The Levites’ Inheritance

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Deuteronomy chapter 18, the first eight verses. We're going to be talking about the portion of the sacrifices that go to the Levites. So it's kind of a new section in the book of Deuteronomy. We're going to kind of move the focus towards the Levites.
So let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word and we pray that you would please help us as we read your word, that it would be a light unto our eyes. Lord, that you would show us the path in which we should walk. Lord, we thank you for this truth. We need your spirit now to enlighten our eyes and teach us where we should go. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, here we go. Deuteronomy chapter 18, the first eight verses.
The priests, the Levites, all the tribes of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire and his portion. therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The LORD is their inheritance, as he has said to them. And this shall be the priests do from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, Whether it is bull or sheep, they shall give to the priests the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach, the first fruit of your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep you shall give him. for the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever. So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the Lord chooses, then he may serve in the name of the Lord his God. as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the Lord. They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance. Well, we have our three questions we need to ask ourselves. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? Well, what's this about?
It's the portion for the Levites. Notice the first paragraph, verses one and two, They don't have an inheritance of their own. The Lord is their inheritance. The priesthood is their inheritance. When they're going to cast lots and figure out who gets what land, they don't actually get, there's not like an area of the tribe of Levi. Now they'll go to different cities here and there for a reason. We'll get to that later. But for right now, their main inheritance is the Lord himself.
And so in verses 3 through 5 it talks about, right, but their inheritance is part, right, because they're serving the Lord, part is dependent on the other people of Israel. That's what verses 3 through 5 is talking about, right, and this shall be the priests do from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice. And it talks about, right, the priests get the shoulder, they get the cheeks, they get the stomach, the first fruit of your grain and your new wine your oil and the first of the fleece of your sheep you shall give him right so it's God who's chosen him God's the one who has put the Levites in this place and so when they come with their sacrifices this is what the Levites get this is how they're going to be cared for this is remember they don't have their own land they don't have their own estates they don't this so what do they have well it's dependent on what the people bring And so, this is theirs forever. That's what the Lord says in verse 5. For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of Jehovah him and his sons forever.
And then in verses six through eight, that section specifically gets at the Levite who comes from any of your gates, right? So if there's a Levite and he dwells anywhere, kind of within the midst, right? Because they don't have their own land. It's not like the land of Naphtali or the land of Dan or the tribe of Judah, right? They all have their own set portions. Levites are going to kind of be scattered throughout everywhere.
And if they're working and living in your town, in your settlement, in your area, But they want to go to the tabernacle and they want to go serve? That's their right. That's their privilege. They get to go and partake in the tabernacle service. So that's what this is all talking about is what is the inheritance of the Levites? It's the Lord himself. How are they going to be provided for materially? The Lord will provide for them by the generosity of the people. As he prospers the people, they give to the Lord and then the Levites are taken care of from that. So that's how the economy of Israel is going to go, specifically with the tabernacle worship and the Levites.
What's the best verse to summarize this section? Well, I think in my Bible I have verse 2. Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord is their inheritance as he said to them. I think maybe verse 1 could go with that too, but we can debate that. That's fine. Let's see calling. What are we called to do? Well, we don't have Levites now. We don't have those who are making sacrifices anymore, right? No, that's what the Lord did. There is no more sacrifice. This is what Jesus did on the cross. And so this priesthood, this set-aside priesthood is gone. So how does this apply to us?
Well, we're a nation of priests, a holy priesthood, a royal nation, right? And so now, do we still provide for the Lord's work? The principle here is, as the Lord prospers us, do we give to His work? We don't depend on priests in the same way, but do we bless others in the church? Do we care for one another?
One of the things that the Lord is going to use as an indictment against his people is he's gonna say you guys have forsaken my Tabernacle and the result is the Levites are starving and they're not doing the work anymore Why because the people aren't up keeping the economy that I set in place, right? So and they're turning away from the Lord. They've also turned away from those who are doing the work and so they've turned away from even their own brothers and sisters and This is in our lives a difficulty as we see our brothers and sisters in need. Do we go and help them? Do we want to see them prosper and succeed? Do we want to see them cared for?
This is something that I think we can look at and see that Jesus Christ himself He didn't come rich, even as our high priest. But he gave liberally. He cared for those around him, and he's told us to love one another as we would want to be loved. So I think as we are prospered by the Lord, we can be generous with others and we can bless the Lord. We're seeing his ministry grow as well as with our hearts. Loving the Lord and actually seeing that these things are necessary. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much that you did not spare anything to save us. But God, you've been so good to us every single day. Every day we wake up, your mercies are new. Your compassion hasn't failed. Lord, you give us food. You give us water. Lord, you give us homes and clothing. Father, we thank you so much. And we pray, Lord, that we would respond with thankfulness and with generosity. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. May the Lord bless you as you look to him and as you rejoice for all the good he's done for you. I'll see you next time. Bye.