Numbers 36
Clan of Gilead had question for Mosesverses 1-4
And 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 spoke before Moses
and before the princes of chief fathers of the
children of Israel
And 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 to his daughters
And 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 our fathers
and shall put to the inheritance of the tribe
whereunto they are received
SO shall it be taken from the lot of
our inheritance
And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be
THEN shall their inheritance be put to 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
Moses gives LORD’S answer to questionverses 5-9
And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the
word of the LORD
saying
The tribe of the sons of Joseph has
said well
This is the thing which the LORD does 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
So 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
And every daughter
that possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the
children of Israel
shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father
that the children of Israel may enjoy every man
the inheritance of his fathers
Neither 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
Daughters of Zelophehad married in their tribeverses 10-12
Even as the LORD commanded Moses
so did the daughters of Zelophehad
for Mahlah – Tirzah – Hoglah – Milcah – Noah
the daughters of Zelophehad
were married unto their father’s brothers’ sons
And 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
Children of Israel in the plain of Moabverse 13
These are the commandments and the judgments
which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses
to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab
by Jordan near Jericho
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 And 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 spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel (7218 “chief” [ro’sh] means head of a family, top, captain, principal, or leader)
DEVOTION: The LORD established a legal system that make the children of Israel understand that there was a system in place for both men and women.
The daughters of Zelophehad had the permission of the LORD to own land. However, the family wanted to know if the land they inherited should stay only in the family of Manasseh or could be passed on to another tribe. Ownership is important regarding land when that is the means of income for a family or nation.
The daughters of Zelophehad were the only children of their father. He had no male descendants. So the elders of the tribe of Manasseh went to the elders of the twelve tribes. So there were leaders from the twelve tribes had to come to a decision regarding ownership of the land and what the daughters could do as far as marriage was concerned.
So the twelve leaders of the twelve tribes went to Moses for an answer. Where was Moses to go for an answer? The answer was simple. He went to the LORD for a decision.
The LORD told him that the daughters had to marry men from their own tribe, so that, the land would stay in the tribe. The legal system worked to give an answer that pleased the tribe of Manasseh.
The top of the legal system was the LORD. HE gave the children enough standards, so that, any legal question could be used by this process. If we all go to the LORD for a final decision based on HIS Word, the Bible we will please HIM and HIS answer will give us the guidance we need to live a life that pleases HIM.
CHALLENGE: Genuine answers come to leaders who are willing to go to the LORD for answers for any decision that affects any group.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 4 And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be THEN shall their inheritance be put to the inheritance of the tribe where unto they are received SO shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. (1639 “taken away” [gara] mean to be cut down on, have a reduction made in, to shave, trim, diminish, restrain, withdraw, hinder, or to be restrained)
DEVOTIONS: Land grants were important to the children of Israel from the very beginning. They had moved out of the land of Egypt where they were treated as slaves to the Promised Land where they were promised lands for the rest of their existence if they were obedient to the LORD.
Now as they are beginning to enter the Promised Land the people wanted to make sure they understood the rules regarding their land in the location of their tribes. Each tribe was given a part of the Promised Land to conquer for themselves.
They were to kill all those who lived in the land and then take possession of that area of land for their tribe.
If a woman from the tribe were to marry someone from another tribe in the children of Israel was the land given to the other tribe because of marriage? The answer is no? The women were to marry within their own tribe and keep the land in their tribe.
This confusion was answered by the LORD. The land always stayed in the tribe that was given the land at this time period. There was no ownership of any part of the land given to each tribe by any other tribe.
Today it is hard for us to understand this but that was what the LORD wanted and that is what was expected of the children of Israel in the Promised Land.
Today our inheritance is different as we are not promised land, but a place in heaven for eternity. We don’t understand all that is involved in our life in heaven for eternity but we understand that once we become a follower of Jesus Christ we are promised a place in Heaven.
CHALLENGE: Our inheritance is given to us in heaven for eternity. We can look forward to spending eternity with the LORD wherever HE is.
: 6 This is the thing which the LORD does 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. (5869 “think best” [‘ayin towb] means eye, good appearance, desirable, pleasing appearance, sight, suitable or understand)
DEVOTIONS: Limited choices are given to the children of Israel. In this context, the daughters of Zelophehad had received a command of the LORD regarding their receiving a land inheritance in the place of their father who was dead and had no sons. This was given early in their wandering through the wilderness.
Now we find the children of Israel at the entrance to the Promised Land and the leaders of the tribe of Manasseh come to Moses with another question. Who can the daughter’s marry? If they marry someone outside their tribe the inheritance they receive will go to another tribe.
This was a problem. The leaders of the tribe of Manasseh wanted to keep all the land they were given in their own tribe. They didn’t want the daughters of Zelophehad marrying outside the tribe and give some of their land to another tribe.
Moses went to the LORD regarding this problem. The solution was that the daughters could inherit land but they must marry whoever they wanted within their own tribe only. This meant that they had to marry a relative.
Many times there are people who say that God doesn’t think much of women in the Scriptures. However, this decision helps us to realize that HE is concerning with the needs of women. The LORD did establish male leadership but not to the condemnation or belittling of women. The Bible is a patriarchal society.
The daughters of Zelophehad had lost their father to death. They wanted an inheritance in the Promised Land. Moses instructs them to marry in their own tribe to keep the inheritance. So they had a choice of any man in their tribe. They chose their father’s brothers’ sons or their first cousins. The understanding was they could choose on their own their husbands. They picked husbands that were pleasing in appearance. The choice was limited but they found relatives that were good looking.
Women today can pick their own husband but they have to come from a particular family. If they are believers they have to pick individuals who are part of the family of God. They have to pick fellow believers. If they pick outside their family, it could cause their children to lose a place in the kingdom of God.
Why? Because mixed families cause Biblical problems and the children are affected. Many times children will follow the example of the unsaved spouse.
Christians are commanded to not marry someone who is not a fellow Christian. Too many times we find women picking men who don’t know the LORD. Many times, women pick man who fakes their belief in God. Many times they find out too late. If a man claims to know the LORD, he will attend church on a regular basis. He will read his Bible on a regular basis. He will pray on a regular basis. There are some women who do the same thing also.
Are we picking the right people to marry? The choice is supposed to be for a lifetime. Our teens need to be taught these lessons. Our children need to be taught from a young age to marry only those who are part of the family of God.
CHALLENGE: Yield to the Holy Spirit in this matter. It not only affects your life but the life of your offspring. Encourage other believers to only marry those who love the LORD!!!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 9 Neither 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. (4141 “remove” [muwcab] means to be or become subject to another owner, to change, to go in a circle, to transfer ownership, or overturn)
DEVOTION: Inheritance is important to individuals but also to the rest of their family. The children of Israel were divided into eleven areas of inheritance. They areas were never to grow or decrease. The twelfth tribe was the tribe of Levi which was given only forty two cities. Their properties were not to change or grow either.
So the land mass was given and the amount was final. No land could be transferred to another tribe or nation.
This command of the LORD had to be obeyed by all the tribes until they went into captivity. Land represented personal wealth. It was necessary for the raising of food and cattle. It was necessary for shelter. It was necessary for the growth of a tribe.
Protecting your inheritance was something the LORD wanted each tribe to do. The lots were going to be cast after they conquered the Promised Land. The tribes would work their inheritance for the next generation.
Each generation would work the land for the next generation. There should have been improvement to the land in each generation. The problem was with each generation there were some who were who forgot the importance of honoring the LORD with their inheritance.
We have an inheritance promised to us by Jesus Christ. It is a mansion in heaven. We have to make sure that we don’t allow any of our relatives to marry outside their tribe. So we need to be a good witness for Jesus Christ, so that, all of our relatives inherit their mansion in heaven.
CHALLENGE: Our tribe is called Christian. How are we doing in our influence for the future generations?
: 13 These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. (3027 “hand” [yad] means power, strength, power or possession of controlling influence conceived as in terms of hand, or can be used to highlight immanent activity)
DEVOTIONS: This was the final location before the children of Israel entered the Promised Land. All that was left was the second giving of the Law to the children of Israel before the death of Moses.
So we have one of the last commands given by the LORD and it dealt with the importance of each tribe conquering their territory, so that, the influence of the nations in the land didn’t corrupt the children of Israel.
A summary of the Law was necessary for a reminder to the children of Israel that there was a standard. If the standard was kept the children of Israel would be blessed in this land. If it was not kept there would be a judgment coming.
It was simple. God doesn’t try to trick or confuse HIS people. HE tells them plainly what HE expects and promised to have HIS presence with them throughout the stay in the Promised Land.
Were they ready to enter the Promised Land? They should have been. God just wanted to help them remember all HE had done for them and commanded them to do once they entered.
The Old Testament was given to show us how to be obedient to the LORD’S commands and live a life that is pleasing to HIM. The New Testament shows us a new relationship we can have with the LORD.
CHALLENGE: We are commanded to learn from the past and prepare for the future. The children of Israel were about to be reinstructed and commanded to enter the Promised Land.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Jubileeverse 4
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Commandmentsverse 13
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD (Jehovah)verses 2, 5, 6, 10, 13
Word of the LORDverse 5
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Plains of Moabverse 13
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Removing inheritance between tribesverse 9
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Inheritanceverses 2-9, 12
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Chief fathers of the families of the children of Gileadverse 1
Mosesverse 1, 5, 10, 13
Children of Israelverses 1-5, 7-9, 13
Zelephehad: daughtersverses 2, 6, 10-12
Marry only within tribe
Marriage within a tribeverses 3, 6, 9, 11, 12
Sons of Josephverse 5
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
5–9 Again, in great grace, the word of the Lord came through Moses to present a decision. In this case, as in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad, the petitioners were right; and the issue is decided in their favor. The women are permitted to marry whomever they choose—a surprising turn, as we usually think of women being chosen in biblical times! Perhaps the fact that they inherited land made them active rather than passive agents in marriage. But they must choose their husbands from within their own clans. The issue is not just their personal happiness but the solidarity of the larger family unit. As a man is to cleave to his wife (Gen 2:24), so a person is to cleave to his family inheritance. The destiny of the family in Israel is tied to the land.
The instance of these women becomes a law that is applicable in other similar cases (v.8). The basic issue is to keep the inheritance of a family in the clan and the tribe of the fathers. Verse 9 summarizes the earlier elements and so reinforces them (Allen, R. B. (1990). Numbers. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (Vol. 2, p. 1007). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Num. 36:5–9. Moses declared that what they had affirmed was right (כֵּן), and then, by command of Jehovah, he told the daughters of Zelophehad that they might marry whoever pleased them (the suffix ־הֶם, attached to בְּעֵינֵי, for ־הֶן, as in Ex. 1:21, Gen. 31:9, etc.), but that he must belong to the family of their father’s tribe, that is to say, must be a Manassite. For (v. 7) the inheritance was not to turn away the Israelites from one tribe to another (not to be transferred from one to another), but every Israelite was to keep to the inheritance of his father’s tribe, and no one was to enter upon the possession of another tribe by marrying an heiress belonging to that tribe. This is afterwards extended, in vv. 8 and 9, into a general law for every heiress in Israel. (Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1996). Commentary on the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 840). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.)
36:1–12. In previous instructions Moses had decreed that the inheritance of a man who died without sons must go to the daughters. This had arisen out of a specific situation involving the daughters of Zelophehad, a descendant of the Manassehite clan of Gilead (cf. 27:1–11). The question now arose as to the disposition of the properties of such daughters who married men from other … tribes. Would that land and property be taken from Manasseh and belong to those other tribes? Would it remain with another tribe at the time of the Year of Jubilee? The Year of Jubilee, occurring every 50 years, required the return of all purchased and mortgaged properties to their original owners (cf. Lev. 25:8–17). Presumably, however, this would not occur in the case of properties which had been lost to a clan by marriage. Moses concurred and, to prevent such a loss of tribal lands, commanded that Zelophehad’s daughters.… married their paternal cousins, thus preserving their inheritance within their own clan (vv. 10–12). (Merrill, E. H. (1985). Numbers. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 257). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
36:1–13 The issue raised here stemmed from a decision regarding female inheritance in 27:1–11. Since a tribe would lose an allotted inheritance in the year of Jubilee if an inheriting woman had married into another tribe, the woman of any tribe who inherited land must marry within her own tribe. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nu 36:1–13). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Ver. 7. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe, &c.] Which shews that this concerns all the tribes of Israel, though yet not fully expressed, as it is afterwards: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers; or cleave to a wife in that tribe for marriage; this word is used in the original institution of it, Gen. 2:24 though they were not strictly obliged to marry in their own tribe; and frequently they did intermarry with other tribes, which, had it been unlawful, would not have been done, as it was by kings, and priests, and others; nor was there any danger of an inheritance going into another tribe by a man’s marrying into it; wherefore this signifies only, that they were to be careful to keep their inheritances in their tribe; and therefore if any of them had no sons, only daughters, he was to marry them in his own tribe and family, that the inheritance might not remove, ns follows. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 1, p. 871). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
Though he suffered persistent failure—as well as imprisonment, persecution, impoverishment, isolation, and humiliation at nearly every turn during the long course of his faithful labors—he never wavered in his commitment to a life of prayer. He was fond of quoting the great Puritan divine, Samuel Chadwick, who wrote: “Satan dreads nothing but prayer. Activities are multiplied that prayer may be ousted, and organizations are increased that prayer may have no chance. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”
The testimony of Bounds is that both the testimony of the church’s heroes and the testimony of Scripture’s mandates are sure and true. Ours are to be lives marked by prayer, suffused in prayer, and enlivened for prayer. Normal prayer is to be our normal life. (Normal Prayer, Normal Life FROM George Grant )
1 Timothy 3
Spiritual leaders in the church must meet spiritual qualifications.
INSIGHT
The church is inherently a spiritual entity and must have spiritual leadership. While it is valid to have leaders, who have knowledge and experience in many of the practical matters facing a church, practical leadership must be undergirded with spiritual maturity. A person who desires to be a bishop (elder) or a deacon should be a Christian with a strong track record of integrity and wisdom (see vv. 2-4, 7). These qualifications should be weighed carefully by all who aspire to lead in the church. (Quiet Walk)
Walter Dixon had five days to honeymoon before he shipped off to the Korean War. Less than a year later, troops found Dixon’s jacket on the battlefield, with letters from his wife stuffed in the pockets. Military officials informed his young wife that her husband had been killed in action. Actually, Dixon was alive and spent the next 2.5 years as a POW. Every waking hour, he plotted to get home. Dixon escaped five times but was always recaptured. Finally, he was set free. You can imagine the shock when he returned home!
God’s people knew what it was to be captured, moved far away, and to long for home. Due to their rebellion against God, they were exiles. They woke each morning yearning to return, but they had no way to rescue themselves. Thankfully, God promised He’d not forgotten them. “I will restore them because I have compassion on them” (Zechariah 10:6). He would meet the people’s relentless ache for home, not because of their perseverance, but because of His mercy: “I will signal for them . . . and they will return” (vv. 8-9).
Our sense of exile may come because of our bad decisions or because of hardships beyond our control. Either way, God hasn’t forgotten us. He knows our desire and will call to us. And if we’ll answer, we’ll find ourselves returning to Him—returning home.
By Winn Collier (Daily Bread)
THE MANIFEST LOVE OF GOD
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10
The apostle is anxious to remind us that God is actually manifesting that essential nature of His. He is love, but mercifully for us He has “manifested” that love, He has made it unmistakably plain and clear. So we can put John’s immediate argument like this: “If only you really understood this love, if only you knew something about it, then most of your problems and difficulties would immediately vanish.” So he proceeds to tell us something further about this great and wondrous and glorious love of God.
Surely we all must agree that this is something that is equally true of us. The more I study the New Testament and live the Christian life, the more convinced I am that our fundamental difficulty, our fundamental lack, is the lack of seeing the love of God. It is not so much our knowledge that is defective but our vision of the love of God. Thus, our greatest object and endeavor should be to know Him better, and thus we will love Him more truly. Now John’s object is to help these first Christians to whom he writes in just this way, because he is quite sure that once they love God, they will love one another.
This is something we find running right through the Bible; the second commandment follows the first. The first commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind….And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). But you will never do the second until you have done the first; so we must start with the love of God.
A Thought to Ponder: It is not so much our knowledge that is defective but our vision of the love of God. (From The Love of God, pp. 49-50, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones)
The Good Fight
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)
The beautiful National World War II Memorial in the nation’s capital was dedicated in 2004, honoring the more than 400,000 who gave their lives in that conflict (including the writer’s younger brother). This particular holiday, of course, originally known as Armistice Day, had been established many years before to commemorate the end of World War I and to honor the veterans of that war.
There have been many other wars in our nation’s history and many who have served and many who have died. They all “have fought a good fight” and “kept the faith” of our nation’s commitment to establish “liberty and justice for all” and to maintain this ideal in every generation. They fully merit our honor and heartfelt gratitude.
There is another good fight going on, of course, every day in the life of each believing Christian. The apostle Paul never served as a soldier in any human army, but he was often called on to “endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). As a matter of fact, each of us must remember that “unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).
That suffering may be actual persecution, or even injury or death on a battlefield, but it could also be poverty or sickness or some other “messenger of Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7) sent to test us and alienate us from the Lord. But then we can hear the Lord say, as with Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Whatever comes, may God help us to be able to say in that day: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
(HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
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