Numbers 36:3

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-4 The heads of the tribe of Manasseh represent the evil which might follow, if the daughters of Zelophehad should marry into any other tribes. They sought to preserve the Divine appointment of inheritances, and that contests and quarrels should not rise among those who should come afterwards. It is the wisdom and duty of those who have estates in the world, to settle them, and to dispose of them, so that no strife and contention may arise....

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 IF THEY BE MARRIED TO ANY OF THE SONS OF THE OTHER TRIBES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... Which was not an unreasonable supposition, and perhaps was judged very probable and likely, if some method was not taken to prevent it; which they might conclude from the application of some young men of the other tribes unto them: 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; for the inheritance given unto them would of course, the above being the case, descend to their sons, and whose fathers being of other tribes, it would be fixed there: SO SHALL IT BE TAKEN FROM THE LOT OF OUR INHERITANCE; which gave them some concern; for though this was no personal injury to them, nor any detriment to their families and estates, yet, as it was a lessening of their tribe, they were uneasy at it; and...

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....

G. THE MARRIAGE OF HEIRESSES (NUMBERS 36) TEXT Numbers 36:1. 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. 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. 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 ou

THE LAW REGARDING HEIRESSES According to Numbers 27:1 it was decided that, if a man left no sons, his daughters might inherit his property. But if the daughters married into another tribe, the property would go with them, and so be alienated from the tribe to which they formerly belonged. If it were sold after their marriage, it would revert at the year of Jubilee, not to the original tribe, but to that into which it had been transferred by marriage. To obviate this diminution of the lands originally assigned to each tribe, it is here enacted that no heiress shall marry outside the tribe of her father....