Numbers 27:4

_WHY SHOULD THE NAME OF OUR FATHER BE DONE AWAY FROM AMONG HIS FAMILY, BECAUSE HE HATH NO SON? GIVE UNTO US THEREFORE A POSSESSION AMONG THE BRETHREN OF OUR FATHER._ Give unto us ... a possession among the brethren of our father. Those young women-perceiving that the males only in families had been registered in the census, and that, in consequence of there being none in their household, their family was omitted-made known their grievance to Moses and the authorities conjoined with him in administering justice. The case was important; and as the peculiarity of daughters being the sole members of a family would be no unfrequent or uncommon occurrence, the law of inheritance, under divine authority, was extended, not only to meet all similar cases, but other cases also-such as when there were no children left by the proprietor, and no brothers to succeed him. A distribution of the promise...

1-11 The five daughters of Zelophehad considered themselves as left destitute, having neither father nor brother to inherit any land. Their believing expectation that the word of the Lord would be performed in due season, and their desire of an interest in the promised inheritance; and the modest, candid manner in which they asked, without secret murmurs or discontents, are a good example. They ask for a possession in the land of Canaan. Herein they discovered, 1. Strong faith in the power and promise of God, concerning the giving of the land of Canaan to Israel. 2. And earnest desire of a place and name in the land of promise, which was a type of heaven. 3. Respect and honour for their father, whose name was dear to them now he was gone. He never had done any thing that might bar his children's claim. It is a comfort to parents when they come to die, if though they have smarted for the...

GIVE UNTO US - As representing our father; that so he, through us his representatives, may enjoy a like inheritance with his brethren....

EXPOSITION THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD (Numbers 27:1). NUMBERS 27:1 THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD. The genealogy here given agrees with those in Numbers 26:29-4 and in Joshua 17:3. These women would appear to have been in the eighth generation from Jacob, which hardly accords with the 470 years required by the narrative; some links, however, may have been dropped. NUMBERS 27:2 BY...

WHY SHOULD THE NAME OF OUR FATHER BE DONE AWAY FROM AMONG HIS FAMILY, BECAUSE HE HATH NO SON.... Or be withdrawn, and his family lose their part and share on that account; this they thought was unreasonable: according to the Targum of Jonathan, to prevent the name of their father being lost, and his part in the land, their motion was, that their mother might marry their father's brother, according to the law in Deuteronomy 25:5, with which Jarchi agrees; but it does not appear that that law was as yet in being; though how otherwise the name of their father would be preserved, than by raising up seed in that way, is not easy to say; except, as some think, it was done by a son of one of those heiresses, or by the first son of everyone of them, being called after the name of their grandfather Zelophehad, or their mother's grandfather Hepher; though the Jews t commonly by the "name" unders

4. THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD, THE DEATH OF MOSES AND HIS SUCCESSOR ANNOUNCED CHAPTER 27 _ 1. The daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1)_ 2. Moses' death announced and his request (Numbers 27:12) 3. Joshua appointed (Numbers 27:18) The question of the daughters of Zelophehad was concerning their inheritance. Their father had died in the wilderness and there were no sons. They expected and claimed a possession among the brethren of their father. They fully counted on the Lord and His goodness, though their case was not met by the previous instructions. “It is impossible for God to be like a poor man, who says, ‘You expect more good than I am prepared to bestow.' God could not m

THE RIGHT OF DAUGHTERS TO INHERIT, IN DEFAULT OF MALE ISSUE. To guard against the alienation of property from a family through the absence of male heirs by natural descent, the system of the Levirate marriage was instituted (Deuteronomy 25:5 *, p. 109); and that law, which assumed that only males could inherit, is here supplemented by another law allowing daughters, in default of sons, to become heirs. For a qualification of the present law, see Numbers 36; and for the fulfilment of the claim made by Zelophehad's daughters, see Joshua 17:3 f *. NUMBERS 27:3. The denial that Zelophehad (a Manassite) was implicated in the rebellion of Korah presumes that Korah led a movement of the secular tribes against the

WHY... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6....

_A law on the inheritance of property_. The Hebrews always adhered firmly to the principle that landed property must not be alienated from the tribe or family to which it belonged. In early days, inheritance by daughters was not contemplated. If a man died without children, his widow might be married to his brother in order to bear sons who should inherit the property (Deuteronomy 25:5-10; cf. Matthew 22:24). Or if a man wished to sell land, his next-of-kin had the first right of purchase (Jeremiah 32:8). And the same principle underlies the law of the Jubile (Leviticus 25:10;...

OUR FATHER DIED IN THE WILDERNESS, &C.— In these verses we have the petition of the daughters of Zelophehad, who urged that their father dying without male issue in the wilderness, _in his own sin, i.e._ by a common and ordinary death, (not such a one as they shared who were partakers of the guilt of _Korah and his companions,_) it was not right that _the name of their father should be done away, i.e._ rased out of the genealogical tables; for such was the case upon any family being extinct; upon which account they request _a possession_ among the brethren of their father. Houbigant, however, is of opinion, that _name_ is here used for _memory,_ which is easily transmitted from fathers to sons by a paternal inheritance; as, on the contrary, their memory is soon blotted out who leave their inheritance to strangers. Philo gives Zelophehad the appellation of _a man of an excellent character...