Through His poverty He made us rich in God

Numbers 35:1-5 (ESV)
The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, [2] "Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the Levites pasturelands around the cities. [3] The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts. [4] The pasturelands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. [5] And you shall measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall belong to them as pastureland for their cities.

Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession. God was the one who gave the inheritance to the other tribes of Israel, and now God commands that Israel give of their land to Levites. Levites were those who devote all their lives to the service of God, and God and the priesthood was to be their inheritance. Firstly, this passage clearly shows why we must support those whom God has called to full time ministry. If we don't support them, how will they do their job as our pastors or teachers with ease of heart? Christ had nothing, but faithful people provided for His ministry out of their own expenses. We ought to do likewise for the servants of Christ:
Luke 8:1-3 (ESV)
Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, [2] and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, [3] and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

The homelessness of the Levites was a prophecy that Christ our Priest will also have no home while on earth:
Matthew 8:20 (ESV)
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
Christ was always staying at other people's homes, always a visitor, never having His own home to invite anyone. He had come upon the earth in the form of a beggarly man, asking for a cup of water from a Samaritan woman:
John 4:7 (ESV)
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
Not that He could not sustain Himself if He wanted. He could turn 2 loaves of bread to feed 5000. But He subjected Himself to such poverty willingly, that through His poverty we may become rich:
2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV)
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Not that He made us rich in perishable things, but in eternal things. Sure, by His suffering He bought us temporal things as well, since we deserved nothing but death. But that was not the end to which He suffered:
James 2:5 (ESV)
Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?
By suffering the depths of spiritual poverty on the Cross - that is, abandonment by God - He made us rich in God. He, as He commanded the rich young man at one time, sold all He had, which was God the Father, and gave Him to us. He made us rich spiritually, clothing us with the costly robes of His righteousness, while He Himself died naked under the wrath of God. He, though He was homeless on Earth, through His death gave all who believe a place in His house in heaven:
John 14:2-3 (ESV)
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Likewise, godly pastors suffer physical and spiritual poverty that they may give God and a piece of heaven to us by the preaching of the Gospel. If Israel so helped Levites, that the Levites could make atonement for them, we must also help pastors and leaders who labour for our souls. Let us not discourage them, lest they be wearied beyond they are able to bear, but give unto them those things God has given to us. Let us pray for them, that they would be able to endure suffering for us.

And you shall give the Levites pasturelands around the cities. Why pasturelands? Perhaps that the Levites could keep the heart of the shepherd by raising cattle. God being the Shepherd over the sheep of Israel, and the Levites being the under-shepherds, they were to spend their spare time and earn their living by tending sheep. They were to meditate and study the heart of God as Shepherd by looking after these beasts. We Christians, who are called to priests also, are to look at the world as our pasture. We know that in the midst are the lost sheep of God, chosen from the foundation of the world. Christ their Shepherd is looking for them, that He may give them true food and living waters. We, as His servants, do this work of searching with Him, that He may be glorified in them when they are found.

Also, pasturelands were given Levites to remind that they themselves were also God's sheep. It is likewise wise for us Christians to remind ourselves that, even at our best, we are Christ's sheep. We are not lords and we are not teachers. Even the best preacher that ever walked on the face of the earth was one of Jesus Christ's sheep. And we were ALL lost sheep that needed to be found, cleansed, fed, and given living water by the only true Shepherd. Let us not be proud, and let us not pretend that we are the Good Shepherd. All human shepherds are weak, and untrustworthy and they run away in the face of real danger. Let us point all men to the only faithful Shepherd, who laid down His own life to give them eternal life.

The cities of Levites were strategically scattered throughout the regions of Israel, that through them God may teach His people His word. Likewise us Christians are to be the beacons of light in the midst of the darkness of this world. We are to proclaim the truth of God's righteousness and the Gospel towards a twisted and a crooked generation. We the Church are the foundation of truth upon this world corrupted with deceitful lusts:
1 Timothy 3:14-15 (ESV)
14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Just as Levites were scattered to many cities for the purposes of God, yet were one, we Christians, though we are one, are scattered by God like salt around a dying world by His decree. Just as Levites had no one place in the world to call their own, we Christians have no one place to call our home, except the Kingdom of God. Seeds are designed to be spread around everywhere, that it may be planted on soil, that there may be increase. Seeds were not made to be always bundled in a basket together. Likewise Christians were made to dispersed all over the world, that the word of God may increase and multiplied, everywhere we go:
Acts 8:1-4 (ESV)
And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. [2] Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. [3] But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. [4] Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Let us not fear or worry during those times that God may cause us brethren to go on separate ways. As it was in Jerusalem, and as it was when there was a sharp disagreement between Barnabas and Paul that caused the Gospel to spread the more, it will by God's grace turn out all for God's glory. Joseph was separated from his brethren, but God later used this evil for good in salvation. No matter how harsh or irreconcilable the situation may have seemed at that time, it may have been that God wanted to place us in a new spot, that God's light may shine in more dark corners of the world. God's priority is the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus, sometimes even above our fellowship. Let us trust in the sovereignty of God that can work all things for good, even when there may be trouble between the brethren. Though we are separated, we know that we have running in our veins the same blood of Jesus that saved us. Despite our distance, we know we are fellow workers in the same field that to which God had sent us.

One more thing to learn from this passage is that God needed to command Israel to help the Levites. He even had to give the measurements of the lands they are to give to their brothers, lest they give less out of greed, or too much for false worship of the priests. It reminds us that God commands us, and not only suggests, to help those who serve the Church of Jesus Christ with what we have. It shows that God did not trust Israel to do this out of their own heart, for they were stiff-necked people inclined to do evil. It also shows those who forsake everything for the ministry of Gospel God will provide everything sufficiently that the job may be done, as Christ has promised in Matthew 19:29. And the passage is again the reminder of the weakness of the Levitical priesthood that they had to depend on other people to do their priestly work. Our Lord Jesus Christ, after His resurrection, ascended on high to be at the right hand of God to be our Priest forever. Our Priest needs nothing from men. He no longer sticks our His hand to people as a beggar. But it is us who must now rely and beg in His presence forever for His grace. Praise be to God, and His Christ.