Whose rights are they anyway? If the leadership doesn’t lead in a godly manner and we follow that leadership even though we know what they are saying and see the results of their leadership actions, we doom ourselves to defeat. We see that as a current visual.
It’s predictable that if leadership doesn’t have wise judgment and continues on that path, we’re headed on a downward trajectory. It is important to remember that the Almighty’s judgment is the only true way to go, and He is the final divine decision-maker. That takes hearing His voice to follow Him correctly.
The father of the daughters of Zelophehad had passed on. He was in the tribe of Manasseh, a son of Joseph, the royal family. His daughters were Mahlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, the priest, the princes, and all the congregation by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
They said, “Our father died in the wilderness. We were not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah but died in his own sin and had no sons.” They asked, “Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family because he has no son? Therefore, give us a possession among the brethren of our father.”
It was not a decision Moses could make on his own. So, he brought their cause before the Lord.
And the Lord spoke to Moses. The Lord said the daughters of Zelophehad speak right: “You shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren, and you shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass on to them.
“And you shalt speak to the children of Israel. Say this: If a man dies and has no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he has no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brethren. And if his father has no brethren, then you shall give his inheritance to his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”
See, God has spoken in his holiness. True respect and honor were shown for their father, whose name was dear and precious to them now that he was gone, and they were therefore solicitous that it should not be done away from among his family. Their father’s reputation was legitimately untainted. Moses had orders to divide the land among those who were numbered, who were the males. God himself called the judgment on this case according to His own will.
These daughters of Zelophehad consulted not only their comfort and the credit of their family, but also for the honor and happiness of their sex for on this particular occasion a general law was made that in case a man had no son, his estate should go to his daughters, to them all in co-partnership, share, and share alike.
Further directions are given for the disposal of inheritances, “If a man has no issue at all, his estate shall go to his brethren; if no brethren, then to his father’s brethren; and, if there be no such, then to his next kinsman.”
With this, the rules of our law exactly agree: and though the Jewish doctors here will have it understood that if a man has no children, his estate shall go to his father, if living, before his brethren, yet there is nothing of that in the law, and our common law has an express rule against it, that an estate cannot ascend linearly; so that if a person purchase lands in fee-simple, and die without issue in the lifetime of his father, his father cannot be his heir.
See how God makes heirs, and at his disposal, we must acquiesce. God provides for His own.
Thanks for reading! Jeanette Grattan Parker is the founder-superintendent of Today’s Fresh Start Charter School, 4514 Crenshaw Boulevard, L.A. 90043, 323-293-9826, www.todaysfreshstart.org, (Ask Dr. Jeanette TM) “Inquiring Minds Want to Know.” All articles are copyright. All rights reserved © Errors? Or Questions? Please let me know. Join Sundays for music and message at 11:30 a.m. by calling (712) 775-8971, code 266751. References: The Holy Bible, Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website Numbers 27 and 36. Don’t stop praying and hoping. “Today is another great day to do good and be successful.”
