Numbers 36:12

_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._ Moses commanded ... according to the word of the Lord. The plea appeared just and reasonable; and accordingly an enactment was made by which the daughters of Zelophehad, while left to the free choice of their husbands, were restricted to marry not only within their own tribe, but within the family of their father's tribe - i:e., one of their cousins. This restriction, however, was imposed only on those who were heiresses. The law was not applicable to daughters in different circumstances (1 Chronicles 23:22). The great object of these two exceptional laws was, that the name of the man who died sonless should not be lost (Numbers 27:4); and on th

5-12 Those who consult the oracles of God, concerning the making of their heavenly inheritance sure, shall not only be directed what to do, but their inquiries shall be graciously accepted. God would not have one tribe enriched at the expense of another. Each tribe was to keep to its own inheritance. The daughters of Zelophehad submitted to this appointment. How could they fail to marry well, when God himself directed them? Let the people of God learn how suitable and proper it is, like the daughters of Israel, to be united only to their own people. Ought not every true believer Israel, to be united only to their own people. Ought not every true believer in Jesus, to be very attentive in the near and tender relations of life, to be united only to such as are united to the Lord? All our intentions and inclinations ought to be subjected to the will of God, when that is made known to us, a...

Verse Numbers 36:12. _AND THEIR INHERITANCE REMAINED IN - THE FAMILY_] "By this example, and the law of inheritances in the Holy Land, the people of God," says Ainsworth, "are taught to hold fast their inheritance in his promises, and their right in Christ, which they hold by faith; that as the Father hath made them meet to be partakers of the inheritance among the saints in light, Colossians 1:12, so they may keep the faith and grace which they have received to the end....

The daughters of Zelophehad had obtained an ordinance Numbers 28:6 which permitted the daughters of an Israelite dying without male issue to inherit their father’s property. The chiefs of the Machirites, of whom Zelophehad had been one, now obtain a supplemental enactment, directing that heiresses should marry within their own tribe. Numbers 36:4 BE TAKEN AWAY - i. e. be permanently taken away. The jubilee year, by not restoring the estate to the tribe to which it originally belonged, would in effect confirm the alienation. Numbers 36:11 UNTO THEIR FATHER’S BROTHERS’ SONS - Or more generally, “unto t

EXPOSITION THE MARRIAGE OF HEIRESSES (Numbers 36:1). NUMBERS 36:1 THE CHIEF FATHERS. The same phrase is more correctly translated in Exodus 6:25 "heads of the fathers." It is, however, probable that הָאָבור (fathers) is a contraction for בֵּית־הַאָבוֹת (fathers' houses). The fathers' house was the next recognized and familiar division below the _mishpachah _(family). Probably the fathers' house included originally all the descendants of a living ancestor, who formed the bond of union between them; but this union no doubt survived in many cases the death of the common ancestor, whose authority w

AND THEY WERE MARRIED INTO THE FAMILIES OF THE SONS OF MANASSEH, THE SON OF JOSEPH,.... The family of the Hepherites, of which they were. Aben Ezra observes, that their being married into families, and not a family, is a sign that their uncles' sons were not all of them brethren, or the sons of one man, but of more, though all sons of one or other of their father's, brethren: AND THEIR INHERITANCE REMAINED IN THE TRIBE OF THE FAMILY OF THEIR FATHER; by means of these marriages, even both in their father's tribe and family....

12. THE SECURITY OF THE INHERITANCE CHAPTER 36 _ 1. The applicants and their statement (Numbers 36:1)_ 2. The response of Moses (Numbers 36:5) 3. The epilogue (Numbers 36:13) The chapter explains itself. But what is the lesson? It is evident that the inheritance given by the Lord must remain with those to whom it is given. And this brought security and comfort to the daughters of Zelophehad. It brings security and comfort to our hearts when we consider that our inheritance in Christ can never be taken from us. It belongs to us and we belong to the inheritance. The same is true of Israel with its earthly inheritance, the promised land. Thus ends the wilderness book, a marvellous

HEIRESSES REQUIRED TO MARRY WITHIN THEIR OWN TRIBE. This law supplements the enactment in Numbers 27:1, which allowed daughters to inherit their father's property, but still left open the possibility of the property, on their marriage, passing with them to another tribe. In practice, the transfer of lands from one tribe to another seems to have been not infrequent, for the same cities are sometimes represented as belonging to different tribes (presumably at different periods). Thus Dibon is Gadite in Numbers 32:34, but Reubenite in Joshua 13:17; Heshbon is Reubenite in Numbers 32:37, but Gadite in...

P. The chapter lays down a law that heiresses may not be married to anyone outside their own tribe. As in ch. 27, the present law is put in a concrete form. In ch. 27 it was ruled that the daughters of Zelophehad might inherit property, in order that the inheritance might not be alienated from the tribe of Manasseh. But it was realised that that law might, after all, be annulled if they were married to persons of other tribes. Here, therefore, the supplementary law is issued, forbidding them to do so....

AND THEY WERE MARRIED INTO THE FAMILIES OF THE SONS OF MANASSEH— That is, according to the margin of our English Bibles, _some who were of the families of Manasseh,_ from whom several families descended; for they did not marry promiscuously into _any_ of the families of Manasseh, but into their _father's family,_ which was the family of Hepher. Hence some would render the latter clause of this verse, _in the house of the family of their father._...