Then YHWH said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel." (Num 18:20)The sons of Levi, Scripture tells us, got their income from the tithe (Num 18:21). They were scattered throughout Israel to serve as mediators between God and His people. And their reward was ... God. "I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel." You read that and you're supposed to understand that the Levites were highly blessed to have no inheritance or portion in the land. They were highly blessed to have God as their portion.
When Jeremiah lamented the destruction of his homeland, he lost hope (Lam 3:1-19). The one thing that restored his hope was this fact. "'YHWH is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'" (Lam 3:24). Jeremiah didn't find some silver lining in the destruction of Jerusalem. He didn't expect God to "make it all better." Nor did he find pleasure in it. He found his hope at an entirely different place -- "YHWH is my portion." Like the Levites before him, he understood that to not only be enough, but to be abundantly enough. Is He enough for you?
1 comment:
This also flies in the face of the claim that religious organization was just a means of the powerful controlling the weak. The powerful don't typically like to get left out of good things like property and wealth.
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