Numbers Chapter 36: Special Problem of Inheritance in Canaan
Intro to Numbers 36:1-13
Day 96. Just
got word today from the Premier of our Province that our City can move to Stage
2 of Re-opening which means: indoor shopping malls can open; barbershops and
salons can open; and restaurants can serve meals on their patios only. Social
distancing, etc., is still to be maintained, people can only have parties up to
10 individuals at their house, and churches can have worship services at 30%
seating capacity. And that’s exactly what we did yesterday at our church, and
it went very well. Thankful for such
mercies. We press on.
Today we have our last study in
the book of Numbers. It’s been most interesting but there’s still a few problems
to iron out. Take a look. . .
The Passage
And the heads of the fathers’ households of the
family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the
families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the
leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the
sons of Israel, 2 and
they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as
an inheritance, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to
give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 But if they [a]marry one of the sons of the other tribes
of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance
of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they
belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4 When the jubilee of the sons of Israel [b]comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of
the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the
inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
5 Then
Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the [c]word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of
the sons of Joseph are right in their statements. 6 This is [d]what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let
them marry [e]whom they wish; only they must marry within the family of the
tribe of their father.’7 Thus no
inheritance of the sons of Israel shall [f]be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall
each [g]hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 Every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any
tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of
her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his
fathers. 9 Thus
no inheritance shall [h]be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of
the sons of Israel shall each [i]hold to his own inheritance.”10 Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did:11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. 12 They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance [j]remained with the tribe of the family of their father.
13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Footnotes
- Numbers 36:3 Lit become wives to, in this ch
- Numbers 36:4 Lit shall be
- Numbers 36:5 Lit mouth
- Numbers 36:6 Lit the thing which
- Numbers 36:6 Lit to the good one in their eyes
- Numbers 36:7 Lit turn about
- Numbers 36:7 Lit cleave
- Numbers 36:9 Lit turn about
- Numbers 36:9 Lit cleave
- Numbers 36:12 Lit was
Thoughts on the Passage
You will remember that
Manasseh was to get land on both sides of the Jordan – in Moab (east of Jordan)
and some in Canaan, the Promised Land itself. They approached Moses and all the
leaders of each tribe with a unique problem.
It seems that the land that
was to be Zelophehad (from the tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph) went to his
daughters as he had died and left no sons. (You will remember this story from
Numbers 16.) So, the stated the obvious which was if one of these five
daughters would marry a man from another tribe, their tribe would lose the inherited
land and it would be added to the inheritance of the other tribe from whence
the new husband came. And there is also reference to this possibly happening
when the next ‘jubilee’ came around.
First, it amazes me that, to
be it in one way, the tribes were so tribal. Second, that land was the key
commodity here between the tribes. This was their biggest concern. One can
understand this to be the case as the story of the chosen people goes back to Abraham
and there is great evidence of his involvement with land. And of course, from a
human perspective, the most important part of the Covenant that God made with
Israel was, to the people, the promised ‘land’ rather than that they would
multiply to be more than the stars in the sky, or more important still that
they would be God’s people and He would be their God. All three were blessings,
but they focused on the least important of the three.
After inquiring of the Lord, as
was his custom, Moses reported that those raising the concern were right. And
thus, God had commanded that the daughters could marry “whom they wished” as long
as it was from the tribe of Joseph. Thus, no land would be transferred to
another tribe.
Once again, our Hero God
comes to the rescue with a most desirable solution. Several things to note
here. First, the number of people in all
of the sons of Israel at the time was large enough that what God suggested would
not be a problem. Secondly, we note that the women could marry “whom they
wished” (verse 6) as long as it was from the tribe of Joseph or the
sub-families therein. And this made sense for these five women as they had no
brothers and certainly no father to veto their choice.
What is not clear for me from
this passage was whether this “whom they wished” was subject to the agreement of
the next of kin male – their uncles. And if so, we can see the complications
here seen they would be selecting males to marry from the sons of these very
uncles. And if they were to have the final say, then you could see the uncles
vying for the most beautiful of the daughters for their son, etc., etc. Not a
pretty scene. So, God again knew what He
was doing when He gave this decision to the sons (and daughters) of Israel.
Some commentators, using
verse 13 of the chapter, feel that this solution here was also to be perpetual.
Others are silent on that, perhaps thinking that the reference to “commandments
and ordinances” in verse 13 really referred to all the other commands and
ordinances given earlier in the entire book of Numbers.
One other thing that is not
clear for me is whether or not this “whom they will” says anything with respect
to our more modern marriages today, at least for the believer. I think at the
very least, we may agree that the Bible from this point forward does not call
for forced or arranged marriages. At the same time, there is enough precedence
to state that the Bible strongly recommends that young people marrying should
at least have the blessings of the parents and perhaps even the permission of
the spouse’s parents. I know when I got married 49 years ago, I asked for my
parents’ blessing and I asked my wife’s parents for my future wife’s hand.
Fortunately, everyone was in agreement. I am glad I didn’t have to deal with a “negative”
from either side. Not sure what I would have done in 1971.
And verse 10 tells us that in
fact, each of the five daughters, married their uncles’ sons so that the land
inheritance remained with the tribe of their father.
That means they married their
“first cousins” and God allowed it. But
He did that for a purpose and in a particular situation at a particular time in
the history of the young sons of Israel. We can note that the Bible forbids
sexual relations with “close relatives” – but the children of uncles are not
listed among that definition. For a good reference for that very issue, click What about
marrying your first cousin?
Wrap-up
Not the greatest way to wrap up
the book of Numbers in my opinion, but hey, whatever works for Moses and God. Clearly, as they enter the Promised Land, we
may take this challenge of chapter 36 as one that may well predict that the
Israelites will have a lot of problems to deal with going forward. But with
their leaders going to God for answers, and with God promising to always be
with them, they’ll get the answer they’ll need. And obeying those answers, will
bring blessings. The problems arise when one person or a whole nation ignores
the instructions God gives to them.
Numbers took us from the Exodus
to the doorstep of Canaan, the Promised Land. Almost four decades of
experience. Now we need to keep in mind that the next book we will study, Deuteronomy,
is not a book which tells us what happens next but rather is a series of
farewell messages by Moses addressed primarily to the new generation that is
about to enter the land. These occur during the forty years, not afterwards.
Hang in there.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
thanks, Ken. I greatly appreciate your honesty regarding passages that the Bible isn't explicit on rather than pretending to know something beyond what the scripture intends to communicate. The Bible presents it that way perhaps because some of these issues were specifically targeted at a certain group of people at a specific time and under special circumstances and our attention is directed towards the larger more important issues that affect us to this day.
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