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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 27

1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.⁠ 2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although he was not part of the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father.” 5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 The Lord said to Moses: 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them. 8 And you must tell the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you must transfer his inheritance to his daughter; 9 and if he has no daughter, then you are to give his inheritance to his brothers; 10 and if he has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his father’s brothers; 11 and if his father has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his relative nearest to him from his family, and he will possess it. This will be for the Israelites a legal requirement, as the Lord commanded Moses.’” 12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land I have given to the Israelites.⁠ 13 When you have seen it, you will be gathered to your ancestors, as Aaron your brother was gathered to his ancestors. 14 For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water—the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.” 15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord: 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind,⁠ appoint a man over the community, 17 who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”⁠ 18 The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly. 20 Then you must delegate some of your authority to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. 21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.” 22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. 23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, by the authority of Moses.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 27:17 and 1 Kings 22:17

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

1 Kings 22 echoes Numbers 27 to describe Israel as scattered sheep without a shepherd, first used when Moses requested a leader to guide Israel after his death. 1 Kings uses this language to describe the absence of that leadership.

Passages

Numbers 27:17

Hebrew Bible
15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord: 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community, 17 who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” 18 The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

1 Kings 22:17

Hebrew Bible
15 When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.” 16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?” 17 Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’” 18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?” 19 Micaiah said, “That being the case, listen to the Lord’s message. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing beside him on his right and on his left.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

"... The depiction of the shepherd David as national monarch is perhaps an intertextual allusion to Numbers 27:17 where the idea of “going out and bringing in” is used in coordination with the shepherding of YHWH’s people. Moses petitions YHWH to appoint a person to succeed him who “shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in” so that Israel will not be “like sheep without a shepherd”. This same negative conception of a shepherdless flock is used again in 1 Kings 22:17 (2 Chronicles 18:16) to describe a military defeat. In this passage Micaiah prophesies against Ahab, king of Israel, saying: “I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd”. YHWH’s appointment and installation of David as Israel’s Shepherd-King and the establishment of his dynasty forever (2 Samuel 7:8–16) was to ensure that Israel would not be in such a vulnerable and desperate condition ..."
Joel Willitts, Matthew’s Messianic Shepherd-King: In Search of "the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel" (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007), 56–57.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 27:17 and 1 Kings 22:17

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