Numbers 36

The elders of Manasseh’s clan raise a worry about the daughters of Zelophehad. If these heiresses marry into other tribes, their land will pass away from Manasseh. The LORD answers that heiresses may marry anyone they please, but only within their father’s tribe. The daughters obey, and Numbers closes with the people on the edge of the Promised Land.

Numbers 36:1

The heads of Gilead’s clan, part of Manasseh and so of Joseph’s line, come forward with a concern. They bring it openly to Moses and the leaders. Settling a question of justice is done in the light, before those responsible for it.

BSA: approached (“came near, drew close”): They came near in respect, bringing a concern to the proper authority instead of acting on their own.

Numbers 36:2

The elders begin by recalling what God had already commanded. The land was to be divided by lot, and Zelophehad’s daughters were to receive their father’s share. They accept that ruling and do not reopen it. Their question is about what follows from it.

BSA: lot (“allotted portion, decision by chance”): The lot placed the choice of each tribe’s land in God’s hands, not in human favoritism.

See also: Numbers 27:1-7; Proverbs 16:33.

Numbers 36:3

Their fear is practical. If an heiress marries a man of another tribe, her land would pass to her husband’s family line and so to his tribe. Manasseh’s God-given share would shrink. The elders are guarding what the LORD had assigned to their fathers.

BSA: withdrawn (“taken away, diminished”): The tribe’s portion would be reduced, not merely moved around.

Numbers 36:4

Even the Jubilee would not fix the problem. In that year land that had been sold returned to its original family. But land that had passed by marriage would stay permanently with the new tribe. The elders see that the usual safeguard would not protect them here.

BSA: Jubilee (“year of celebration, time of release”): The Jubilee was a time of release, when land went back to its families, which is why this gap troubled them.

See also: Leviticus 25:10-13.

Numbers 36:5

Moses answers with the LORD’s authority, not his own opinion. He declares that the men of Joseph’s tribe speak rightly. Their concern was sound, and God’s word confirmed it. Wise leaders listen to a fair complaint and test it by God’s word.

BSA: correctly (“rightly, as is right, well”): The elders’ reasoning is affirmed as just, not dismissed as mere self-interest.

Numbers 36:6

The LORD gives the daughters real freedom: they may marry anyone they please. He adds one condition, that the husband come from their father’s tribe. The rule protects the inheritance without forcing any woman into a marriage she does not choose.

BSA: anyone they please (“think best, choose”): The daughters keep their own choice within a wide circle of men.

Hebrew: לְטוֹב בְּעֵינֵיהֶם (ləṭôb bə‘êynêhem, H2896) — “to the good in their eyes.” The Hebrew says they may marry whoever seems good in their own eyes. God honors their personal judgment, within the one boundary he sets.

Numbers 36:7

Here is the general principle. Land must not pass from tribe to tribe. Each Israelite is to keep the inheritance of his fathers. Every tribe’s portion came from the LORD’s own allotment, so it was not for people to trade it away.

BSA: retain (“hold onto, keep, or preserve”): The inheritance was something to be held faithfully, like a trust, not given up.

Hebrew: יִדְבְּקוּ (yidbəqû, H1692) — “cling, hold fast.” The verb for retaining is the one used of clinging, so each Israelite is to hold fast to his tribal inheritance.

Numbers 36:8

The rule is applied to every daughter who inherits land, not only to Zelophehad’s five. Each must marry within her father’s tribe. The aim is stated plainly: every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers.

BSA: possesses (“takes control of, inherits”): A woman could truly hold and control family land, which was unusual in the ancient world.

Numbers 36:9

The command is repeated to fix it firmly in mind. No inheritance moves from tribe to tribe, for each tribe must keep what it was given. Order in the land was a gift from God, and it protected the families who lived there.

See also: Numbers 26:52-56.

Numbers 36:10

The daughters simply obey. They had once asked boldly for their father’s land, and now they accept the limit on whom they may marry. They show faith in God both when they ask and when they yield.

BSA: commanded (“given orders, appointed”): They treated the ruling as the LORD’s own order, not merely as a human arrangement.

Numbers 36:11-12

The five sisters are named again, and each married a cousin on her father’s side. Their land stayed in Manasseh. These names, like the sisters’ original request, show how much care God gives to ordinary families and their future.

BSA: remained (“was kept, stayed”): The land was kept in the family exactly as God intended.

See also: Joshua 17:3-4.

Numbers 36:13

This closes the whole book of Numbers. Israel is camped on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho. They have God’s commands in hand and the Promised Land before them. The next step is to enter it.

BSA: ordinances (“judgments, regulations, guidelines”): These are God’s rulings, given to guide life in the land he promised.

See also: Deuteronomy 1:1-5.