Numbers 36:1

“And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, etc.] The princes, as Aben Ezra; so the Septuagint version, which was the tribe of Manasseh, whose grandson Gilead was, as follows: the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near; to the house of judgment, as the Targum of Jonathan, the sanhedrim or court of judicature, consisting of the following persons: and spoke before Moses; the Septuagint version adds, “and before Eleazar the priest”, as in (<042702>Numbers 27:2 32:2) and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel: the princes of the several tribes; or it may be rather the seventy elders.”

“THE INCONVENIENCE OF THE INHERITANCE. (Num 36:1-13) the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead--Being the tribal governors in Manasseh, they consulted Moses on a case that affected the public honor and interests of their tribe. It related once more to the daughters of Zelophehad. Formerly they had applied, at their own instance, to be recognized, for want of male heirs in their family, as entitled to inherit their father's property [Num 27:1-11]; now the application was made on behalf of the tribe to which they belonged--that steps might be taken to prevent the alienation of their patrimony by their alliance with husbands of another tribe. The unrestricted marriages of…”

“The daughters of Zelophehad had obtained an ordinance Numbers 28:6-11 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 the sons of their kinsmen.” return to 'Top of Page' Footnotes: Copyright Statement These…”

“36:1-13 The five daughters of Zelophehad had petitioned for, and had been granted, equitable property rights (27:1-11). Here the ramifications of that decision are discussed. 36:1-4 Women who inherited land might marry men from another tribe; their land would then be lost by their ancestral tribe and transferred to their husband’s tribe. The Year of Jubilee (Lev 25:8-55) normally provided the means for land to return to its original owner, but it pertained only to land that was sold, not to land acquired through marriage.”

“Gilead: Num 26:29-33, Num 27:1; Jos 17:2, Jos 17:3; Ch1 7:14-16 Numbers 36:2”

“The occasion for this law was a representation made to Moses and the princes of the congregation by the heads of the fathers' houses (האבות for בּית־האבות, as in Exo 6:25, etc.) of the family of Gilead the Manassite, to which Zelophehad ( Num 26:33) belonged, to the effect that, by allotting an hereditary possession to the daughters of Zelophehad, the tribe-territory assigned to the Manassites would be diminished if they should marry into another tribe. They founded their appeal upon the command of Jehovah, that the land was to be distributed by lot among the Israelites for an inheritance ( Num 36:2 compared with Num 26:55-56, and Num 33:54); and although it is not expressly stated, yet on…”