191 And the second heritage came out for the tribe of Simeon by their families; and their heritage was in the middle of the heritage of the children of Judah. 2 And they had for their heritage Beer-sheba and Shema and Moladah 3 And Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem 4 And Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah 5 And Ziklag and Beth-marcaboth and Hazar-susah 6 And Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen towns with their unwalled places; 7 Ain, Rimmon, and Ether and Ashan; four towns with their unwalled places; 8 And all the unwalled places round about these towns as far as Baalath-beer-ramah to the south. This is the heritage of the tribe of Simeon by their families. 9 The heritage of Simeon was taken out of Judah's stretch of land, for Judah's part was more than they had need of, so the heritage of the children of Simeon was inside their heritage.
10 And the third heritage came out for Zebulun by their families; the limit of their heritage was as far as Sarid; 11 And their limit goes up to the west to Maralah, stretching to Dabbesheth, and to the stream in front of Jokneam; 12 Then turning east from Sarid to the limit of Chisloth-tabor, it goes out to Daberath, and up to Japhia; 13 And from there it goes on east to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin; ending at Rimmon which goes as far as Neah; 14 And the line goes round it on the north to Hannathon, ending at the valley of Iphtah-el; 15 And Kattath and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Beth-lehem; twelve towns with their unwalled places. 16 This is the heritage of the children of Zebulun by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.
17 For Issachar the fourth heritage came out, for the children of Issachar by their families; 18 And their limit was to Jezreel and Chesulloth and Shunem 19 And Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath 20 And Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez 21 And Remeth and En-gannim and En-haddah and Beth-pazzez; 22 And their limit goes as far as Tabor and Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh, ending at Jordan; sixteen towns with their unwalled places. 23 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Issachar by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.
24 And the fifth heritage came out for the tribe of Asher by their families. 25 And their limit was Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph 26 And Alammelech and Amad and Mishal, stretching to Carmel on the west and Shihor-libnath; 27 Turning to the east to Beth-dagon and stretching to Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el as far as Beth-emek and Neiel to the north; on the left it goes as far as Cabul 28 And Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, to great Zidon; 29 And the limit goes round to Ramah and the walled town of Tyre and Hosah, ending at the sea by Heleb and Achzib; 30 And Ummah and Aphek and Rehob; twenty-two towns with their unwalled places. 31 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Asher by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.
32 For the children of Naphtali the sixth heritage came out, for the children of Naphtali by their families; 33 And their limit was from Heleph, from the oak-tree in Zaanannim, and Adami-hannekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, ending at Jordan; 34 And turning west to Aznoth-tabor, the limit goes out from there to Hukkok, stretching to Zebulun on the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah at Jordan on the east. 35 And the walled towns are Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth 36 And Adamah and Ramah and Hazor 37 And Kedesh and Edrei and En-Hazor 38 And Iron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen towns with their unwalled places. 39 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Naphtali by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.
40 For the tribe of Dan by their families the seventh heritage came out; 41 And the limit of their heritage was Zorah and Eshtaol and Ir-shemesh 42 And Shaalabbin and Aijalon and Ithlah 43 And Elon and Timnah and Ekron 44 And Eltekeh and Gibbethon and Baalath 45 And Jehud and Bene-berak and Gath-rimmon; 46 And on the west was ... opposite Joppa. 47 (But the limit of the children of Dan was not wide enough for them; so the children of Dan went up and made war on Leshem and took it, putting it to the sword without mercy, and they took it for their heritage and made a place for themselves there, giving it the name of Leshem-dan, after the name of their father, Dan.) 48 This is the heritage of the tribe of the children of Dan by their families, these towns with their unwalled places.
49 So the distribution of the land and its limits was complete; and the children of Israel gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a heritage among them; 50 By the orders of the Lord they gave him the town for which he made request, Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim: there, after building the town, he made his living-place. 51 These are the heritages which Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel gave out at Shiloh, by the decision of the Lord, at the door of the Tent of meeting. So the distribution of the land was complete.
201 And the Lord said to Joshua, 2 Say to the children of Israel, Let certain towns be marked out as safe places, as I said to you by the mouth of Moses, 3 So that any man who in error and without design has taken the life of another, may go in flight to them: and they will be safe places for you from him who has the right of punishment for blood. 4 And if anyone goes in flight to one of those towns, and comes into the public place of the town, and puts his cause before the responsible men of the town, they will take him into the town and give him a place among them where he may be safe. 5 And if the one who has the right of punishment comes after him, they are not to give the taker of life up to him; because he was the cause of his neighbour's death without designing it and not in hate. 6 And he is to go on living in that town till he has to come before the meeting of the people to be judged; (till the death of him who is high priest at that time:) then the taker of life may come back to his town and to his house, to the town from which he had gone in flight.
7 So they made selection of Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah. 8 And on the east side of Jordan at Jericho, they made selection of Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the towns marked out for all the children of Israel and for the man from a strange country living among them, so that anyone causing the death of another in error, might go in flight there, and not be put to death by him who has the right of punishment for blood till he had come before the meeting of the people.
211 Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel; 2 And said to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, The Lord gave orders by Moses that we were to have towns for living in, with their grass-lands for our cattle. 3 And the children of Israel out of their heritage gave to the Levites these towns with their grass-lands, by the order of the Lord. 4 And the heritage came out for the families of the Kohathites: the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 5 The rest of the children of Kohath by their families were given ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 6 The children of Gershon by their families were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar and Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh which was in Bashan. 7 The children of Merari by their families were given twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Zebulun. 8 All these towns with their grass-lands the children of Israel gave by the decision of the Lord to the Levites, as the Lord had given orders by Moses.
9 From the tribes of the children of Judah and the children of Simeon they gave these towns, listed here by name: 10 These were for the children of Aaron among the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi: for they came first in the distribution. 11 They gave them Kiriath-arba, the town of Arba, the father of Anak, (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its grass-lands. 12 But the open country round the town, and its unwalled places, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as his property. 13 And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands; 14 And Jattir with its grass-lands, and Eshtemoa with its grass-lands; 15 And Holon with its grass-lands, and Debir with its grass-lands; 16 And Ain, and Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, with their grass-lands; nine towns from those two tribes. 17 And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave Gibeon and Geba with their grass-lands; 18 Anathoth and Almon with their grass-lands, four towns. 19 Thirteen towns with their grass-lands were given to the children of Aaron, the priests. 20 The rest of the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 And they gave them Shechem with its grass-lands in the hill-country of Ephraim, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Gezer with its grass-lands; 22 And Kibzaim and Beth-horon with their grass-lands, four towns. 23 And from the tribe of Dan, Elteke and Gibbethon with their grass-lands; 24 Aijalon and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, four towns. 25 And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, two towns. 26 All the towns of the rest of the families of the children of Kohath were ten with their grass-lands. 27 And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Ashtaroth with its grass-lands, two towns. 28 And from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and Daberath with their grass-lands; 29 Jarmuth and En-gannim with their grass-lands, four towns. 30 And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and Abdon, with their grass-lands: 31 Helkath and Rehob with their grass-lands, four towns. 32 And from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Hammoth-dor and Kartan with their grass-lands, three towns. 33 All the towns of the Gershonites with their families were thirteen with their grass-lands. 34 And to the rest of the Levites, that is, the families of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and Kartah with their grass-lands; 35 Dimnah and Nahalal with their grass-lands, four towns. 36 And from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and Jahaz with their grass-lands; 37 Kedemoth and Mephaath with their grass-lands, four towns. 38 And from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Mahanaim with their grass-lands; 39 Heshbon and Jazer with their grass-lands, four towns. 40 All these towns were given to the children of Merari by their families, that is, the rest of the families of the Levites; and their heritage was twelve towns. 41 All the towns of the Levites, among the heritage of the children of Israel, were forty-eight towns with their grass-lands. 42 Every one of these towns had grass-lands round it.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he gave by oath to their fathers; so it became their heritage and their living-place. 44 And the Lord gave them peace on every side, as he had said to their fathers: all those who were against them gave way before them, for the Lord gave them all up into their hands. 45 The Lord kept faith with the house of Israel about all the good which he said he would do for them, and all his words came true.
25 And there was then in Jerusalem a man whose name was Simeon; and he was an upright man, fearing God and waiting for the comfort of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 And he had knowledge, through the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death till he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And full of the Spirit he came into the Temple; and when the father and mother came in with the child Jesus, to do with him what was ordered by the law, 28 Then he took him in his arms and gave praise to God and said, 29 Now you are letting your servant go in peace, O Lord, as you have said; 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 Which you have made ready before the face of all nations; 32 A light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. 33 And his father and mother were full of wonder at the things which were said about him. 34 And Simeon gave them his blessing and said to Mary, his mother, See, this child will be the cause of the downfall and the lifting up of great numbers of people in Israel, and he will be a sign against which hard words will be said; 35 (And a sword will go through your heart;) so that the secret thoughts of men may come to light. 36 And there was one, Anna, a woman prophet, the daughter of Phanuel, of the family of Asher (she was very old, and after seven years of married life 37 She had been a widow for eighty-four years); she was in the Temple at all times, worshipping with prayers and going without food, night and day. 38 And coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, talking of him to all those who were waiting for the freeing of Jerusalem.
39 And when they had done all the things which were ordered by the law of the Lord, they went back to Galilee, to Nazareth, the town where they were living. 40 And the child became tall and strong and full of wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
41 And every year his father and mother went to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up, as their way was, to the feast; 43 And when the days of the feast came to an end and they were going back, the boy Jesus was still in Jerusalem, but they had no knowledge of it: 44 And in the belief that he was with some of their number, they went a day's journey; and after looking for him among their relations and friends, 45 And seeing that he was not there, they went back to Jerusalem, to make search for him. 46 And after three days they came across him in the Temple, seated among the wise men, giving ear to their words and putting questions to them. 47 And all to whose ears it came were full of wonder at his knowledge and the answers which he gave. 48 And when they saw him they were surprised, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us? see, your father and I have been looking for you with sorrow. 49 And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? was it not clear to you that my right place was in my Father's house? 50 And his words seemed strange to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and did as he was ordered: and his mother kept all these words in her heart. 52 And Jesus was increasing in wisdom and in years, and in grace before God and men.
(Read Luke 2:25-35)
The same Spirit that provided for the support of Simeon's hope, provided for his joy. Those who would see Christ must go to his temple. Here is a confession of his faith, that this Child in his arms was the Saviour, the salvation itself, the salvation of God's appointing. He bids farewell to this world. How poor does this world look to one that has Christ in his arms, and salvation in his view! See here, how comfortable is the death of a good man; he departs in peace with God, peace with his own conscience, in peace with death. Those that have welcomed Christ, may welcome death. Joseph and Mary marvelled at the things which were spoken of this Child. Simeon shows them likewise, what reason they had to rejoice with trembling. And Jesus, his doctrine, and people, are still spoken against; his truth and holiness are still denied and blasphemed; his preached word is still the touchstone of men's characters. The secret good affections in the minds of some, will be revealed by their embracing Christ; the secret corruptions of others will be revealed by their enmity to Christ. Men will be judged by the thoughts of their hearts concerning Christ. He shall be a suffering Jesus; his mother shall suffer with him, because of the nearness of her relation and affection.
(Read Luke 2:36-40)
There was much evil then in the church, yet God left not himself without witness. Anna always dwelt in, or at least attended at, the temple. She was always in a praying spirit; gave herself to prayer, and in all things she served God. Those to whom Christ is made known, have great reason to thank the Lord. She taught others concerning him. Let the example of the venerable saints, Simeon and Anna, give courage to those whose hoary heads are, like theirs, a crown of glory, being found in the way of righteousness. The lips soon to be silent in the grave, should be showing forth the praises of the Redeemer. In all things it became Christ to be made like unto his brethren, therefore he passed through infancy and childhood as other children, yet without sin, and with manifest proofs of the Divine nature in him. By the Spirit of God all his faculties performed their offices in a manner not seen in any one else. Other children have foolishness bound in their hearts, which appears in what they say or do, but he was filled with wisdom, by the influence of the Holy Ghost; every thing he said and did, was wisely said and wisely done, above his years. Other children show the corruption of their nature; nothing but the grace of God was upon him.
(Read Luke 2:41-52)
It is for the honour of Christ that children should attend on public worship. His parents did not return till they had stayed all the seven days of the feast. It is well to stay to the end of an ordinance, as becomes those who say, It is good to be here. Those that have lost their comforts in Christ, and the evidences of their having a part in him, must bethink themselves where, and when, and how they lost them, and must turn back again. Those that would recover their lost acquaintance with Christ, must go to the place in which he has put his name; there they may hope to meet him. They found him in some part of the temple, where the doctors of the law kept their schools; he was sitting there, hearkening to their instructions, proposing questions, and answering inquiries, with such wisdom, that those who heard were delighted with him. Young persons should seek the knowledge of Divine truth, attend the ministry of the gospel, and ask such questions of their elders and teachers as may tend to increase their knowledge. Those who seek Christ in sorrow, shall find him with the greater joy. Know ye not that I ought to be in my Father's house; at my Father's work; I must be about my Father's business. Herein is an example; for it becomes the children of God, in conformity to Christ, to attend their heavenly Father's business, and make all other concerns give way to it. Though he was the Son of God, yet he was subject to his earthly parents; how then will the foolish and weak sons of men answer it, who are disobedient to their parents? However we may neglect men's sayings, because they are obscure, yet we must not think so of God's sayings. That which at first is dark, may afterwards become plain and easy. The greatest and wisest, those most eminent, may learn of this admirable and Divine Child, that it is the truest greatness of soul to know our own place and office; to deny ourselves amusements and pleasures not consistent with our state and calling.
