At the end of Genesis, in chapter 49, Jacob gives a great prophecy that concerns the future of each of his sons and the people who should come from them. And when he gets to Simeon and Levi, it is this incident from Genesis 34 that he remembers. Here are his words: "Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel" (vv. 5-7a). You see, even all those many years after that event, the horror of it still stuck in Jacob’s mind. And then he pronounced this prophecy: "I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel" (v. 7b). 

Now in chapter 21, we find out more about these Levitical cities. Six of the 48 cities were for refuge; but there were still the other 42 cities that were scattered all throughout the land. Joshua 21 spells it out in great detail city by city, telling us exactly where these cities of the Levites were. This involves a very interesting story. To understand why the cities of the Levites were so important and why they were such a blessing, not only to the people but to the Levites themselves, you have to go back to Genesis 34. In that chapter there is one of the most unsavory portions of the Old Testament. And although some preachers might say that it is impossible to preach a sermon on a certain text, I don’t think that’s true. All Scripture, including these portions, is given for our instruction in righteousness and for our correction.

Now, we stand at the very end of the third portion, after all the land has been divided up among the tribes. In addition, in chapters 20 and 21 we find a portion that deals with the establishing of certain special cities. There were 48 cities throughout Israel that were given to the priests, who came from the tribe of Levi. One category of these cities, the cities of refuge, we looked at last week. There were six of these cities, strategically spread out around the country, to which a person who had unintentionally killed another person could flee for refuge lest the avenger of blood should overtake him in accordance with the customs of that period.