Land Inheritance
Here in Numbers 27 we
have two non-related stories. The first
of which is the issue of inheritance when there is no male heir. Before I go too far, I need to remind
everyone why this is not some chauvinistic law.
Ultimately it is not a chauvinistic law.
All children received an inheritance out of the father’s possession, not
just the males. We often forget this
fact. Women would receive a dowry, which
is simply a fancy word for an inheritance given at the time of marriage. Men typically received their inheritance
after becoming an adult male – or more typically near the death of their
father. Women received their inheritance
when they became an adult female – most typically when they were married.
So that puts the idea
of chauvinism behind us as we are concerned with this passage and frees us to
get to the real issue: the perpetuation of the tribes. Here is what is at stake. If this man who doesn’t have sons dies, who
gets to control the land? This is a
fundamental point, because remember that under the Jubilee scenario all land
reverts back to its designated owner every 50 years. So we are talking about true perpetuation of
the land. These daughters are making
sure that their offspring for generations to come will have land capable of
supporting them.
With the law that is
made, we have the understanding that this will happen. If there is no legitimate offspring, the land
ultimately goes to the closest kinsman.
The balance of the land will be held.
There will be no way for a few small people to gain majority control
over all of the land and exploit the rest of the rest of the Hebrew
people. The land will stay in control of
the many, not the few.
God truly is looking
out for the orphan and the widow, here.
You know humanity as well as I do.
You know that humanity will always be persecuted by the few who desire
to take advantage over the many. These
may be the rich, the elite, the silver-tongued, or the political giants. And yes, people can fit more than one
category. But in human terms, there will
always be the few who desire to take advantage of the many. What God is setting forth here is an ordinance
that will help to curb that flawed human tendency.
Joshua
The second story that
we have here is the succession of Joshua.
The key for this passage seems to be in this concept of succession, not
replacement. As we will see, Moses will
continue to lead the people until he dies. To attest to this we still have to read
Deuteronomy before we even get to Joshua!
Moses is told to give some – not all – of his power to govern the people
to Joshua. Joshua is the
leader-apparent, but not yet the leader.
There are a few
reasons why this is important. First, In
spite of God’s prohibition against Moses going into the Promised Land, Moses
was a great leader. He made a few
mistakes, sure. But he talked
face-to-face with God. Not too many
people in the history of the world can claim to have done that. Miracles happened at his touch. Not too many people did that, either. So it is fitting that Moses continues to lead
these people until he dies.
From Joshua’s
perspective, it is also good for him. He
has a great mentor. He can learn a lot
from Moses.
Far too many people
want to jump too quickly at being the leader and stop being the mentee. I know this is very too true for me. I wish I had a few years to go back and be
the mentee again. Being second in
command is not a bad place to be, and we often forget that in life. Being first in command gets all the glory,
but it also means that when the leader has to learn lessons the lessons are
more costly for the whole community. The
more lessons a person can learn before they become the leader, the less
difficult the lessons are for the whole community.
I think it is good
for Joshua to be appointed, but not assume full command here. Let the skilled and capable among the
leadership lead while those who are around them continue to learn and
grow. Their time to lead will be soon
enough, and the more they learn before they are thrust into leadership the
better their leadership will be.
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