Numbers 36

Numbers 36:1

L. The Inheritance of Daughters Who Marry (Chap. 36)Representatives of the half-tribe of Manasseh who settled in Gilead, east of the Jordan, came to Moses with a problem (see Num_27:1-11). If the daughters of Zelophehad . . . married men belonging to another tribe, their property would pass to the other tribe. The Year of Jubilee would finalize the transfer to the other tribe (v. 4). The solution was that those women who inherited land should marry in their own tribe, and thus there would be no transfers of land from one tribe to another (vv. 5-11). The daughters of Zelophehad obeyed by marrying in the tribe of Manasseh (vv. 10-12). Verse 13 summarizes the section from chapter 26. Three things stand out in the book of Numbers:

1. The consistent wickedness and unbelief of the human heart.
2. The holiness of Jehovah, tempered with His mercy.
3. The man of God (Moses) who stands as a mediator and intercessor between the sinful people and a holy God. The human heart has not changed since Numbers was written. Neither has the holiness or mercy of God. But Moses has been replaced by his Antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we have strength to avoid the sins that characterized Israel, and thus avoid the displeasure of God which they incurred. In order to profit from what we have studied we must realize that “these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition” (1Co_10:11).