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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. But we're in Numbers chapter 27. And um Over in Hollywood, there is a pecking order. For actors. There are A listers.
A-lister actors. That's the top tier of the acting community. They're globally recognized for their major roles. If you can land them in your movie, You have guaranteed ticket sales because of their name, A-list names. Names like Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep. Or Julia Roberts, several A-list actors. But then, There are B listers. And bee listers are famous. But not as famous.
They are not household names. And they are often Cast chosen for supportive roles in the movie. I would venture to say that most of our Bible knowledge is about A-listers. People like Abraham, Isaac. Jacob Sarah.
Moses Joshua David Samson, Isaiah, Peter, Paul. These are A-listers. We know their names. Many of their names are found in Hebrews chapter 11, that great chapter called the Hall. of fame, of faith.
Men and women who are A listers, household names. But then there are B listers. in the Bible. And B listers are known, they're just not. As known.
Names like Aaron, Jonathan, Barnabas, Silas. These are names not found in Hebrews chapter 11. And then there are even sea listers. in scripture. and largely in this series overlooked.
We have looked and noticed some of these sea listers. Jethro. Baruch. The Shulamite bride in the Song of Solomon, Joseph of Arimathea, Anna, Onosiphoris. They're worth knowing about, we have discovered, because their importance to the main character.
Or their vital importance to the story itself. As we have discovered.
Now, if you've grown up in church, if you've grown up around the Bible, especially a Bible-teaching church. Many of the names that we have talked about in the series may be Familiar to you. But even if you've known about Anna, And Jethro? Even if you've known about Joseph of Arimathea. And even if you have heard of Onosiferus.
The one we covered last week. You probably Know nothing about The Daughters of Zalothahad And those are the ones we look at today. Five daughters of Zelaphahad. For some of you, this is the very first time you even heard that name. Before But did you know that the daughters of Zelophahat are mentioned five?
Times in the Bible. Five times. And four out of those five times. They are mentioned by name, that is, not collectively under the moniker daughters of Zalaphahad. But rather, they are named by their given names in four out of those five places in Scripture.
Now, that's striking. when you consider that we don't know the name of Noah's wife. We don't know the name of Lot's wife. We only know her as Lot's wife. We don't know the name of Solomon's wife, the Shulamite bride.
In the Song of Solomon, we don't know the name of the Canaanite woman. Who approached Jesus in Matthew 15? We don't know. The name of the woman who had an issue of blood. who came to speak to Jesus in Luke chapter 8.
And the woman at the well of Samaria, anybody know her name? Nobody knows her name. It's not given. The five daughters of Zelothahad are given.
Now what's really important about their story Is the legal ruling that follows their request? They come to Moses with a request. What happens during that time? will form legal precedent for the nation of Israel going forward.
So we are in the book of Numbers, and I've asked you to turn to Numbers chapter 27. The book of Numbers is called that because it is a book about. Guess what? Numbers. Exactly.
It is a book of census taking. They tally the number of people. And there are two Different censuses. Would that be sense eye? No, I think it is actually censuses for the plural.
But the first giving of the senses Is a census of those people who left Egypt and went into the wilderness. The second census in this book Are the people about to enter into the promised land? You have kind of like two different groups, one who left Egypt. And then they number again those who are about ready to go into the land of Canaan. The task of this census.
Is to Find out the number of able-bodied men over the age of 20. that they can conscript For the Israeli army. That's the task.
So, chapters 1 through 25 of the book of Numbers, just giving you a little background. Is census number one? Chapter 26 to 36 is census number two.
Now you may be wondering, okay, they took one census. Why did they take another census? Why are there two recorded in this book?
Well What happened to the first generation of Israelites that left Egypt? They died. Right? They're dead. They died in the wilderness.
They died because of their disobedience. You remember the story? 12 spies are sent out. That's also recorded in the book of Numbers. Twelve spies are sent out.
They come back, two of them say, Let's take the land. God has given it to us. Ten of them, however, are freaked out. They don't want to go. There's too many giants in the land.
It's too hard. And so they spread that bad report among the people of Israel. The Israelites are filled with disbelief. And so God makes them wander. For 40 years In Rio Rancho, in the desert.
Sorry, I couldn't resist. In the middle of nowhere.
So they all died. And now a second generation of Israelites. Uh their children are counted in the second part of this book.
Now, let me ask an obvious question about the book of Numbers and census. What's so spiritual about a census that you would have to have that in the Bible? Answer absolutely nothing. Unless your name's in it. If your name is recorded in a book like this, you're pretty stoked.
If I take a group picture right now and put it in the foyer, who's the first person you're going to look for after church in that picture? Yourself.
So, if your name is in the book of Numbers, and that's a book in the Bible. That's pretty that's pretty wonderful. I kind of look at Numbers as this is God's way of saying. I love you, and I love you, and I love you, and I love you, and I love you. I see you, and you.
You're important, you're important, you're important. And so there's a list of numbers of tribes and names of people. Jesus said in Luke 10: Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to your name, but rejoice. That your name is written in heaven.
So as we go through this Set of verses in chapter 27 of Numbers. I want to give it to you in four phases. Four phases. The crisis in the nation. The courage.
of these five women. The confirmation. That is given by God. and a correlation To how it applies to us. Let's begin with the crisis.
Verse one, Numbers 27. Then came the daughters of Zelaphahad. The son of Hephir, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. And these were the names of his daughters. Mala, Noah.
Hoagla. Milkon. And tears are. I think he liked the ah sound a lot. And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders.
And all the congregation by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying, Our father died in the wilderness. But he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord. in company with Korah, but he died in his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son?
Give us a possession. Among our fathers. Brothers.
Now first of all, just Just check out the names here. Right, Zalaphahad, and then his five daughters.
So I'm guessing if you're looking for Bible names for your children. You're not going to pick any of these. which would be a smart move. It's sort of hard for us in America. Uh to relate to this little story here because when it comes to land Land ownership, we can buy and sell land privately.
We buy a parcel of land, we get it zoned for a certain project, and we build according to the zoning laws. In Antiquity, it was different, especially in the Old Testament. And giving of the land to the children of Israel, it was all by tribal allotment. The land was tied to a mandate from God. God gave the land of Canaan.
which is now the land of Israel, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel, as a Perpetual covenant. An eternal covenant. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Everyday friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's Word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more.
But the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ. That's the heart of Pastor Skip's resource, Expound Colossians. As he walks verse by verse through this powerful New Testament book, you'll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in him. We'll send Expound Colossians as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.
Now, let's return to today's teaching. In Leviticus 25, the Lord said, the land is mine. And it shall not be sold. permanently.
So, the land was to stay within the tribal allotments that would be given when they got into the land.
So, God owns the land, God owns the people, and God owned the people who owned the land. But It was imperative. that all the people had some of the land. Because after all, it was called the Promised Land. And it's not the promised land if you don't have some of the land that was promised.
So it was important that every tribe Every clan within that tribe, every family within that clan within that tribe, had some portion of the land.
However, the tribal allotments were reckoned among the sons that were born into the families.
Well, the problem in chapter 27 is that the problem is that the problem is that the is what happens if you have no sons. What happens if there's only girls born in the family, daughters born in the family. And that's what is happening here. Zalapha had, can I just call him Mr. Z from now on?
Mr. Z dies. He has no sons. He has five daughters. They are afraid that his name is going to be blotted out.
Nobody's going to remember him. Because he has no sons.
So poof, gone. No mister Z any more. In ancient cultures, In most all ancient cultures, Women were considered property of men. They were the possession of men.
Now, that is not the teaching of the Bible, by the way. In Genesis, Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called woman, because she was taken out of man, so they became partners. in life together. That is the biblical teaching.
But still today In many places in the world. It is not that way. in places like India. in many countries in Africa. In lots of countries in the Middle East, girls are sold.
for forced marriages. Especially countries under Muslim-majority rule under Sharia law. In many Muslim countries, women are illiterate by design, very few enter the workforce. Even in Judaism, in ancient Judaism, the prayer was: God, I thank you that I'm not a. slave, a Gentile, or a woman.
And the strict rabbis were forbidden to greet women. As they saw them in the streets, they couldn't even speak to their wives and daughters publicly. It was a broader push for modesty, but what ended up happening is women felt very, very isolated. in those cultures. And uh I don't know if you know this or not, but in the first century Judaism, so around the time of Christ.
There was even a group of Pharisees, you know about the Pharisees, right? A group of Pharisees called Bruised and Bleeding Pharisees. You know why they were called that? Because if they were walking down the street and they saw a woman coming, they would close their eyes.
So they wouldn't have any bad immoral thoughts.
Well, if you close your eyes while you're walking down the street, you're going to become a... Bruised and bleeding Pharisee, you're going to hit a wall or a goat or something. And that is what ended up happening. They're mentioned, by the way, in both the Mishnah and the Talmud, bruised and bleeding Pharisees.
So you have this isolation of Women in ancient societies. By the time you open the New Testament, there's a breaking of those barriers. And you read something in the first book of the New Testament that is absolutely groundbreaking. You have a genealogy of Jesus Christ, and you have four women mentioned in an ancient genealogy, unheard of. Unheard of.
One of them was even Rahab the harlot. In the genealogy of the Son of God. Women's liberation did not begin in the 1960s under Gloria Steinem. It began 2,000 years ago under Jesus Christ. He brought women into his circle.
He brought women into his genealogy. He had women on his ministry team. There were women at the cross. There were women at the tomb. He spoke to the Samaritan woman.
A Syrophoenician woman was treated with compassion by him. The woman caught in adultery. was forgiven by him, etcetera. Jesus obviously did not care about the traditions. or the moral constraints of the society.
He Let love and compassion triumph over all of that. And it's sort of summed up by Paul. Right? In Galatians chapter 3. When Paul said, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So The crisis. is sets up the story.
Now, the second phase is the courage of these women.
So go back to verse 3. And here's their spiel to Moses. Our father died in the wilderness. But they quickly say, But he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord in the company with Korah. But he died in his own sin.
And he had no sons. Why should the name of our Father be removed from among his family? Because he had no son, give us a possession among our fathers. Brothers These five gals Approach Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leadership of Israel. to deal with a problem.
And they come to the entrance of the tabernacle. You remember the tabernacle, that sacred place? And it says here, verse two: they stood. Before Moses, and Eleazar. The language there suggests this is a public Formal Meeting.
It is sort of like coming to Congress. or the Supreme Court or to the White House or Perhaps having a large gathering at the DC, the mall out there in Washington, DC.
Okay. They come with a bold request.
Something never done before in Israel. Hoping that this will become a landmark case and it will become codified. In Jewish law, which it actually does.
Now, just remember, I'm taking you back a few studies in this Overlook series. Remember, we talked about Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses? Remember what Jethro told Moses to do? He said, Moses, you're meeting people all day long. You can't handle all these people.
They can't handle you. You're going to get tired. They're going to get tired of you.
So get 70 men. who can oversee all these little petty disputes. and they'll bring the hard cases to you, right? This is one of those hard cases. Maybe they met with an intermediate leader of one of the 70, but now they're taking this directly to Moses for Moses to get God's.
Well Now I think you need to know this because it sort of stuck out to me as I was studying this, and I'm reading commentaries, I'm reading articles, and I'm going online.
Some people Want to make these five women into the first feminists. And I can't tell you how many articles. And books that have kind of cast them as the first feminists. One source Says This is a defining and revolutionary moment of early women's rights and civil courage. Another source of the source.
Said this made the first crack to shatter the glass ceiling. In ancient Israel, that phrase glass ceiling, breaking the ceiling, comes from the 1970s. Were the idea of breaking barriers that would prevent women from advancing in society, breaking the glass ceiling.
So that's what some are saying about this.
Well That's not true. After all. They're concerned with what? They're concerned with the name of their Father So this is not an issue of women's rights, this is an issue of family rights. This is an issue of our Father's name and our Father's place.
going forward in Israel. And did you notice that these women bring up the issue that dad wasn't a part of Cora's? Gig. His rebellion.
Now let me refresh your memory on that. That's back in Numbers chapter 16. There was a guy named Korah who didn't like Moses all that much, and he got 250 other rebels with him to go against and challenge Moses' leadership. And you remember, God had a response. God grounded them.
He opened up the ground and swallowed them whole. He grounded them. And so she wants to point out, or these five gals, He wasn't a part of that, but notice they say he died in his own. Sin. And all that means is, he was a part of the normal sinful generation that all died in the desert.
They all died. Because of their disbelief, they wandered for 40 years. All of that generation, except two. Joshua and Caleb, they all died. He was just a part of that natural.
generational death. He died in his own sin. But we get something from this text. We infer that the rebels with Korah, Korah and his 250. not only lost their lives in the judgment, But that there.
Uh their survivors probably lost the land. That would have been given to them in Israel as well.
So, feminist, no. Courageous, yes. Very courageous, unafraid to stand up for the right reason, and willing to challenge the status quo with a holy courage. for their own future's sake. Ernest Hemingway said, Courage is grace under pressure.
We are seeing grace under pressure. Actually, I like it put this way: courage is just fear that has said its prayers. You might go into a situation and you are fearful. That's okay. Courage is where you harness that.
Courage is just fear that has said its prayers. Uh Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Now, here's how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that's coming next month. Have you ever wanted to understand the Bible better but felt overwhelmed by where to begin? In Soaring Above It All, Pastor Skip Heitig guides you through the big picture of scripture in short daily devotionals designed to help you better understand God's word. Pre-order your copy of Soaring Above It All today, wherever books are sold. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's word with people around the world through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching.
And this month, when you give $50 or more, we'll send you Expound Colossians as our thanks. In this five-message study, Pastor Skip explores one of the Bible's clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Gift today at connectwithgift.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzigsig. Make a connection!
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