Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20120422.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part XXXVI: God's Joy In A Submissive Woman's Initiative Of Faith
(Numbers 27:1-11 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    This presidential election year's politics has introduced a "war against women" issue, one recalling the perennial question in Christian circles regarding a godly woman's role in relation to men (as follows):

    (1) The April 14-15, 2012 issue of The Wall Street Journal, p. A14, ran as its lead editorial the story, "Winning the War Against Women" to report: "The Democrats have found their kind of war. It's the war against women' they have conjured for the . . . Presidential campaign run . . . Team Obama is hoping to use the recent fight over mandated insurance coverage for contraception to broaden the theater of war. Thus, Democrats have held a White House women's summit,' accused Mr. Romney of wanting to deny women health care and equal pay, and even hit Ann Romney for the war crime of being a stay-at-home mom."

    (2) The last matter alluded to Democrat official Hilary Rosen's "remark that Ann Romney never worked a day in her life'" in being a homemaker. (Ibid., Peggy Noonan, "It's Over. What Have We Learned?", p. A15) Noonan noted Ann Romney "raised five children with a husband who sometimes traveled. A mother of five will be suffering from exhaustion, not laziness, and certainly not a lack of engagement in the realities and stresses of life." (Ibid.) Mrs. Romney got so much reactionary support on this issue that Mrs. Obama and the President voiced support for her, too, for the White House knows that in an election year, Mr. Obama can ill afford to "be viewed" as having "unwitting arrogance . . . by millions of American women who have made the same choice as Mrs. Romney" (Ibid., William McGurn, "The Likable' Barak Obama," April 17, 2012, p. A13)

    (3) Regardless how this issue will affect the election, it raises an enduring question many believers have about the role of Christian women: (a) on the one hand, we know all too well the Ephesians 5:22 call for wives to "submit" to their husbands and 1 Timothy 2:12 that prohibits women from teaching and exercising authority over men in the Church. Yet, (b) Galatians 3:28 asserts "there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." A Christian woman is thus to submit to proper male leaders, but not as a "door mat" trodden under foot by men, so many Christians wonder what her role actually entails!

    Thus, we ask, "What is the actual ROLE that GOD wants a Biblically upright woman to have in relationship to men?!"

    Need: "In light of the current war on women' political issue, what is GOD'S view of a godly woman's upright role in relation to men?!"

  1. When God had Israel take the Numbers 26 census to distribute the Promised Land, in Israel's patristic society, only male warriors were included in this census for an inheritance, Num. 26:1-4, 5-51.
  2. However, this practice created an injustice in a special case, one that was brought to Israel's leaders by five sisters, Numbers 27:1-4:
    1. The five daughters of Zelophehad brought before Israel's leaders and the congregation a case regarding their father who had died in the wilderness not due to heinous sin in following Korah's rebellion against Moses and Aaron, but for lesser, personal sin, Num. 27:1-3a,b.
    2. However, as Zelophehad had no sons, the census and land distribution would eradicate his name when the sisters married and were reckoned in the lines and inheritances of their husbands, Numbers 27:3c-4a.
    3. So, to honor their deserving father, Zelophehad's daughters asked Israel's leaders to be given land like the men to pass on to their heirs in their father's line that his name be preserved in Israel, Num. 27:4b.
  3. This request violated Israel's patristic social structure, but since failure to heed it would eradicate a man's name, a tragedy in that era, Moses sought God's help on deciding the case, Numbers 27:5.
  4. The Lord supported the request of Zelophehad's daughters, and created a rule based on their unique case, Numbers 27:6-11:
    1. God ruled that Zelophehad's daughters were right (Numbers 27:6-7a), and commanded that they receive an inheritance with their father's kin to pass on to their heirs in Zelophehad's name, Numbers 27:7b.
    2. Then, the Lord made a statute that if a man died and left no son, his inheritance was to be given first to his daughter, then to his brothers, then to his father's brothers and then to his next of kin, Num. 27:8-11.
  5. Later, this ruling was amended to protect the integrity of tribal land sovereignty, an amendment Zelophehad's daughters heeded:
    1. Sometime later in Numbers 36:1-4, the heads of Manasseh expressed concern that if Zelophehad's daughters wed outside of their tribe of Manasseh, their property would become the inheritance of their spouses outside Manasseh, compromising the tribe's land sovereignty.
    2. God thus amended the Zelophehad daughters' rule to require that a woman who inherited land had to wed within her tribe, Num. 36:5-9.
    3. Zelophehad's daughters complied with this amendment, and each one married a man within their own tribe of Manasseh, Num. 36:10-12.
  6. Remarkably, this case has HUGE long-term ramifications in creating the RIGHT for JESUS CHRIST to be RECKONED as the SEED of DAVID so as to QUALIFY for the DAVIDIC THRONE:
    1. Jesus was born of a virgin partly to gain David's throne in blessing:
      1. The Matthew 1:1-17 lineage is that of Joseph, Mary's husband, and this lineage carried the right to David's throne, but it also bore the curse of ancestor Jeconiah that anyone in his line could not rule on David's throne with God's blessing, Matt. 1:11 NIV; Jer. 22:24-30.
      2. God bypassed this curse for Jesus in having Him supernaturally conceived in Mary so Joseph would not be His physical father, but with Jesus gaining legal right to the throne by His birth to Joseph's wife. (John Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord, 1969, p. 104)
    2. However, the Zelophehad daughter's rule and amendment gave Jesus legal heirship to David's line so He could rule as David's seed:
      1. Luke 3:23-38 records Mary's lineage (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Luke 3:23) that comes from David through David's younger son, Nathan (Luke 3:31). HOWEVER , since Mary gave Jesus birth apart from a man, she as a woman would NOT be LEGALLY able to give Him her Davidic lineage EXCEPT if the Zelophehad daughters rule and amendment applied -- except (a) if Mary had no brothers and (b) if she wed within her tribe.
      2. Well, (a) Jesus' John 19:26-27 call at His death for Mary to come under John's care reveals Jesus as Mary's eldest son then cared for her since she had no brothers or living husband, for Jewish widows would otherwise return to live with their fathers' relatives. Also, all Christian traditions hold Mary had no brothers. (www.xwalk.ca, Guy Cramer, "Did Mary have any brothers?") Then, (b) Mary wed within her own tribe of Judah (Lk. 3:23-31; 2:1-4)! Thus, Jesus is legally reckoned to be in David's line so He can qualify to rule!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) Then, may we (a) heed the need for women to submit to men, but (b) also to show a respectful initiative of faith before men when righteousness demands it!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 An excellent extrabiblical example of a Christian woman's exhibition of respectful initiative before men in faith in God was made by a missionary that our Vacation Bible School this year will have as a focus -- Mary Slessor. She ministered in Nigeria, West Africa before my time there as a son of missionary parents, and my parents held her up to me as a great example of the faith.

It must have been a challenge for her as a single woman from Scotland to minister among strongly male-dominated tribal groups in Nigeria back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, in spite of that challenge, in spite of incessant physical frailty, she took a great step of faith one day to petition that a great evil among two armies of men not occur.

My Mother told me that Mary came upon a scene one day where two tribal groups of men were planning to fight one another.

Appalled at the godless slaughter that was about to occur, Mary risked her life: she boldly walked out into the middle of the clearing where the two sides were drawing up in battle array, and, standing between the two armies, urged the men not to fight!

That was a very brave act for a lone Scottish woman in a Nigerian, male-dominated social structure in an emotionally charged setting. However, her brave and obvious concern to save life backed by years of selfless ministry to these people were used of the Lord to motivate the two armies not to fight that day.

That is the kind of initiative of faith with men from a Christian woman that God approves. Yes, godly women are to submit to men when they function in righteousness. However, when wrong exists, God delights in a woman who takes respectful initiative in faith in God and His righteousness to influence men aright. Zelophehad's daughters demonstrated it back in 1400 B. C., and so did Marry Slessor on a battlefield in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Nigeria.

May we trust in Christ as Savior to become a child of God. Then, as His spiritual child, may we uphold the need for godly women to submit to Biblical male authority, but always to be ready to take respectful initiative in faith before men when righteousness demands it!

God delights in it as shown by his response to and His long-term use of the case of Zelophehad's daughters!