Number 26 & 27 – Daughters of Zolephehad

Dec1

Good evening y’all. Happy Tuesday 🙂

Today i’m doing a combined study on Numbers chapter 26 and 27.

Be blessed 🙂

In chapter 26, God ordered a new census to be done of all males 20 and above. He also ordered for each lineage to be given an inheritance. In this chapter, the daughters of Zolephehad was mentioned. There story is detailed in chapter 27 which is where I’m focusing on today.

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“Then came the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, 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: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 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 father’s brothers.”
So Moses brought their case before the Lord” (Num 27: 1-5 NKJV)

The daughters of Zelophehad understood Gods promise to give them an Inheritance in the promised land. By Israelite law passed in Deuteronomy, these girls were not entitled to any Inheritance seeing as their father died without living any sons behind. This meant the name of their father will be erased/ forgotten and they wont legally have a portion in the land.

The girls took it upon themselves to go to Moses and the leaders of Israel to demand their fathers inheritance. It’s something that had never been done before. So Moses asked to seek God’s face regards the matter before giving a response to the girls.

God responded by saying the girls should be given their fathers inheritance and also a new law was made for those who die without leaving a son behind.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them” (Num 27: 6-7 NKJV)

These girls went against the norm and because of the demonstration of their faith, the law was changed to allow females Inherit land. Their boldness effected a change that will last for generations.

There is a lot to learn from the girls. They didn’t just sit down and wallow in self pity, NO! they realised they had a predicament and decided to do something about it . I’m sure some of their friends would have told them its impossible for them to inherit their fathers portion of the land; they would have tried to discourage them but the girls refused to listen to the negativity or the doubt raging within and around them. They chose to take the matter to Moses and the elders and indeed God favoured them.

Friends,I dont know what the issue may be that’s challenging you. Maybe just like the girls, your situation seems to be contrary to Gods promise. Don’t give up just yet. Bring your report before God; petition heaven and be persistent. God is able to change laws and break protocols for our sake.

You have to take a step of faith. The girls had to step out of their comfort zone In order to lay hold of that which God had planned for them.

Today, step out in faith. Believe God for that promise. It might seem impossible to you but the bible tells us that with God all things are possible and God is not a man that He should lie. lf He has said it, then He will do it. God who changed the order of things for the daughters of Zolephehad is still the same God and He can and will also do the same for you. Keep trusting and believing. Your change is on its way

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thots on the chapter.

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Numbers 25 – the cost of disobedience

Nov29

Good evening y’all. Happy study.

Today I’m doing a study on Numbers 25.

Be blessed 🙂

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The enemy doesn’t have good plans for us at all but thanks be to God, who paid the price for us and defeated the enemy on our behalf, victory is ours already. To keep the victory we need to ensure that we remain in God and don’t allow ourselves be lured back to our vomit by our evil desires (I mean, we shouldn’t go back to a way of life that we have been purged of). We need to make sure that we surrender our desires to God and let Him transform and conform them to His will.

The Israelites kept being lured back into the same sin that God delivered them from in Egypt. He specifically told them against sexual impurity in Leviticus18, yet we see in this chapter how the Israelites have forgotten and reverted back to old ways.

If we don’t stick close to God we will find that, just like the Israelites, we become easy to convince to go against God and the result won’t be great at all for us. There are consequences for our actions.

The men gave in to the women of other nstions, and not only did they commit sexual immorality with them, they also started worshipping their gods. This is one of the major things God told them not to do. In Deut 28, He told them that if they obeyed Him they will be blessed, but if they disobey, they should expect curses.

Balak soon realises that God can’t curse those He has blessed and that God operates with integrity and principle. He doesn’t go back on HIS word. So Balak looked for a way to get the Israelites to be cursed by God: and he achieved this through the disobedience of the Isrealites (See Deut 28).

This is the same way the devil works today. He knows that God loves and has great plans for us and will watch over His word to ensure those plans come to pass. So he looks for ways to get us to stray from God’s path because once we are outside of God’s path, we are no longer under His protection.

Unfortunately the israelites fell for it and 24,000 of them died that day. That’s a huge amount!!!!

I was particularly struck by God’s response to the sin. He asked for all the leaders to be hanged publicly. I thought to myself, “why all the leaders? What did they do? What if they didn’t sin? Why not the actual people who sinned?” Then it dawned on me that as a leader, you are responsible for your flock…see Luke 12:48

They are meant to set examples for the people to follow. Perhaps the leaders saw what was happening but chose to turn a blind eye, forgetting that they were responsible for these people (and for calling them to order if they were found to have sinned). Or were the leaders also engaged in this sin, and so were powerless to do anything about their followers? Either way, God demanded that they should be dealt with.

Let this be a lesson to those of us in position of authority or leadership: be it in ministry; at work; or even at home. God is looking at us and expects a lot from us. He expects us to be responsible for the flock He has placed under our supervision.  This reminds me of Adam and Eve. When God found out that they had disobeyed Him, He didn’t ask Eve, rather He went to Adam. He was the leader in the home and so it was demanded of him to give an account of all that happened.

Let’s not turn a blind eye to immorality as leaders, but with loving kindness and tenderness, let’s seek to rebuke the immorality and also pray for those who have fallen. I believe that somewhere in the scriptures, it says we should rebuke with love. It seems Israel’s leaders didn’t do this, rather in their silence, they condoned the actions. This eventually led to the death of 24000 people.

May God help us be obedient to Him and remain in Him in Jesus’ Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

I’m blogging through the book of Numbers with good morning girls. Check us out at www.goodmorninggirls.org

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***