Judgment in the Promised Land!

             Today, I want to talk to you about an unusual story from the Old Testament, involving a lawsuit.  After the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and the generation that God had delivered from Egypt had died, God began to prepare the people to enter the promised land.  He began by calling a census of all the men 20 years and older.  These were the men who could go to battle (Numbers 26: 1, 2). 

            After the census was completed, God told them how to divide the land (Numbers 26: 52 – 56).  It was to be allocated first to each tribe based on their population and then each man identified in the census would receive a portion of his tribe’s share.  There was just one problem, what about those families consisting of women only?  Enter the daughters of Zelophehad (that’s a mouthful, I know).

            One of the heirs to the Manasseh tribe was a man named Zelophehad.  Unfortunately, he had died before the division of the land, and he had no sons to receive his inheritance.  At that time, women had few rights, and their status was little more than a slave.  Under the law at that time, they had no right to their father’s share of the land.  That didn’t stop these four daughters!

            The four of them went to the Tent of Meeting and “stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly” (Numbers 27: 2 NIV84) and began to state their case for their father’s rightful share of the land.  Based on the culture of the time, it’s surprising that Moses and the other men didn’t laugh in their faces.  On the contrary, Moses, without question, brought their case to the Lord.  God took a mighty step in elevating the status of women that day.  He ruled that “if a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter” (Numbers 27: 8 NIV84). 

            This was probably the first recorded lawsuit, what we would call today a “declaratory judgment”.  This was a decision that determined the rights of the parties without awarding damages.  However, that wasn’t the end of the story.  Later, some of the men questioned what would happen to the land if one of the girls married outside their tribe.  As a result, God later clarified the ruling saying that they could marry anyone they chose within the tribe.  However, if they married outside of the tribe, they would forfeit their inheritance (Numbers 36: 6 – 9).  This was to preserve the land holdings of each tribe.  There is no indication that the girls objected to this clarification.

            So, what do we learn from this story?  God elevated the status of women that day!  He showed very clearly that He loves “His girls”.  We also learn that He is a fair and just God.  If He were not, He would have never granted their request. 

            I think we can also learn a valuable lesson from Moses.  When the daughters brought their claim to him, he didn’t hesitate.  He immediately took it to the Lord.  How many times do we agonize over disputes, disagreements, and misunderstandings?  How many times do we try to find solutions on our own?  If we followed Moses’ example, we would not only find a solution more quickly, but we would also be more likely to find a better solution.  Taking our problems to the Lord should be our first reaction, not our last.  God is the ultimate fair and righteous judge!

Numbers 26: 33; 27: 1 – 11; & 36: 1 - 13