A Concern About Inherited Land
Study note
In chapter 27, God had ruled that Zelophehad's daughters could inherit their father's land. Now the other leaders of the tribe of Manasseh saw a potential problem. If the daughters married men from other tribes, the land would move to those tribes when the women's children inherited it. Even the Year of Jubilee, when property was supposed to return to original owners, would not fix this because the land would legally belong to the new tribe through inheritance.
1 The family leaders from the clan of Gilead came to Moses and the other Israelite leaders with a concern. Gilead was the son of Machir, grandson of Manasseh, and part of Joseph's family line. And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:
2 They said, "The Lord told you to hand out the land by lot to the Israelites. He also told you to give our relative Zelophehad's share to his daughters." And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.
3 "But here is the problem: if they marry men from other Israelite tribes, their inherited land will be transferred out of our tribe and into their husbands' tribe. Our share of the inheritance will shrink." And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.
4 "When the Year of Jubilee comes, their land will stay with the tribe they married into for good. It will be lost from our tribe's share forever." And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
God's Solution
Study note
God agreed that the concern was valid. He ruled that the daughters of Zelophehad could marry anyone they wanted, but only within their own tribe of Manasseh. This rule applied to all women in Israel who inherited land. The purpose was to keep each tribe's inheritance within its own boundaries so that no tribe's land would be permanently lost to another.
5 Following the Lord's direction, Moses told the Israelites, "The tribe of Joseph makes a good point." And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.
6 "Here is the Lord's ruling about Zelophehad's daughters. They may marry anyone they want. But the man must be from a clan within their own tribe." This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
7 "No piece of land in Israel should pass from one tribe to another. Every Israelite must hold on to the land that belongs to their family's tribe." So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
8 "Any daughter in any Israelite tribe who gets land must marry someone from a clan in her own tribe. This makes sure that every Israelite keeps the land that belonged to their ancestors." And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.
9 "No inheritance should drift from one tribe to another. Each Israelite tribe must hold onto its own inherited land." Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.
The Daughters Obey
Study note
The daughters of Zelophehad obeyed the Lord's command and married men from their own tribe. This kept their inheritance within the tribe of Manasseh. The book of Numbers ends by noting that these are the commands God gave Israel through Moses on the plains of Moab. The people were now ready to enter the Promised Land.
10 Zelophehad's daughters did everything the Lord told Moses. Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:
11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins from their father's side of the family. For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons:
12 They married men from the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. So the land they received stayed within their father's tribe. And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.
13 These are the commands and rules the Lord gave through Moses. He gave them to the Israelites on the plains of Moab. They were by the Jordan River across from Jericho. These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.