Legacy Part Three: Kinfolk...

So I'm a sucker for a great beard.

Here are some beards that have impressed me this week:







That last beard belongs to a fellow who wrote this article that opened my eyes, confirmed my suspicions and blew my mind. It all centers around Numbers 27.

So if you've been following along in parts 1 and 2 of this series of posts, you know that I've been thinking about legacy and passing on faith and character to my children and how delicate and yet wonderful life can be. And I've been thinking about it in regards to my particular situation.

But God, as He usually is, is up to something bigger than just me.

Yesterday we left off with Hoglah and her sisters being part of the great census in Numbers 26. But the problem with Hoglah and her sisters was that their father had died and they had no brother, so they were in danger of being left out of the inheritance of property as they got ready to move into the Promised Land. So these young ladies go to Moses and present their case, ending with:

"Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he has no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers." (Num 27:4 ESV)

Moses wisely consults God rather than making up some answer or offending the Women's Liberation Movement. And God answers by making a new law indicating that if a man dies with no sons, his inheritance goes to his daughter. If he has no daughter, it goes to his brothers. If he has no brothers, it goes to his father's brothers. And so on.

This can be called the law of the kinsmen redeemer.

So I read this and I immediately think of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth is a widow who has no son. Her mother-in-law is also a widow and her sons are all dead. So Boaz, as a kinsman redeemer, marries Ruth and takes their family under his wing, thus securing an inheritance for Ruth's husband's family in the same tribal lands. (It was at this point that I searched and found my bearded friend's article which confirmed that Boaz was fulfilling the law prescribed in Numbers 27)

Boaz also happens to be the grandfather of David.

David happens to be in the lineage of Christ.

Christ happens to be our redeemer, paying the price for us so we can have an inheritance in God's eternal kingdom.

And sometimes we think an inheritance is just about some money or land.

God's got bigger plans.