You made it! 🥳 We’ve reached the end of the book of Numbers. And it ends on a technical note. This chapter brings together Numbers 27 and Leviticus 25.

Remember back in chapter 27 with the daughters of Zelophehad inheriting their father’s share of the land?

👧🏽👩🏽‍🦱👱🏾‍♀️👩🏽👧🏽

I kinda wonder if there wasn’t some matchmaking going on in the background or some fellas suddenly very interested in the 5 heiresses. Like those funny posts in the singles section of the classifieds:

Single Man seeks relationship with a lady interested in the outdoors and boating. Please send picture of boat. 🚤

The daughters of Zelophehad are from the tribe of Manasseh. It’s the largest tribe and will inherit the largest section of land. If you’re a guy from a small tribe, it might make sense to marry one of the Zelophehad girls to increase your real estate holdings.

This is where Leviticus 25 comes in with the laws concerning the year of Jubilee.

On the 50th year, land that has been lost due to debt or sale returns to its original family or tribal ownership. If the daughters marry outside the tribe and their sons inherit the land in question, it will permanently be lost from the inheritance of Manasseh. And so the tribal leaders of Manasseh are understandably concerned. What if it happens again in the future? And with other tribes? Instead of there being an inheritance for each tribe, the Promised Land will look like a patchwork quilt of real estate with no tribal identities or solidarity.

It’s a problem. Yahweh has already said that the property belongs to the daughters.

“And Yahweh said to Moses, saying, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You must surely give them the property of an inheritance in the midst of their father’s brothers, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭27‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Moses brings the concerns of the tribal leaders to the Lord.

“Then Moses commanded the Israelites by the command of Yahweh, saying, “The tribe of the descendants of Joseph is right regarding what they are speaking.”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭36‬:‭5‬ ‭LEB‬‬

This reminds me of this scene in Fiddler On The Roof…

Yahweh, in His eternal wisdom, works out a solution. The land will STILL belong to the sisters and they may marry whom they wish as long as they marry men from within their tribe. The land will stay in their family for future generations to enjoy.

How often do we make decisions based on how it will impact – not just our own children, but the great great grandchildren we will never meet? We live in a culture that pushes us to think of only how our choices affect us immediately. (Not even how they will effect us 10 years from now- let alone how they will effect others) 🙄 We also live in a society with fragile feelings ❤️‍🩹 that is generally spoiled.

We might react negatively to the daughters of Zelophehad being told that they must marry from within their tribe because Disney princesses teach us to follow our hearts and wish upon stars and a lot of other romantic rubbish. 👸🏼💕💍🤩🏰

If you could look into the cranium of collective American society you’d see a feelings chart rather than a brain. And we project our feelings-oriented way of being back into the pages of the Bible.

I’m pretty sure the daughters of Zelophehad were not striking the drama queen pose saying breathlessly…

Gimme a break. 🙄 That is SO theatrical. 🎭They weren’t doing that. K?

Gotta watch that projecting. We do it WAY more than we realize. Just because you wouldn’t want to be told you have to marry a cousin or a 2nd or 3rd cousin, doesn’t mean that every person in all places and times would find it equally objectionable.

If you teach children or teens the Bible, watch out for this kind of reaction and try to help them think outside our cultural box; at an age-appropriate level of course.

Now that Moses and the people have ironed out all the wrinkles of inheriting the land they are about to conquer, there’s only one more thing to do.

Tell this new generation the Law. Again. That’s what the next book is. 📖