Tues.’s Devo - Allotments

Read Joshua 16:1-18:28; Luke 19:1-27; Psalm 87:1-7: Proverbs 13:11 Joseph’s descendants included Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob, Joseph’s father had adopted Joseph’s sons as his own so they each got an inheritance in the promised land. Ephraim was the oldest, but God had said that Manasseh would be a greater nation than Ephraim. (Gen. 48;19) Manasseh’s land was much bigger than Ephraim’s. *** Ephraim was given their land and they were not able to drive out the Canaanites out of Gezer so they made them their slaves. *** Manasseh had half of their land on the eastern side of the Jordan and half on the western side. One of their families was the family of Zelophehad. He only had daughters so they went to Moses to ask if they could have an inheritance in their father’s name, and he granted them their own land. The descendants of Mansaseh were also unable to drive out the Canaanites and they had to make them their slaves also. *** The Israelites gained control of the land and set up the Tabernacle in Shiloh. There remained seven tribes who had not received their allotted land. Joshua told them to send out three men from each tribe to go scout out the rest of the land and bring him a written report of what the land was like. From their report, Joshua would divide out the rest of the land among the seven tribes. From Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in God’s presence to determine which tribe would have each section. Benjamin got the first lot. *** In Luke, Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector of the town and had a great desire to see Jesus. He was one of the rich that Jesus had said that with God all things are possible. He had such a transformation, he wanted to return the money he had swindled from people. He was truly repentant and changed. Right after this great transformation in Zacchaeus happened, Jesus told the parable about the three people that God gave money to. The one he gave 10 talents which he made 10 times that much for his master. The one who he gave 5 gained 5 times as much but the one who he gave one talent, buried his in the dirt. He lost his to the one who had made 10 times as much because he understood how to use what you had been given. *** Zacchaeus understood how to make money and when he became a new creature, he took all his talents and invested them into the kingdom. God would bless him with more. *** Lord, may everything we do be an investment into your Kingdom.