A Secured Inheritance | Numbers part 39
Scripture Reading: Romans 15:1-13
I am fascinated by people who “fit in.”
I am perpetually reminded that I am what some would call “odd”. Others would use harsher words—nerd, etc, but this is nothing new. All my life I have felt like I was on the outside. I’ve never really fit into any particular mold. I’m not sure how much I’ve wanted to, but it has been interesting always watching people from the outside.
Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about, because you’ve felt the same.
Some of you don’t have a clue what this feels like, because you found your people and tribe a long time ago. And to you I say — good. Hold onto that. Because in about thirty minutes, you're going to want to give that away to somebody who doesn't have it.
Because that's what Numbers 36 is actually about.
This chapter looks like another obscure biblical law, this time about tribal daughters, but it is going to point us straight to heaven.
There is a path that leads from Numbers 36 to Heaven itself, and that’s where we’re headed this morning.
As we come to the last chapter of Numbers, I want to remind us once more of the Four Senses of Scripture and how they illuminate the Grand Story of what God has done and is doing.
Literal Sense - what happened in history and the story
Typological Sense - how the text is part of the story of Christ and His Coming
Moral Sense - how the text points us to holy living
Anagogical Sense - how the text points us to heaven and God’s Ultimate Goal of Redemption
In Numbers 36, we will discuss the literal sense, of course, but what is going to be really fun is to see how this seemingly obscure chapter points to Christ, and then how it functions as a sign post to Heaven. The main point for today is this:
Your place in the Kingdom of God is secured — not by your bloodline, not by your background, not by your behavior — but by your Redeemer.
Let’s begin.
The Question of Security | Numbers 36:1-4
The heads of the fathers' houses of the clan of the people of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel. They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
Numbers 36:1-4
You may recall the Zelophehad daughters from chapter 27.
Zelophehad was a man from the tribe of Manasseh who died in the wilderness. No sons. Only daughters. Five of them, actually. And the problem was, under the customs and laws of the time, land inheritance passed through the male line. No sons meant no inheritance. The family name, the family's portion of the Promised Land — it was just going to disappear.
So the daughters did something remarkable. They went to Moses and they made their case. And the Lord said, you know what? They're right. Give them the land.
In this chapter, the problem concerns when they marry and the Year of Jubilee. Under the custom and laws of the time, whatever their inheritance would be, it would be moved to the family of the man they marry. Then, when the Year of Jubilee comes, the reset of the land would still fall under the man’s tribe. In effect, the land that was part of Zelophehad’s inheritance would no longer be in his family line.
Perhaps this is the point in which you are asking, “What’s the jubilee?”
The year of jubilee is not in Numbers, but rather is found in Leviticus 25. The seventh year was to be a sabbath year, and the 7th Sabbath year inaugurated the “Year of Jubilee”—the 50th year. In this year, all the land was reset to the original boundaries established by the lots of Numbers. During the course of the 50 years, lands would be exchanged from marriage, acreage sales, and a number of other reasons. During the Jubilee, the lands were reset, slaves were set free, and each person would return to their homelands. It was an economic reset that ensured each tribe would maintain the inheritance first determined as they settled the land.
Jubilee was the 50th year in the Sabbath Cycle in which the economy of Israel was completely reset.
It is a fine idea, but as with many commands in the Torah, it would appear the Israelites historically did not fulfill the requirement. Scholarship has shifted considerably in the last 100 years regarding the Jubilee. During the text-critical period of the 19th-20th century, scholars routinely called the Jubilee “a utopian fantasy.” How could they possibly survive 2 full years of no agriculture? In the last 10 years, the archeological evidence of the Ancient Near East has reinforced the possibility of Jubilee as an extension of other nations’ laws. At the same time, however, very little evidence (even in the Bible itself) exists that Israel maintained this practice.
It is a very similar pattern to when critical scholars talk about Israel’s monotheism. Many scholars will bring up that the historical evidence shows many Israelites worshiping other gods besides Yahweh. They argue history undermines the biblical text. And yet, when we read the Old Testament, we have an entire section called “The Prophets” that describe the same phenomenon. The prophets routinely chastise Israel for chasing other gods. History doesn’t undermine the text. It simply reinforces the reality that what God told Israel to do was routinely not what they did.
But at the moment, these daughters are concerned for their children and grandchildren. What will come of their inheritance in the Promised Land, if their land is given to another tribe?
The Means of Security | Numbers 36:5-13
And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right. This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.’”
The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses, for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father's brothers. They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's clan.
These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Numbers 36:5-13
The answer is fairly straightforward. The daughters should marry within their own tribe, and so in the future, if the daughter or widow inherits land, this is the solution. They will marry within the tribe, and when the Jubilee occurs, the land remains within the tribe.
And now, we can see how this seemingly obscure law presents us with a theological trajectory that goes through Scripture. Beginning back in Numbers 27, we see the concern over a father’s name. In other words, we must not let the father’s name disappear from the Promised Land just because there is no male heir. “Protect the Name.”
This chapter finds fulfillment in Joshua 17. Once Joshua has led Israel to conquer the land, the daughters are given their portion.
Here, in Numbers 36, the inheritance must remain within the family. In other words, the covenant must not be broken even if the family is broken. Leviticus 25 provides the means to which a family member may redeem land lost. The first method is the Year of Jubilee, as mentioned already, and then in Leviticus 25:25, we are given a familiar term—go’el. The go’el, the redeemer, is the closest kinsman who can marry the woman and provide the means by which the land and family remain within the tribe and the allotted inheritance.
The thread of Redemption in Ruth
The next place in Scripture we see this play out is in the Book of Ruth. What is extraordinary to Ruth, though, is that the widow in question is a Moabite. Her father-in-law, Elimilech, left Israel and found a wife in Moab. They had two sons, who were half Israelite and half Moabite, and Ruth married one of these sons.
In the story, Naomi, her mother-in-law, desires to return to Judah, eventually landing in Bethlehem. She has no place in Moab, and decides to take her chances with her husband’s people. The two daughters-in-law are told to go to Moab to try and find a husband there. One leaves, but Ruth remains with Naomi. She says to Naomi:
But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Ruth 1:16
She leaves behind everything “Moabite” in order to follow Naomi into Israel.
As the story unfolds, Ruth finds a kinsman-redeemer, a go’el, that can restore the family to Israel. The irony is that this law of go’el is used, not to salvage an Israelite to her family fortunes, but rather to solidify an outsider’s claim to her Israelite family’s inheritance.
Ruth is able to use the law of the redeemer through faith, not biology.
And in the final verses of Ruth, we learn Ruth gave birth to Obed the father of Jesse who is the father of David—King David.
The laws recorded to address the needs of the daughters of Zelophehad become the impetus in which God brings about King David who becomes the archetype and theological foundation for the Messiah. The Messiah is to be from the line of David and will return Israel to covenant faithfulness. Even more so, He will bring all nations to repentance and call them to the same new covenant, as promised in the Prophets. The same Prophets who record Israel’s failure to follow the covenant record the prophecies concerning the Messiah who will restore the people of God and call even the Gentiles to join in the covenant family of faith.
Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Redeemer of biblical law who ensures the inheritance of God’s people.
Returning to the Four Senses, we see how the literal sense, a biblical law concerning the inheritance of daughters, points us to the typological connections that lead to the Messiah, Jesus.
And so, with this in mind, how can we address holiness and our ultimate destiny?
For these questions, let’s come back to Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite. She should not have any right to the promises in Israel’s covenant with God, and yet, because of her faith in following Naomi to Bethlehem, she is grafted into the same promises. Boaz is the redeemer who brings her into the family of faith, because of his love for her and also because the Torah has established how he can.
Ruth is an example of how “holiness” is not relegated solely for those already on the inside. There is an expectation of children of Christians to remain in the family of God, though there are times, like Elemilech, they may wander away. But, it appears the opposite seems to be just as true. Many Christians don’t expect those outside the faith to come in. We talk about evangelism, but many times how we actually live doesn’t match up.
Again, the Bible will describe how things should be, but our history can describe a different picture.
Ruth reminds us how things could be. The daughters of Zelophehad remind us our inheritance in the Promised Land isn’t contingent on how things work “normally.” If they stuck with “normal,” their dilemma would not have been addressed in Numbers 27, and the thread of Redemption in the Biblical story would have been missing in the Law.
And so, if you are on the outside of the faith wondering if you can have a piece of the Kingdom of God, you can! Jesus has made the way! He is the Redeemer who ensures even those who are not from Israel have a way into the Kingdom.
That is how Numbers 36 points us to holiness. Whether we are in the family or not, we can join the Kingdom because God has sent us His Son to be our Redeemer. Last week, we saw how this Redeemer pays the price for our sin. This week, we see this same Redeemer purchases our place in the Land.
Jesus not only pays the price for forgiveness of sin, but He also ensures we have a place in Heaven.
Thus, we look forward. As we consider this chapter in light of eternity, we see our place in the Kingdom of God is not contingent on earthly matters. The problems of this earth, whether the sociological, the financial, environmental, the broken families, or any of the myriad of other excuses we may give for why someone (or even us) may not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
We can have a place in Heaven because Jesus has made it possible.
In addition, your family member, your co-worker, your friend, your neighbor, they also can have a place in Heaven because Jesus made it possible.
Whatever cultural convention keeps us from telling others about Jesus, and whatever cultural conventions keep others from seeking more about Jesus, they all are nullified in Christ Jesus who has already gone to the cross, has already risen, and already is preparing a place for us.
Let’s live in that reality and not in the lies of cultural convention.
Right now, think of one person that needs to hear this same message. They are like Ruth—on the outside of the family of faith. They don’t have Christian parents. They don’t have Christian values. The very idea of them following Jesus seems like an impossibility.
Now, what would it look like to just show up for them this week? Not with a tract. Not with a rehearsed gospel presentation. Just — show up. Have coffee. Ask how they're doing. Be the kind of person they'd actually want to talk to about the things that matter.
Because if you continue to build a relationship with them, don’t be surprised when you get the opportunity to introduce them to your Redeemer, who has secured their spot in Heaven also.