Numbers 36
The Manassehites Raise a Legal Concern 1–4
God’s Command Regarding Tribal Inheritance 5–9
Compliance and Conclusion 10–13
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Numbers 36
Verse 1
the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead — These are the heads of Zelophehad’s own clan, for he was ‘the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh’ (Num 27:1). They come to the matter settled in Num 27:5–8 and speak ‘before Moses, and before the princes’, raising a question that ruling left open.
Verse 2
by lot — The clan rests its case on two commands, that the land be given ‘by lot’ to the tribes (Num 26:55) and that Zelophehad’s inheritance go to his daughters (Num 27:7). The lot assigned land by tribe, ‘according to the names of the tribes of their fathers’ (Num 26:55), and the daughters’ share could cross a tribal line, as v.3 explains.
Verse 3
shall their inheritance be taken — Gara means to lessen or withdraw. A daughter who married into another tribe would take her share with her to the tribe ‘whereunto they are received’, and the lot of Manasseh’s clan would shrink by that amount. Her sons would be counted to their father’s tribe.
Verse 4
the jubile — Yovel is the fiftieth year, in which ‘ye shall return every man unto his possession’ (Lev 25:10, 13), and it is named in Numbers only here. The clan says that when the jubile comes, the daughters’ inheritance would be ‘put unto’ the other tribe’s and not returned to their fathers’ tribe.
Verse 5
according to the word of the LORD — The Hebrew is ‘at the mouth of the LORD’. Moses gives the answer as the LORD’s own, as in the first case, when he ‘brought their cause before the LORD’ (Num 27:5) and was told ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak right’ (Num 27:7). Here the verdict on the clan is ‘hath said well’.
Verse 6
Let them marry to whom they think best — The Hebrew is ‘to the good in their eyes’, so the choice remains theirs, within one limit: ‘only to the family of the tribe of their father’. Rebekah was likewise asked, ‘Wilt thou go with this man?’ and answered, ‘I will go’ (Gen 24:58), when Abraham sent for a wife from ‘my kindred’ (Gen 24:4).
Verse 7
shall keep himself to the inheritance — ‘Keep himself’ is davaq, to cleave, the verb of ‘shall cleave unto his wife’ in Gen 2:24. Naboth shows the attitude when he answers Ahab, ‘The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee’ (1 Kings 21:3). Land is not to ‘remove from tribe to tribe’.
Verse 8
every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance — The rule is general: it covers every daughter who holds land, not only Zelophehad’s five. ‘Possesseth’ is yarash, to inherit. 1 Chron 23:22 shows it observed: Eleazar ‘had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them’.
Verse 11
Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah — The five names are those of Num 26:33 and 27:1, with Noah moved from second place to last. They married ‘their father’s brothers’ sons’. In Josh 17:3–4 they come before Eleazar and Joshua and say, ‘The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren’.
Verse 13
the commandments and the judgments — The line closes Numbers as Lev 27:34 closes Leviticus: ‘These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai’. Leviticus ends at Sinai; Numbers ends ‘in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho’, the camp named since Num 22:1, with the Jordan ahead.