilling of animal blood, was not enough to atone for their sins permanently. Maybe the Levites, more than the other Israelites, would have been more likely to understand this: that what they were doing was a "shadow" of something better to come (that is, the once-for-all blood atonement by the Messiah: Hebrews 9:24-26). If so, I believe that those who understood and accepted this are part of the eternal elect.
Similarly we, as "priests" of God who minister to others about the saving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, are not to look at worldly things as our permanent inheritance. Rather, God is our eternal inheritance, and He is guarding that inheritance for us until the day He returns (2 Corinthians 5:18,19; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 9:15).
I don't really understand 18:8. I thought the Levites didn't really have any possessions. Also, why is it wrong for them to sell their possessions?
Ted: I think that Levites could have possessions, which were things that other Israelites gave them as everyday necessities. Mainly, it was not land that they could possess, as the members of all the other tribes could. I think Deuteronomy 18:8 indicates that the Levites could sell their possessions. Even if a Levite had received money from the sale of anything, he still was to share equally in the benefits which all Levites received on a regular basis.
Doesn't 18:22 contradict some things that have already happend? For instance, Moses promised the Israelites in Egypt that God would lead them to the land God promised their forefathers--later they are wicked and God chooses for them to perish in the desert, therefore some of what God has said through Moses did not come true.
Ted: God had stated, "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession" (Exodus 19:5). When Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, they responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey" (24:7). Later God said, "Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites" (34:11). God made the stipulation that if the people obeyed Him, then He would uphold His side of the covenant, and the people agreed to that. However, they didn't uphold their end of the bargain; there were numerous cases of their disobedience and rebellion.
Besides, God didn't necessarily make the covenant with THOSE Israelites; He made it with THE Israelites. Actually, He originally made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and with their descendants. It wasn't necessarily the descendants who came out of Egypt. It COULD have been, had these people kept the covenant set before them; but they failed to do so, mainly by not trusting God to eliminate their enemies in the land that Caleb and Joshua assured them that God WOULD do.
The bottom line is that the prophecy of God's promises to the Israelites just hasn't happened YET. However, it WILL happen when Jesus, the Messiah, returns. God never reneges on His word. It's up to Him to fulfill His promises in His own time, but all of them ultimately will be fulfilled.
