SCRIPTURE – NUMBERS 36
IMPORTANT VERSES:
“No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefather.” (Numbers 36:7)
“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.” (Numbers 36:8)
“No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.” (Numbers 36:9)
INHERITANCE OF ZELOPHEHAD’S DAUGHTERS (vs. 1-13)
The family heads of the clan of Gilead, son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of the Israelite families. They said, “When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allot ted to us will be taken away. When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our forefathers.”:
Then at the Lord’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right. This is what the Lord commands for 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 his 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 father. No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.”
So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses. Zelophehad’s daughters – Mahlah, Tirzqah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah – married their cousins on their father’s side. They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father’s clan and tribe.
These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
Zelophehad had five daughters but no sons. After he died, his daughters appealed to Moses. Because the inheritance normally passed only through the male line, the family line of Zelophehad would have disappeared. God told Moses that if a man died without sons, then the inheritance would go to the daughters. But the question of marriage arose. If the daughters were to marry outside of their tribe, the land would belong to another tribe at the Year of Jubilee. So Moses commanded that in such cases, the women should marry men in their own clan and tribe so that each tribe would retain its original inheritance. Later, when the tribes received their land under Joshua, the daughters of Zelophehad received their inheritance as God had instructed.
The book of Numbers covers 39 years and closes with the Israelites posed near the banks of the Jordan River with the Promised Land in sight. The wanderings in the wilderness have come to an end and the people are preparing for their next big move – the conquest of the land. The apostle Paul says that the events described in Numbers are examples that warn us and help us avoid the Israelites’ mistakes. From their experiences, we learn that unbelief is disastrous. We also learn not to long for the sinful pleasures of the past, to avoid complaining, and to stay away from all forms of compromise. If we choose to let God lead our lives, we should not ignore his message in the book of Numbers.