A Leader and a Future for God's People

Text Numbers 27 Time 17/03/13 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
I would like us to look this evening at Numbers 27. If you look at the chapter you will see that there are really two main things here. The first is to do with Zelophehad's daughters and their inheritance in verses 1-11c and the second is to do with Moses's imminent death and the appointment of Joshua as the new leader of God's people.
On the face of it there might seem to be very little to learn from a passage like this but in fact there are at least two important things to learn at least. So I want to make two main point today
1. If you are a believer you have a future
As you know the Duchess of Cambridge, the wife of Prince William, is due to give birth in a few months time. Rumour has it that the Duchess is expecting a girl. If that is the case when the girl is born she will be an heir to the throne. Even if she then has a little brother she will still be next in line because the current government recently brought a bill before Parliament that has changed an age old law that said that it was males who came first in line to the throne then females. So, for example, when Henry VII died, it was his son, Edward, who became the next monarch, not his older sisters Mary and Elizabeth. They had to wait their turn, which they did have, after him. When our present Queen came to the throne following the death of her father, it was because she had no brother, only a sister. So today there is no distinction between males and females, previously males took precedence over females. Of course, one can imagine a situation where females were ignored completely so that no woman ever became Queen, there were only Kings. I am talking about kings and queens but the same rules can be applied to any succession or inheritance situation.
Biblically, the pattern appears to be males first then not no females but females second. That is the pattern we see here in Numbers 27:1-11. There we are told about The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. They have already been mentioned in anticipation in 26:13. There were five of these daughters, their names ... were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They are unmarried. If they had husbands it is clear that things would be different. We are told how They came forward and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, (3) Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. In other words he does not deserve to have his name forgotten and his possessions passed on to someone else nit in his family. Because there were no sons they were concerned that the inheritance would pass to others and his name be lost. They say Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives. In other words, where there are no males why can't females inherit instead?
So we are told that because this was a new question (verses 5ff) Moses brought their case before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them. We do not know how God spoke but Moses was under no illusion as to God's will, it was that females in a family should not be ignored but, where there are no males, should inherit instead. And so it became a rule in Israel. 8-11 Say to the Israelites, If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter. Further If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses. The order then is sons, daughters, brothers, uncles, nearest relatives. Israel was not the only one in the ANE to have such a law but theirs was given by God. It was like this in our law for many years too though there is no longer any order of males then females. In Israel the reason for males taking precedence was no doubt so that land didn't pass outside the family as would be the case if a woman married. This story here shows what to do where there are no sons.
The thing to learn here, though is not to do with land rights or women's rights. Rather we need to see that, as one writer puts it, “Even if the parents were judged for their sins, the children might still have a future in the Lord, through his grace and mercy.” (Duguid). God has promised the land to this second generation and the daughters of Zelophehad are here staking their claim.
The encouragement here is to stake our claim too. God has promised that all who trust in Christ will be forgiven and inherit heaven – male or female. If you trust in him you will be forgiven and you will go to heaven. Take God at his word. Believe and act in faith! IF you do, you have a future indeed.
2. If you are a believer Jesus is your leader
We don't read about Moses death until the end of Deuteronomy but here in Numbers we are told (12-14) Then the Lord said to Moses, Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range (we know from Deuteronomy that it was Mt Nebo) and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honour me as holy before their eyes. (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)
Moses was going to die, like Aaron and Zelophehad and others of their generation. So who would lead the Israelites into the Promised Land? We read 15-17 Moses said to the Lord, May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, he is thinking of a military leader one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd. A leader is needed.
18-21 So the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. This seems to be a lesser from of communication with God, less direct. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.
Finally. we read (22, 23) Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.
I am sure I have said to you before that it is Joshua, the one who has the same name as Jesus, who leads Israel into the Promised Land not Moses, the one through whom the Law was given. Law won't lead you to heaven but Jesus can. He is the Good Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd and the great Shepherd, the one who leads his people safely home. In him is the spirit of leadership. He can lead us all the way through this life and safe into the world to come. He will not die like Moses and his generation but ever lives to pray for his people. He is our guide, our Captain, the one we must always look to. Earthly leaders have their importance but far more important than any of these is Jesus our Lord and our King, the Captain of our salvation. How important it is that we always remember this now and forever.
So two simple things then if you are a believer you have a future, a glorious future in Christ. If you are a believer you have a leader in Jesus Christ, a leader who will never let you down, a leader who will lead you all the way.