SCRIPTURE: NUMBERS 36
INHERITANCE OF ZELOPHEHAD’S DAUGHTERS (vs. 1-13)
This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters:
- They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father.
- No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from the forefathers.
- Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers.
- No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.
So, Zelophehad’s daughters – Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah married their cousins on their father’s side. They married within the clan of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph and their inheritance remained in their father’s clan and tribe.
THOUGHTS:
In order to have the inheritance of the daughters retained in its original tribe, they were mandated to marry men in their own clan. Otherwise, they wer e not allowed to their share of inheritance. Today, God gives this command: :Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)