Numbers 36

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyiqrevu ('they drew near') signals a formal petition — the same verb used in Numbers 27:1 when Zelophehad's daughters first approached Moses. The petitioners are rashei ha'avot ('heads of the ancestral houses'), the senior male authorities of the clan of Gilead. The genealogy ben Makhir ben Menasheh ('son of Machir, son of Manasseh') establishes their tribal standing within the Joseph branch, grounding their concern in the specific inheritance at stake. The nesi'im ('tribal leaders') alongside Moses form the judicial audience, echoing the assembled leadership of 27:2.

Translator Notes

1. The petitioners address Moses as adoni ('my lord'), a respectful title acknowledging his authority. They frame their concern by citing two prior divine commands: first, the general land-by-lot distribution (nachalah begoral — 'inheritance by lot,' cf. Numbers 26:55-56), and second, the specific ruling for Zelophehad's daughters (cf. Numbers 27:6-7). The term achinu ('our brother/kinsman') shows Zelophehad is from their own clan — this is not an abstract legal question but a matter directly affecting their tribal allotment.

Translator Notes

1. The legal problem is stated precisely: marriage transfers the woman to her husband's household, and with Zelophehad's daughters, the land goes with them. The verb nigre'ah ('it will be subtracted, diminished') and its counterpart venosaf ('it will be added') describe a zero-sum transfer between tribes. The phrase umigoral nachalatenu yiggare'a ('from the lot of our inheritance it will be diminished') emphasizes that what was divinely assigned by lot — and therefore by God's own determination — would be altered by intermarriage. The concern is structural: a mechanism exists that could erode tribal territory over time.

Translator Notes

1. The Jubilee (yovel) — the fiftieth-year land restoration described in Leviticus 25:10-13 — normally returns land to its original tribal owner. The petitioners argue that inheritance through daughters creates a loophole: since the land was never sold but transferred through marriage, the Jubilee mechanism does not apply. The land remains with the husband's tribe permanently. This is a sophisticated legal argument: the Jubilee restores alienated property, but inherited property transferred via marriage is not 'alienated' in the technical sense — it has changed tribal affiliation through a legitimate inheritance pathway.

Translator Notes

1. Moses responds al pi YHWH ('at the mouth of the LORD' — by divine direction), confirming that the ruling comes from God, not from Moses's own judgment. The phrase ken... dovrim ('correctly... they speak' — literally 'rightly they are speaking') validates the petitioners' legal reasoning. As in the original Zelophehad ruling (Numbers 27:7, where God said ken benot Tselofchad doverot — 'correctly Zelophehad's daughters speak'), God affirms the legitimacy of the concern. Both the daughters' right to inherit and the tribe's right to preserve its allotment are upheld.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The ruling balances two principles: personal choice (lattov be'eineihem — 'to the good in their eyes,' meaning whoever they find suitable) and tribal preservation (akh lemishpachat matteh avihen — 'only within the clan of their father's tribe'). The word akh ('only, however') introduces the sole restriction. The daughters are not assigned husbands — they retain agency in choosing a spouse — but the pool of eligible partners is limited to their own tribal clan. This elegant solution preserves both the daughters' inheritance rights (from Numbers 27) and the tribal land boundaries.

Translator Notes

1. The verb tissov ('circulate, rotate, transfer') describes land moving from tribe to tribe — an unacceptable fluidity in what should be a permanent arrangement. The counter-principle uses yidbequ ('they shall cling, hold fast') — the same root (d-b-q) used for the marriage bond in Genesis 2:24 and for devotion to God in Deuteronomy 10:20. The Israelites must 'cling' to their ancestral inheritance with the same tenacity as marriage or covenant loyalty. The verse establishes a general principle that extends beyond the Zelophehad case to all inheritance law.

Translator Notes

1. The ruling now extends beyond Zelophehad's five daughters to a universal principle: kol bat yoreshet nachalah ('every daughter who inherits property'). The purpose clause lema'an yirshu benei Yisra'el ish nachalat avotav ('so that the Israelites may each inherit the inheritance of their ancestors') reveals the theological priority: God's original distribution of the land must remain intact across generations. The verb yirshu ('they shall inherit') connects back to the promise of possessing the land — a permanent feature of Israel's covenant identity.

Translator Notes

1. This verse restates verse 7 with slight variation, forming an inclusio (envelope structure) around the legislation in verses 7-9. The shift from ish ('each person,' v 7) to mattot ('tribes,' v 9) broadens the scope: not only individuals but entire tribes bear responsibility for maintaining their allotments. The verb yidbequ ('they shall hold fast') appears again — the tribes collectively must cling to their inheritance. The repetition is characteristic of legal proclamation in the Pentateuch: stating the principle, elaborating the application, then restating the principle.

Translator Notes

1. The compliance formula ka'asher tsivvah YHWH et Mosheh ken asu ('just as the LORD commanded Moses, so they did') is used throughout the Pentateuch for faithful obedience (cf. Exodus 39:32, 40:16). Applied here to the daughters, it places their compliance on the same level as Moses's own obedience in constructing the tabernacle. The daughters, who boldly petitioned for their rights in Numbers 27, now equally submit to the limitation placed on those rights — their obedience is not passive but active and willing.

Translator Notes

1. The five daughters are named individually — Machlah, Tirtsah, Choglah, Milkah, and No'ah — as they were in Numbers 26:33 and 27:1. The phrase livnei dodeihen ('to sons of their uncles' — their paternal cousins) specifies that they married within the closest possible family circle. The listing of all five names honors their individual identities — these are not anonymous women but named agents in Israelite legal history, each making a personal choice within the prescribed boundaries.

Translator Notes

1. The narrative confirms the successful outcome: the daughters married within Manasseh, and the inheritance stayed put. The verb vattehi ('it remained') signals stability — the nachalah did not circulate (tissov, as feared in v 7). The phrase al matteh mishpachat avihen ('upon the tribe of the clan of their father') emphasizes that the land stayed exactly where God's lot had originally placed it. The resolution satisfies all parties: the daughters inherit, the tribe retains its territory, and the divine land distribution is preserved.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This closing colophon (subscript) wraps up not just chapter 36 but the entire second half of Numbers (chapters 22-36), which takes place be'arvot Mo'av ('on the plains of Moab'). The paired terms mitsvot ('commandments') and mishpatim ('legal decisions, judgments') encompass both absolute commands and case-law rulings like the Zelophehad legislation. The phrase beyad Mosheh ('by the hand of Moses' — through Moses as mediator) identifies Moses as the channel of divine instruction. The geographic marker al Yarden Yereicho ('beside the Jordan at Jericho') places Israel on the threshold of the promised land — the book of Numbers ends with the people poised to cross over, their laws established, their inheritance mapped, and even edge cases like daughters' marriages resolved.