Numbers 27:1

The narration of only two events makes up this chapter. These are:

(1) the new legislation that came because of an appeal by the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1-11), and

(2) Joshua's appointment as leader of Israel upon God's announcement of the impending death of Moses.

The principal critical conceit with reference to this chapter is that which would relegate it to the status of a very late interpolation into the Pentateuch following the exile.[1] The basis of such an error is the acceptance of a false premise. The false premise was stated thus by Gray: "There is no trace of such a right (the right of females to inherit) prior to the times of the exile."[2] That proposition is false, and so are all postulations based upon it. "In Egypt, where Israel had dwelt so long, inheritance passed through mothers, and under an extenuating circumstance, that is (exactly) what is being allowed in the text (here)."[3] (For more on this, along with a Biblical example to the contrary, see under Numbers 27:5.) In addition, Keil cited another example from pre-Mosaic times in the instance of Jarha (1 Chronicles 2:21,22).[4] Furthermore, the critical imagination that the post-exilic priesthood of Israel would have been in any manner whatever inclined to legislate on such a subject is ridiculous. The kings of Israel, long before the exile, ruthlessly and effectively destroyed the whole concept of the "unalienable ownership of the land," as pertaining to the original tribes in perpetuity. The appeal, along with the arguments presented by the daughters of Zelophehad, would have been an impossibility during the period of history to which some critical scholars would arbitrarily assign this chapter.

Another favorite critical mistake in the interpretation of this chapter appears in this remark by Dummelow: "Moses receives intimation of his approaching death, and Joshua is appointed leader in his place."[5] The word "intimation" is not a correct designation of the information received by Moses about his impending death. Synonyms for intimation are hunch, hint, premonition, suggestion, etc.[6] The Sacred Text flatly declares that God said unto Moses, "thou shalt be gathered unto thy fathers," just as his brother Aaron died because of sin at Meribah. Back of Dummelow's remark that Moses received an intimation of his death is the critical axiom that "God never said anything at all to Moses, or to anyone else"! Christians should not be deceived by that type of denial.

WHEN MAY DAUGHTERS INHERIT?

"Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the tent of meeting, saying, Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the company of them that gathered themselves together against Jehovah in the company of Korah: but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father. And Moses brought their cause before Jehovah."

Some have complained that the genealogical information here given would seem to cover only about eight generations, which "is hardly in accord with the 470 years (sojourn in Egypt) required by the narrative; some links however may have been dropped."[7] Of course, this is an abbreviated list, as are doubtless many of the others in the Pentateuch. We should ever bear in mind that Moses had no intention here of furnishing us with an auditor's record of all the things related. "The names of this passage are those of clans (or places), which is sufficient to show that this is not a history of certain individuals, but a mode of raising a legal point."[8]

Although no clear-cut legislation conferred rights of inheritance upon daughters, Cook informs us that the right surely existed long before the events of this chapter. Note:

"A father, whether or not sons had been born to him, had the power either before or at his death, to cause part of his estate to pass to a daughter; in which case her husband married into her family, rather than she into his; and the children were regarded as of the family from which the estate had come. A Biblical example of this is Machir, one of the ancestors of Zelophehad; although he had a son Gilead, he left also an inheritance to his daughter, the wife of Hezron of the tribe of Judah, by reason of which their descendants (including Jair) were reckoned as belonging to the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32:41; 1 Chronicles 2:21ff)."[9]

Jamieson is probably correct in his surmise that these daughters of Zelophehad brought up the subject of their inheritance because at that very moment Moses and the High Priest, and all the princes of the people were gathered in the tent of meeting, or near it, making plans to divide up the land of Canaan among males only, with their father's house left out because there had been no sons of his to register. Consequently, they seized the opportunity to bring the matter to the attention of all the leaders of the people, which they effectively did.[10]

"But he died in his own sin ..." (Numbers 27:3). This admission by the daughters of Zelophehad apparently refers to the general sin of all the children of Israel who refused to go up and possess Canaan (Numbers 14:26-30).[11] They did not claim that their father was without sin, but that he was not guilty in the matter of Korah's outright rebellion against Moses (and against God).