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God’s message to me: God ordained and regulated the rules of inheritance. Not everyone has something to pass on to the next generation but, it is proper to try and preserve an estate for your heirs.
Promises: God does not leave us without guidance. Joshua was appointed to succeed Moses and Eleazar was appointed to succeed Aaron. Moses spoke with God directly but no one else did. In order to ensure continued communication in a world where the Torah had just barely been completed with the book of the law and the rest of the bible was not available, the Priest carried the Urim and Thummim. This is a simple tool of divining answers and most believe it implies a draying of lots or, essentially, a coin flip yielding simple yes or no answers. Properly used by the high priest this would reveal God’s view on a subject.
Taken with other references we can see that drawing lots(like drawing straws) was a typical way of determining God’s will for those who were not prophets. This is sensible doctrine as Christ tells us to test the spirits and there are repeated references to testing God’s calling in the bible. Simple things like laying out a wool fleece and asking God to keep it dry in the morning dew or to soak it and leave the ground dry around it as a yes or no.
Commands: God’s commands don’t change with circumstances. He ordered holidays and feasts as the Israelites traveled in the wilderness and reiterated them before they entered the promised land so that the Israelites wouldn’t think they could stop the sacrifices and holy days just because they had finally been given a permanent home.
Timeless principles: Leaving a legacy to our heirs allows our family to continue growing in prosperity through the generations. It’s also important to pass on the values we practice so that our descendants will act in the same manner for their heirs.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Continue to follow God’s commands in good times as well as bad and make an effort to ensure that I have a legacy to pass on to the next generation.
more to learn for in-depth study: God was pretty specific about how he felt an estate should be handled in regard to inheritance. The daughters were expected to share in any inheritance of their husbands so inheritances were expected to go to the sons. If there was no son then the inheritance went to the daughter to carry on the family legacy.
If the man had no children then his estate would go to his brothers and if he had no brothers it would go to his uncles. Lacking any of these relatives it would go to the closest living relative. This system ensured the continuation of a family legacy and allowed a continual building of wealth in the family so that God’s people would continue to grow more prosperous.
While everyone seems to have their own ideas on inheritance these days the method laid down in the bible has logical and financial merit for continuing to ensure the prosperity of the family. If we followed this pattern and made an effort to ensure there was something for our heirs to inherit the financial concerns of our families would likely be much less.
tomorrow: Numbers 31-32
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Hey. I am enjoying reading your insight into the Word. God bless~
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have you as a reader. Each time I read through these passages I come away with something useful. The insights of each individual are often as varied as the personalities themselves. Each of us can learn from what others have learned and build the Body of Christ much stronger. I hope more people will comment on their insights and join us in writing blogs and articles to spread God's word among those who haven't learned it.
ReplyDeleteYour own blog is a great resource. Your husbands insights have never failed to be inspiring either, though I'm more familiar with his work on other sites.
If Christians want to be understood more of them are going to need to honestly express themselves in places like this so that the true nature of our faith can be seen.