AFFECTION AND INTELLIGENCE
[p. 194] AFFECTION AND INTELLIGENCE
Numbers 27:1 - 11; Numbers 36:1 - 13
I hope to be brief in conveying a thought before me. I wish to show how the Spirit of God views God’s people in this book in relation to the inheritance. You will recall the two numberings of the people. All the males of twenty years old and upwards; those who were able to go forth to war, were numbered twice. At first they were numbered as having reached manhood, and as having been placed in relation to the testimony in the wilderness; see chapter 2:1. In chapter 26, you get the second numbering, when the people are taken account of, not only to support the testimony, but to enter on the inheritance. The type of the brazen serpent and springing well intervened between these numberings. That indicates that the people are to be taken account of as possessing the Spirit and being according to purpose.
The distinction between the two numberings is important, but I do not dwell on that. In the second numbering they are taken account of according to purpose, and not according to responsibility. The old man having, in type, been crucified, and the Spirit given, they are suitable for the land of promise. The people as from twenty years old and upwards are viewed in the light of manhood, and the male side being viewed gives the idea of the saints as formed in intelligence, and thus the inheritance is taken up in this way; it is to be entered into intelligently. “Twenty years old and upward” (Numbers 26:2) refers to believers as having the Spirit, that is, as matured. I do not refer to the work of the Spirit, but God takes account of every believer who possesses the Spirit as having reached manhood; and thus [p. 195] as being qualified to take up the inheritance, and each one has a place there.
The blessed God has specially designed a place for you in His land; there is a definite place for you there. There is ample room there, and we are not placed there promiscuously; we are placed according to divine appointment. All is ordered according to sovereign wisdom. We may have a place in the kingdom, but divine wisdom will control everything, and I need not add that no believer would have it otherwise. The place He has designed for you is the best possible place for you, for He is perfect in wisdom and love.
The daughters of Zelophehad bring in the female side which sets forth the subjective side. The people had despised the pleasant land, notwithstanding the testimony to it in the grapes of Eshcol. God resents despisal of what He gives. Christendom is in this position; it is essentially infidel in regard to God and heaven. We must not stop short of the full height of what God has prepared for us. We are warned against an evil heart of unbelief.
Now in these women I see appreciation of the inheritance given of God. They come forward to lay claim to the inheritance of their father. God delights in His people drawing near to appreciate what He offers. Canaan was prepared for Israel, and they were taken account of to possess it; these women appreciated God’s gift, and God delighted in their appreciation of it. They came to seek and substantiate their inheritance. All real prayer is on that line. Why is so much made of prayer in Scripture? It is because God loves to see the result of His own work in us. Christ died to make the inheritance ours. He went to infinite cost to secure it for us, and He loves to see our appreciation of it.
I see the importance of Numbers 27 as following on chapter 26. It is the state of the people. Why [p. 196] are they not like their fathers who died at Kadesh-barnea? Typically, in the brazen serpent, the man after the flesh had been set aside, and now there is a new state. The springing well sets forth the gift of the Spirit. The flesh despises the things of God, but the flesh is condemned; the brazen serpent was lifted up, and what follows is that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled; it is fulfilled by those who have the Spirit; but more, by the Spirit there is appreciation of the inheritance, of the purpose of God. These women represent the subjective state which would lay claim to the inheritance given of God; so God commends them. He says, “The daughters of Zelophehad speak right”. God will always commend the effect of the work of His Spirit. God commends what is the spontaneous result of the Spirit’s work in us. Prayer and worship are spontaneous, and God delights in these. So God fully commends the demand of these women. He says, they “speak right”, and there is made thereon a statute in Israel, that “If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter” (verse 8). God establishes a law, a statute, on the ground of the spontaneous result of the workings of His Spirit in His people. It is as if God would say, The results of the exercises in My people by the Spirit are entirely in accord with My mind. Thus there is perfect agreement between the mind of God and the mind of the believer as wrought upon by the Spirit. They are in perfect accord. Well, the inheritance is secured to these women in answer to their demand. It is not only secured to them by the purpose of God, but by its being made over to them.
I pass on now to chapter 36. The point in this chapter is the question of marriage, whom they were to marry. The intelligent side now comes forward. The chief fathers of the families of Joseph [p. 197] come near and speak before Moses. The question is raised as to the inheritance of the daughters of Zelophehad passing to another tribe in the event of their being married to any of the sons of the other tribes of Israel. The affection side must be regulated by the intelligence side. The word of the Lord was: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well. This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry”. Things must be kept within divine limits. The inheritance is not to pass out of its own tribe. Marriage is a type which sets forth the relation of God’s people to divine Persons.
Oftentimes people enter on the inheritance and have it confirmed to them; they are endowed in that way, but the affections suitable to it are not regulated. These women had the inheritance of their fathers confirmed to them, but the question now is, how are their affections to be regulated? You have to be very careful as to where your heart is moving. You may be moving out of your orbit, and, as it were, carrying your inheritance with you out of your tribe. If the inheritance is ours we have to see to it that in the affections of our hearts it is not diverted from Christ. We want to see to it that our affections are undivided; that is, that all that has come to us as the result of the death of Christ in the gospel is kept connected with Christ. The inheritance must not pass out of the tribe. The church took up other husbands than the divinely appointed One. Marriage in Scripture was often between relatives, as, for instance, in the cases of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham’s wife was his relative, so too was Isaac’s and Jacob’s. In God’s ordering marriage ought to be on equal grounds. In regard to the church, she is suitable to Christ,
[p. 198] because as in association with Him she is of His rank. In the case of Joseph, which is different in type, it is a gentile bride which is in view. These women were not to marry outside their father’s house. They married their uncle’s sons so that the inheritance might not be diverted from its tribe.
The history of the church is that she — that is, the responsible church — has carried into the world that with which the Lord adorned her. She ought to have preserved what was of God within its own circle. We have to be jealous of our hearts so that our affections may not be diverted from Christ. He is the only legitimate Husband. Boaz purchased Ruth; he redeemed her; and no other had any title to her. He did not marry her as a Moabitess, but as a redeemed one; and there is no other claimant to us save the Lord Jesus Christ. So He is the legitimate Husband of His people. If we have our affections kept towards Him, all that He has endowed us with remains to Him. Speaking in a large sense, the heavenly city will come out fully endowed and adorned, but every element of glory which will mark her is Christ. It all belongs to Him. As recognising the claims of Christ, all He has endowed us with must be kept for Him.
I have great exercise as to the affections. Wherever you get son or daughter in Scripture it is an appeal to the affections. Our affections are appealed to, and all is in view of being brought to rest. It is the rest of affection in the marital relation to Christ. You accord your affections to Christ; you surrender them to Him absolutely, and you recognise, that He and He only has a right over you.