Numbers 36:1

Zelophehad’s Daughters Marry

1 Now the family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the clans of Joseph, approached Moses and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families and addressed them, ¹

Numbers 36:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 36:1

And the chief fathers of the families of the children of
Gilead
The princes, as Aben Ezra; so the Septuagint version, which was the tribe of Manasseh, whose grandson Gilead was, as follows:

the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of the sons of
Joseph, came near;
to the house of judgment, as the Targum of Jonathan, the sanhedrim or court of judicature, consisting of the following persons:

and spoke before Moses;
the Septuagint version adds, "and before Eleazar the priest", as in ( Numbers 27:2 ) ( 32:2 )

and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:
the princes of the several tribes; or it may be rather the seventy elders.

Numbers 36:1 In-Context

1 Now the family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the clans of Joseph, approached Moses and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families and addressed them,

2 saying, “When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, He also commanded him to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

3 But if they marry any of the men from the other tribes of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the portion of our fathers and added to the tribe into which they marry. So our allotted inheritance would be taken away.

4 And when the Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to the tribe into which they marry and taken away from the tribe of our fathers.”

5 So at the word of the LORD, Moses commanded the Israelites: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks correctly.

Cross References

• 1. (Numbers 27:1–11)