Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20020424.htm

NUMBERS: ON SPIRITUAL CASUALTIES AND VICTORS
Part XXX: Blessing For ASKING God For Blessing
(Numbers 27:1-11; 1 John 5:14-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. Needs in the Christian life are "par for the course" as golfers would put it: they constantly crop up.
    2. However, generally speaking, God wants His people to have their needs met, for 3 John 2 KJV tells us the Apostle John wrote his desire that Gaius "mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."
    3. In many cases, only one obstacle stands in the way of unmet needs, and Numbers 27:1-11 reveals it:
  2. Blessing For ASKING God For Blessing, Numbers 27:1-11; 1 John 5:14-15.
    1. As Israel was about to enter and inherit the Promised Land, one of the most important of all needs that God's LAW had not yet addressed was the supply of the laws of INHERITANCE (as follows):
      1. Israel's pagan neighbors had long placed a great importance on the right of inheritance, for findings of elaborate codes of inheritance exist in the Ancient Near East, cf. Z.P.E.B., vol. Three, p. 277.
      2. Nevertheless, in Numbers 27 as Israel was just about to enter and inherit the Promised Land, GOD had notably NOT given any attention to establishing laws of inheritance in special situations.
    2. Accordingly, the daughters of a certain Zelophehad, a deceased man who had no sons, expressed concern to Moses and the elders that their father's name might be phased out along with the inheritance of his daughters: they thus asked that an exception be made so they might inherit their father's property, 27:1-4:
      1. The daughters of the deceased Zelophehad, a man without sons, approached Israel's leaders, 27:1-2.
      2. They told how their father had died, leaving no sons, for personal sins of unbelief (not the more extensive rebellion of Korah), Numbers 27:3.
      3. Concerned their father's inheritance would disappear as inheritance passed only through one's sons in their patristic culture, these women asked that they might be granted inheritance provisions as though they were inheriting sons along with their father's brethren, Numbers 27:4.
    3. As Moses had no precedent for answering their request, and as God Himself had not given any detailed laws on inheritance, Moses appealed directly to God for the solution, Numbers 27:5.
    4. God approved of the daughters' request to receive an inheritance, and so gave Moses a concise but comprehensive code of laws on inheritance, Numbers 27:6-7, 8-11:
      1. God replied to Moses' request that the daughters of Zelophehad were right in their desire to gain the inheritance of their father in the absence of his having any sons, Numbers 27:6-7a.
      2. Accordingly, their father's inheritance rights were passed to them, an unusual if not gracious provision for women in a strongly patristic culture, Numbers 27:7b.
      3. Further, God expanded this provision to create a code of inheritance for all other special situations:
        1. If a man died and left no son, but have a daughter, the daughter would receive his inheritance, 27:8.
        2. If a man died and left no son or daughter, his inheritance would go to his brothers, Numbers 27:9.
        3. If a man died and left no son, daughter or brothers, his inheritance would go to his uncles, 27:10.
        4. If a man died and left no son, daughter, brothers or uncles, his inheritance would go to the nearest of remaining kin in his extended family, Numbers 27:11.
    5. Critical to Biblical HISTORY was the fact THIS inheritance CODE set the PRECEDENT for the kinsman-redeemer law set forth in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. That law was in turn used in the days of RUTH to keep the MESSIANIC LINE going, Ruth 3:1-4:22. HENCE, GOD WAITED FOR THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD TO ASK FOR AN INHERITANCE TO GIVE IT TO THEM, AND SET PRECEDENTS UP TOWARD EVENTUALLY PRESERVING MESSIAH'S LINE!
Lesson: So GREAT was GOD'S DELIGHT in having the daughters of Zelophehad ASK for their father's inheritance that GOD WAITED to ESTABLISH the culturally and historically CRITICALLY IMPORTANT inheritance laws so these women would ASK for their father's inheritance!

Application: God LOVES to have His people ASK from HIM those things they DESIRE to have that HE might ANSWER their REQUESTS, and lead His people to APPRECIATE, THANK and WORSHIP Him, cf. 1 John 5:14-15. Let us then ASK, that we might RECEIVE, cf. Matt. 7:7-11!