We continue this morning looking at the “ordinary Sundays” of our lives and an example of the kind of faith called for, other than Caleb is to be seen in the daughters of Zelophehad.
Joshua 17:3-6. Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.
The background for this is found in Numbers 27 and 36. Zelophehad died having had no sons. So, his five daughters appealed to Moses who sought the Lord to see if the daughters would be given an inheritance among God’s people. The Lord ruled in favor of the women and gave them an inheritance. It is an incredible picture of faith, because when the daughters made their plea, they were not in the land, they did not have anything, it was all in the future and yet they argued for it as if it were right before them, because faith sees the promises of God as being right before us. Here we are years later, and they are following up with Joshua. There is a boldness as they request what God has already promised, a boldness to plead the word of God.
These ladies are our teachers! They come boldly to claim what the Lord said is theirs! We are told in Hebrews to come boldly to the throne of grace to come with confidence, drawing near so that we can receive the help we need. And this is exactly what we should do, believe God as you come boldly in faith, grasping firm hold on all that God has promised you.
Well, even in the midst of God’s blessings the people of God do not always respond by faith, do not see things clearly as we have a number of examples in the text.
15:63, 16:10, 17:12-13
But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out, so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made to do forced labor.
Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
There is in these verses an intensification of blame. We first see Judah’s inability then Ephraim’s failure in regard to one city and then settling for the Canaanites to be slaves instead of expulsion. Finally, we note Manasseh’s massive inability or failure to control a number of strategic locations. (Davis) This was in clear contradiction of what the Lord had commanded in Exodus 23, 34 and Dt. 7. These people were to be destroyed.
We see a people who do not do ALL that the Lord had commanded them to do…they did PART of what He commanded but acted as though part, WAS all. Was it perceived inability? Was it a lack of persistence? Was it unwillingness? Was it that they just thought God was being a bit unreasonable? And of course, the book of Judges is going to show us the utter catastrophe that would result because of these small little failures.
Now in fairness we must point out that this was not an easy task and because it was protracted over what is to us a long period of time, it became a difficult thing to achieve. The Canaanites did not simply pick up an eviction notice, grumble a bit, pack up and move.
But God never said that it would be easy…He never said that they should expect this to be over with quickly, in fact He told them they would drive out the inhabitants little by little. Certainly, one of the reasons for this is to keep a people dependent upon Him…to keep faith at the front.
Remember when Paul asks the Galatians, having begun in the Spirit, will you now continue in the flesh? Oh, how many there are who seem to see clearly at first, the necessity of dying to self and fixing eyes to the Savior, but then go on to live ignoring Him…making decisions, seeking life, not as HE has ordered but according to their own desires and wishes.
We all know this. We are not called to faith on Sunday and then to a life without dependence upon the Lord Monday through Saturday. Will we take your eyes off of Him now, when we know full well that the blessings have come because he took our little faces in His hands and said, look at Me?
I know there are all kinds of reasons that race to mind, can’t you hear the Israelites:
“Oh come on, most of them are gone…surely a few will not hurt…I mean, I am still a Christian. What we can do is make these people live as our slaves, which is much more kind and compassionate than killing them all.”
Remember, King Saul thought that keeping a few of the sheep alive, instead of killing them all as God commanded, was not a big deal, after all, the sheep could be used for making sacrifices to the Lord, the Lord likes sacrifices, doesn’t he? But of course Saul had the kingdom taken away from him for this! The Lord wasn’t interested in Saul’s “better ideas”. He wants us to believe Him, to trust Him and to obey Him.
So, I guess we are back to Caleb, and whole hearted faith. For there is no such thing in the Lord’s mind as half faith, or partial obedience. And He calls delayed obedience or partial obedience…disobedience.
After all the Lord has done for his people, all that He has provided and blessed them with…they respond to Him, with a half-hearted obedience. Or as Ralph Davis puts it, “We often relish the call for heroism but not the call for durability. We find being faithful in the little things or continued faithfulness in the little things to be more annoying than satisfying.”
The Christian faith is not so much proved by your courage in the sudden crises as it is in the daily, weekly, yearly, plodding and believing that God means what He says and that in His hands are blessings untold as we live in the ordinary Sundays, indeed, the ordinary of all our days!
Prayer: Father, although many times I have lived without balance, seeking to be noticed but never seen, I repent of my foolishness and rejoice that I am seen and known by You. Help me Father, to live out of that truth, to concern myself with Your pleasure. Help me to be faithful with what You have given and find joy, peace and rest in serving my Savior and Lord, through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.
Song: Our Great God
