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Scripture Reading: Num. 27:1-11
In 27:1-11 we have the statute of judgment for the women's inheriting of the land.
The daughters of Zelophehad said, "Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers" (v. 4). According to God's ordination, only males had the right of inheritance. Here, however, some females requested an inheritance. As we will see, God honored their request.
Verses 1 through 4 speak of the request of the daughters of Zelophehad. They were of one of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph. This is a type related to life and the fellowship of life. The fact that the daughters of Zelophehad were of one of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph indicates that they were in the life and the fellowship of life of the proper origin.
In the Bible, inheritance is determined according to genealogy. A genealogy is a matter of life, and this life is related to tribes, houses, and families. The basic concept in the typology in Numbers 27 is concerned with life. Everything related to us in Christ involves the life which we have received in Him.
Life has its source, and life is received by us in a certain way, through a particular channel. The way we receive the divine life is very important. As believers in Christ, we all have received the divine life, but there is a difference in the means or the channel through which we have received this life. The means of receiving the divine life involves the matter of our spiritual family.
According to the type in Numbers, which is concerned with both the source of life and the means of receiving life, who we are and what we will be depend on our family. It matters a great deal through whom we were saved and received the Lord Jesus, for the Christian life with its activities depends on the source of life and the channel of life. This is the reason we are told, in the type, that the numbering of the people was carried out according to the houses of their fathers. This is a basic requirement. Anyone who did not have a house, even though he was a genuine Israelite, did not have a genealogy and was not qualified to be numbered. In order to be numbered, an Israelite had to have a strong standing related to the source of life and the channel of life. The principle is the same with us today. We must have a strong standing in the source of life, and we must have a proper channel for the receiving of the divine life. This channel is the means by which we came into existence in the divine life.
The request in 27:4 was made by five females. The females signify the weaker ones. In the sight of God, we all are females. This means that in ourselves we all are the weaker ones, even the weakest ones. Only Christ is the strong One.
Spiritually speaking, in the entire universe there is only one male — God embodied in Christ. Christ, therefore, is the unique Husband. All the believers, including the brothers, are females. In God's creation I am a male, but in God's new creation I am a female. The five daughters of Zelophehad typify us, and their request is for us all.
The daughters of Zelophehad had the desire to possess their father's inheritance. In typology, this signifies having regard for the inheritance — grace — given by God; it signifies the desire to inherit God's grace, to inherit Christ as the grace given to us by God. We all need to learn to make this kind of request. The desire to possess Christ as our enjoyment is marvelous, and it is pleasing to God.
Apparently the daughters of Zelophehad were requesting something for themselves. (God is not pleased with a request that is for ourselves.) Actually, they were requesting something for the sake of their father, who had daughters but no sons (v. 4a). In the law there was a statute which said that if a married man died without a male heir, his inheritance with his wife was to go to his brother, who, with the wife, was to beget a son for the first brother. A son born of the first brother's wife through the second brother was to bear the name not of the second brother but of the first, so that the name of the first brother would remain among the people of God. In this way there would be a descendant for the remembrance of the first brother. The concern of the daughters of Zelophehad was that their father's name would be taken away from his family and that his inheritance would go to someone outside his family. They wanted their father's inheritance to go to someone born for him that his name may be remembered among his tribe. Their request, therefore, was not for themselves but for their father. Making a request based on life, they wanted the name of their father to be remembered.
This kind of request is pleasing to God. He does not want any of His children to be without a descendant. Rather, He wants His children to remain in the history of His people. If one of His people does not have a descendant, He likes to find a way to provide a descendant for him so that he will be remembered in the history of His people.
When Moses brought the case of the five daughters of Zelophehad before Jehovah (v. 5), He said to him, "The daughters of Zelophehad speak rightly; you shall surely give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them" (v. 7). The Lord seemed to be saying, "Their request is right. It is pleasing to Me. I do not like to see one of My people dying without having a remembrance in the history of My people. The request of the five daughters is according to My desire."
The five daughters were given an inheritance among their father's brothers. There was, however, a binding term. This term, or condition, was that the daughters were not to marry outside their tribe (36:2-3, 6-7).
We may apply the type in 27:1-11 to our situation as believers today. In Christ we have the right to inherit the divine things. We need to request our rightful inheritance, and God will approve this request. However, there is a condition that we must fulfill: we must not marry outside our "tribe." Our tribe today is Christ and the church.
In verses 8 through 11 we have further aspects of this statute of judgment. If an Israelite died and had no sons, his inheritance would be given to his daughters (v. 8). If he had no daughters, his inheritance would be given to his brothers (v. 9). If he had no brothers, his inheritance would be given to his father's brothers (v. 10). If his father had no brothers, his inheritance would be given to his nearest relative of his family (v. 11). This typifies that the possession of the enjoyment of Christ must be based on our relationship in life.
The kind of relationship in life we have will determine the kind of enjoyment we will possess. This means that the degree of our relationship in life determines the amount of our enjoyment of Christ.
The enjoyment of Christ may differ both in kind and in degree. If our experience of life is high, then our enjoyment of Christ will also be high. But if our experience of life is low and very limited, then our enjoyment of Christ will also be low and very limited. The enjoyment of Christ is measured by our experience of life.
This portion of Numbers concerning the statute of judgment for the women's inheriting of the land actually concerns Christ and the church. Perhaps you are wondering where we can see Christ and the church in 27:1-11. These verses often refer to the inheritance, meaning the inheritance of the good land. In typology, the good land signifies Christ, and the inheritance of the good land signifies our enjoyment of Christ. Hence, in these verses Christ is typified by the inheritance of the good land. But where do we see the church? The church is signified by the father's house, which is mentioned in 26:2 and which is implied and assumed in chapter twenty-seven. The church today is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), and we who once were strangers and sojourners are now "members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). We all are members of our Father's house. As members of the household of God, we have the real source of life and the channels, the means, of receiving life.
Although we have the right to enjoy the inheritance of the good land, in order to execute this right, we need the house and the channels. Apart from the house and the channels, we cannot exercise our right of inheritance. We need the source and the channels. The source is life, and the channels are the fellowship of life. Many of us can testify that in the church we have received the divine life and have enjoyed the fellowship of the divine life.
The receiving of the divine life and the enjoyment of the fellowship of the divine life result in the enjoyment of Christ. Some dissenting ones, however, have a wrong concept concerning the enjoyment of Christ. They claim that we should not care for any work but should care only for the enjoyment of Christ. The kind of enjoyment promoted by them is unbalanced. According to John 15, the proper enjoyment of Christ is a balanced enjoyment, for it is related to fruit-bearing. The enjoyment of Christ that is without fruit-bearing is improper and unbalanced. Actually, this so-called enjoyment of Christ is wrong and unreal. The Bible reveals that if we have the real enjoyment of the good land, we will have produce. If someone claims to enjoy his inheritance of the good land but never has a harvest, we may rightly question what kind of enjoyment he is talking about. His enjoyment may be improper and even false, for it is an enjoyment without a harvest. A timely harvest is the proof of our enjoyment of Christ as the good land.
The typology in Numbers reveals that if we are to enjoy Christ as our inheritance, participating in the riches of Christ, we must have the church life. In order to enjoy Christ, we must have the church life. The church life is somewhat related to our fellowship with those who are close to us. Numbers 27:8-11 indicates that the possession of the inheritance, the possession of the enjoyment of Christ, is based on our relationship in life. Perhaps it is better to replace relationship, a human word, with fellowship, a divine word. Our fellowship with the saints in the church is a kind of relationship. We must have this relationship, this fellowship, if we are to have the enjoyment of Christ. If we lose our fellowship with the saints, we will also lose our enjoyment of Christ. From this we see that it is risky and dangerous to give up the church life, as some dear ones have done. Those who give up the church life with the fellowship of life spontaneously lose their right to inherit the enjoyment of Christ. May we all be enlightened concerning this crucial matter and remain in the fellowship of life with the saints, the members of God's great family.
