One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Wednesday, April 20th "Land Given the Levite Priests" "Jesus Befuddles the Pharisees Again!"
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Click Here to Read Joshua 21:1-22:20
At the end of chapter 21, it says that not a single promise the Lord had given the Israelites was left unfulfilled. God had kept his every Word. God has a perfect record in the promise keeping department. Every promise he has made, he has kept. It God broke one promise, He would not be God. It is really good to know that you can trust in God's promises in every area of your life. You know if God made it, you can bank your life on it.
The chapter also tells of how the Levites, who worked in the temple of the Lord, were given land. Although they were not given out land which was originally divided up amongst the twelve tribes, they still needed a place to live. So all of the tribes helped out in equal ways.
The striking thing about this list is that God wanted the Levites “sprinkled” all throughout the land of Israel. He never intended there to be one “state” of Levi, but every tribe was to have the priestly influence and presence in their midst. - Guzik
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were given the first land the Israelites conquered, which was East of the Jordan River. However, Moses commanded them to cross into the Promised Land and help the Israelites to conquer that land. Since they were obedient to this command, Joshua blessed them and sent them away loaded with all kinds of plunder from their victories.
"In the seven years they had been with Joshua, helping the tribes west of the Jordan to conquer their enemies, they had been completely obedient and helpful to Joshua. You have not left your brethren these many days: They had gone out and fought on behalf of their brethren, even though they already had their own inheritance – even as God commanded them to do." - Guzik
However, right before they crossed the west side of the Jordan river, they built a huge altar. An altar was usually built to offer a sacrifice. The other people they had just left reacted instantly assuming it was an altar built to a pagan god. After all, they had just cleansed the land of idolatry and this was the last thing they wanted, especially from their own people.
Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the high priest led a delegation out to confront them about this. Phineas also knew that the sin of these tribes would affect the whole nation. Likewise we should be concerned about the whole body of Christ, not just our own local church. "When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer." 1 Corinthians 12:26
Further, he realized that if they really wanted an altar to worship at, they could join the Israelites and worship at the tabernacle, as God had instructed in Leviticus 17:8-9
This was an invitation made at great cost. It would have meant a must smaller area of land for the western tribes. But it didn’t matter, because they were willing to sacrifice to see their brothers free from this sin. Too many of us lack this willingness; we tell people to stop sinning, but are not willing to help them if it costs us something. - Guzik
Click Here to Read Luke 20:1-26
The Pharisees confronted Jesus and asked him by what authority was he teaching. Instead of answering them, he asked them a question. By what authority did John the Baptist teach? They were in a pickle, because if they didn't acknowledge John's authority, they would have an uproar on their hands. If they said John's authority came from God, it would be admitting that Jesus' authority came from God as well since John the Baptist said, "I must decrease so Jesus can increase!" John 3:30-35
When they showed themselves to be insincere seekers, Jesus refused to answer their question. Jesus had great care and compassion for the sincere seeker, but not for cynical critics and manipulators.- Guzik
In response Jesus tells a parable, which is a prophecy about how the religious leaders will treat him. And to some extent they already had. In the parable a man went away and leased his vineyard to tenant farmers. This most likely would be God giving Israel the Promised Land.
When the time came to collect from the harvest that was rightfully his, he sent a servant to collect the fruit. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. The owner sent two more servants with the same result. They were beaten up and chased away.
So the owner said, "I will send my favorite son and surely they will respect him." But instead of respecting him, they not only beat him but killed him.
So the obvious correlation is that the servants, were the prophets God sent to warn Israel, which they persecuted heavily. And the treasured son, was God's only Son, Jesus. In the end, the owner would go back and kill these evil men and give the vineyard to others. This is clearly a reference to when the Jewish temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, and the gospel went out to the Gentiles, after many of the Jews rejected Jesus.
The Pharisees knew Jesus was indicting them in this parable, so they wanted to arrrest him. But they knew the people were fascinated with Jesus, and they were afraid of how they might react.
Finally, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus again by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar. If he said "yes", they could accuse him of being a sympathizer to Rome. If he said "no", they would accuse him of a being a lawbreaker. But once again Jesus called their bluff. He took the coin and asked them whose image was on it. It was Caesar's. And Jesus said, "Give to Caesar, what is Caesar's. And give to God what is God's!"
This teaching from Jesus, which is backed up by Paul in Romans 13, is the reason Christians should pay taxes and obey the governing laws in the country they live in. The one exception being if the law specifically asks them to disobey God. I.e. Worship an idol, or kill.
“Every Christian has a double citizenship. He is a citizen of the country in which he happens to live. To it he owes many things. He owes the safety against lawless men which only a settled government can give; he owes all public services.” (Barclay)
Click Here to Read Proverbs 13:15-16
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