Numbers 36:3-4 (ESV)
But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. [4] And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers."
Then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. If the daughters of Zelophehad marry into the sons of the other tribes, then all that the inheritance that the daughters own will be transferred as inheritance to the tribes into which they marry. This is what it meant for women who married at this time. All that they owned was to be considered as the husband's. To marry would be to give all possessions, lands and houses they had to the husband. Nothing that she owned would no longer be called hers, but it will be the husband's. Such was the culture of the time, and hence the Gileadites have come to express their concerns to Moses and the chiefs. If this was not the accepted norm at the time, they would not have to tell them of this problem.
The Church, also being the wife of Christ, must give all that she has to Christ her Husband. When a person becomes a Christian, the ownership of everything he possesses, including his very soul, becomes transferred to Christ. We are being added into His tribe, being named under His Name. We are registered as one of the family members of the household of God. There is nothing we have that we may call our own. All that we are, is His, and has His Name and mark all over it. Our bodies, our money, our dreams, our houses, our cars, our time, our jobs - every thing - become to be His. It is now His body, His money, His dreams, His possessions, His life. Christ has His stamp of the right of ownership all over us, and His name is written on our foreheads:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, [20] for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Revelation 14:1 (ESV)
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
Sometimes we Christians may become confused that perhaps it was Christ who had been added to our life. This is the wrong view of our lives that have been bought by His precious blood. Christ is not someone who we simply 'invite into our lives'. It is US who must be added to His life, as a branch to the vine. Why is it that Christ took lengths to explain that HE was the vine. Is it not because sometimes we like to make ourselves the vine, and Christ the branch?:
John 15:5 (ESV)
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Christ is not some accessory that we add on to our lives. Those who consider Christ to be simply an addition to their existing lives must seriously consider the state of their soul, and doubt whether they really are saved. Christ says clearly that WE are the branches and HE is the vine. Is Christ just a part of many other branches that we have added to our vines, or is HE the centre of our being and the Source of all? Is Christ our servant still, or are we serving Him? Christ served us in being our substitute offering. Isn't that enough? Should we not serve Him with good works that are pleasing to Him, and stop being lord over our Lord? It is US who have been sold into His Lordship by the purchase of His blood.
And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes. Jubilee was the time in every fifty years that the lands are given back to the original owners of the land. But in this case, if the daughters of Zelophehad marry the sons of the other tribes, even at the jubilee they will not be able to get their inheritances back to them, because the marriage still stands. Likewise, nothing can separate the covenant that we have in Christ. No Jubilee can be declared to those who have been bound by the love of God that is in Christ Jesus:
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing we had owned before Christ will ever be returned to us as our own. This marriage is not like the marriages we are entered to in this life. In this world, death does the husband apart from the wife, and the two will not be married in heaven. But since neither death nor life can break our covenant with Christ, this marriage will be for ever. Being a Christian is not some temporary contract that we enter into just for this life. Being a Christian means entering into an eternal contract to be Christ's for ever. As long as Christ lives and we live, this bond will never be broken. We are forever one spirit with Christ:
Matthew 19:6 (ESV)
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."
1 Corinthians 6:17 (ESV)
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
It is worth noting here about the bond of marriage. If not even a Jubilee, in which slaves are released to be free men for free, and houses and lands are sold without condition and restored to the original owner, and debts owed are canceled without asking questions, could break the bond of marriage - how is it that married couples today so easily to break this sacred vow that they have made, for such petty reasons. God has joined all married couples together, and He has no intention to separate them. Who are we to assume the position of God, and to tear ourselves of this fleshly bond to which He has bound us with our spouse? Since we have become one flesh, to divorce will result in the same amount of hurt as dismembering our own arm or leg from our body. It is no wonder divorces hurt, and no wonder that Christ forbad it so strictly, because He doesn't want us to hurt ourselves:
Mark 10:11-12 (ESV)
And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, [12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
If we are married, let us consider who created this beautiful institution of marriage, that one man should marry one woman, and be faithful to each other, and have relations with only each other. Such a holy idea, which requires love, sacrifice and self-control, did not come from the mind of sinful and lustful man. Idea of marriage came from the mind of Christ, who loves His wife the Church, His chosen and His elect, for whom He died for and is faithful to. When we have this in mind, our goal in marriage would not be to simply love each other and be faithful to each other, but it will be to glorify God in fulfilling God's original will for marriage. And we will stay in our marriages not only because we love our spouse, or we don't want to hurt ourselves, but because we do not dare to disobey Christ's words, and we want to honor God in staying married. We want to reflect the glory of the relationship between Christ and the Church through our marriage. If we divorce, we devalue Christ by saying HE is unfaithful to the Church, that He would divorce her and forsake her in Hell and choose not to save her. It is great blasphemy to Christ to divorce, an insult to His character.
Let us submit ourselves to Christ, as a Bride that is without blemish or spot or any unclean thing, and be faithful to Christ. All we have is Christ's, and it will be Christ's forever, for neither we or Christ shall die. Let us keep ourselves from worship of any other gods, lest we become defiled by them, and commit spiritual adultery against Him. Let us consider Him, who for our sakes died under God's punishment and rose again from the dead. He has been faithful to us, when we have not been faithful to Him. Shall we not be faithful to Him in return? Let us give ourselves to Him, and keep watch as the wise virgins who wait for their Bridegroom to return, clothed with His righteousness:
Revelation 19:7-8 (ESV)
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; [8] it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
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