Land for females,& Joshua as leader

Numbers Chapter 27

A petition was presented by the five daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Mkir,son of Manasseh, son of Joseph. The women stood before Moses, Eleazar, tribal leaders and all the community at the Tabernacle. They told how their father died in the wilderness and because he had no sons, they wished to have his portion of property with the rest of their relatives.

Moses brought their case to the Lord and the Lord agreed with the women. He ruled that they should be given an inheritance of land along with their father's relatives. The Lord further asked Moses to announce that if a man dies and had no sons, then henceforth it would be given to his daughters. If he had no brothers, give it to his father's brothers. If his father had no brothers, pass the inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan.

One day the Lord told Moses that it would soon be time for him to climb the mountains east of the river and look out over the land the Lord had given to Israel. After seeing it, Moses would die as Aaron did, for both of them rebelled against the Lord's instructions in Zin. And Moses pleaded with the Lord to appoint a new leader for the Israelites. He asked for someone who could lead them into battle, so they would not be like sheep without a shepherd.

The Lord selected Joshua, son of Nun, who had the "spirit" in him. He told Moses to lay hands on Joshua and present him to Eleazar and the whole community and publicly commission him with the responsibility of leading the people. When Joshua needed direction, he would stand before Eleazar who would determine the Lord's will by means of sacred lots. So Moses did as the Lord commanded and presented Joshua to the priest and the whole community and laid hands on him as the Lord requested.

BIBLE NOTES show that up to now, only males held the right to inherit land. The daughters of Zelophehad would have strings attached to holding the land - see chapter 36:5-12 as we will learn later.
Bless Moses' heart, he did not want to leave his work without having a replacement ready.What an incredible, hardy, loyal, prophet.

How does this chapter relate to us today?
What extreme courage it took for the daughters of Zelophehad to present their own petition and stand in front of everyone. Can you imagine the "guts" it took? Our Lord knew what kind of courageous women they were and he granted their petition.

We all know that the type of leaders that we desire are both goal-oriented and people-oriented like Joshua. We still admire confidence in our leaders.More than ever in this time, we need leaders who are in line with the teachings of the Lord. Now is the time to spread the word of Christ and choose leaders who will fulfill the Lord's commission.

Yours in Christ,
Mary