Bamidbar (Numbers)
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Meaning
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Day Three
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Haftara
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B'rit Hadashah
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1 Our Father, we receive Your Words and hide Your commandments with us; 2 we incline our ear unto wisdom, and apply our hearts to understanding; 3 We cry after knowledge and lift up our voices for understanding; 4 we seek it as silver; and search for it as for hidden treasures; 5 We declare that we shall understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Declaration of Proverbs 2:1-5
Numbers 26:56-27:11 (NASB)1
56 "According to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups." 57 These are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. 58 These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. Kohath became the father of Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam. 60 To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD. 62 Those who were numbered of them were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel since no inheritance was given to them among the sons of Israel. 63 These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness." And not a man was left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 27 Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, came near; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah and Hoglah and Milcah and Tirzah. 2 They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and all the congregation, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness, yet he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.” 5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. 8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. 9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. 10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. 11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. 8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. 9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. 10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. 11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
63 These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. 64 But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 65 For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. Numbers 26:63-65. Indeed! Not a man was left from the first census after the incident of the ten spies! Only Caleb and Joshua were still living from that company of men who went out. They were also the only ones left from the census at Sinai. God was true to His word. He said that all those affected by that viral FEAR who then allowed it to instill in them a whopping case of unbelief would all die in the desert. And so they did. It would indeed, be their children entering into the land of promise. The general population and the tribe of Levi were always counted separately because the tribe of Levi was not given land for inheritance. They would be living throughout the land in all the territories of the tribes because of their calling in Israel.
Enter the daughters of Zelophehad.
1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. Numbers 27:1.
Did you notice what a fine genealogical report is in that first statement? Did you see the five generations from Manasseh here? The genealogist in me screams!
Enter the daughters of Zelophehad.
1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. Numbers 27:1.
Did you notice what a fine genealogical report is in that first statement? Did you see the five generations from Manasseh here? The genealogist in me screams!
Yosef/Joseph
Manasseh
Machir
Gilead
Hepher
Zelophehad
Mahlah Noah Hoglah Milcah and Tirzah
Manasseh
Machir
Gilead
Hepher
Zelophehad
Mahlah Noah Hoglah Milcah and Tirzah
Zelophehad was only one descendant of Manasseh. Even with those five girls, there would have been many more descendants of Manasseh on their maternal sides. Not counting all the other sons and daughters from Machir, Gilead, and Hepher it is a treasure trove here. It made me wonder how many sons and daughters there could be from Manasseh in the world today? They might be settled all over this globe! They may be members of various countries and religions, and not knowing their exact origin, yet they have the blood of Yosef in their DNA! When one considers the origin of Yosef/Joseph, it is amazing. I wonder if when all this mess on earth is over, there will be some of us who will be able to trace our lineage straight back to Avraham. On the other side of eternity, it won't matter that countless of us are adopted. Bloodlines are important here but will they be later? A descendant of Paul/Sha'ul may have given us a clue in one of his letters.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:39.
But back to the daughters of Zelophehad. They were fully aware of the inheritance regulations in place and they were courageous enough to come forward to inquire about their future.
2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. Numbers 27:2-4.
These women were careful to say that their father was righteous in that he wasn't in the company of the rebel, Korach. I wonder if Yah was impressed by their courage to inquire? They respectfully asked without rancor, which is a bitter deep-seated ill will. The inquiry was taken into consideration and the reply came, you could say, right from 'the top'.
6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. Numbers 27:6-7.
As a result, new inheritance laws were enacted in Israel for women. They would inherit if there were no brothers among them. Imagine that! The LIVING God said that they “spoke right”! Abba loves His sons but he also loves His daughters! Yes. It was a patriarchal society in the early eons of this planet. In many cultures, women were and still are, treated badly. If you study up on how Islam treats their female population, you might be shocked. Women in Victorian England who had inherited from their father or their husband who had died, could be comfortable in their wealth until they married or remarried. Once the ink was dry on the certificate, all the wealth of the wife was transferred to the husband. Many Victorian age women lost their inheritance when scoundrels married them and then later threw them out of the house. They had no legal recourse! It was worse if they had children. Then they were penniless AND homeless with no way to raise those wee ones.
SPOILER ALERT! We’ll discover by and by that for the land to remain in the family, the five daughters would marry cousins from their father’s brothers. I’ve heard folks say that women “in the Bible” or women “in Israel” were treated like chattel and had next to no ‘rights’ but these five sisters prove the loving kindness and fairness of our Father God. In reality, it was men’s society that treated women as they did (and do now). Sometimes, it is history that corrects our hindsight of what ‘once was’ and sometimes it is Scripture!
I understand many believers aren’t interested in all this number crunching, but one can get hooked on it. Had I never been bitten by that genealogical ‘bug’ back in the late nineties when I found the history of my ancestral village on the Internet I might never have acquired this fascination with the numbering in Torah. That night I was off from work and was aimlessly surfing the Net and literally stumbled onto a website that a second cousin whom I've never met, is webmaster. Then I have to question: “aimless surfing?” Was it truly aimless? Or was I set up by The Father God Who knew it would eventually bring me further into a deeper knowledge of my ancestry and appreciation of His Word? If others look at it through the eyes of drudgery and compare reading it to the taste of eating sawdust, then my Father God has taught me how to appreciate the taste of sawdust! And that has a lot to do with “appetites”…but that’s another Bible study.
In all my years of education in Scripture, I never knew that our Messiah was echoing the Old Testament when He was tempted by the enemy, until I read Torah daily. This is yet another connection between the Testaments that tells us the importance of both and cannot be dismissed or separated by men!
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:39.
But back to the daughters of Zelophehad. They were fully aware of the inheritance regulations in place and they were courageous enough to come forward to inquire about their future.
2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. Numbers 27:2-4.
These women were careful to say that their father was righteous in that he wasn't in the company of the rebel, Korach. I wonder if Yah was impressed by their courage to inquire? They respectfully asked without rancor, which is a bitter deep-seated ill will. The inquiry was taken into consideration and the reply came, you could say, right from 'the top'.
6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. Numbers 27:6-7.
As a result, new inheritance laws were enacted in Israel for women. They would inherit if there were no brothers among them. Imagine that! The LIVING God said that they “spoke right”! Abba loves His sons but he also loves His daughters! Yes. It was a patriarchal society in the early eons of this planet. In many cultures, women were and still are, treated badly. If you study up on how Islam treats their female population, you might be shocked. Women in Victorian England who had inherited from their father or their husband who had died, could be comfortable in their wealth until they married or remarried. Once the ink was dry on the certificate, all the wealth of the wife was transferred to the husband. Many Victorian age women lost their inheritance when scoundrels married them and then later threw them out of the house. They had no legal recourse! It was worse if they had children. Then they were penniless AND homeless with no way to raise those wee ones.
SPOILER ALERT! We’ll discover by and by that for the land to remain in the family, the five daughters would marry cousins from their father’s brothers. I’ve heard folks say that women “in the Bible” or women “in Israel” were treated like chattel and had next to no ‘rights’ but these five sisters prove the loving kindness and fairness of our Father God. In reality, it was men’s society that treated women as they did (and do now). Sometimes, it is history that corrects our hindsight of what ‘once was’ and sometimes it is Scripture!
I understand many believers aren’t interested in all this number crunching, but one can get hooked on it. Had I never been bitten by that genealogical ‘bug’ back in the late nineties when I found the history of my ancestral village on the Internet I might never have acquired this fascination with the numbering in Torah. That night I was off from work and was aimlessly surfing the Net and literally stumbled onto a website that a second cousin whom I've never met, is webmaster. Then I have to question: “aimless surfing?” Was it truly aimless? Or was I set up by The Father God Who knew it would eventually bring me further into a deeper knowledge of my ancestry and appreciation of His Word? If others look at it through the eyes of drudgery and compare reading it to the taste of eating sawdust, then my Father God has taught me how to appreciate the taste of sawdust! And that has a lot to do with “appetites”…but that’s another Bible study.
In all my years of education in Scripture, I never knew that our Messiah was echoing the Old Testament when He was tempted by the enemy, until I read Torah daily. This is yet another connection between the Testaments that tells us the importance of both and cannot be dismissed or separated by men!
3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Deuteronomy 8:3.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4.
1 NASB www.lockman.org for daily reading and KJV in commentary unless otherwise specified
*The Torah and Haftara chapter/verse numbering taken from the Hebrew Bible (Christian-published chapter/verse numbering indicated within parenthesis)
*The Torah and Haftara chapter/verse numbering taken from the Hebrew Bible (Christian-published chapter/verse numbering indicated within parenthesis)
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