Bible Commentaries
Numbers 27

Verses 1-23

Chapter 27

Chapter twenty-seven, we have the beginning of a woman's lib organization.

Then there came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher ( Numbers 27:1 ),

Now what had happened is that the dad had seven daughters but no sons. And as they were dividing off the land they were giving the sons the portions. The oldest son would get the portions and so forth. And so these gals said, "Hey now wait a minute. It's not fair. We have equal rights you know, and our dad didn't have any son. If you don't give us any land then my father's name will die in Israel". So Moses said, "Well, we'll take it before the Lord". So the Lord said, the Lord says, "These gals are right. Give them the inheritance of the family". And so, they won their case and the daughters of Zelophehad received the inheritance.

And so, God's with you gals and He's looking after ya and you got a just cause. But unfortunately these radical women are taking it far beyond God's, you know, there is that which is right but then there is that taking it beyond and far beyond what God ever intended. So balance is such an important thing.

So he gave the law then of the inheritance. If there is no son then it goes to the daughters. If there are no daughters or sons then it goes to a man's brothers. If he has no brothers then it will go to his father's brothers. And if his father has no brothers then it comes to the next of kin, whoever is closest in the family to him.

Now the LORD said to Moses, Get up to the mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given the to children of Israel. And when you have seen it, there also you will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. For you rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to properly represent me at the water before their eyes: that is the waters of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin ( Numbers 27:12-14 ).

So Moses, get up the mountain, you get to look at the land but then you're gonna die. You're not gonna be able to go in because of your misrepresenting of me there at the water of Meribah, the waters of strife.

Moses said unto the LORD, Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation ( Numbers 27:15-16 ),

Now this is an interesting little verse,

"Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation."

From this little verse, the Mormons have developed their whole doctrine of the eternal spirit of men. That you actually existed in heaven, your spirit existed there in heaven and then God made a body for you and put your spirit in it to see whether or not you would-could become a god by becoming a Mormon. And you have no memory of your pre-existence in heaven but all of you pre-existence in heaven as spirits but there is no way of telling up there whether or not you would be a good or bad, so he put you in a body and let you prove yourself down here. And if you become a good Mormon, wear your underwear and all then you will be god. And you and your wives that are sealed to you can go to some planet and you can have your own little kingdom that you can watch over and you'll be god over that planet and you can develop it however you want-wish and so forth.

So, that whole doctrine comes out of this one little verse. I really don't see it in this verse. "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh," but it doesn't say anything about the spirits pre-existing with God being in heaven before or anything; He's just the God of the spirits of all flesh.

set a man over the congregation, which may go before them, which may lead them out, which may bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD will not be like a sheep, like sheep without a shepherd. And so the LORD said to Moses, Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before the congregation; and give him charge in their sight. And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all of the children of Israel may be obedient. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of the Urim before the LORD ( Numbers 27:16-21 ):

Now the Urim was a little thing that the priest wore, a little pouch of some kind, that they sought counsel from God through the use of the Urim and the Thummim. Lights and perfections is what the words Urim and Thummim mean. And some believe that they were just a little pouch and one had a white stone and a black stone and that when they would ask the Lord a question the priest would say, "Now God, show us which one" and he would pull out a stone. If it was the white stone, God would say yes, then they would ask the next question. And you know, they'd mix up the stones and you'd pull a stone again and they would get yes-no answers. So it's sort of a twenty-one question kind of a thing where you get yes-no answers to then ascertain the will of the Lord. Now, God had a more direct relationship with Moses. God said, "Hey, there's no one like this before after where I really speak to the fellow sort of face to face," I mean direct speaking, a very powerful way.

Now Joshua who is to lead the people, he is to come before Eleazar the priest who will inquire of the Lord in questions. David so often would go to the priest, inquire "Should we go into battle against them?" and then "What time of the day should we start the battle?" And they would ask all of these questions of God in order to determine the will of the Lord. And it was oftentimes determined by the priest inquiring and by the use of the Urim, these lights and perfection. So just what the Urim and Thummim actually is, is not told to us. That's what people surmise what it was, but exactly we don't know. Surely it wasn't a pair of glasses by which you could read hieroglyphics when you put them on. Hocus pocus.

So Moses did as the LORD commanded him: he took Joshua, set him before Eleazar, and before all the congregation: he laid his hands upon him, and gave him the charge of the LORD, as he was commanded ( Numbers 27:22-23 ).

So he brought Moses laid his hand-I mean Joshua, laid his hands upon him and signifying that Joshua was now to begin to take Moses' place as the leader of the people.

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