NUMBERS 27
The daughters of Zelophehad were concerned to inherit family-wise, that their father’s name should not be taken away from his family, because he had no son. They said, “Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father” (verse 4). They stood for the principle of inheriting family-wise, and showed in this that they prized the inheritance. “And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right; thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And unto the children of Israel shalt thou speak, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren. And if his father have no brethren, ye shall give his inheritance to his kinsman that is nearest to him in his family, and he shall possess it; and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of right, as Jehovah commanded Moses” (verses 6 - 11). The brethren and the family are prominent as determining this “statute of right”.
[p. 327] But in chapter 36 the chief fathers of Manasseh stood for the principle of maintaining each tribe’s inheritance in its integrity as distributed by lot. Some are inclined to make the family principle everything. But it is as essential to inherit in tribal character as it is to inherit family-wise. Indeed the holy affections and mutuality that belong to family relations will only be safe-guarded and developed as we respect the divine ordering and sovereign distribution which pertains to the assembly. The five daughters of Zelophehad secured an extended territory to Manasseh. For “there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which are beyond the Jordan. For the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons” (Joshua 17:5,6). But they had to recognise that they held the inheritance subject to the limitations which divine sovereignty imposed. They had to own that there was a tribal order which they must not transgress; they were not at liberty to do as they pleased in Israel. They could only hold the inheritance family-wise as they respected the tribal assignment of it by lot. The lesson of this for us is that we must accept the divine order which is set up, and which is to regulate things with particular reference to how we walk together in local assemblies. “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things that I write to you, that it is the Lord’s commandment” (1 Corinthians 14:37).
The leadership under which the inheritance can be possessed, and the conditions in which it is exercised, are next brought before us. Moses and Aaron were disqualified, as we have seen in chapter 20, by failing to hallow Jehovah at the waters of Meribah. But Moses accepted this in a beautiful spirit; his only care was for “the assembly of Jehovah”. “Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the assembly, who may go out before them and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the assembly of Jehovah be not as sheep that have no shepherd” (verses 16,17). Moses appealed to Jehovah as “the God of the spirits of all flesh” — a touching reference to God’s universal consideration for men as His creatures, and His care in faithfulness, His readiness to provide for all. Moses thought of what was true of God in His universal providence, but he used it as a plea that the special need of Jehovah’s assembly might be met in divine goodness. We are told that He is the “preserver of all men, specially of those who believe”. If Jehovah held a relation to all flesh which was beneficial and providential, surely He would not fail to provide shepherd leading for His assembly! How completely had Moses changed his view-point from the moment when he said, “Ye rebels”! He has got over to the side of the unfailing faithfulness of God. Everything is to be the outcome of that. They had, as a matter of fact, owed everything to God’s faithfulness in the wilderness, when “for a time of about forty years he nursed them in the desert” (Acts 13:18). He had “carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9). Moses now counts on the same faithfulness to provide suitable leadership to bring them into the land.
We may gather from this that as the inheritance comes into view, and our entrance upon it, the necessity arises for us to learn Christ in a new character. Moses represents His authority as Lord, as known in the wilderness, but Joshua sets Him forth as the Leader of God’s people into the land. The honour that God had attached to Moses was to pass over to Joshua, for Moses was to lay his hand upon him, and to put of his honour upon him,
[p. 329] so that Joshua is identified with Moses as setting forth the same blessed Person, but in a different character. The thought of authority is not dropped, but leadership becomes more prominent, and this as having shepherd character. The leading out and bringing in which are referred to remind us very much of how Christ is presented in John 10, where He leads His sheep out, and goes before them, and says of those who follow Him, “I give them life eternal, and they shall never perish” (John 10:4, 28). He leads out from the Jewish fold, representing earthly religion, and goes before His sheep through death and resurrection to lead them into life eternal, which is the anti-type of the land of Canaan. Moses brought the people out of Egypt, but it is Joshua who leads them into the land, and who leads them in the land when they get there. Every true believer must have known the Lord as the anti-type of Moses, but we have also to learn Him, and to follow Him, as Joshua. There will be no entrance into the land otherwise. It is only a risen and heavenly One who can lead us into a spiritual region which lies beyond death.
Jehovah speaks of Joshua as “a man in whom is the Spirit” (verse 18), and it will be remembered that Jehovah said of Caleb — who was Joshua’s faithful companion in searching out the land and bringing a good report of it — that “he hath another spirit in him, and hath followed me fully” (Numbers 14:24). Joshua having the Spirit in him would indicate that it is in the power of the Spirit that Christ leads into that region of spiritual blessing where eternal life is known and enjoyed. But Caleb having “another spirit” in him shows how God can bring about in His people a state which appreciates that which is spiritual. It is evident that there was in each of these favoured men a high appreciation of the “very, very good land” over Jordan. They followed Jehovah fully in the thoughts of His love [p. 330] for His people. So there was a moral suitability in Joshua being selected to lead the assembly into the inheritance, and to be a type of Christ as the One who leads His flock into life eternal. The Spirit being in Joshua intimates to us that the Spirit holds a special place in relation to life eternal; it is as we sow to the Spirit that of the Spirit we reap life eternal (Galatians 6:8).
Life eternal is known and enjoyed in a spiritual region, entirely outside the life of the world, and our Joshua leads into it, and moves in it, as Himself having the Spirit in which it can be enjoyed. But “the whole assembly” were to be with Joshua (verse 21) — all identified with him, so that whether they went out or came in, they were to move with him. It is obvious that to move with one in whom was the Spirit, they would need to have the Spirit too. It was only as typically in their case, but in the anti-type it is actually so. The same Spirit who is in Christ as the Leader for the inheritance is in “the whole assembly”, viewed as following Him and identified with Him. And nothing less than this is in the mind of God for all His people today. Joshua in this character was to be set “before the whole assembly” (verses 19,22). This presentation of Christ is for “the whole assembly” today. God would have “the whole assembly” to know Him as the true Joshua, and to move after Him, and with Him, as the great Leader of salvation — salvation in the positive sense of being brought into what is in God’s mind and heart for His people, a present heavenly joy as in the land.
The word is to be noted, “thou shalt set him before Eleazar the priest ... And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall enquire for him, by the judgment of the Urim before Jehovah” (verses 19,21). This association of the Leader with the Priest is very instructive, as indicating how the two offices of Christ stand in relation to each other in the mind of God.
“The whole assembly” was represented in a priestly way in Eleazar, and the Urim in the priestly breast-plate gave light as to God’s present mind for that assembly. The Leader was ever to stand before the Priest, and to move as instructed by Jehovah in answer to priestly enquiry. The sense of waiting upon God, and enquiring, and receiving direction, was always to be present with Joshua. In applying this to the Lord we must not forget who He is as to His Person, and we must also remember that He is the Priest as well as the Leader. How many types it takes to bring out all His offices and His glories! But his receiving light from God for His people may be illustrated by the opening words of the Revelation. “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show to his bondmen what must shortly take place”. That book is like “the judgment of the Urim” — divine light thrown upon all that is occurrent in the assemblies, and that will be occurrent in the world before Jesus comes, and after He comes, but it is all presented to us as communicated by God to Jesus Christ, that He may show it to His bondmen. As Priest the Urim is always in His breast-plate — the divine judgment and estimate of things; and as Leader He moves before His people, and would have them to move with Him, as in the light of that priestly judgment. He goes first in every spiritual movement. This is one part of His great service in relation to the assembly, and particularly as having in view the entrance of the assembly into “the pleasant land”, and overcoming the enemies there, so that the land may be fully enjoyed.
In the type we are considering, the Urim was intended to decide all Joshua’s movements — the time and character of every military expedition. All the victories in the land were the result of movements in which priestly direction had its place, and the judgment of the Urim.
[p. 332] Such is the character of the leadership of Christ; it never leads to a wrong move in the conflicts of the testimony. We, alas! may fail to follow Him, or to move with Him, and then all kinds of blunders may be made, and the enemy get an advantage. But the divine mind is that “the whole assembly” is to know the leadership of Christ as Joshua, and to move with Him in overcoming enemies and in possessing the inheritance.
It is obvious that Joshua was not always personally up to the high level of what he was typically as a type of Christ. He was not standing before Eleazar when he listened to the spies in Joshua 7:3, or he would have had “the judgment of the Urim”, and would have known of the unfaithfulness of Achan without Israel having the humiliation of defeat before their enemies. He was not standing before Eleazar in Joshua 9:14. And this raises a solemn exercise for all who have, in any measure, the responsibility of leadership amongst the people of God. If so great a servant as Joshua could miss the direction that was always available for him, we may be sure that this has been recorded that others may profit by it. If leaders do not stand before the priest, and maintain priestly conditions in themselves, they may miss divine light at a critical moment. It is a sad thing for any of us to move without spiritual direction in our own path, but to give an unspiritual lead to others so that they are turned away from the enjoyment of what is rich and fruitful in the inheritance of the saints in light, is one of the most solemn things that can be contemplated.
Spiritual leadership has a great place in the ways of God. “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God” (Hebrews 13:7) probably refers to the apostles, who had a special place as spiritual leaders. But “Obey your leaders, and be submissive; for they watch over your souls as those that shall give account”
([p. 333] Hebrews 13:17) is wider in its application, and refers to all who give a spiritual lead amongst the people of God. Such are to be recognised, according to Paul’s word, “But we beg you brethren, to know those who labour among you, and take the lead among you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to regard them exceedingly in love on account of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5: 12,13). The Lord had supplied a spiritual lead at Corinth in the house of Stephanas, and in Fortunatus and Achaicus (see 1 Corinthians 16:15 - 19), but it had not been duly recognised, and a lead had been followed which was not a spiritual one. It is manifest that unspiritual persons will be likely to fail in discernment, and no doubt this accounts for many missing their way at times of crisis in the history of the testimony. A divinely given leader will be marked as one who has spoken to us the word of God; it will be manifest to spiritual persons that he stands before the priest — the levitical element in him is subordinate to the priestly. A true leader considers first for God, and he waits upon “the judgment of the Urim”. If such leaders do lead (see Judges 5:2), those who follow them will move victoriously against spiritual foes; the inheritance will be apportioned according to the sovereign distribution of God; and it will be enjoyed together by His people in family relations.