Numbers 27:9

9 If he doesn't have a daughter, you will give his inheritance to his brothers.

Numbers 27:9 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 27:9

And if he have no daughter
Dies without any issue:

then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren;
and the children descending from them; that is, if his father was dead; otherwise, if he was living, he was to be preferred to them, according to the Jewish writers; though, according to our law, no estate in fee simple ascends lineally, or goes from a son, who has made a purchase of it, to a father: in the Misnah it is said ^F24, the order of inheritances is thus,

``if a man dies and has no son, then they cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter; a son is before a daughter, and all that descend from the son are before the daughter; the daughter is before the brethren (of her father), and those that descend from the daughter are before the brethren; the brethren (of a man) are before his father's brethren (or his uncles); and they that descend from his brethren are before his father's brethren: this is the general rule, everyone that is before in the inheritance, those that descend from him are before others, and a father is before all that descend from him.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Ut supra, (Bava Bathra, c. 8.) sect. 2.

Numbers 27:9 In-Context

7 Zelophehad's daughters are right in what they are saying. By all means, give them property as an inheritance among their father's brothers. Hand over their father's inheritance to them.

8 Speak to the Israelites and say: If a man dies and doesn't have a son, you must hand his inheritance over to his daughters.

9 If he doesn't have a daughter, you will give his inheritance to his brothers.

10 If he doesn't have any brothers, you should give his inheritance to his father's brothers.

11 If his father had no brothers, you should give his inheritance to his nearest relative from his clan. He will take possession of it. This will be a regulation and a case law for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.