Numbers 36:1-13

There are times when laws and principles can conflict with one another.  These questions can be the source of serious conflict within a people if they are not dealt with correctly.  In this case there was a law that a man who had no sons could pass on his inheritance to his daughters.  There was also the law of the division of the land according to the tribes.  The problem was stated that if a daughter who inherited land from her father then married a man from another tribe then that land would be lost to the tribe from which the daughter came.  The law of a daughter’s right to inherit land created a potential conflict with the principle of land division.  The concern was a valid one and it is very interesting to see who this conflict was resolved.  I believe that there are some key principles that we can learn from this chapter about conflict resolution.

CLEAR COMMUNICATION: The men who would be hurt by this conflict did not take matters into their own hands nor did they begin some sort of riot because of their potential loss of land.  What they did do, was go directly to their leaders and clearly communicate their concerns and look to their leaders to come up with a solution.  Too often when we feel like we are being hurt we go to everyone accept the people who can truly solve the problem.  It seems like we almost like to have the victim mentality because it gives us the right to complain, and we all seem to really love to complain.  Another reaction we often have is to become angry and critical of our leaders which is another favorite attitude that we enjoy.  The truth is that neither complaining about nor being critical of our leaders is productive in resolving conflict. One key to resolving conflict is clear communication so that both sides are aware of the problem and can work together towards a reasonable solution.

SWEET SUBMISSION: In this case the resolution of the problem required that the women who would inherit their father’s land would be required to marry men from within their tribe.  This way the tribe would remain the same size, and the daughters would be secure in their inheritance.  This was a win – win solution because it protected the tribe and also protected the daughters without breaking any of the laws that were established.  However, it was a solution that required the daughters to limit the men from which they would be free to marry.  This is a solution that could create bitterness in the hearts of the daughters because it limited their liberty to marry men from the other tribes.  There are times when we want to have our cake and eat it too, but we all know that this is an impossibility.  There are times when, in order to resolve a conflict, we must be willing to limit our own liberty in order to preserve the laws and protect our own rights as well as the rights of others.  If we allow these solutions to create bitterness in our hearts or rebel against these solutions; we are doomed to live in constant conflict.  Another key to resolving conflict is being willing to limit our liberties and sweetly submitting to the solutions that our leaders, under God’s direction, propose.