Numbers 36:3

The Libnites and Shimites: in the tabernacle of the congregation; or with respect to the things of it, when it was taken down and committed to them; for otherwise they had no place in it, nor might they enter into it, or do any service therein: [shall be] the tabernacle and the tent; the former intends not the boards of it, which were the charge of the Merarites, Numbers 3:36; but the curtains, as Aben Ezra, or the under curtains, as Jarchi calls them, which were made of fine twined linen, Exodus 26:1; and the latter is to be understood of the eleven curtains, as Aben Ezra, the curtains of goats hair, which were made for the roof of the tabernacle, as Jarchi observes, see Exodus 26:7; the covering thereof: made of rams' skins, and badgers' skins, which were thrown over the tent, Exodus 26:14; and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; the vail, as Jarchi calls it; not what divided the holy and most holy places, for that fell to the charge of the Kohathites, Numbers 3:31; but the vail or hanging which was at the door of the tent, or which led into the holy place, Exodus 26:36. Numbers 3:26 Ver. 26. And the hangings of the court,....

36:1-4 The heads of the tribe of Manasseh represent the evil which might follow, if the daughters of Zelophehad should marry into any other tribes. They sought to preserve the Divine appointment of inheritances, and that contests and quarrels should not rise among those who should come afterwards. It is the wisdom and duty of those who have estates in the world, to settle them, and to dispose of them, so that no strife and contention may arise.

And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel,.... Which was not an unreasonable supposition, and perhaps was judged very probable and likely, if some method was not taken to prevent it; which they might conclude from the application of some young men of the other tribes unto them: then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received; for the inheritance given unto them would of course, the above being the case, descend to their sons, and whose fathers being of other tribes, it would be fixed there: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance; which gave them some concern; for though this was no personal injury to them, nor any detriment to their families and estates, yet, as it was a lessening of their tribe, they were uneasy at it; and the rather they might be, since half their tribe was to settle on that side Jordan, where they now were: and now all this, the suit of the daughters of Zelophehad for their father's inheritance, which was granted them, the address of young men to them as heiresses, the concern of the heads of the tribe of Manasseh on this account; all this, I say, being before they entered into the land, or it was conquered by them, or divided to them by inheritance, show their strong faith and assurance that they should possess it.

And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

The daughters of Zelophehad had obtained an ordinance Numbers 28:6-11 which permitted the daughters of an Israelite dying without male issue to inherit their father's property. The chiefs of the Machirites, of whom Zelophehad had been one, now obtain a supplemental enactment, directing that heiresses should marry within their own tribe.

CHAPTER 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 [108]Le 25:13].

The occasion for this law was a representation made to Moses and the princes of the congregation by the heads of the fathers' houses (האבות for בּית־האבות, as in Exodus 6:25 , etc.) of the family of Gilead the Manassite, to which Zelophehad ( Numbers 26:33 ) belonged, to the effect that, by allotting an hereditary possession to the daughters of Zelophehad, the tribe-territory assigned to the Manassites would be diminished if they should marry into another tribe.

They founded their appeal upon the command of Jehovah, that the land was to be distributed by lot among the Israelites for an inheritance ( Numbers 36:2 compared with Numbers 26:55-56 , and Numbers 33:54 ); and although it is not expressly stated, yet on the ground of the promise of the everlasting possession of Canaan ( Genesis 17:8 ), and the provision made by the law, that an inheritance was not to be alienated ( Leviticus 25:10 , Leviticus 25:13 , Leviticus 25:23 .), they understood it as signifying that the portion assigned to each tribe was to continue unchanged to all generations. (The singular pronoun, my Lord, in Numbers 36:2 , refers to the speaker, as in Numbers 32:27 .) Now, as the inheritance of their brother, i.e., their tribe-mate Zelophehad, had been given to his daughters ( Numbers 27:1 ), if they should be chosen as wives by any of the children of the (other) tribes of Israel, i.e., should marry into another tribe, their inheritance would be taken away from the tribe-territory of Manasseh, and would be added to that of the tribe into which they were received. The suffix להם ( Numbers 36:3 ) refers ad sensum to מטּה, the tribe regarded according to its members.

[Reformed Biblical] nvolve your land and people in guilt, and will certainly bring down God’s vengeance upon yourselves and them. Numbers 35:34 Be not cruel to your own land by making it a den of mu rderers. ## Numbers 36:1 NUMBERS CHAPTER 36 The inconvenience of daughters inheriting is remedied by a general command that all such marry in the tribe of their fathers, to which of them they shall think best, Num_36:1-9. They obey, Num_36:10-12. These commands God gave by Moses to Israel in the plains of Moab, Num_36:13. ## The chief fathers of the families, who had the care and management of the public affairs of that tribe committed to them. Numbers 36:2 ## Our brother, i.e. our kinsman, one of our tribe, Jos_17:2 ,3 . Numbers 36 :3 For their inheritance will pass to their children, who will be of another tribe by their father’s side, which alone is considered in this pl ace. Numbers 3 6:4 Which God appointed principally for this end, to preserve the inheritance in the hands of the tribes and families to which they were first given. Numbers 36:5 ## Their plea is just and reasonable. God did not take particular care about every occurrence that happened, or might happen, but left divers things to be found out by h

Verse 15. - Maachah . Of this Maachah, one among tea of the same name, nothing else is known. The Peshito Syriac makes her the mother instead of wife of Machir. The distinct mention of the marriage of a Manassite to a Benjamite woman is to be noticed. Zelophehad . The meaning of the preceding words, and the name of the second , is unintelligible. Zelophehad was son of Hephen, who was (through Gilead and Maehir) great-grandson of Manasseh ( Joshua 17:3 ). The number and names and wise appeal and success of the daughters here spoken of, are given in Joshua 17:3-6 ; Numbers 26:33 ; Numbers 27:1-11 ; Numbers 36:5-12 . 1 Chronicles 7:15