We are in chapter thirty-four of Exodus with our word for today. נָחַל maintain as a possession, take possession, give as an inheritance, assign. It is used 59 times in the Old Testament. Our word is used to reference people receiving an inheritance from God. Exodus 32:13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, וְנָחֲל֖וּ and it will be their inheritance forever.’ Numbers 26:55 Be sure that the land is distributed by lot. What each group יִנְחָֽלוּ inherits will be according to the names for its ancestral tribe. Joshua 14:1 Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an נִֽחֲל֜וּ inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them. Deuteronomy 12:10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an מַנְחִ֣יל inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Our phrase is also used to refer to God’s people identified as God’s inheritance in the sense that they belong to God. Zechariah 2:10-13 Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will וְנָחַ֨לinherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. This is how our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 34:8-9 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, וּנְחַלְתָּֽנוּ and take us for your inheritance.” This is an interesting request Moses is praying for with our word. He is asking God to literally hold on to them as a valuable inheritance that one holds on to. Moses has a heart for the people and understands God’s heart by reflecting what God desires as well. We see this idea of God valuing people and wanting to hold us close to himself. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is writing through Paul in his prayer for them to understand just how much God loves them. He calls them God’s inheritance and not just any inheritance but the riches of his glorious inheritance. Wow that is powerful. Ephesians 1:18-19 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. If we could grasp just how much God loves us it would transform how we live and treat ourselves and others around us.
