“The rest of the descendants of K’hat received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Efrayim and Dan and the half-tribe of M’nasheh.”-Joshua 21:5
The Levites were split up into three main clans.
They were KOHATH, GERSHON and MERARI and the 48 Levitical cities were assigned to them in this exact order.
Kohath received their fair share of cities first.
After that, Gershon got their share.
And then, finally Merari got theirs.
Why were the cities handed out in this particular order?
Well, there’s one particular fact that will give you the answer to that question really quick and it is this: Moses and Aaron were descended from the line of Kohath.
Coming from such an esteemed bloodline, Kohath was therefore considered to be the most prestigious and dominant of all the families.
The line of Aaron branched off from Kohath first.
Because they came from the priestly line, they obviously carried the highest status amongst the Kohathites.
The priests ended up receiving a whopping total of 13 cities.
Next, notice that verse 5 talks about how“…the rest of the descendants of K’hat received by lot ten cities”.
So who were these so-called “rest of descendants of Kohath”?
Well, obviously they come from Moses’ family, right?
Remember, Moses may have passed away but he left behind many descendants.
And let’s not forget that Moses was also a Levite.
Hence, all of his descendants were Levites and thus were responsible for the care of the Tabernacle.
Do you remember in the earlier books of the Torah we read about how Kohath had the honor of carrying the holiest items that made up the Tabernacle?
Well, now you can understand why they were chosen for such a distinguished duty.
It’s because they were close family relatives of Moses.
One interesting thought just came to me as soon as I finished typing up that last sentence.
In the Scriptures, not only is Moses considered to be worthy of the highest veneration but so are his descendants.
Yet, consider how Moses started his life.
He was thrown into a river by his mother in order to escape being murdered by the Egyptian soldiers.
Afterwards, he grew up in luxury in Pharaoh’s palace but after killing an Egyptian soldier, he had to flee from everything he ever knew.
Think about it.
When Moses fled Egypt as a convicted murderer, he had nothing but the clothes he was wearing and the staff in his hand.
Yet because God chose Him in spite of all his flaws and sinful background, both he and his descendants were raised from the very depths of despair to the very heights of deliverance of salvation.
What’s the lesson here?
It doesn’t matter where you came from and what your background is.
If God chooses you, your past means nothing…even if you are a murderer like Moses was.
Leave a Reply