After the land was apportioned, the writer looked back and made one summary statement: God keeps His promises (v. 45).
土地分配完毕后，笔者往回看，并做了一句结语：神遵守了祂的承诺（45节）。
God kept His promise and gave the land to Israel (v. 43). He had promised it first to Abraham (Gen. 13:14–17), and then to his descendants (Gen. 17:8). On the basis of that promise, Joshua entered Canaan, defeated the enemy, and claimed the land for Israel.
耶和华遵守诺言，将应许之地赐予以色列（43节）。他首先向亚伯拉罕作出应许（创13:14-17），接着应许了他的子孙（创17:8）。约书亚凭着这应许进入了迦南地，击败了敌人，并为以色列夺下了地土。
God kept His promise and gave them rest from war, enabling them to conquer all their enemies and enjoy their inheritance (v. 44). (See Deut. 12:10; 25:19; Josh. 1:13.) We have spiritual rest today through Christ (Heb. 3–4) and will one day enter into eternal rest.
耶和华遵守诺言，使他们四境平安，战胜一切仇敌，并享得他们的产业（44节）。（见申12:10，25:19，书1:13）我们现今藉着基督得享属灵的安息（来3-4），也终有一天得入祂永恒的安息。
God kept His promise and scattered the Levites throughout Israel (Gen. 49:7). He gave them forty-eight towns, including the cities of refuge. It should have been a blessing to Israel to have these servants of God living in many different places and sharing the truth of the Word with the people (Deut. 33:10).
耶和华遵守诺言，把利未人分散全以色列（创49:7）。祂给了他们48个城邑，其中包括逃城。能有神的仆人在各个地方生活，并与人们分享神话语的真理是神赐给以色列的祝福（申33:10）。
Not one word of His promises has failed (v. 45; Josh. 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56). You can trust the Word of God.
耶和华所应许的话一句也没落空（45节，书23:14，王上8:56）。你可以信靠神的话语。
Praying the Scripture 用经文祷告
- Yahweh had instructed Moses that Israel was to give the Levites cities where they could live and pasturage around those cities for their livestock (Num. 35:1–8). The Levites had not forgotten it. They approached Eleazar, Joshua, and the Israelite leadership to ask that they now be given what Yahweh had authorised for them. Already Caleb (14:6ff.) and the daughters of Zelophedad (17:3–6) had followed this pattern. Both near the beginning and at the close of this third major section of Joshua (chs. 13–21) we have people (Caleb and the Levites, respectively) coming to claim what Yahweh had promised them. It is not too extreme to say that this should be the normal pattern for all believing prayer, namely, that we seek what ‘Yahweh commanded … to give us’ (v. 2). What God has promised us, what God has authorised us to have, we should seek in prayer. We usually give too little thought to what God actually has promised us. Let’s pray that we take the Word of God seriously and fix our hope in them.
耶和华曾吩咐摩西，以色列当给予利未人居住的城邑，城邑的郊野也要给他们牧养牲畜（民35:1-8）。利未人并没有忘记这一切。他们来到以利亚撒、约书亚和以色列各支派的族长面前祈求领受耶和华所给他们应许的。迦勒（14:6）和西罗非哈的女儿（17:3-6）也都如此行，得到了他们的产业。我们在《约书亚记》第三部（书 13-21）的开头和结尾都看到有人（分别为迦勒和利未人）前来领受耶和华所应许的东西。我们也可以说这当是凭信心祷告的模式，即寻求“耶和华……吩咐给我们”的（2节）。我们应该在祷告里寻求神已应许我们的和神已吩咐我们的事。我们通常不多加思想神所给予我们的应许。让我们祈祷，叫我们认真对待神的话，并把我们的盼望锁定在那里。
- When the Levites request their cities they are asking only for the provision they need. Certainly the priests and Levites were set apart for a special ministry but they had very earthly needs as well. Sometimes, however, it is God’s people who are strangely (or conveniently) oblivious to the physical needs of those who serve them. A church may pay its pastor a scraping wage and forget that he, too, is a human who needs medical attention, insurance, education for their children etc. Let’s pray that we obey God by providing for them as God has provided for us.
当利未人要求领受他们的城邑时，他们只要求自己所需要的。祭司和利未人确实要为他们特别的职分分别出来，但也仍有世俗的需要。可是，时而正是神的子民异乎寻常地（或方便地）忽视了那些侍奉他们之人的物质需要。教会或许在支付牧师极少的工资时，忘记他同样也是人，也需要就医、保险、交子女教育费等。让我们祈祷，叫我们会服从神，像祂供养我们般照顾他们的需要。
