Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns. – Numbers 35:2

Today's Scripture Reading (February 15, 2025): Numbers 35

I admit that I struggle with the affluence in which some pastors live. I won't mention any names, but I recently saw an evangelical mega pastor's sprawling mansion and lands and openly questioned the need for such opulence. At the same time, I know that some question the opulence in which I live. Some have suggested that maybe I need to sell my house and live in something smaller. I have listened to the argument, but the reality is that the move would significantly increase my cost of living if I made that change. Many years ago, a fellow pastor wanted me to sell my house and buy a home in a new neighborhood. I thought about it, but the reality is that I love my home and have no desire to leave it, even for a newer or bigger one.

But there is an underlying truth regardless of which side of the argument we might be on. Pastors have to live somewhere. We need a space where we can lay our heads at the end of the day and a home where we can raise a family. A house, rather than a church-owned parsonage, also allows clergy to prepare for a time of retirement that will come for all of us at some point in our lives. How we take care of these tensions is a dance that we all do differently, and maybe we (and I) need to recognize that fact.

Levites did not receive an inheritance with the other tribes of Judah. Part of the idea is that God didn't want to gather the Levites in one section of the nation but wanted them to be sprinkled among the tribes like salt on food. However, Levites still needed a place to lay their heads at night and raise a family. However, in a world where land was wealth, the Levites were not supposed to chase after that kind of affluence.

As a result, some have wondered if this passage contradicts that reality. Here, the Levites are to receive a place to lay their heads and land on which they could pasture their animals. Wasn't that a land inheritance just as the other tribes received, just spread out throughout the nation? Gordon Wenham, reformed British Old Testament theologian and author, answers that question.

        Even with the surrounding pasturelands for the cattle, the total area assigned to the Levites came to         15 square miles (40 km2), about 0.1% of the land of Canaan. In a society where farm-land was                wealth, this minute fraction of the land meant that the Levites would still be dependent on the                generosity of the secular tribes among whom they lived" (Gordon J. Wenham).

The Levites received a place to sleep at night but very little more. They would receive their inheritance straight from God and depend on the people around them for support to survive in the world where God had placed them.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 36