Numbers 34:16-29--List of Tribal Chiefs

Numbers 34:16-29
English Standard Version

List of Tribal Chiefs
16 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 You shall take one chief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. 20 Of the tribe of the people of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. 21 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. 22 Of the tribe of the people of Dan a chief, Bukki the son of Jogli. 23 Of the people of Joseph: of the tribe of the people of Manasseh a chief, Hanniel the son of Ephod. 24 And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim a chief, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. 25 Of the tribe of the people of Zebulun a chief, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. 26 Of the tribe of the people of Issachar a chief, Paltiel the son of Azzan. 27 And of the tribe of the people of Asher a chief, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. 28 Of the tribe of the people of Naphtali a chief, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.” 29 These are the men whom the LORD commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan.

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God establishes the new government that will be responsible for dividing the Promised Land according to his command, first Eleazar the high priest and then Joshua the son of Nun who has been named as Moses' successor.  One chief from each tribe is chosen by God to represent the entire tribe and when that chief chooses his lot, that is the lot that will fall to all of the people of his tribe.  We recognize Caleb, the son of Jephunneh as the only other survivor of the previous generation that was a faithful spy along with Joshua the son of Nun.  The names of the other chiefs are probably not so familiar to us, but they were those chosen not only to represent, but to lead their people, and it was the LORD who chose them and established this government and order for the people.

You'll notice that there is no chief selected for the Levites because they are not receiving a physical inheritance outside of the tithes and offerings of the Tabernacle, for the LORD was to be their portion, but we will see them being give the Cities of Refuge in chapter 35--places where someone could run to for safety and to make sure that they were given a fair trial.  After this we will only have one final set of instructions in the book of numbers regarding the marriage of female heirs (the issue of female heirs was brought up in chapter 27 and there is some question as to what would happen to their family's land if they should marry into another family after the land had been given to them.  God will then permit Moses to retell the entire Law to the people in the book of Deuteronomy before he dies.