Numbers 36:1

This short chapter concludes the Book of Numbers, the whole text of it being concerned with a problem that came up over the Divine permission that had been given to the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27) to inherit their father's estate due to Zelophehad's having no sons. Some scholars, seeing the relationship between the legislation here and that in Numbers 27, are quick to disapprove of the separate locations these related laws find in Numbers. Even the usually dependable Adam Clarke offered the opinion that, "Either the first eleven verses of Numbers 27 should come in before this chapter, or this chapter should come in immediately after those eleven verses"![1] Too bad that Moses could not keep his diary straight! Numbers is essentially a diary, in which Moses recorded events as they happened, and the reason this legislation and that regarding the daughters of Zelophehad are recorded in different chapters is that the problems came up on different occasions. The first legislation in Numbers 27 allowing daughters without brothers to inherit was brought before Moses on one occasion by the daughters of Zelophehad. The legislation regarding the problem here was in response to an appeal by the heads of the tribe to which Zelophehad belonged, and it related to the question of the possible loss of property by one tribe to another. Evidently, this question came up at some considerable time after the inheritance problem of daughters without brothers, and after sufficient time had elapsed to permit the discussion of the first legislation (Numbers 27) and the crystallization of public opinion as to what the result would be regarding the tribal ownership of properties involved.

One could devoutly wish that scholars would refrain from imposing their opinion upon us as to just where this or that passage in the Bible should be placed.

The device followed by Thompson and others classifying the final three or four chapters here as "Miscellaneous appendices"[2] is another error, deriving from the hypothesis that "somebody" other than Moses was responsible for the arrangement here. There is no evidence of this. It is altogether reasonable that, as Israel was about to enter Canaan, and the death of Moses was known to be impending, great authority having already been transferred to Joshua, that any special problems that people desired to bring to Moses would have been presented exactly at this time.

The very special and urgent concern of the fathers of Israel regarding the ownership of property indicated that, "The bond between persons and property is much closer and more sacramental than we commonly recognize today."[3] Indeed, how true! The rights of private property are sacred according to the Word of God, Commandment VIII of the Decalogue being devoted entirely to the safeguarding of property rights. Contemporary man has attempted some radical revisions of God's law in this area, but every human effort in that sector has proved again how immutable are the laws of the Eternal. True, we are interested in life, not in things, but things are the support of life. Possessions are the means of the support of life, and a person insecure in property rights is also insecure in life itself. The rights of people vs. the rights of property is an inaccurate conception, because the rights of people also include property rights.

Here is the text of the chapter:

"And the heads of the fathers' houses of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the heads of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel: and they said, Jehovah commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by Jehovah to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters. And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they shall belong: so will it be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then will their inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they shall belong: so will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers."

There were many families of the children of Gilead; and the reading in the RSV is altered to take account of this, giving us, "families of the children of Gilead" (Numbers 36:1).

"My lord ... my lord ..." (Numbers 36:2). There was a vast difference in the respect that this generation of Israelites paid to Moses when compared with the attitude of the generation that came out of Egypt. In all of the Bible, prior to this instance of it, "Only Aaron ever referred to Moses as `my lord,' and that only because at the moment of his doing so he was under the influence of terror (Exodus 32:22; Numbers 12:11), and Joshua in Numbers 11:28."[4]

Martin Noth stated that, "The reference to the year of jubilee (Numbers 36:4) is ... out of place."[5] Like all such comments about the Word of God, this one also is founded upon a lack of information. Owens labeled the reference as being "unclear," because, as he said, "At the jubilee the purchased property reverts to the original owner."[6] It was a fact overlooked by both Noth and Owens that "Not even the jubilee could remedy the situation discussed here."[7] This was true because the jubilee restored only purchased properties, not inherited properties! Therefore, as Cook said, "The jubilee year by not restoring the estate to the tribe from whence it came would in effect confirm the alienation."[8] The key factor here was stressed by Plaut: "The jubilee (Leviticus 25:10ff) applied only to the sale of property, not to inheritance![9]