Numbers 36:1-13 - The Commandments and Judgments

Numbers 36:1-13

Marriage of Female Heirs

1 Now the chief fathers of the families of the children 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 chief fathers of the children of Israel. 2 And they said: “The LORD commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

5 Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying: “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right. 6 This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, but they may marry only within the family of their father’s tribe.’ 7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.”

10 Just as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; 11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to the sons of their father’s brothers. 12 They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments which the LORD commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

The final commandments and judgments of this book numbering the people of God entering the promised land ended with the last one as a question of inheritance.  The question needing a ruling on from the LORD through the word of Moses was whether the sole remaining heirs of a tribe (who were female) who were to inherit married into another family tribe; would they then lose their original family inheritance and have it absorbed into the husband’s family’s estate?  Their inheritance would be taken away and not remain divided as originally intended by God if this loophole was not clearly defined and closed by the word of the LORD.  To keep the inheritance from changing hands, Moses commanded that the daughters should marry within their own familial tribes to avoid this situation so that the land of their inheritance should not change hands to another tribe.  Every family of each tribe was to keep their own inheritance in this way.  These particular women who were affected therefore married their cousins to keep their rightful inheritance in the promised land of milk and honey assigned to them (Numbers 27:1, 7) by God.  The book ends with the declaration that these and all previous rulings and instructions were the commandments and judgments of the LORD communicated as law through Moses (John 1:17) as a shadow and picture of the grace and truth of the promised heavenly country to come by Jesus Christ as the Word of God (John 1:1-2) whose judgment on the world (John 9:39, 16:8-11) and commands for life (John 12:50) everlasting are given for our eternal inheritance (John 5:24, Acts 26:18, 2 Timothy 4:18, 1 Peter 1:3-4) in Himself and not the former law (Galatians 3:18, Romans 4:16-17, 8:16-17) as with Moses and the physical promised land because the law only pointed to Christ and our inheritance (Galatians 3:24-26) in Him.  These are the Commandments and Judgments of God to Israel and to us in the fullest realization in Christ Jesus for our eternal inheritance of eternal life (John 12:50, 1 John 5:11-13); His gospel is our eternal commandment and judgment of saving grace.  Amen!