All right, good morning, church family.
If you would open your Bibles or type in your devices the Book of
Numbers this morning, we're going to be in verses 3435 and
36, and we are going to conclude the Book of Numbers this
morning. And the title of the sermon is
appropriately titled both for our sermon series and the book.
It is the closing of a chapter. We, we started the Book of
Numbers back on September 22nd, 2024.
So it's been almost a year that we've been going through this
book. We'll actually finish it in less
than a year. I didn't think that we would
actually get it done in less than a year, but Lord willing,
if we finish it today, we will finish it less than a year.
This morning we're going to look at the last three chapters of
this book. And next week we will begin a
new study through the book of James.
And I've never preached through James before.
I have preached in James, but I never preached on the entire
book. So we'll be doing a new study
next week on the book of James. So I won't read the text upfront
because it's 3 chapters. So if you will open with me.
In a word of prayers, we ask God to please speak to us now.
Our Heavenly Father, we we pray, asking for your voice that we
have heard over and over again in our life, that it would once
again speak to us as your sheep, Lord.
And we we know your voice, we discern it, we recognize it, and
we pray God that you would speak once again as we close out this
book and as we reflect on it and process.
Lord God, help us discern what you're speaking to the church
this morning and to us specifically.
I pray God, as we close out this chapter, maybe some of us are
closing out chapters in our own life.
Maybe we're starting new chapters wherever we may be this
morning. Lord, would you help us to be
attentive to what the Spirit is speaking to us?
Thank you God for being a God who is willing and ready to
communicate to His people. We love you, we pray in Jesus
name, Amen. Have you ever watched a movie
where at the end of it you are unsatisfied?
You are unsatisfied with the ending?
It didn't, you know, there was maybe no resolution or it ended
in a strange way and you're like, why did you end it this
way? This happened recently, not
recently. This happened to me several
years ago. There was a movie that I got to
at the end of it and I just was totally unsatisfied with the
ending. And one of my friends came to me
and he said, I think that was the point.
It was one of those movies where the bad guy got away.
Like he, he he didn't die. There wasn't justice.
You know, I'm a big justice person and there was no justice
at the end of movie. And I was, I was, I was
frustrated. My friend came to me and he said
that's the point. The the point is, is that that's
life. In real life.
The bad guy doesn't always get caught in real life.
There doesn't always end the way.
I think that was the point of the director was to show that
this is here, life moves on, there's a chapter, there's
another story to be had. I felt this way when I read the
end of Numbers. I read the end of it and I was
like, that's how you end the book.
There's there's no message of, you know, you're waiting for
this finale or this, you know, encouraging message.
And and and it ends with the specific test case of the
daughters. What do we take away from that?
I think it's this the book of Numbers ends, but it's the
closing of a chapter, but it's not the closing of the Bible.
There's more to this story. This book ends and a new chapter
will begin. And so as we look at this, I
want to just remind us that so often that is is that 1 chapter
closes, but a new one begins. So as we look at our text this
morning, I'm going to be giving exposition application woven
together. I won't be reading chapter 34
because it is a bunch of boundaries and tribal chief
names. You can read that on your own if
you like, but I will go through it.
So let's I might read portions of it, but not all of it.
Let's start in chapter 34. Let's read verses 1 and 2.
The Lord spoke to Moses saying, command the people of Israel and
say to them, when you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land
that you shall fall to you for an inheritance.
The land of Canaan as defined by its borders.
We'll stop there for right now. So chapter 34, before they go
over the Jordan and cross into the land of Canaan, what is
going to establish the borders of Israel for Israel, for the
land of Canaan? Now here's what I find
fascinating about this. They haven't fought a single
battle yet in Canaan. Not one battle have they fought
in Canaan yet. And God is already telling them
what their borders will be. This means that God is telling
them ahead of time what He's going to give them, specifically
what He's going to give them. You see, we so often want God to
tell us the future, don't we, man?
We want God to tell us. Like what college will I go to?
What job will I graduate college?
Will I get married or will I not?
Will we have kids and if we do, how many will I be able to keep
this job or will I have to look for another one?
Where am I going to live in five years?
Reality is God so rarely tells us the future because He cares
more about our faith than our future.
But God does tell us what we need to know when we need to
know it, just as God told them. He told them this is the
promised land, and I'm giving you the dimensions.
I'm telling you exactly what you're going to inherit down to
the city, down to the rivers. He tells them.
And likewise for us to God has told us about our promised land
that awaits us. Jesus told us that he goes to
prepare a place for us. It has walls of Jasper, streets
of pure gold, and gates made of pearls.
There is a river of life and a tree of life there.
And we are all dressed in white, praising the Lamb who sits upon
the throne. You see, we may not know what
awaits us in eight years, but we all know what awaits US in 80
years. God is going to tell them their
boundaries. He's going to tell them their
southern boundary, their western boundary, their northern
boundary, and their eastern boundary of the promised land.
I want to show it to you on a map.
This is in verses 3 to 12. We won't get there right now,
but this is a map of of the borders that are given.
He tells him in verses 3 to 12 that their southern boundary is
going to go all the way down to the wilderness.
Their western boundary is going to be the great sea.
That's what that that that a lie on the left is the great sea is
the Mediterranean. So when you read great sea
there, just read that as Mediterranean.
That's what we know as the northern boundary is going to go
all the way up to Labo Hamath up up top here.
And the eastern boundary is going to go all the way to this
dotted line. And then it's going to curve in
because to where this line is, where the Jordan River is down
to the Dead Sea. And also you'll notice a phrase,
the Sea of Chinarath, that's there in your text that is the
Sea of Galilee. So sometimes, you know, you read
these texts, you're like, what are these terms here?
You just have to research that and look that up.
All right, so this is going to be the borders.
God basically is telling him they have not conquered a single
city yet. They haven't fought a single
battle. And God says, I'm going to give
you all of this land. All of it is going to be yours.
Now, what's interesting though, is that Israel never occupied
this full territory. They never did.
Why? Because of their disobedience.
They occupied a large portion of it.
But if you study geography and you say the Old Testament, they
never occupied all of that. David got the closest to it, but
he never got all of it. It's a reminder to us that even
though God has promised heaven to all of us in Christ, we still
have to persevere in obedience to receive the inheritance.
It's not as though Israel could just walk over into Canaan, find
a lawn chair and a glass of lemonade and say, Hey,
Canaanites, this is ours. They still have to persevere in
obedience. Likewise, you and I, nobody gets
into heaven on a sailboat. We still have to persevere in
our faith to receive the inheritance.
Third, versus 13 to 15, Moses commanded the people of Israel,
saying, This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which
the Lord has commanded to give to the 9 tribes and to the half
tribe. For the tribe of the people of
Reuben by father's houses and the tribe of the people of Gad
by their fathers houses have received their inheritance.
And also the half tribe of Manasseh, the 2 tribes and the
half tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan
east of Jericho toward the sunrise.
So Moses tells the people that this land that is up here, that
9 1/2 tribes are going to receive this.
They're going to receive it by lot.
That you're right. Why 9 1/2 and not 12?
The reason is, if you remember, 2 1/2 tribes have received their
inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho toward the
sunrise. Do you remember a few weeks ago
we looked at this with, remember Reuben and Gad, They, they were
on this east side over here and they basically asked for
permission to inherit that land and Moses agreed.
He said as long as you come and fight with your brothers, then
then it will be yours and it'll be conquered.
So Reuben and Gad get that land and then the half tribe of
Manasseh. Manasseh was split in two.
There's an eastern side and a western side.
The half tribe of Manasseh will receive a portion on the east
side as well today and dispossessed the Amorites who
were there. So 2 1/2 tribes are on the east
side, the other 9 1/2 are on the West side.
And the way that those 9 1/2 are going to determine what belongs
to them is by lot. I want to pause and briefly talk
about that idea. I kind of touched on a little
bit before, but I want to pause here for just a minute.
Think about this for for just a second.
What an interesting way to determine how the rest of your
life and the rest of the lives of your descendants is going to
be. It's not as though they can have
an auction for the land and the highest bidder gets to choose
first. It's not as though they can arm
wrestle for or have a foot race for it and whoever wins gets to
choose first. It's not as though they can have
a farming challenge and the the tribe with the biggest
watermelon gets to choose first. They are literally going to cast
lots. It's like rolling dice.
One time forever. Your tribe will inherit this
land, whatever your lot is. This will determine where you
live and your descendants live for all generations.
How would you feel if all decisions were made this way?
Which college you went to was determined by lot.
Who you married was determined by lot.
What job you worked at was determined by lot.
Where you lived was determined by lot.
I thought about that this week. I was meditating on that idea
all week long. On the one hand, I thought this
it would surely simplify things. I don't ever have to question if
this is God's will because I know it's God's will.
The lot says that it's God's will.
If the lot told me you're going to live in Tacoma, I guess I'm
going to Tacoma. I don't have a choice.
That's the will of the Lord. It surely would simplify, but it
also got me thinking this. Why don't we have this
perspective even without casting lots?
Why is it that the moment we introduce human choice and
effort and talent and merit and hard work, we also introduce
things like envy and jealousy and bitterness and resentment
and pride and boasting and anxiety?
If your lot fell next to a river and therefore your animals and
your crops were prosperous, no one could boast because no one
controls the lot. God does.
No one could say, look at how prosperous my crops are.
I rolled that lot really well. And if your lot fell in a dry
and arid land and therefore you had to struggle, no one could be
envy or bitter because God controlled the lot.
That's what he apportioned for you.
Brothers and sisters, God controls your lot.
Even with human choice involved, he still controls it.
Verses 16 to 29 I won't read. This is a list of tribal chiefs.
God, it gives Moses that. You can read that on your time
if you like, but it's there's a list of names there.
God gives Moses the names of the men who divide up the land, the
first names mentioned. I do want to point out the first
names mentioned. Or Eliezer the priest and Joshua
the son of Nun. And then he tells Moses to take
one chief from every tribe for inheritance.
And then he list 1 chief from each of the 12 tribes.
You can read their names in the text if you like. 2 things I
want to point out about this list though.
Number one, the two names that that I want to highlight is that
Joshua and Caleb are mentioned and Joshua and Caleb are going
to enter the promised land. In fact, they are the only two
men over the age of 20 who came up out of Egypt who will see the
Promised Land. An entire generation of of men
and women and children came up out of the Promised Land.
And all those over the age of 20, none of them got to see the
Promised land except 2 Not even Moses, not even Aaron, not even
Miriam, 2 Joshua and Caleb. Why?
Because they were faithful to trust the Lord.
God rewards our faithfulness. 40 years ago they faithfully trust
the Lord when everybody else around them doubted God.
And now 40 years later, God is rewarding them for their
faithfulness. Brothers, sisters, God doesn't
need to put anything in His calendar. 40 years have gone by.
God doesn't need to put anything in his calendar.
He doesn't need a secretary to remind him.
God remembers every act of faithfulness, and He will reward
us in due time. He sees it and He will reward
it. That's the first piece I want to
mention #2 there is a shared leadership here.
The task of dividing up the land doesn't fall on Eliezer.
It doesn't fall on Joshua. The task falls on 14 men, two
Eliezer and Joshua. Eliezer is the high priest,
Joshua is their new spiritual leader.
And then one man from each tribe.
Total of 14 men that are going to be responsible for dividing
up this land. In the same way, the church
should have shared leadership. No one man is equipped to divide
up all this land. No one man is equipped to lead
an entire church on their own. God has designed the church to
have shared leadership, to have elders, plural in place, even if
that is just two elders. Verse 35, verse 30, chapter 35.
Let's look at chapter 35, verses 1 to 5.
The Lord spoke to Moses and the plains of Moab by the Jordan of
Jericho, saying, Command the people of Israel to give to the
Levites some of the inheritance of their possession as cities
for them to dwell in. And you shall give to the
Levites pasture lands around the cities.
The city shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasture land
shall be for their cattle and for their livestock, and for all
their beast. The pasture lands of the cities
which you shall give to the Levites shall reach from the
wall of the city outward. 1000 cubits all around you shall
measure outside the city, on the east side 2000 cubits and on the
South side 2000 cubits and on the West side 2000 cubits and on
the north side 2000 cubits. The city being in the middle,
This shall belong to them as their pasture land for their
cities. So what's going on here?
If you remember, the Levites are not the Levites are tribe of
Israel. They're one of the 12 tribes and
they're not going to inherit any land.
They won't cast a lot because they don't get any land.
God said, but to Aaron back in chapter 18, you shall have no
inheritance in the land, neither shall you have any portion among
them. Why?
I am your portion. I am your inheritance among the
people of Israel. Now of course that raises the
question. And you know, if I'm a Levite,
I'm like, OK, Lord, I, I'm all for this, but I just have one
question. Where are we going to live?
Where are they going to live? And God commands people to give
to the Levites some of the inheritance of their possession
as cities for them to dwell in. In addition, they're to be given
pasture lands around the cities. They have a city and then they
have pasture lands around the city.
The Levites will own these cities and own these pasture
lands. Now why did God set it up this
way? I'll give you 3 reasons why #1
so that the Levites would be scattered throughout the entire
nation if God had given the Levites just one portion of land
and all of the spiritual leaders would all be in one section.
So those who live way up north, you know, it's like living,
well, some of you do live in Lynnwood or like you like living
in Marysville, right? Like you probably wouldn't come
to this church if you lived in Marysville.
It's too far. Well, if you, if you did, praise
God, but it's too far. So God is going to have the
Levites be scattered all throughout the nation of Israel.
The Levites are charged with teaching the Torah.
And so by having them scattered throughout the whole entire
nation of Israel, every tribe will have access to this
teaching. They'll have access to the
teaching of the Levites. That's the first reason #2 the
Levites were to serve as a picture for how all Israel
should live. In other words, even though it
was good and right for them to inherit the land, when they saw
the Levites living in these cities not inheriting this land,
they were to be reminded this is how we are all to live.
Would that we all considered our soul inheritance to be the Lord,
that I wouldn't cling so tightly to this and say I have to have
this. God is our inheritance #3 Some
of the Levite cities will be cities of refuge.
We'll look at that in just a minute.
I'll explain that in just a minute.
God gives to them the dimensions of the pasture land.
Let me show you a picture of how this would probably work.
The city would be in the middle. It'd be 1000 cubits on each
side, 2000. That's where the 2000 comes from
around. So they would live in the city,
and everything else is pasture land where they would have their
animals and so forth. Now, that's not miles or feet,
that's cubits, right? A cubits about 18 inches, give
or take. So how big is this?
That's about .3 square miles, About 200 acres.
All right, So .3 square miles or about 200 acres, you say?
That's not a lot. If you think about it, if you
add up all the cities, if you count all the cities and
multiply it times this size, the total area assigned to the
Levites came to just 15 square miles.
That's it. 15 square miles, which is only about .1% of the
land of Canaan. The Levites only got .1% of the
land. They really did not have an
inheritance like the other tribes did.
God was their inheritance. The verses 6 to 8 The cities
that you give to the Levites shall be 6 cities of refuge
where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in
addition to them you shall give 42 cities.
All the cities that you give to Levites shall be 48 with their
pasture lands. And As for the cities that you
shall give from the possession of the people of Israel from the
larger tribes you don't take many, from the smaller tribes
you shall take few. Each and proportion to the
inheritance that it inherits shall give of its cities to the
Levites. So All in all the tribes that
the the 1211 tribes, well, I guess, yeah, 12 if you count the
the two halves, they are to give a total of 48 cities to the
Levites, 48. Now six of the 48 are going to
be cities of refuge. You're like, what is that?
What is a city of refuge? This is the city where you shall
permit the manslayer. It's an interesting phrase.
Manslayer to flee. What does that mean?
God explains this and Deuteronomy 19.
He says if anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally in the
past, and then he he says, suppose you and your friend,
suppose Ian and Lucas, I'll use them, they're right there.
Two brothers. Suppose they went to go chop
wood in the forest and Ian's chopping and as he goes to swing
his axe head flies off and it hits Lucas in the head and kills
him. This is the example that God
gives in Deuteronomy 19. At this point Ian has to flee to
a city of refuge. Why?
Because Lucas's family is going to kill Ian.
That's, that's what it is. There is an Avenger.
What? And their custom and their
culture. One of Lucas's relatives,
whoever is his closest Avenger, go.
Well, it's also going to be translated Redeemer, same exact
word as Boaz Kinsman Redeemer, same exact word.
We'll go and avenge Ian's blood, Lucas's blood by killing Ian.
But there's a city of refuge where you can flee.
I'll talk more about this in just a second.
For all the 48 cities, they shall be given in proportion to
the size of each tribe. Larger tribes are going to give
more cities. Smaller tribes will give fewer
cities. Now, how are we to apply this
today? We don't have refuge like this
today. Here's how I think we apply it
today. The church is a city of refuge.
This church, any church that is gospel centered is a city of
refuge. How so?
Well, we have all sinned against God.
We have all sinned against our neighbors.
We are all guilty of death. And of course, our ultimate
refuge is the cross of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus himself has also given us something else.
He's given us the church. Jesus founded the church and he
gave it to us as a gift and it is a place where we simply do
not drive to, nor do we walk to, but we flee to unto the church
where there is an entire city of forgiven sinners.
We step inside this city and we are reminded, I too am guilty,
and I too am forgiven and I am safe.
Look at verse 9 to 15 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when you cross
the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select
cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who
kills any person without intent may flee there.
The city shall that the manslayer may not die until he
stands before the congregation for judgement.
And the cities that that you gives shall be your six cities
of refuge. You shall give three cities
beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to
be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for
refuge for the people of Israel and for the stranger, and for
the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person
without intent may flee there. So God here gives them further
details of how these six cities would work of refuge.
When the Manslayer flees to this city of refuge, he would be safe
from the Avenger. So he flees the city, he's safe
from the Avenger. The Avenger cannot enter this
city, but the man who flees there still has to stand for the
congregation for judgement. Why?
Similar to our context, he's innocent until proven guilty,
right? I mean, you could kill someone
to the city of refuge when like you really did it intentionally.
So he has to stand trial. Three of the cities will be
beyond the Jordan made on the other side.
The three will be on in the land of Canaan.
These cities will be not only for the Israelites.
They will also be for the stranger, for the sojourner,
meaning the foreigner. They will be for everybody.
Look at verse 16 to 21. But if he struck him down with
an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer.
The murderer shall be put to death, and he struck him down
with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died.
He is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to
death, or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could
cause death, and he died, he is a murderer.
The murderer shall be put to death.
The avenger of Bloodshot himself put the murderer to death.
When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at
him lying in wait so that he died, or an enmity struck him
down with his hand so that he died, then he who struck the
blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer.
The avenger of blood shall be shall put the murder to death
when he meets him. So God makes it clear that these
cities of refuge are only for those who commit accidental
death. These are not for those who
commit murder. They're not for those who even
commit manslaughter. He gives several examples of
when this would apply. He says if someone struck
another person with an iron tool or a stone tool or a wooden tool
and the person died, then the event the offender is a
murderer. If someone pushed someone else
out of hatred, or he hurled something at him and he did it
in enmity, he did it with anger and the person died as a result,
the offender is considered a murderer.
And in all these cases, the murderer is to be put to death.
The avenger of blood is the one who is to put him to death,
whoever his closest relative was on his family side.
Now, just as a side note, he's like, why?
Why is he? But that God commanded capital
punishment. The Old Testament remember
capital punishment. God said eye for an eye, tooth
for a tooth. That's how it worked in the old
covenant. Since they shed blood, their
blood is to be shed, but the scissors.
Aren't you glad that we don't live under the old covenant?
How many of us would be dead by now if we did?
I mean, a man was put to death for picking up sticks.
How many of us would be dead if we lived under the old covenant?
The author of Hebrew says that Jesus has become the guarantee
of a better covenant. Hebrews 722.
Look at verse 22 to 29. But if he pushed him suddenly
without enmity, or hurled anything on him, without lying,
and wait, or use a stone that could cause death, and without
seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not
his enemy, and did not seek his harm, then the congregation
shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of
blood. In accordance with these rules,
the Congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of
the Avenger of blood, and the Congregation shall restore him
to a city of refuge to which he has fled, and he shall live in
it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with
holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at
any time go beyond the boundaries of a city of refuge
to which he fled, and the avenger of Blood finds him
outside the boundaries of a city of refuge, and the avenger of
Blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood,
for he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the
high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
And these things shall be for a statute and a rule for you
throughout your generations and all your dwelling places.
I didn't put this in the sermon, but I was talking to Lauren at
lunch this week and I was like, man, you kind of wish that the
high priest was like 80 that year.
And what if he was 20? God clarifies that if a person
kills someone by accident, so someone or hit someone and it
was no enmity, or if he hurled something or dropped something.
If you're staying on a on a on a Ridge and thought it would be
cool to pick up a stone and just throw it off, not realizing
there was a guy down at the bottom and hit him in the head
and killed him, you didn't mean to.
This person still has to flee to the the the City of Refuge.
The congregation will judge between the Manslayer and the
Avenger of Blood in accordance with these rules.
Maybe he's to have a court case and the congregation is to serve
as a jury. The text doesn't say this, but
if the congregation found him to be guilty, then he would
presumably be considered a murderer and he would
consequently die by the Avenger. If they found him guilty, they
would hand him over to the Avenger and the Avenger would
put him to death. But if the congregation found
him innocent, that he was required to stay in the city of
refuge until the death of the high priest, once the high
priest died, then the manslayer could return to the land of his
possession. Now why does he have to wait
until the high priest dies? Well, whenever death occurs,
there must be atonement through another death.
Whenever there is death in the Old Testament, there has to be
atonement through another death. So in this case, the death of
the high priest serves as the manslayer's atonement.
Now he has to stay there until he dies.
The high priest dies. But if he leaves the city of
refuge before the high priest dies, you know what he like one
day is like? You know what I don't like?
The city of Refuge. I got a much better plot of land
back in my hometown. I'm tired of being here.
If he leaves those borders, if the Avenger of Blood finds him
and he decides to kill the Manslayer, he is not guilty.
He is actually allowed to kill him.
In other words, if you leave the city of Refuge before the
designated time, all bets are off.
You kind of wondered, anybody ever do it?
Anybody risk it? Did anybody ever try it in a
totally different context? Shamai did.
I don't know if you guys remember when Shamai, who hurled
insults and dirt at David, and then David told Solomon to make
sure you bring judgement on Solomon, told him you got to
stay in the city. You ever leave the city, you'll
be killed. Shamai was stupid enough to
leave the city and then he died. This reminded me of something I
once read in Tim Keller's book on prayer.
You may have read that if you read that book.
Here's what he writes. At one point my wife urged me to
do something with her we had never been able to muster the
self-discipline to do regularly. She asked me to pray with her
every night. Every night.
She used an illustration that crystallized her feelings very
well. As we remember it, she said
something like this. Imagine you were diagnosed with
such a lethal condition that the doctor told you that you would
die within hours unless you took a particular medicine, a pill,
every night before going to sleep.
Imagine that you were told that you could never miss it or you
would die. Would you forget?
Would you not get around to it? Some nights, no, no, It would be
so crucial that you wouldn't forget.
You would never miss. I got to be honest, I think some
of us might miss. What if we viewed sin like this
though? What if we viewed all sin like
this? The boundary and if I step
outside this boundary, I might die.
There is a boundary and if I step outside this boundary I
might die. What if we viewed sin like that?
The verse 30 to 34 If anyone kills a person, the murderer
shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no
person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a
murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death,
and you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to a city
of refugees, that he may return to dwell in the land before the
death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land
in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no
atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed
in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of
which I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell in the midst of the people
of Israel. God here give some further rules
and statutes. A murderer shall only be put to
death on the evidence of witnesses, plural.
No one can be put to death on the evidence of one witness #2
You shall accept no ransom for the life of the murderer who is
guilty of death. In other words, if if you killed
someone, you couldn't pay a price to get off, right?
If you did, it would just incentivize rich people to
murder. There is no price to pay for
such a a sin. There is no price that you can
pay except the price of death. This is a reminder that there is
no amount of money. There is no amount of good works
that can atone for our sin. No one will stand before Jesus
Christ and before the Father and say, here's what I'll give you
to enter heaven. There is nothing.
What ransom could we pay for our sins?
What amount of money would a holy God accept?
There is none except one. And it was death.
It was the death of His Son. And #3 God says you shall accept
no ransom for him who has fled to a city of refuge.
So in other words, if you even accidentally killed someone, you
went to the city of refuge. The high priest that year was 20
years old when you did this. So now you're looking at a life
of six years, perhaps, of living in a city of refuge.
And you say to Eliezer or whatever, I'll give you $10
million. I do not want to live in the
city of refuge. I'll give you $10 million.
Let me go back to my land. Doesn't work that way.
There is no price you can pay to go back to your land.
There is only one price, and it is the price of the death of the
high priest. That was all that God would
accept. God makes it clear that His land
shall not be defiled with blood, because God dwells in their
midst. Now what does that mean for us?
If that is true of this land, how much more is it true for
this temple? The apostle Paul writes to us.
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing
holiness to completion in the fear of gods in Corinthians 7/1
last chapter. I know I'm moving fast.
Chapter 36. Let's read verses one and four.
So the heads of the father's houses of the clan of the people
of Gilead, the son of Mahir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of
the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and
before the chiefs, the heads of the father's houses of the
people of Israel. They said the Lord commanded my
Lord to give the the land for inheritance by lot to the people
of Israel. And my Lord was commanded by the
Lord to give the inheritance of Zela Fahad, our brothers, to his
daughters. But if they are married to any
of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then
their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our
fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into
which they marry, so will be taken away from the lot of our
inheritance. And when the jubilee of the
people of Israel comes, then the inheritance will be added to the
inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their
inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe.
Now, what's going on here? The Book of Numbers ends with a
very specific test case. The people from the half tribe
of Manasseh, remember the people who lived on the east side, the
half tribe of Manasseh, they're living in on the east side of
the Jordan. They come to Moses with a
problem. I want to pause right there for
a moment. I want to say a word about that.
They come to Moses with a problem.
One of the most helpful things that a church congregation can
do is to come to their leadership with their problems,
with their complaints. And one of the most hurtful
things they can do is to not do that.
No leader can solve a problem or clarify A misunderstanding that
they don't know about. I don't know you have a
complaint. I don't know you have a
misunderstanding unless you tell me, unless you tell Frank or
another leader or pastoring. One of the most helpful things
church members can do is to go to their leadership with their
problems and their complaints. There was clearly a problem with
an earlier law. Moses was not aware of the
problem. He didn't foresee it.
He didn't know about it. But the Klan and Manasseh, they
realized it. The Klan and Manasseh says, hey,
there's a problem. Rather than grow bitter about
it, rather than try to fix it on their own, rather than gossip
about it, bring their problem to Moses.
Now, what was the problem? Here it is.
My Lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of
Zealfahad, our brother, to his daughters.
Now, this was back in chapter 27.
You remember the story. There was a man named Zealfahad.
He had five daughters and no sons, and the father died.
Now in their culture the inheritance would pass to only
sons. But the daughters bring their
complaint to Moses, and they say to Moses, Why should the name of
our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son?
Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.
Moses brings this case before the Lord, and the Lord says the
daughters of Zela Fahad are right.
You shall give them a possession of an inheritance among their
father's brothers, and transfer the air inheritance of their
father to them. Now the clan of Gilead begins
thinking about this, and they notice a problem with this new
law. And here's the problem, They say
if any of these five daughters marry sons from another tribe,
then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of
our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into
which they marry. So let's say number one, who is
from Manasseh, marries a dude from Zebulon.
That inheritance that she has will pass to Zebulon.
That's how it worked. And they said, wait, that way
they recognize, look, we've been given this inheritance divinely.
This is the you said this was ours.
This is. But if these women marry outside
their tribe, the land will be taken from them and it'll pass
to another tribe. Look at verse 5 to 6.
Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the war of
the Lord, saying the tribe of the people of Joseph.
That's Manasseh. Same thing is right.
This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zela
Fahad. Let them marry whom they think
best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of
their father. Now the text doesn't say this,
but it's implied that Moses brought this specific situation
before the Lord. This is confirmed by two phrases
according to the word of the Lord.
And this is what the Lord commands.
So Moses brought this to the Lord.
He doesn't just, you know, shoo him away and be like y'all
figure it out. He doesn't just make up his own
mind. He brings it for the Lord.
Let this be a reminder that all leaders begins on the knees.
Leadership doesn't begin with the mind.
It doesn't begin with the hands. It doesn't begin with the sweat
of the brow. It doesn't begin with the
wrinkles on the face. All leadership begins with the
spiritual calluses of the knees. The Lord commands them.
Let them marry whom they think best.
And what does that mean? Literally?
Let them be the wives of whoever is good in their eyes.
Let them marry whoever they think is good in their eyes.
And this is off topic but related.
After everything I preach, this will be like the one thing you
guys remember. That's how it is my wife and I
hates for years. About whether there is the one.
She would argue yes. I would argue no.
Just for what it's worth, I would give this verse to you for
your consideration. God says they may marry whom
they think is best. As Paul writes about widows, if
her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes,
but only in the Lord. Just for your consideration,
there is one stipulation though. For these daughters they do have
to marry within the clan of the tribe of their father, meaning
they have to marry a Manasanite. So for Zela Fahad's daughters,
they they have to marry someone from the tribe of Manasseh.
Look at verse 7 to 9. The inheritance of the people of
Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another.
For every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to his
inheritance of the tribe of his father's.
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 every one of the people of
Israel may possess the inheritance of his father's.
So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to
another. For each of the tribes of the
people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.
God says that the inheritance of each tribe shall not pass from
one tribe to another. Everyone who shall hold on to
his inheritance that he got from the the casting of lots.
Now This is why if you remember when Ahab asked Nabov for he
just wanted it, he's like, oh, I want that vineyard and he goes
to him and asked for it. And what is Nabal said?
He says the Lord forbid that I shall give you the inheritance
of my father's. God specifies that in this text
that the rule doesn't just apply to Zelafah's daughters.
It applies to any daughter who gets an inheritance and any
tribe, meaning this for all future generations.
If you were a woman who had no brothers and therefore your
father's inheritance went to you and or your sisters, you get to
keep the inheritance. However, if you're going to
marry, you have to marry your own tribe.
You can't marry outside your tribe so that the inheritance
would stay with that specific tribe.
That was the deal. Look at verse 10 to 13.
The daughters of Zealfahad did as the Lord commanded Moses for
Maha, Terza, Hagla, Milka, and Noah.
The daughters of Zealfahad were married to sons of their fathers
brothers. They were married into the clans
of the people of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their
inheritance remained in the tribe of the father's clan.
These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord
commanded Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by
the Jordan at Jericho. Now I want to point out what the
text doesn't say, what the daughters don't say.
That's not fair. I don't really like Manassonite
boys. What if I want to marry someone
from Judah? You know, David's from Judah?
Exactly. From Benjamin.
What if I like Zebulon? I've always been fond of
Zebulonites. That's not the perspective of
these five daughters. The text says the daughters of
Zelfaha did as the Lord commanded Moses.
They submitted themselves to the will of the Lord.
As we close this chapter, I want to leave you with a question,
and it's going to be the same question that we ask in
Worshipping Community. What was the most impactful take
away you had from the Book of Numbers?
It's been about a year, just shy of a year.
What it was the most impactful take away you had from The Book
of Numbers? I'll give you mine.
I'll answer a different one in Worshipping Community.
Mine is this, that when I read the book of Numbers, there's a
page to turn after it. That's mine.
There's another page. Because if I were God, end of
story, I'm done. Our God is faithful and patient
and merciful. Let's pray.