Numbers 36

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.

36:5 The Lord readily provided the justice that the men of the tribe of Joseph (i.e., of the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph) sought in their petition.

36:6-9 These stipulations resolved the quandary, guaranteeing the stability and continuity of the tribal land allotments.

36:10-12 As they had been instructed, Zelophehad’s five daughters all married cousins on their father’s side, keeping their father’s allotment within his clan. Marriage to a first cousin was acceptable in ancient Hebrew society (cp. Lev 18, 20; see also 1 Chr 23:22) as well as in other Near Eastern cultures.

36:13 Commands and regulations might refer to legal pronouncements from the whole book (cp. Lev 27:34) or only to those given on the plains of Moab (Num 26–36). • All that remained to make the Israelites ready to enter Canaan was for Moses to remind them of their history and covenant obligations—the subjects of the book of Deuteronomy.