Moses asks the Lord for a successor, someone to lead the people so that they would not be like sheep without a shepherd. Even though he must have greatly desired Joshua to be that man, yet he doesn’t ask for him. He leaves it in the Lord’s hand. And look what happened, God gave him Joshua!

There is an interesting verse - Numbers 27:16 May the Lord, the God of all the spirits of all mankind...
God is God of all people, whether or not they believe.  God is God, no matter what!

The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh ask for land on the east side of the Jordan River.  Moses was at first reluctant to allow this.  He was afraid that God would punish them again as He did when the spies were fearful of going into the land 40 years earlier.  To their credit these two-and-a half tribes offer to help the other tribes fight for their land before taking possession of the land east of the river.  Moses warns them that they will suffer the consequences if they fail to honor this offer.

The Israelites were told to drive out the inhabitants of the land, destroy their idols, and demolish their high places. If not, these inhabitants would become barbs in their eyes and thorns in their sides. What an understatement! If only the Israelites had obeyed God completely. These idols and high places will be a source of great disobedience on the part of God's people.  If the Israelites had obeyed God at the beginning of their journey from Egypt, some 40 years earlier, they would not have had to fight for the land.  God had promised that He would drive out the inhabitants.

There is also a modern-day application to these verses in Numbers 33:50-56.  What happens to a nation where carved images, cast idols, and high places (pagan influences, other "gods", etc) are allowed into the country?  When Islam is given equal credibility to Christianity, when Allah and God are declared to be the same, what are the consequences?  All we need to do is to read the history of the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah to see how God deals with that issue.

The boundaries that are listed in the readings for today from Numbers 33-34 are the boundaries of the land that Abraham walked.  Remember, the boundaries that God promised Abraham were much larger. (Genesis 15:17-21).  All Abraham had to do was to walk and claim the land.  So, Abraham and his descendants were given the land that Abraham actually walked, much smaller than what God originally promised.  This is just one example of the consequences of disobedience.

The people are reminded of what the Amalekites did to them along the way. They attacked those who were weary and worn out or who were lagging behind. Great lesson for us. When we are at our weakest, we are easy prey for the enemy. But equally important, when we are at our strongest, we are also easy prey. Whenever we are doing something big for the kingdom, we get Satan's attention and he tries to "cut us off".

In the plans for the cities for the Levites, it seems as if God is placing a “pocket” of Levites to essentially surround each of the towns. Maybe to be a buffer for them spiritually?

Has God placed any of us as a spiritual buffer for others?