Women who inherit property

Numbers Chapter 36

The heads of the clan of Gilead, descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph, came to Moses with a petition. They told Moses that the Lord had divided the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. But if any of the daughters married a man from another tribe, their inheritance of land would go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, they said, the total area of their tribal land would be reduced. Then when the Year of Jubilee came, their inheritance of land would be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to their own ancestral tribe.

Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: the men of the tribe of Joseph are right. This is what the Lord commands concerning daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. None of the inherited land may pass from tribe to tribe, for the inheritance of every tribe must remain fixed as it was first allotted. The daughters, throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their own tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another, each tribe of Israel must hold on to its allotted inheritance of land.

The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded, and all married cousins of their father’s side. They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph and thus their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW there are always exceptions to every rule and it would have been unfair for the five daughters of Zelophehad to not have their father’s land simply because he had no male heir. A wise man sorts these things out and wise leaders make sure justice is done in special situations.

The book of Numbers covers 39 years and closes with the people poised near the banks of the river Jordan with the promised land in sight. Now the people must prepare for the conquest of the land.
If nothing else, the book of Numbers has taught us what happens when we make the mistakes made by the Israelites – that nonbelief is disasterous.

We can relate to this chapter today because it shows the people poised for conquest. Just as we are poised for conquest of a different kind. We are called upon to conquer evil and spread the good news of Christ. We sit upon a plain of faith, waiting for the Lord to send us forth. We can see the reward across the river, the promise of eternal life, and all we have to do is believe with all of our hearts. The Lord is merciful, he will lead us across. His grace will be our shield. His mercy will be the only armor we will need.

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Tomorrow we start the book of Deuteronomy which was probably written by Moses except for the final summary, which most likely was written by Joshua after Moses died.