Inheritance of Rachel’s Daughters — Readers’ Choice

  • August 3, 2021
  • /
  • John Tillman

Readers’ Choice Month:
In August, The Park Forum looks back on our readers’ selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals from the past 12 months. Thank you for your readership. This month is all about hearing from you. Submit a Readers’ Choice post today.

Today’s post was originally published, May 18, 2021, based on Numbers 27.
It was selected by reader, Barbara, from Chattanooga
“Praise the Lord! He always intends so much more than we can imagine!”

Scripture Focus: Numbers 27.5-7
5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord, 6 and the Lord said to him, 7 “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.

Reflection: Inheritance of Rachel’s Daughters — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

In the ancient near east most women barely ranked above pack animals. They didn’t inherit property, they were property. Their word was not considered reliable. Their will was not considered or acknowledged. This was a cultural reality passed down from the very first women of Israel—Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel. 

Leah and Rachel show us the spectrum of marriage at that time. Rachel represents a fairytale saying mutual love was possible. Leah reveals an ugly reality that sexual slavery, loveless manipulation, and bitterness were the far more likely normality. Both women recognized Laban sold them like property. (Genesis 31.14-16) 

Generations later, descendants of Rachel’s first born son, Joseph, come before the Lord to seek justice. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah lay out a case, not only for themselves but for every woman to follow them. God, the righteous judge, grants their request and grants the same rights to all women of Israel.

It would be easy to pause here and simply praise the daughters of Zelophehad as heroines of women’s rights. However, the answer God gives them is a bandaid, not a biblical ideal. When we wish to restore biblical ideals, we must turn far enough back in our Bibles to find the ideal God set up.

Jesus taught that some laws of Moses were “not this way from the beginning.” These laws were given because the hearts of the Israelites were too hard to live up to Edenic ideals (Matthew 19.3-9). 

Jesus gives primacy of importance to Edenic law rather than Mosaic law. And just as Jesus looked to a greater law than Moses, he grants to men and women a greater inheritance than any land or property.

Inheritances are promised and given, not earned or attained. They can’t be purchased or procured. They are granted, not gained. Jesus granted women something greater than Moses granted. 

In every interaction with women, we see Jesus elevating them and treating them as if they belonged among his disciples. He gave to women a unique revelation, being the first to see and speak of his resurrection.

May God soften our hearts to live beyond the Mosaic rules for the hardhearted. In Jesus, the Edenic ideal, not the Mosaic compromise, is restored. Daughters of Eve, and of Rachel, carry a gospel inheritance. Without their inclusion, the kingdom of God is incomplete.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Let me hear of your loving-kindness in the morning, for I put my trust in you; show me the road that I must walk, for I lift up my soul to you. — Psalm 143.8

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Judges 17 (Listen – 1:50)
Acts 21 (Listen – 5:55)

Read More about Readers’ Choice 2021
We want to hear your voice about the posts from the past eleven months (September 2020 – July 2021). Tell us about posts that challenged, comforted, and helped you.

https://forms.gle/ozM13qvW9ouSWhJS7

Read more about Resisting Culture’s Mold
Laban’s daughters both recognize that they have been badly treated. The women describe their marriages as being “sold” like foreigners.

Resisting Culture’s Mold

Who’s the Good Guy?

  • August 2, 2021
  • /
  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Judges 15.18-20
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. 

20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Student Writers Month:
In July, The Park Forum welcomed college and seminary student writers pursuing ministry careers. This year, like last year, we have one more “bonus” student writer for you writing on yesterday’s reading, Judges 15. We will start with your selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals tomorrow. For more info about our yearly Student Writer program, see our website. To submit a Readers’ Choice post, follow this link.

Reflection: Who’s the Good Guy?
By Ava Ligh

We love the “Lord of the Rings” films and the entire Marvel repertoire because we long to root for a good guy. In these stories, we are spared the difficulty of figuring out who is good and who is bad.

Judges chronicles the moral decline of Israel once they occupy the promised land. By the time we get to Samson, it is no longer clear who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. On the surface, it would appear readers should root for the people of God, the Israelites. But it becomes confusing when the actions of God’s people are indistinguishable from the actions of God’s enemies.

Samson appears to be a hero when, with superhuman strength, he kills 1,000 Philistines, the enemies of God and his people, with the jawbone of a donkey. Except we know that the Philistines raided the men of Lehi because Samson had struck and killed some of their men.

Why?
Because the Philistines had set Samson’s wife and father-in-law on fire. 
Why? 
Because Samson set their harvested grain and olives on fire. 

Can one be a hero if he created the problem that he then solves?

Bible stories like this are confusing. It is easier on us if we flatten out real people by making complex human beings either all good or all bad. This is a form of dehumanization. It takes mental strength and energy to tolerate ambiguity. However, we can tolerate that people are complex mixes of good and bad because there is someone we can look to who is purely and only good.

For all of his faults, Samson knows who is truly good, and the author of Hebrews recognizes his faith (Hebrews 11.32-34). Samson knows that it was God who “granted this great salvation” to the Israelites. Samson also knows that it is God who can provide water for his thirst.

We, like Samson, often need to be reminded through our limitations that our strength comes from the true hero and that we depend on his living water to sustain us. Jesus is unambiguously good and the source from which we receive our strength and living water. With his help, we can love and accept complex people. And he says to each of us “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4.14).

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
“This is my son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.” — Luke 9.35

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Today’s Readings
Judges 16 (Listen – 5:59)
Acts 20 (Listen – 5:22)

Read More about Readers’ Choice 2021
It is time to hear from you about the posts from the past eleven months (September 2020 – July 2021) that have challenged, comforted, and helped you find new meaning in the scriptures.
https://forms.gle/ozM13qvW9ouSWhJS7

Read more about Do Not Hold Men (or Women) Up as Sinless
We must stop confusing a man failing with the gospel failing.

Do Not Hold Men Up as Sinless :: Throwback Thursday