Numbers 27

THE DAUGHTERS OF Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. They approached 2the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly, and said, 3“Our father died in the desert. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. 4Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

5So Moses brought their case before the LORD 6and the LORD said to him, 7“What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and turn their father’s inheritance over to them.

8“Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. 9If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. 10If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.’”

12Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes.” (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

15Moses said to the LORD, 16“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind, appoint a man over this community 17to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

18So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”

22Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses.

Original Meaning

SOME WOULD CALL working out the details of living in land before you conquer it “counting your chickens before they’re hatched.” In the book of Numbers, however, this is faith. As the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land, Numbers 27 deals with two matters of transfer from older persons excluded from Canaan (Zelophehad, Moses) to persons of relatively younger generations who will enter and possess the land (Zelophehad’s daughters, Joshua).1

Transfer of inheritance from Zelophehad to his daughters. Inheritance of the Promised Land is to be according to male population (26:52–56), but “Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons; he had only daughters” (26:33). His daughters recognize that unlike other members of his unfaithful generation, who died in the desert, the late Zelophehad will be additionally punished by receiving no share in Canaan to preserve memory of his name through an inheritance passed down his line of descendants (27:3–4).2

In biblical days, justice was for the dead as well as the living (cf. 2 Sam. 21). Thus, Zelophehad’s daughters seek to redress the inequity by asking to inherit their father’s possession of landed property (27:1–4). Having no legal precedent on which to base an answer to the young women, Moses turns to the Lord, who confirms that Zelophehad’s daughters are right (27:5–7). As on other occasions when Moses sought divine legal counsel, God gives him permanent legislation surrounding the case in question (cf. Lev. 24:10–23; Num. 9:6–13). In this instance, the Lord establishes the hierarchical succession of relatives who will inherit a man’s ancestral real estate in the event that he has no son (27:8–11): his daughter(s), his brothers (if no daughter), his uncles (if no brother), and his nearest clan relative (if no uncle).

We will hear of the daughters of Zelophehad again when chapter 36 revisits them with the question: What happens to their inheritance when they marry?

Transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua. Aaron has already died because of his role at the waters of Meribah (20:23–29; cf. 20:7–12). Now Moses’ turn is approaching. Unlike the Israelites who died in the desert, including Zelophehad, Moses will at least be permitted to see the Promised Land from the top of a mountain before he dies (27:12–14; cf. 14:23). Deuteronomy 3:27 and 34:1 identifies the place as Pisgah, the same as the name of the mountain where Balaam uttered his second oracle (Num. 23:14–24), which includes the words: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind” (23:19). In spite of Moses’ pleading, God does not change his mind about forbidding Moses to enter the Promised Land (Deut 3:23–28).

With utmost gravity, Moses appeals to “the LORD, the God of the spirits of all mankind,”3 to appoint a good “shepherd” in his place (Num. 27:15–17). The Lord responds by identifying Joshua as “a man in whom is the spirit” and instructing Moses to commission this worthy successor (27:18–21; cf. Deut. 3:28). It is not necessary for God to transfer his Spirit to Joshua as he had to the seventy elders (Num. 11:16–17, 24–26), because Joshua already has the Spirit. This kind of nonhereditary Spirit-qualified leadership makes Israel distinct from the time of Moses until that of Samuel, when establishment of the monarchy makes Israel like other nations.4

Joshua cannot talk with the Lord face-to-face as Moses has (cf. Ex. 33:11; Num. 12:8; Deut. 34:10). However, he is to ascertain God’s will through the Urim (and Thummim, understood) worn by the high priest. In accordance with this guidance he will command the Israelites what to do (Num. 27:21; cf. Ex. 28:30).

Transfer of power requires only a simple, straightforward, but elegant ceremony in which Moses leans his hand on Joshua and then commissions (lit., “commanded/charged”) him while he stands before Eleazar the high priest and the whole assembly (Num. 27:18–23).5 By commissioning Joshua to take some of his majesty/authority (hod; 27:20), Moses shares leadership while he is still alive in order to ensure a smooth transition when he dies.6 Not until Deuteronomy 34 does Moses climb to the top of Pisgah in order to view the Promised Land and die there. Most of Deuteronomy consists of Moses’ final speeches to the Israelites before God calls him up a mountain for the last time (cf. 32:48–51).

Bridging Contexts

NO DOUBLE JEOPARDY. In the divine legislation responding to Zelophehad’s daughters, we see concern for preserving property ownership within a given family. The aim intersects with that of the Jubilee legislation in Leviticus 25: to ensure that all Israelites will have opportunity to own land on which to support themselves through agriculture.

It is tempting to discuss women’s rights here, but we should beware of importing our twenty-first century agendas into the second millennium B.C. It is true that Zelophehad’s daughters seek social justice, but it is not to assert their rights as women. Rather, it is concern for their deceased father (27:4). Why should he be especially punished by having his name disappear when he was no more sinful than others of his generation (cf. 27:3)?

While the solution of Zelophehad’s daughters will elevate their status to that of property owners, this is only to bridge the gap in the male line for the sake of their father’s honor. They do not need to inherit property for their own survival and prosperity because they will be supported by the families into which they marry (cf. ch. 36).

The fact that the Lord grants the request of Zelophehad’s daughters demonstrates his justice. Although Zelophehad was personally excluded from the Promised Land because of his sin, he would not be unduly punished by the additional loss of property attached to his name, which would preserve memory of him. Even for the faithless generation that refused to accept the grant of territory that God offered, there was redemption through their children. There would be no double jeopardy or insult added to injury. The cup of justice was full, but it did not overflow.

Leaders of spirit. As Moses’ longtime servant and assistant, Joshua is intimately acquainted with his work (11:28). Centuries later, Elisha serves a similar apprenticeship with Elijah (1 Kings 19:21). However, there is more to equipping a person for greatness than working for a great man, as shown by the example of Gehazi, Elisha’s greedy and dishonest servant (2 Kings 5:20–27). For the Lord, the crucial qualification is to be a person “in whom is the spirit” (Num. 27:18). Pharaoh recognized in Joseph the same factor, which uniquely qualified him for one of the most breathtaking promotions in history: from slave and prisoner to prime minister (Gen. 41:38–44).

The simple procedure by which Moses commissions Joshua is to acknowledge and proclaim God’s choice of a new leader so that the Israelites will know to follow him (27:18–20). But no amount of pomp and ceremony can substitute for what Joshua already has as “a man in whom is the spirit.”

When the early Christian community needed administrative leaders (deacons), they sought people who were “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). With such qualifications from God, human ceremony could be simple, as in the case of Joshua: “They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them” (6:6). Only with the Spirit of God internalized can a person be a good “shepherd,” an unselfish servant leader. This is because the love that motivates such devoted service is only available to human beings as a gift from God through his Holy Spirit (cf. Rom. 5:5).

Contemporary Significance

SHEPHERDING IS TRICKIER than it looks. Arab boys on the hills by Bethlehem make it look easy, but it is not so easy for people who are more accustomed to obedient machines than to living creatures with minds of their own. Having heard that it doesn’t work to drive sheep, I learned my lesson the hard way when I accidentally left a sheep pen open and was horrified to see that one adventurous animal had gotten out and the rest had followed it with remarkable speed. Panicking, I tried to drive them back in. Rather than going where they were supposed to, they scattered in every other direction. Defeated, I was forced to find the owner, sheepishly admit my negligence, and watch as he called them back to their pen.

People are a lot like sheep. The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous discovered that drinkers

would not take pressure in any form. . . . They always had to be led, not pushed. . . . In other respects, too, we found we had to make haste slowly. When first contacted, most alcoholics just wanted to find sobriety, nothing else. They clung to their other defects, letting go only little by little. They simply did not want to get “too good too soon.”7

Like sheep, people need someone they trust to lead them rather than to drive them. In short, they need a “shepherd.” If they are “like sheep without a shepherd” (27:17), they scatter and are defenseless (1 Kings 22:17; 2 Chron. 18:16; Isa. 13:14). When Jesus saw crowds, “he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36).

Not any shepherd will do. Sheep need a good shepherd who protects his sheep with his life, not a cowardly “hireling,” a “sheep in sheep’s clothing,”8 who cares primarily about protecting himself (John 10:11–13). Nor do they need a shepherd who exploits and scatters them (Jer. 23:1; Ezek. 34:1–8). One way to scatter sheep is the way I did—simply by attempting to drive them.

Being a good shepherd or herdsman can demand toughness and courage, involving exposure to all kinds of discomforts, irritations, and perils (Gen. 31:40; 1 Sam. 17:34–35). Being a good shepherd of human beings9 is no less challenging. It requires toughness and humility, courage and ability to lead rather than drive. Moses’ years with woolly flocks were peaceful compared to the four decades he spent shepherding Israelites through the desert toward the Promised Land. Had he not possessed a character of granite and at the same time a gentle humility surpassing that of all others (Num. 12:3), history would have been a lot different.

Despite the unprecedented exaltation of his role, Moses set a paradigm of restraint for later leaders by resisting the temptation to become so high and mighty that he ceased caring about each individual member of his people, no matter how lowly. He would have agreed with Dr. Seuss, whose delightful children’s story Horton Hears a Who! contains the gem of wisdom: “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”10 In Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, Dr. Seuss expresses a similar idea:

I know, up on top

you are seeing great sights,

But down at the bottom

we, too, should have rights.11

It is not surprising that Jacob/Israel, after whom the nation was named, Moses, who brought the Israelites to independent nationhood under God, and David, who led them to completion of the Conquest, were all shepherds. There is a fourth “shepherd” who joins them on the biblical Mount Rushmore. Although not a shepherd of literal sheep as they were, he said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

Like Moses, Christ offered to give up everything for his people (Ex. 32:32). But he went beyond Moses, becoming a “Lamb” and dying for them (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Peter 1:19; Rev. 5:6; cf. Isa. 53:7). This is the ultimate leadership it takes to deliver our race of slaves to freedom from sin and all its evil consequences, including mortality. The least we can do is to follow him.