38 years later

Today's readings are in Numbers 26 and 27.

The first part is easy to read through quickly. We don't recognize most of the names, but there is significance in the census. It is has been 38 years since the children of Israel had been taken out of Egypt; and that census of men had all died out over the years of time. The total was just over 600,000 men, so the tribes must have totaled over 2 million.

Chapter 27 is interesting in two ways. One is the decision that women could inherit property in order to keep territory in family names. The decision made in 1400 B.C. under Moses was still in effect in records just before the Exile several hundred years later.

The last part of the chapter designates Joshua to take over the mantel of leadership after Moses' death.

The census, property rights, inheritance, leadership...it sounds like the stuff of ordinary citizenship. No details were unimportant.

Peace


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