Word of Salvation – May 2014

 

Numbers 36 – Inheriting through faith and obedience

By John Westendorp

Scripture Reading: Numbers 36.

Singing: Book of Worship 178 / 511 / 104a and Rejoysing 180

 

Introd: Some years ago I knew a man in town who hadn’t talked to his sister for more than twenty years.

When this man’s mother died she had left him half a dozen decorative plates in her will.
They were the kind of plates that you display on a shelf behind glass doors.
The problem was that his sister had wanted those plates… and she wanted them badly!
Unfortunately, Mum in her wisdom, had left them to her son.

So the daughter decided not to talk to the brother… because of those plates.
The man eventually decided to give that set of plates to his sister.
He hoped that his generosity might lead to some reconciliation.
But it didn’t. She took the plates but remained angry with her brother.
Because after all… it should not have taken him five years to give her those plates.

I wonder how many relationships have been ruined over a will.
Maybe some of us here have been involved in arguments over a will.
There’s nothing like a controversial inheritance to cause conflict.
Wise people try to do things in such a way that an inheritance will not cause problems.

It’s helpful to revisit this subject because this is the second time Numbers deals with it.
Chapter 27 already gave some regulations about this.
But they now foresee that that those rules might cause some major conflicts.
It could lead to people not talking to other people for twenty years or longer.

A] THE QUESTION OF THE INHERITANCE.

1. Back in Numbers 27 the five daughters of Zelophehad had raised an important matter.

In Israelite families land was usually passed on to sons.

Daughters were provided for in another ways – through dowries when they married.
Perhaps their dowry consisted of gold or silver or precious stones.
Or maybe their dowry consisted of some farm animals.
But it was the sons who inherited the land.

The problem was that Zelpophehad had no sons… only daughters.
When they first raised this matter with Moses he made an exception.
In families without sons the daughters could inherit land.

But now as the book of Numbers ends someone has seen a problem.
What if these five daughters of Zelophehad marry outside their tribe?
It means that this inherited land would be lost to another tribe if they marry outside the tribe.

This issue is based on the importance of land in Israel and the way this was dealt with.
You’ll notice that in verse 4 there is a passing reference to the Year of Jubilee.
The Year of Jubilee was wonderful provision of the Mosaic law.

In our culture families can easily become destitute and even stay that way for generations.
In Israel there was some provision for the redistribution of wealth.
Every fiftieth year, land would revert to the original owners.
Eventually it would always come back to the family and stay in their tribe.

However there’s a problem if daughters inherit the land and they marry into another tribe.

Then at the Jubilee it will become the property of the tribe they marry into.

2. The way that this is dealt with in Numbers 27 is a lovely little lesson in effective problem solving.

These folk could have taken an easy way out and said: Well, who cares?
Just do whatever you want… it’s your land and you do with it as you please.
Often important decisions are made very individualistically.
And they are made without reference to the wider community.

That happens sometimes too in the church.
And it especially happens in our day and age.
The attitude of many can be summed up by Frank Sinatra’s song: I did it my way!
So there’s this easy solution. You just do your own thing.
But they didn’t take that easy approach.

They could also have taken a very hard line.
They could have said: If women hold tribal land they will just have to forego marriage.
For women it’s either the land or marriage and you can’t have both.
They didn’t take that approach either.

Instead they brought the matter before the leadership and asked them to give a ruling.
The book of Proverbs says that in many counsellors there is wisdom.
So it’s good to involve the wider community in the decision-making process.
That’s especially true if our decisions effect others in the community.

What is even more important here is that they are seeking the Lord’s guidance.
By coming to Moses they come to God’s representative in their midst.
And in vs.5 the answer to their problem is given by the Lord Himself.
That makes the outcome a very good outcome.

3. The solution is that they may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their clan.

At first glance that reminded me of what I understand was the advertising for the old T-model Ford.
The advertising said: you can have this car in any colour you want as long as it is black.
They can marry anyone… as long as its within their tribe.

But what this is actually doing is that women are being given the freedom to marry.
The women have a choice as to whom they want as their husbands.
Keep in mind that in Israel inter-tribal marriage was very common.

But the point is that because these women have inherited land there is that restriction.
Their husbands must be from the same tribe,
So regulation is made to ensure that the land stays within that tribe.
It’s important that each tribe’s allotment of land is kept by that tribe.

So we’ve got this whole issue of land rights in Israel. Land belongs to a tribe.

And here are some regulation to make sure that there won’t be conflict over inheritance of land.

So Numbers begins with a census and it ends with the very practical matter of five weddings.

Today we could draw a line from the restriction put on the marriages of these five ladies to us today.
We have a somewhat different restriction… but it’s a God-given restriction nevertheless.
Today you young people are free to marry anyone you please.
But you must marry in the Lord.

Just as the inheritance of these ladies was jeopardised if they married outside the clan…
so too your spiritual heritage is at risk if you do not marry in the Lord.
Your inheritance is not just the land… you stand to inherit the earth, God’s new creation.
But marrying an unbeliever can threaten and destroy your faith and lose you your inheritance.

B] THE FOCUS OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.

1. These last chapters of Numbers are refreshingly different from most of the earlier book.

Numbers is a book that is marked by grumbling and rebellion.
By the time we get to Numbers 14 Israel has tested God ten times.
That first generation that left Egypt was a nation of discontents.
That rebellion and grumbling all come to a climax in chapter 14.
They refuse to enter the Promised Land.

The outcome is that God sentences them to forty years of wilderness wanderings.
All of that generation will die in the wilderness.

But the book of Numbers is really the story of two generations.
A new generation grows up during those forty years of wanderings.
And in Numbers 26 there is a second census as this second generation is now counted.

And from there on the difference is quite marked.
They deal with problems in a different way… not by grumbling and rebelling.
Instead they come to Moses and they seek divine wisdom for their problem.
And when I read the words they speak I’m struck by their politeness.
  When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites…!

I am also struck by their concern for the wellbeing of the whole tribe.
This isn’t just a matter for Zelophehad’s daughters to deal with.
It’s not an individualist issue… it is a community matter.
And so it is the heads of the clan that actually bring the matter before Moses.

2. We see this difference in the second generation in a number of ways.

This chapter indirectly highlights faith.
You won’t actually read anything here about faith but we can read it in between the lines.
The whole thrust is one of faith. Let me explain.

This all happens at a time when Israel is still outside the Promised Land.
In some ways we could argue that this situation about inheriting land is quite theoretical.
Nobody actually has any land yet.
They are still camped in the plains of Moab near Jericho on the other side of the Jordan.

Okay… for some of them there was some sense of ownership of land.
Reuben and Gad had been given some territory on the other side of the Jordan.
And that included half the tribe of Manasseh.
But the point is that even for them they were still a long from settling in the land.
And yet… in faith… trusting that the land will be theirs… they approach Moses.

Again that gives us a link into Numbers that is so applicable for us today.
In some ways we are in exactly the same place as these people.
God has promised us a marvellous inheritance.
There’s all the glory of God’s bright new creation awaiting us.
We are the people, whom Jesus says, will inherit the earth.

But it’s not ours yet. We don’t own even a small part of it as yet.
So we walk by faith… not by sight.
And by faith we have this wonderful confidence that the inheritance will one day be ours.
So we today and this second generation are the true children of Abraham – the man of faith.

3. But the problem is that faith is not just a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

Nor is faith some sort of vain hope as if it’s all very uncertain.
No… this is a confident faith that expresses itself in obedience.
True faith is always a faith that acts… and if your faith doesn’t act then it’s a dead faith.
Faith has to be seen… and it is seen in obedience.

And so there is in this chapter not only this wonderful demonstration of faith.
That even though they don’t yet have the land
they are already working out the rules for ownership.
There is also the wonderful demonstration of obedience in this chapter.

We read that these five young women did exactly as Moses commanded.
We’re told that they married cousins on the father’s side.
And they did that to protect their tribal land rights.

Someone has called this generation that grew up in the wilderness Israel’s best generation.
If that’s true then it highlights that hardship is not a disadvantage to us spiritually.
And we know that to be true from experience.
Often people’s faith grows stronger through suffering and trial.
And people’s obedience to the Lord is sharpened by loss and by adversity.

So the obedience of this generation had been finely honed over forty years of wanderings.
Faith leads to obedience… and that has some further lessons for us today.
Many people today are quick to say that they have faith… they believe.
They accept that Jesus died for their sins.
But when it comes to obedience to God’s will… it just isn’t there.
True faith demonstrates itself in obedience… obedience is the fruit of faith.

C] A FITTING ENDING TO THE BOOK.

1. I can imagine that some of us might find this last chapter of Numbers a strange way to end a book.

This book is about forty years of wilderness wanderings by the people of Israel.

And it ends with this rather anti-climax of some rules about inheriting land.

Well let me remind you that Numbers is an unusual book.
It begins with a census. All the details of Israel being counted are given.
The second chapter is even less exciting – the arrangement of the camp around the tabernacle.
And now this book that began with a census and camp order ends with inheritance rules.
And yet… I feel this is an appropriate ending to Numbers. Let me give you three reasons.

There is a pattern, in that this regulation of inheritance rounds off the story of Zelophehad’s daughters.
These feisty females are the representatives of this new generation.
And it’s almost as if these five ladies form the bookends to the new generation.
After the counting of the new generation in Numbers 26 they are the first people we read about.
And as the book draws to a close they are the last people we read about.

Five young women… who, as it were, represent for us that whole new generation.
Ladies of vibrant faith who are prepared to walk with God.
And they express that faith in obedience without any ifs and buts.

Today they are still a model for us.
In many ways our circumstances might be totally different.
And yet there is a sense in which we are the church travelling through the wilderness.
We’re on our way to that wonderful Promised Land that Jesus gives to those who are His.
And like the daughters of Zelophehad we are called to travel in faith and obedience.

2. Secondly this ending is most appropriate because it highlights a certain progression.

This story begins in the wilderness and it’s repeated focus is on the wilderness wanderings.
But now it ends with the inheritance they are about to take up.
There is progress.
Despite those forty years it is not all aimless and futile… God is taking them somewhere.

Recently I visited an elderly lady in a nursing home.
Her mind is no longer all that clear.
But she is very focussed on the end of her journey.
Whenever I said anything about heaven or God’s presence… she would respond by saying:
“And it can’t come quick enough.” The point is that our journey too has a destination.

I’ll say it again: Numbers is really such an appropriate picture of the journey of the Christian life.
Sometimes the journey seems so endless and the glory of the new creation so distant.
But there is progress. God is taking us somewhere.

In fact – if the ending of Numbers seems strange to you then please remember two things.
First:
Numbers is just part of the Bible… it’s just one of the many books that make up God’s story.
And what we have in this last chapter really sets the scene for what follows in Joshua.
In a way the next book, Deuteronomy, is an ‘intermission’ – an interlude.
It’s Moses – as it were – reading his last will and testament.
And then the story does move on and they cross the Jordan into Canaan.
That moment when the journey ends will come… there is no doubt about that.

And secondly:
If Numbers seems to end by leaving us up in the air, isn’t that true of the whole Bible?
Because God’s story is always an unending story.
And even the book of Revelation leaves us waiting… waiting for that day when Jesus comes.
Waiting for that day when we will take up our inheritance.

3. Finally this ending is therefore also appropriate because it shows us some big picture glimpses.

It’s really picturing the completion of what God promised to Abraham hundred’s of years earlier.

God had made His covenant with Abraham and He had promised him three things.
First God promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation.
There’s a sense in which that already became very clear in Numbers 1 at the first census.
There are more than 603 thousand men alone of twenty years and older.

Secondly God promised Abraham the land of Canaan.
And in these regulations for inheriting the land we see that this too is being fulfilled.
This generation will walk by faith and obedience.
And through faith and obedience they will take up their inheritance.

Of course the sad thing is that Israel did not live happily ever after.
Perhaps this was their best generation.
Israel later abandoned the Lord and repeatedly worshipped idols.
And because of their lack of faith and obedience they lost the title to their land.
God drove them into exile… away from the Land of Promise.

That sad story of Israel’s failure shows us their need for Jesus… for a Saviour to come.
And that’s the third thing that God had promised to Abraham.
That through Abraham all nations of the earth would be blessed.
The great Son of Abraham came and we now journey through life with Him.
And we now look forward to a far, far greater ending than the book of Numbers.
In Jesus we have a magnificent inheritance waiting for us.
The ending of our story is with Jesus in the glory of God’s new creation. Amen.