The Lord gave Moses the boundaries of Canaan. I prefer pictures, so I found one to illustrate how the land was divided amongst the 12 tribes. This land was given to 9 1/2 tribes because the families of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe Manasseh had all received their inheritance previously, according to their bargain. Eleazar, Joshua and one leader from each tribe were appointed to help Moses in the task of assigning the inheritances to the Israelites.
The Levites were given towns with pastureland surrounding them. There were to be six Safe Towns where a person could go if they killed someone and needed to be protected until their trial. If the death was intentional they were put to death to cleanse the land. Blood polluted the land until the murderer atoned with his own blood. In order to be found guilty at trial, there needed to be 2 witnesses to the crime. If you were innocent you had to stay in the Safe Town until the high priest died.
The leaders from the tribe of Manasseh went to Moses to speak about the inheritance of the 5 sisters (Num 27:1-11 Feb 20) and how to treat their inheritances should they marry outside of their tribe. God told them they could marry anyone they wanted - as long as they were from the tribe of their father. So it became a law that women of each tribe would only marry someone from the tribal clan of their father. That way no inheritance would pass from tribe to tribe.
Deuteronomy means second law. The fifth and final book of Moses contains three speeches that he made to the Israelites before they took their inheritances in Canaan. The 11 day journey took the children of Israel 40 years to make because of their lack of faith in God.
The First Speech reviews the past. Moses told them what the Lord told him at Mount Sinai 40 years earlier. God had told them to go into the land of the Amorites and their neighbors, the Canaanites, that this was the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses told them how he had asked God for help to manage so many people and God told him to choose respected members from every tribe to help Moses lead the poeple Some of the leaders were military officers and some were judges.
Tomorrow read Deuteronomy 1:16-ch3
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