March 21, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46; Mark 14:53-72

Weekly Memory Verse: Hebrews 10:38

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

I have considered several books in our continuing study of the Old Testament.  One of the books that I have wanted to study has been Joshua.  I am planning to start that book tomorrow, and will possibly look at a book on prophecy after that.  I am open to suggestions on this, if you have a favorite book, write in.

Numbers 36 (NASB95)
¹ And the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons 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 leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, ² and they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. ³ “But if they marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. ⁴ “When the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.” ⁵ Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements. ⁶ “This is what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they wish; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ ⁷ “Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. ⁸ “Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ “Thus no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each hold to his own inheritance.” ¹⁰ Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. ¹² They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of the family of their father. ¹³ These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.^[1]

Joseph's sons realized that there was a problem with the inheritance being transferred to other tribes through marriage.  This was a huge problem when you think about it, if that were to happen, the hard work of dividing the tribes would soon be corrupted.  Each tribe had a sole right to their inheritance; it was protected so that it would not be able to be transferred to other tribes.

In our line of thinking, this may not have been such a big deal, but to them it was a great concern.  Each tribe considered themselves to be separate entities, with a separate personality and a specific function within the nation of Israel.  This also shows how that God was concerned with the little things concerning Israel.  He is not a God of confusion, but rather a God of order. 

This completes the book of Numbers, the story is continued in Deuteronomy.  I am not going to continue there though.  Deuteronomy is considered to be the sermons of Moses, we will pick up this part of the story later.  I am going to go on to Joshua in order to continue the flow of the story so that we don't get bogged down with the study.

Father, as we consider Your word today, open our eyes and reveal to each of us how that your word affects each of our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.