Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today, I have two goals in mind — first, I want to wrap up Numbers by treating both the text at hand and the book on the whole.

There’s plenty to learn from these 13 verses, but I think we’d do even better to see if we might be able to learn from all 36 chapters as well.

Second, I want to set the stage for our Advent series which will run through Christmas Day, and this will involve learning not just from the 36 chapters of Numbers, but from Numbers in its Old Testament context, the Scriptures that have come before (Genesis-Leviticus) and the Scriptures that detail God’s dealings in the world afterwards, culminating in a look at one facet of Jesus’s identity that the Old Testament Scriptures foretold centuries in advance.

First, let’s see if we can wrap up Numbers.

I have a confession — I hate pretty much all endings.

I can finish hardly anything.

Whether it’s food, having to leave just a little bit in the fridge so we don’t run out, or whether it’s a really good movie series like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, or a good show — we had been putting off finishing the last episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender for some time until just this week — there’s just something about endings that doesn’t sit well with my soul.

Maybe it’s that sickening feeling of saying goodbye to a constant companion who’s been by your side for weeks or perhaps even months on end.

Maybe it’s my aversion to change.

Whatever it is, one of the only endings I enjoy is a graduation, so for today I’m going to give all of us a certificate of completion for the book of Numbers.

Congratulations, guys!

We’ve done it!

We are about to commence our lives as graduates of GBC’s series through the book of Numbers.

Save your hat throws for later, please.

Chapter 36 divides into four sections, vv.

1-4, vv.

5-9, vv.

10-12, and then v. 13. (next slide)

vv.

1-4: The Problem

First, vv.

1-4: the problem.

The heads of the clan of Gilead, that is, leaders of the half-tribe of Manasseh who had claimed their land on the eastern side of the Jordan rather than in Canaan, approach Moses and the rest of the chiefs of Israel with a claim — those daughters of Zelophehad who are landowners according to the regulation given in Numbers 27:5-11 could pose a problem if they were to marry outside their tribe because if they were to do so, their land would go with them, and Manasseh’s inheritance would be reduced.

You may have noticed the repetition of, “their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers”, a problem not only in the eyes of these leaders, but in the eyes of the LORD — in verse 5, the LORD says that these sons of Joseph are right.

In Israel, land possession has always been a central concern from the time of Abraham, who was promised the land of Canaan, that his descendants after him would possess it.

This promise is repeated through the patriarchs and is hopefully very soon going to come to fruition; it would be a crying shame if one tribe were to, say, gobble up all the land of those around them and displace their brethren.

This is why the LORD gives the Jubilee, mentioned in verse 4 here, all the way back in Leviticus 25:23-28 (read v. 23, 24, 28 on slide)

In other words, the land would return to its original state, that is, its state at the time of the conquest, every 50 years.

It’s a cartographer’s dream.

He can redraw maps as often as needed during those 50 years then, once the year of Jubilee comes, just copy and paste the same map he printed 50 years prior!

Now notice what’s key in all of this — although possessing land is important for people so they have a place to live and prosper, land possession is even more important for the LORD.

“The land is mine”, he says in verse 23, his to give to whom he wills in accordance with his good judgment so that Israel would shine as a light to the nations around them.

Instead of intertribal conflict over boundaries and borders, Israel was to be a land of generosity, flowing with milk and honey, and a land of peace, with Israel resting within their borders for freedom from strife within and freedom from enemies without.

Conflicts over land were to be far too trivial for God’s chosen people, so it makes sense to iron out this one wrinkle before the land is conquered rather than afterwards when folks have already settled down and an abstract hypothetical problem becomes an emergency.

Let’s see how this plays out in verses 5-9 (next slide).

vv.

1-4: The Problem

vv.

5-9: The Solution

In response to the claim, Moses commands — according to the word of the LORD, the narrator emphasizes — just one thing.

“Let them marry whom they think best; only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father,” and expands in verse 8, “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 these daughters of Zelophehad will serve as a standing, shining example for any woman in their position for generations and generations to come.

And that’s it, problem solved.

No more, “their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers” repeated here — instead, it’s “every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers”, just as the LORD intended.

Briefly, let’s consider God’s wisdom in this arrangement.

This arrangement allowed for Israelite women to be free from external pressure from other tribes, who may have viewed them as even more of a catch and tried to coerce them into marriages for their land.

This also allowed for the preservation of an Israelite man’s name if he had daughters rather than sons.

After all, we know Zelophehad’s name really well at this point even though he had no male heirs precisely because his daughters acted faithfully.

The blotting out of one’s name is one of the worst judgments God can mete out on an Israelite, so knowing that any child, boy or girl, will do for inheritance removes undue pressure on women to have child after child after child after child in order to produce a suitable male heir for their husbands.

Now there we have it — one more problem, one more solution.

And, perhaps surprisingly at this point, although it’s not a surprise if you know these women, there are Israelites actually willing to follow the LORD’s commands.

No grumbling, no griping, no “but I want to marry that handsome Danite!!” — no, we have sweet, sweet obedience.

Let’s look at verses 10-12.

(next slide)

vv.

1-4: The Problem

vv.

5-9: The Solution

vv.

10-12: The Legacy

Just as in Numbers 27, the daughters of Zelophehad, that is, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah — names we would do well to remember — acted faithfully.

They did as the LORD commanded Moses, marrying some nameless sons of their father’s brothers so that their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

Note that we know Zelophehad and his daughters’ names, but not their husbands.

I don’t want to make any more out of this data point than is warranted, but the Bible speaks clearly on this issue: God sees and remembers the names of his faithful people, whether male or female.

Sisters, I’m speaking to you specifically.

You may not be on a stage teaching literally tens of people.

You may not be getting paid for the work you do.

You may not get any pats on the back or vacations or recognition for the work you do on this earth, but know that the LORD knows your name.

Your sisters in the faith whose names we know as some of the greatest in the faith are proof of this.

Don’t doubt for a second that the LORD is keenly interested in your faithfulness and his rewards for you are far more abundant than you’d guess based on our world’s general treatment of women.

Now, although Numbers says that their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan, it’s at this point I want to start wrapping Numbers up properly and put a little Christmas bow on it.

R. Dennis Cole says this concerning the half-tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph: “Later in their history they, along with the Gadites and Reubenites, were carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser III to the Upper Euphrates region of Habor and the River Gozan at the end of his 733–32 B.C. campaigns.”

Simply put for those of us whose eyes glaze over at names and dates, the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad did not remain in the tribe of their father’s clan forever, or indeed for very long.

They were among the first of the tribes of Israel to be carried off into captivity.

In other words, while we have great expectations for the coming conquest, the rest of the Bible indicates to us that the conquest isn’t where hope is to be found from the book of Numbers.

No, the LORD has much greater intentions than the children of Abraham inhabiting a particular parcel of land in the Middle East.

Let’s turn to verse 13. (next slide)

vv.

1-4: The Problem

vv.

5-9: The Solution

vv.

10-12: The Legacy

v. 13: The End

Numbers 36:13 “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,” is not exactly the climactic ending we’ve been hoping for, right?

We’re wanting conquest action!

We want Moses out of the way as that final vestige of the disobedient wilderness generation.

We want the story to move forward.

Surely we have enough commandments and rules by now, right?

Well, I have bad news for you if that’s your heart’s desire, considering that Deuteronomy, the next book of the Bible, literally means “second law.”

If you’re disappointed, imagine how disappointed Israel were when they actually got to carrying out the conquest and found it to be more difficult than they’d bargained for because, surprise, they fell back into disobedience really, really quickly.

You see, the conquest of the promised land has never actually been the end goal in and of itself.

Let’s set the book of Numbers in its Old Testament context by remembering where the story has come from (and where it’s going).

We’re going to read the endings of the previous books as a short way of tracing the big contours of the biblical story, and this is where we both finish numbers and start our Advent series.

There’s a lot of Scripture coming your way, so buckle up and stick with me — if you’re a little confused, this should make sense by the time we’re done.

Let’s see where we’ve come from, through Genesis, Leviticus, and Exodus’ endings.

Note: the children of Abraham are in Egypt, waiting to be brought up into the promised land.

Now, the children of Abraham are ready to journey — God has visitied them and is in their midst through the tabernacle and through his prophet, Moses.

The children of Abraham now have God’s law, God’s presence, and God’s prophet, but still no land.

The children of Abraham have wandered about in the desert so that a disobedient generation would die off, and now they have more of God’s law, and still have his presence and his prophet, and they’re right on the cusp of the promised land.