Numbers 36
PATpunishment after he was condemned:* though if the prosecutors compounded with him or his friends beforehand, and desisted from the prosecution, his life was saved. If he fled from justice, all his goods were confiscated, and he forfeited all the rights of a citizen, both civil and sacred, (See Sam. Petitus’s Comment, in Leges Atticas, lib. vii. tit. 1.) &c. Tliat an heiress should not marry out of her kindred, but dispose of herself and estate, t$ lyyvrara ylvovg, to one nearest of kin to her; which ^vas one of the laws of Solon, as Sam. Pctitns observes outof Isseus, Pollux, and others* in his Comment, in Leges Atticas, lib. vi. tit. 1; p. 441. Shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father.] Hero she is confined to her family, and not merely to her tribe. But this -concerned only such as were heiresses: all other women might marry into what tribe they pleased; as appears by those very books, wherein wo read that Aaron himself married the sister of the prince of Judah, (Exod. vi. 22.) And if any object, that this was before the giving of the law, it is evident that Jehoida, a priest, and consequently of the tribe of Levi, married king Jeboram’s sister, who was of the tribe of Judah,(2 Chron. xxii.ll.) And long before this, all the tribes of Israel, being in great solicitude how to find Avives for their brethren of Benjamin, did not scruple their having them out of any tribe, if it had not been for their oath, (Judg. xxi. 18.) And, to add no more, David himself, of the tribe of Judah, married Michal, the daughter of- Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. The Talmudists add, that even these heiresses raiglu marry into what tribe they pleased, after the first division of the land by Joshua: to which they imagine this law was restrained; it being a common saying among them, “that it did not belong to any age, but that in which it was made.” In the following ages they pretend a man’ might purchase land in any tribe, and possess it alway; or have the inheritance of it by marriage, though he were of another tribe, as Sclden shews their opinion to be, (lib. de Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 18. and lib. iii. de Synedr. cap. 4. n. 1. and Buxtorf. de Sponsal.’etDivortiis, sect. 44.) But this is well confuted byGrotius in his Annotations upon Matt.i. 16.
Numbers 36:1
AlND the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son ofMachir, the son of Manasseh, &c. Not the fathers of those families, whose inheritance had been assigned them already on this side Jordan, in the land of Gilead; but the other half of the tribe of Manasseh, who were to have their inheritance in Canaan, where the daughters of Zelophehad also had their portion, as appears from Josh. xvii. 3, 4, &c. Came near and spake before Hoses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel] Who were met together in a great assembly, as they used to do. about public affairs. (See xxvii. 2. xxxi. xxxii. 2.)
Numbers 36:2
And they said, The Lord commanded my lord. This shews that one of them was the mouth of the rest. To give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of IsraeL] See xxvu 52, 53. For there the foundation of all these doubts was laid. * And my lord teas commanded by the Lord to give the in* heritance of Zelophehad.) Which would have fallen to Zelophehad, had he been alive.. • Our brother.] So they called their near relations. Unto his daughters.] Who petitioned him for ihe possession which should have been their fathers’, and it was granted them. (See xxvii. 6, 7.)
Numbers 36:3
And if tliey be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel. They being rich, many, it may be supposed, of the other tribes, as well as their own, would court them for theiT wives: and if they should choose a husband that was not of their own tribe, they represent to Moses the inconveniences which from thence would follow. Then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers.] i. e. Go out of our tribe, to which it originally belonged. And shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe wherennto they are received.] Become a part of the inheritance of that tribe into which they married. So shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.] For it must have descended unto their children, who were of another tribe by the father’s side; which alone was considered, and not the mother’s, in this case. Ver..4. And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be.] Which was. ordained for the preserving estates in the tribes and families to which they originally appertained, (Lev. xxv. 10.13.) Then shall their inlteritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received.] The jubilee will not help us-in this case, by making their inheritances return as other lands do; because they are become the inheritance of another tribe by the right of marriage. Sp shall their inheritance be taken away from the inherit* ance of the tribe of our fathers.] So will their estate go out of our tribe, without remedy, because the jubilee itself will give us no relief.
Numbers 36:5
And Moses commanded the children of Israel, according to the word of the Lord. Whom, I suppose, he consulted about this matter, (as he did when the first doubt was moved about the inheritance of these women, xxvii. 5.) and received the answeT by which he here commanded the Israelites to govern themselves. The tribe of Joseph.] In whose name the chief fathers of their several families made this representation to Moses; as became men who took care of the concerns of the whole tribe. Hath said welt.] In desiring the inheritance of these women might not go out of their tribe, which was prevented by the following law.
Numbers 36:6
This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to ivhom they think best. They were not confined to any particular persons; but might have their choice among those who were descended from the same stock, as it immediately follows.;’ Only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they niarry.] Only with these two limitations, that they might not marry a man of another tribe, nor a man of another family in their own tribe. For it is very manifest,, that they are tied to marry into the family of their father; and accordingly they did actually marry their cousin-germans, as we now speak, (ver. 11.) For this law was made foT the preservation of families (as well as of tribes), as the law for - the redemption of lands was. And “therefore these words, the family of the tribe of their father, are well translated by Grotius, (upon Matt. i. IGJfamiliastirpis patentee, the family of the stock of their father, which was that they desired might not perish, (xxvii- 4.) and was the ground of the law, which commanded a man to marry the wife of his brother, who left no issue, (Deut. xxv. 16.) Therefore, there being several families in the tribe of Manasseh, (xxvi. 29—32.) these women could marry only into the family of the Hepherites.
Numbers 36:7
So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe. For by preserving it in the family to which it was given, it was necessarily preserved in the tribe- For every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers^] And not en T deavour to get any part of the inheritance of another tribe, by marrying an heiress in it. Plato himself tookcare of this, that when a man left only a daughter, his estate should not be carried by her to a stranger, but she should be bound to marry Kar ayx t(7T ^ av > one lh a ^ was nearest of kin to her. And if there was a want of near kindred fxixgi fxlv aSekipov vtiSiov, &c. it should descend to the children of her father’s brother, or the children of the grandfather, some of which he ordains should marry her. (Lib. xi.de Legibus, p.924, 925. edit. Serrani.);
Numbers 36:8
And every daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel. Here this law is made general; that all women who were heiresses, as the daughters of Zelophehad were, should do as they are here commanded. And this was one of the Attic laws, which, as Grotius observes, were plainly borrowed from the law of Moses, Mrj l£uvai rate liriK()pois £?w tt)S ayxt<rrtta$ ywcv,
Numbers 36:9
Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe. -Thisestablishes in general what he had said before, (ver. 7.) with particular respect to the daughters of Zelophehad. But Moses ben Nachman, upon these very words, asserts the Talmudic opinion beforementioned, that this concerns only the present time, not future ages. And puts this case (which is the strongest that can be thought of), if a woman were married into another tribe, after which marriage, her father and all her brethren dying without children, the inheritance fell to her, and consequently, saith he, the possession must devolve from one tribe to another, into which she had married. But, according to the letter of these words, the inheritance was rather to descend to the next of her. kindred, than by her be carried out of the tribe to which it belonged. But every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.] Shall cleave or stick close to his own iuheritancc, as the Hebrew w r ord signifies; and as the Greek and Latin express it. The reason of the eommand was, as Procopius Gazaeus observes, to prevent the confusion of tribes. How the Vulgar Latin camo to deviate so much from the Hebrew text, and from -the intention of this law (as it hath done in this and the two preceding verses), I shall not here examine. It is sufficient to note, that Onkelos hath expressed the Hebrew text word for word; and the LXX. do not depart from the sense of it.
Numbers 36:10
Even as the Lord commandeth Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad. Accordingly they followed this direction when they camo into the land of Canaan, and had received their portion there. Now there being no such words added here, as there arc in other eases*’this shall be vnto the children of Israel a statute oj judgment, (Kk\ii.U.) much less a statute of judgment throughout your generations, (xxxv. 29.) it led, I conjecture, the Talmudic doctors into the forementioned opinion, that this law concerned only the present generation..
Numbers 36:11
For Mahlah, Tizzah, and Hoglah, and Milkah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad. Thus they are called both in xxvi. 33. and xxvii. 1. though they are not there mentioned in the same order; for Tizzah is there named last, who is here named in the second place. Perhaps they are set down here in the order wherein they were disposed in marriage; and Tizzah, who was the younger, was married in the second place. Were married unto their father’s brother’s 50725.]- For Hepher, no doubt, had other sons besides Zelophehad, who had issue-male, though Zelophehad had not. What their names were, or how many of them, we do not know; but some suppose them to have been six; one of which died in the wilderness without issue. See Selden, de Successionibus, cap. 23. where he discourses at large of the portion which fell to them in the land of Canaan.
Numbers 36:12
And they were married into the families, &c. In the margin, more exactly out of the Hebrew, to some that were of the families; i. e. to one of the families of Manasseh, from whom Several families descended, (xxvi-. 29, &c.) Andtheir inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father^] The word for tribe signifies sometimes merely a family in a tribe. And so the LXX. (as Grotius observes in the place beforenamed) in this very business, uses sometimes the word &>oc, and sometimes ^vXi); the former of which signifies a part of a whole tribe. And thus Josephusalso uses the word ^vX?), to signify a family. Mr. Selden hath the same observation in his book de Successionibus, cap. IS. that nns^a is sometimes translated ^vXr/; and then it signifies not a tribe, butTraTptav, <rvyy(vztav,f ami- Ham, cognalionem, sen genus sanguine proximum; a family, a kindred, or those that are next in blood. But there is no need of these observations, if the words be translated, as they may, rightly; And their inheritance remained in the tribe and the family of their fathers. (See ver. 6.)
Numbers 36:13
These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the chiU dren of Israel, in the plains of Moab, by’ Jordan near Jericho. He began to deliver the precepts here intended at chapter xxvi. (see ver. 3.) and continues them to this place. By commandments, seem to be meant the precepts about the worship of God, (chap, xxviii. xxix. xxx.) tmdby judgments, the ciril laws about dividing their inheritances, and regulating their descent to their posterity, and establishing cities of refuge for manslayers, which are expressly called a statute of judgment, (xxvii. 11. xxxv. 29.) Some other things are interspersed, as God’s commandment to number the people (which w r as in order to the assigning them their inheritances proportionable to their families), to execute judgment on the Midianites, and to set dowTi in writing their travels in the wilderness; of which 1 have given an account in their proper places.