The King’s English
Joshua 21:13-15
And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, …
Six summers ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Middlebury, Vermont, to take a Master’s course in literature at the Bread Loaf School of English (named after Bread Loaf mountain upon which the grad school stood). It was a course on Geoffrey Chaucer, the twelfth-century poet-politician who advanced the English language significantly, and although I’d prepared for the course by reading most of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, I was shocked to learn upon the first class that the professor expected us to only read the work in its original, untranslated, Old English form. Well, seven weeks later, even with a plethora of new words in my vocabulary (or old words), and even with a few successful essays under my belt, I walked away from the Canterbury Tales with precisely the same impression I’d gotten as a freshman in high school after only reading the prologue. To me, volumes of poetry and satire came down in the end to a single description about a lowly parson who served his town with faithfulness as opposed to the greedy, licentious priests who held higher offices. In Chaucer’s description (expletives edited out): “He was not a rotten shepherd.”
Friend, tell me what stands out to you about Joshua’s description of the land that Aaron’s priestly descendants receive here? Doesn’t it seem consequential that thirteen times Joshua writes the phrase, “with their pasturelands”? Is this merely a literal description of the landscape, or also a summary of their priestly vocation? It’s no coincidence that our English word “pastor” comes from the word “pasture,” because that’s what pastoring is: shepherding. In fact, the analogy of shepherding plays a central role throughout redemption’s drama, from Jacob to Moses to David to our very Lord, Who described Himself in these exemplary words, “I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
These sons of Aaron will effectively look out their windows from day to day, see fields white with wool, and hear the LORD whisper in their souls that pastoral commission, “Do you love me? Feed my sheep.” How will we answer that call today?