Numbers 36:2

2 They said, "The Lord commanded you, our master, to give the land to the Israelites by throwing lots, and the Lord commanded you to give the land of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

Numbers 36:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 36:2

And they said
One in the name of the rest:

the Lord commanded my lord;
that is, Moses, whom they address in a very respectable manner, being the chief governor of the nation under God:

to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel;
which command may be seen, in ( Numbers 26:53-56 ) :

and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of
Zelophehad our brother;
or kinsman, being of the same tribe:

unto his daughters;
who sued for it, and upon Moses's consulting the Lord about it, it was ordered they should have it, ( Numbers 27:1-11 ) and which these princes observed was likely to be attended with the following inconvenience.

Numbers 36:2 In-Context

1 The leaders of Gilead's family group went to talk to Moses and the leaders of the families of Israel. (Gilead was the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.)

2 They said, "The Lord commanded you, our master, to give the land to the Israelites by throwing lots, and the Lord commanded you to give the land of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

3 But if his daughters marry men from other tribes of Israel, then that land will leave our family, and the people of the other tribes will get that land. So we will lose some of our land.

4 When the time of Jubilee comes for the Israelites, their land will go to the tribes of the people they marry; their land will be taken away from us, the land we received from our fathers."

5 Then Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: "These men from the tribe of Joseph are right.