Numbers: Preparing A People To Conquer (XXXV)

One Last Illustration On The Importance Of Inheritance (36:1-13)

Neal Pollard

We come to the end of the book of Numbers, with one last test case we read about earlier (see Numbers 27). Resolving one problem, if and how daughters could inherit, created another potential problem: what if they married men who stood to inherit themselves. God through Moses gives the solution. Such women could marry who they wished, as long as he was from the same tribe. Israel was set up by tribal territory. Thus, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons and both sons and daughters retained their inheritance. 

In this seeming footnote or bookkeeping matter, there are some valuable lessons to be gleaned.

(1) Be concerned about your inheritance.

(2) The inheritance could be lost.

(3) God is a God of boundaries.

(4) Inheritance is a personal matter. 

(5) If there is a question about an important matter, seek God’s wisdom. 

There is historical value to the book of Numbers, highlighting an important, if brief, slice of Israelite history when they wandered in the wilderness because of their unbelief. This was the original generation God desired to conquer Canaan, but they self-selected to decline that blessing. It cost them dearly. But their children were nurtured and prepared to do what they refused to do. In preparation, they all had to receive guidance about God’s will for how to conquer. 

There is theological value to the book of Numbers, showing us how these crucial years fit into God’s promise to Abraham to make a great nation and to bless all nations through this nation (as the Savior would eventually come through them).

There is spiritual value to the book of Numbers. We sing, “We’re marching to Zion,” “Camping toward Canaan’s land,” “Beulah land,” “To Canaan’s land I’m on my way,” and so many other songs that allegorize our heavenly home with the elements of the Israelite conquering. New Testament writers compare Israel’s inheritance of their land with the heavenly home we, as Christians, are pressing toward. How beneficial it is to refresh our memory about this generation and to draw the necessary lessons which serve as both warning and encouragement to us.