Numbers 36

Nu 36:1-13.

THE

INCONVENIENCE OF THE

INHERITANCE.

1. 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

[Nu 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 daughters in such circumstances threatened

seriously to affect the tenure of land in Israel, as their inheritance

would go to their children, who, by the father's side, would belong to

another tribe, and thus lead, through a complication of interests and

the confusion of families, to an evil for which even the Jubilee could

not afford a remedy. [See on

Le 25:13].

5-12. Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word

of the Lord--The plea appeared just and reasonable; and,

accordingly an enactment was made by which the daughters of Zelophehad,

while left to the free choice of their husbands, were restricted to

marry not only within their own tribe, but within the family of

their father's tribe--that is, one of their cousins. This restriction,

however, was imposed only on those who were heiresses. The law was not

applicable to daughters in different circumstances

(1Ch 23:22)

--for they might marry into another tribe; but if they did so, they

were liable to forfeit their patrimonial inheritance, which, on the

death of their father or brothers, went to the nearest of the family

kinsmen. Here was an instance of progressive legislation (see also

Ex 18:27)

in Israel, the enactments made being suggested by circumstances. But it

is deserving of special notice that those additions to, or

modifications of, the law were confined to civil affairs; while the

slightest change was inadmissible in the laws relating to worship or

the maintenance of religion.

13. These are the commandments and the judgments, which the Lord

commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the

plains of Moab--The Israelitish encampment was on an extensive

plateau north of the Arnon, which, though wrested from the Moabites by

Sihon and Og, still retained the name of its original possessors. The

particular site, as indicated by the words "Jordan near Jericho," is

now called El-Koura--a large plain lying not far from Nebo, between the

Arnon and a small tributary stream, the Wael

[BURCKHARDT]. It was a

desert plain on the eastern bank, and marked only by groves of the

wild, thorny acacia tree.

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