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Numbers 36

¹And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:

²And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

³And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

⁴And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

⁵And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.

⁶This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.

⁷So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

⁸And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.

⁹Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.

¹⁰Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:

¹¹For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons:

¹²And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

¹³These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

on Numbers 36

Lord—

the Promised Land. On the first day of the fifth month of that fortieth year (33:38), Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar went somewhere on Mount Hor because it was now time for Aaron to die. Moses would say good-bye to a beloved brother and Eleazar to a revered father. Aaron was 123 years old (33:38–39).

However, Aaron’s death didn’t interrupt the ministry of the priesthood, for Eleazar took his place. As John Wesley used to say, “God buries His workmen but His work goes on.” In fulfillment of the law (Ex. 29:29–30), Moses took the holy garments from his brother, Aaron, and put them on Eleazar. He probably anointed him as well for the new office. When Moses and Eleazar returned to the camp without Aaron, and the people saw Eleazar dressed in the robes of the high priest, they knew that Aaron’s life had ended. They mourned for Aaron for thirty days, which takes us now into the sixth month.

Eleazar was the third son of Aaron (Num. 3:2); the first two, Nadab and Abihu, were slain by the Lord for defiling the tabernacle with false fire (Lev. 10). Before becoming high priest, he was the chief leader of the Levites for caring for the tabernacle (Num. 3:32; 4:16). He would assist Moses in taking the census of the new generation (26:1–3) as well as in commissioning Joshua to succeed Moses (27:18–23). When Israel had conquered the land, Eleazar helped Joshua assign each tribe its inheritance (34:17; Josh. 14:1; 19:15).

Moses has experienced two family funerals, two confrontations with critics in the camp, and a personal failure at Kadesh, yet he picks up his rod and goes right back to work. Victorious Christian service, like the victorious Christian life, is a series of new beginnings. No matter what mistakes we’ve made, it’s always too soon to quit.

A New Beginning

The transition between chapters 25 and 26 reminds us of the transition from chapter 14 to chapter 15, for in both of them the Lord moved from judgment to mercy, from punishment to promise. At Kadesh-Barnea and at Baal Peor, Israel had sinned greatly and God chastened them, but in His grace He forgave their disobedience and gave them a new start. Ezra the scribe expressed this truth in his prayer of confession when he said, “You our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (Ezra 9: nkjv); David felt the same way when he wrote, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Ps. 103: niv).

As Israel lingered in the plains of Moab, Moses fulfilled four important responsibilities to prepare Israel for what lay ahead.

Preparing for the inheritance

Israel had not yet crossed the river and entered the Promised Land, and yet by faith Moses was already preparing for the tribes to claim their land. (The words “inherit” or “inheritance” are used twelve times in this section.) Except for fulfilling God’s command to wipe out the Midianites (25:16–18; 31:1–11), Israel would have no more battles until they arrived at Jericho. Though he wasn’t allowed to go in himself, Moses invested the closing weeks of his life in preparing the new generation to enter Canaan and claim the land God promised to give them.

The tribal inheritance (26:52–56). Once the land had been conquered and God had given His people rest, Joshua, Eleazar, and the ten tribal representatives (34:16–29) would cast lots to determine each tribe’s portion of the land (Josh. 14—19). Naturally, the size of the tribe would help to establish the amount of land that would be assigned. According to the record in the book of Joshua, some of the tribes gladly accepted their inheritance and went to work making it “home,” some complained about the land they were given, and some went out and conquered more territory. “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matt. 9:29).

The Levitical inheritance (26:57–62). From the first census to the second, the number of Levites increased slightly from 22,000 (3:39) to 23,000 (27:62). The Levites were not given their own territory to possess but were scattered throughout the nation in forty-eight assigned cities (35:1–5; Josh. 21). There were at least three reasons for this procedure.

First, scattering the Levites fulfilled Jacob’s deathbed prophecy that Levi’s descendants would be distributed throughout the land (Gen. 49:1–7). Levi and Simeon had been violent in their treatment of the people of Shechem (Gen. 34), and Jacob felt it would be safer if the sons of Levi were widely dispersed.

Second, by scattering throughout the land, the Levites had a better opportunity to teach the law to more people and influence them to be faithful to the Lord. Parents were obligated to teach their children God’s Word (Deut. 4:1–10; 6:6–15), but it was the responsibility of the priests and Levites to teach the people the meaning of God’s law and the blessing of obeying it (Lev. 10:11; 2 Chron. 15:3; 17:7; Mal. 2:4–7).

The third reason the Levites were not allowed to inherit property was that God was their inheritance (Num. 26:62). They were privileged to serve God by assisting the priests, and they shared in the sacrifices and tithes that the people brought to the Lord (18:20; Deut. 10:9; 12:12; 14:27–29; 18:1–2; Josh. 13:14, 33). The Levites were to devote themselves wholly to the service of the Lord and His people and to live by faith, receiving what they needed from God’s hand through His people.

The family inheritance (27:1–11). Since the land belonged to the Lord (Lev. 25:23–28), the Jews couldn’t divide it or dispose of it as they pleased. Maintaining the inheritance from generation to generation was important to each family and to the tribes to which the families belonged.

As with the other nations of that day, Israel was a strongly masculine society, and fathers left their property to their sons. The eldest son received two-thirds of the inheritance and the other sons divided the remaining one-third (Deut. 21:15–17). If a man didn’t have a son, he left his estate to his nearest male relative, but not to a daughter. When a daughter was married, she received a dowry from her father and would no longer live in the family home. The dowry was her inheritance.

The five daughters of Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh, thought that this law of inheritance was unfair, and they asked Moses, Eleazar, the tribal princes, and the whole congregation to consider changing it. Why should their father’s name be blotted out of Israel because of something over which he had no control? Should his family be penalized because he had no son?

Being a wise man, Moses took the matter to the Lord, just as he had done with the problem of the blasphemer (Lev. 24:10–16) and the man who violated the Sabbath (Num. 15:32–36). The Lord agreed with the five women and decreed that a father who had no son could leave his estate to his daughter. If he had neither son nor daughter, he could pass the land on to his nearest male relative.

The decision to allow daughters to inherit solved one problem but created another one, and the leaders of the tribe of Manasseh called it to the attention of Moses (Num. 36). If a daughter who had inherited her father’s land married into another tribe, this would take the land away from the original tribe and make it part of her husband’s estate. At the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8–24), it could not return to the original family, and this would rob a tribe of its property.

Moses must have taken the matter to the Lord, because he replied “according to the word of the Lord” (Num. 27:5). The solution was to require daughters who had the inheritance to marry men who belonged to their own tribe. This simple procedure would permit the daughters to marry but would at the same time keep family property in the original tribe. The five sisters obeyed the edict and each one married a cousin.

Regulations like this are unnecessary in today’s society, but they were very important to God’s ancient people. God owned the land and allowed His people to use it as long as they obeyed Him. When the Jews turned to idols and polluted the land, God allowed other nations to invade and steal the produce (see the book of Judges). When Israel’s sins became so heinous that God could endure it no longer, He took the Jews off the land and exiled them to Babylon. There they learned to appreciate what the Lord had given to them.

To the Jews in Canaan, possessing land was the foundation for building a family, earning an income, and having security and the necessities of life. The prophets frequently denounced wealthy people who amassed great estates by stealing land from the poor (Isa. 5:8–10; Mic. 2:1–3; Hab. 2:9–12). The ideal life for an Old Testament Jew was to own his own land and be able to sit under his own fig tree and enjoy his family and the fruit of his labor (1 Kings 4:25; Mic. 4:4).

The Wilderness School

The Jewish scholar Martin Buber once wrote, “All life is meeting.” It’s a brief statement, but the more you ponder it, the more luminous it becomes.

Life is meeting new circumstances, many of which we don’t expect and can’t control. Life is meeting new people and developing new relationships; it’s meeting new ideas, some of which may upset us. As much as we try to avoid it, life is meeting ourselves and not always liking what we see. But most of all, life is meeting God, for He’s always there, protecting us, wanting to teach, and always seeking to mature us.

Life is meeting, and meeting ought to lead to learning and learning to growing. Let’s review some of the lessons we can learn while marching with Moses and the people of Israel, people just like you and me.

We learn about life The metaphors for life are many, and each one teaches us something important. Sometimes life is like a battle and sometimes it’s more like a race, but always it’s a school where we need to be awake and alert to what God is trying to teach us. To Moses and the people of Israel, life was a journey, but a very special journey: from bondage to freedom, from childishness to maturity, from selfishness to service, from glorifying the past to anticipating the future.

From God’s point of view, there are only three locations in this journey: Egypt, the place of bondage that seems like security; Canaan, the place of inheritance where God wants to give us His best; the wilderness, the place of unbelief, discipline, and falling short of the good things God has planned for us. This truth is elaborated in Hebrews 1—5.

Living the Christian life begins with deliverance from Egypt (bondage) through the grace and power of God. This we experience when we trust Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and commit our lives to Him. But the essence of Christian living is to enter into your spiritual inheritance as quickly as possible. When you reach the Kadesh-Barnea place in life, and all believers do, trust His Word and enter into your inheritance by faith. Don’t worry about the giants, the enemy, the walled cities, or your own weakness and insignificance. Say with Caleb and Joshua, “The Lord is with us; fear them not” (Num. 14:9). “For we who have believed do enter into rest” (Heb. 4:3).

Before Israel arrived at Kadesh-Barnea, God put them through various trials because a certain amount of wilderness experience is good for people who want to grow (James 1:2–8; 1 Peter 1:3–9). But the Lord doesn’t want us to stay in the wilderness constantly. Yes, there are lessons to learn, but there are even greater lessons to learn after we have claimed our inheritance in Christ. The Lord knows what trials we need, when we need them, and how long we need them; He always teaches those who are willing to learn.

Above all else, in the journey of life, we must be sure to follow the Lord as He goes before us, and we must not look back or hunger for the old life in Egypt. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him” (Ps. 34: nkjv).

We learn about God Israel repeatedly committed the same three mistakes that caused them no end of trouble: (1) they looked back and glorified Egypt; (2) they looked around and complained about their circumstances; and (3) they looked within and magnified their own desires. What they should have done was to look up to Almighty God and trust Him to see them through. We never learn the lessons we should learn if we plan the curriculum and write the textbook. We must leave it all with the Lord.

God’s desire is that we develop character and become more like Jesus Christ. That’s why He arranges the experiences of life and causes them to work together for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:27–29). We can’t grow in grace unless we grow in the knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

How do we learn about God? Primarily, we learn about God from His Word, both in private meditation and public worship. We also learn about God from personal experience, our own as well as that of others who share with us what He has done for them. In the difficult places of life, the Holy Spirit helps us recall and apply the truths of the Word. This ministry gives us wisdom to understand the situation better and faith to trust the promises we need to carry us through.

During their wilderness journey, Israel learned that God loved them and cared for them, but they didn’t always believe it. “What shall we eat? What shall we drink?” were the repeated questions the Jews asked (Matt. 6:25–34), when they should have been saying to one another, “The Lord is our shepherd. We shall not lack for anything.”

Israel also learned that God was longsuffering with them but wouldn’t permit them to sin successfully. He was willing to forgive when they cried out to Him, but too often they didn’t cry out in confession until first they cried out in pain. “For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3: nkjv; see Heb. 12:1–11). How much pain we would avoid if only we submitted to the will of our loving Heavenly Father!

On life’s journey, we learn that the Lord is the God of new beginnings. As Dr. V. Raymond Edman used to remind the students at Wheaton College, “It’s always too soon to quit.” It’s sad that the Israelites doubted and disobeyed God so many times, but it’s encouraging that God gave them a new start and encouraged them to keep moving toward their inheritance. True, a whole generation had to die before the nation could enter the Promised Land, but they died because of their own rebellion. In His grace, God forgave them; in His government, He permitted them to suffer the consequences of their sin. You can’t negotiate the will of God. You either obey it, ignore it, or resist it.

One of the tests of spiritual maturity is what Paul called “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). Not just in the knowledge of the Bible or Christian theology, but the knowledge of God Himself, His character, how He works, and how we can delight His heart. Moses grew in his understanding of God, but Israel failed to learn this lesson. “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel” (Ps. 103:7). The Jews saw what God did, but Moses understood why God did it. There’s a difference.

We learn about ourselves As I studied the book of Numbers in preparation for writing this book, I frequently said out loud, “How could they do that? Don’t they realize what they’re doing?” Then I would pause and confess, “But, Lord, I’ve done the same thing. Forgive me.” People are people, whether marching slowly through an ancient wilderness or driving at high speed down a modern freeway. “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Ps. 103: nkjv).

Socrates said that the unexamined life was not worth living, but most people don’t like to face the truth about themselves. Like our first parents, we run and hide and defend ourselves by making excuses and blaming others. Not many people pray as honestly as David did in Psalm 51.

One of the first lessons we learn about ourselves from Israel’s experience is that all of us have a fallen nature that’s prone to resist the will of God, and the sooner we admit it, the easier it will be to make the journey. Peter acknowledged that he was a sinful man (Luke 5:8), and Paul confessed, “I know that in me … nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7: nkjv). Our Lord warned us, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

Another lesson we learn about ourselves is that we don’t enjoy changes in our lives and the discomfort they usually bring. One day the people were thirsty; the next day they were attacked by an enemy; for forty days, they wondered what had happened to their leader. All of us want life to be one vast comfort zone where we’re sheltered from change, all the while forgetting that God-ordained change can be used to mold our character and help us grow up.

If there’s one lesson the Jews frequently failed to learn it was that complaining and criticizing are sins that God judges. When we complain to God about our lot in life, we not only commit the sin of ingratitude, but we also reveal pride (we think we know more than God knows, and why should this happen to us!), unbelief (we don’t really trust Him), and impatience. If we would learn to trust God, praise Him for His mercies, and wait for Him to accomplish His will, we’d grow a lot faster and experience a lot less misery.

One last lesson from Israel’s experiences: age is no guarantee of maturity. It’s possible to grow old and not grow up. When the nation failed at Kadesh-Barnea, the fault didn’t lie with the young people but with the older people. To prove it, God rejected the older generation (twenty years and older), gave it time to die off, and then made a new beginning with the younger generation.

The church needs both the older saints and the younger ones, because each generation has something to contribute, and we can all learn from each other (Titus 2:1–8). But Moses was wise to train Joshua to be his successor, and Paul was wise to equip Timothy to succeed him in Ephesus.

We learn about faith Life is a journey that we make by faith, for only God knows the end from the beginning. Actually, everybody lives by faith in someone or something. The difference between Christians and non-Christians is the object of that faith. Christians put their faith in God and His Word, while non-Christians trust themselves, their experience, and ability, their money, and perhaps their friends. But Israel had the bad habit of walking by sight, not by faith, and it was this failure to trust God that caused the nation so much trouble.

No sooner had the Lord delivered the people from Egypt than they stood by the Red Sea trembling with fear and wanting to go back. Why? Because they didn’t really believe that the God who had redeemed them could finish the task and see them through. But when God begins a work, He completes it (Phil. 1:6).

Faith is not believing in spite of evidence; that’s superstition. Faith is obeying God in spite of what we see or hear, how we feel, or what might happen. The Jews had been given all the evidence they needed that God was concerned about them and had the power to deliver them, protect them, and take them to the Promised Land. The devastation of the land of Egypt was proof of God’s power, so why should the nation not trust Him?

Years ago, I heard Vance Havner give a message on Hebrews 11 that has stayed in my heart and encouraged me in many a difficult hour. This was his outline: Faith chooses the imperishable (Heb. 11:24–26) Faith sees the invisible (Heb. 11:27) Faith does the impossible (Heb. 11:28–29)

Once we’ve made that choice to follow the Lord and live for eternal values, the rest is bound to follow: He will help us see the invisible and do the impossible, no matter what the circumstances may be around us.

Faith must be nourished if it’s to grow strong, and that’s where the Scriptures come in, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10: nkjv). When Moses declared God’s word, Israel didn’t really hear it or mix it with faith, so their faith didn’t grow (Heb. 4:1–2). Faith is like the muscles in your arms: If you don’t exercise them, they lose their strength. Every trial of life is an opportunity to claim God’s promises and trust Him for the solution.

We learn the importance of one believer Numbers is a book of “counting.” Twice Moses counted the men available to serve in the army, and he also counted the Levites. Somebody even counted the number of people who died in the various plagues God sent to discipline them. Those ancient Jews would be shocked to see how much counting goes on in today’s world, most of it done unannounced by electronic devices.

God wants all of His children to be the kind He can count on. The Lord could count on Moses and Aaron to lead the people in His will, even though they each disappointed the Lord on a couple of occasions. Joshua and Caleb were men God could count on, and so were Eleazar and his son Phinehas. Anybody can be a statistic, a number in a record, but it takes faith and courage to be the kind of person the Lord can count on.

We have a choice. We can go with the unbelieving majority and miss God’s very best, complaining our way through life, or we can stand with the minority and dare to believe God and follow His commands. We can crave comfort or respond to challenge. We can look back and yearn for carnal security or look ahead and eagerly anticipate spiritual maturity. We can wander in the wilderness of unbelief, selfishness, and disobedience or enter into the Promised Land with its battles and trials, trusting God to give us the victory.

“He shall choose our inheritance for us” (Ps. 47:4).

D E U T E R O N O M YWill we choose to claim our inheritance and use it for His glory? Will we be counted among the conquerors? G e n e s i s 1 S a m u e l E x o d u s 2 S a m u e l L e v i t i c u s 1 K i n g s N u m b e r s 2 K i n g s

Deuteronomy 1 C h r o n i c l e s 2 C h r o n i c l e s J o s h u a E z r a J u d g e s N e h e m i a h R u t h