“Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. “‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’””
~ Numbers 34:12
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know where you want to live when you are as old as your ma and dad? Your grandmaa and grandpaa have already lived in a lot of places. Your grandmaa was born not far from where you are living in Delaware. Your grandpaa was born in Volga, South Dakota – which is a long ways away from where your grandmaa was born. Your dad was born in the same hospital where your grandmaa was born in Wilmington, Delaware. Your Aunt Lynn was born in the same state where your grandpaa was born. Your dad and your Aunt Lynn – when they were kids, lived in a lot of different places. Your dad lived for over a year in Springfield, Massachusetts. Your dad and your Aunt Lynn lived in South Dakota while your grandpaa worked for Beneficial Finance. Your dad and your Aunt Lynn lived for almost three years in Chicago – in a funeral home, while your grandpaa studied at Moody Bible Institute. Your dad and Aunt Lynn lived for about nine months in Texas – at the Rio Grande Bible Institute, where your grandmaa and grandpaa tried to learn to speak Spanish. Your dad lived for about four years in Bolivia while your Aunt Lynn lived for about ten years in Bolivia. Your Aunt Lynn lived with your grandmaa and grandpaa in Florida for a couple of months. Because your dad and your Aunt Lynn went with your grandmaa and grandpaa when your grandmaa and grandpaa visited family, friends and churches to ask for prayer and financial support, your dad and your Aunt Lynn were in almost every state in the United States mainland. Your grandmaa and grandpaa now live in Guatemala. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have seen a lot of very beautiful and fascinating places where they would not mind living if they had the chance. Your grandmaa and grandpaa drove through Mexico to get to Guatemala. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have spent time in Brazil, Argentina and Peru. Your grandpaa has spent time in Paraguay and Chile. Your grandmaa and grandpaa were in 1976 on an eight week summer team that went to Colombia. Planet Earth is seen today as a playground – as a guy or gal can get to within a day or so wherever he or she would like to go. Because of satellites, you can – in real time, keep up with a catastrophe that has happened anywhere on planet Earth. Getting around on planet Earth today is so much easier than what it was when your ma and dad were your age.
If you were kids living nearly 3,500 years ago and your ma and dad were Israelites, where would you want to live? Do you remember who the Israelites are? The Israelite people group is God’s specially chosen people. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids had lived in Egypt – where they had been living comfortably. Even though they were being used by the Egyptians as slaves, the Israelite people group had no reason to want to leave Egypt. God had made promises. God had first promised a guy – Abraham, that he would be the father of a great nation and that this great nation would always call home the land area where he was living. This land area – which was Canaan, became known as the Promised Land. God then promised Abraham’s kid – Isaac, and then Isaac’s kid – Jacob, that the land area where they were living would one day have a great nation of guys, gals and kids living on the land. Because of a devastating famine that decimated the Promised Land, Jacob and his kids ended up having to relocate in Egypt. While Jacob’s family was in Egypt, Jacob’s extended family grew into a large nation of guys, gals and kids. This nation of guys, gals and kids is today called Israel. God – over time, finally led His specially chosen guys, gals and kids out of Egypt and back into the land that He had promised them that they would always have as their very own land. Before heading into the Promised Land, a guy was chosen from each of the twelve tribal clans to spy out the land. Ten of the twelve spies returned saying that there were scary dudes living in the Promised Land. These spies convinced everyone else that it was not worth trying to go into the land that God had promised them. What do you think that God did next? God would not let anyone over a certain age go into the land which He had promised His specially chosen people – the Israelite people group, that they would one day always have as their very own land in which to live. God’s specially chosen people – as a punishment, had to wander aimlessly about in a wilderness for forty years before they would be able to go into the land which God had promised them that they would always have as their very own land in which to live. You would have been born in a wilderness if you were an Israelite kid who lived 3,500 years ago. You would have seen some awesome miracles – like a river which suddenly stopped running to expose a dry riverbed and like a city which suddenly had its’ walls come tumbling down. You would have seen your dad killing the guys, gals and kids who were living in the land that God had promised his people group. There finally came a day when it was decided where everyone would live in the Promised Land. After years of not staying long in one place, you are ready to settle down with your ma and dad in one place– a place which you can call home.
Numbers 34 tells you how the Promised Land was divided between the different tribal clans which made up Israel. God first told Moses what the boundaries of the Promised Land or Canaan were to be. Verse 12 says “Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. “‘This will be your land, with its boundaries on every side.’”” God then told Moses how the Promised Land was to be divided. God told Moses to use lots to divide the Promised Land among His specially chosen people. God then told Moses who the different guys were who He had appointed to help Moses assign nine and a half Israelite tribal clans the land areas where they would live in the Promised Land. You do not need to ever wonder about where to live as you will live where God wants you to live.
Numbers 34 (76)