Numbers 27 Footnotes

27:1-11 The census of the Manassite families (26:29-33) specifically mentions Zelophehad, who had no sons to inherit property. That note sets the stage for this section dealing with the issue of a daughter’s right of inheritance, a theme that brackets the entire discussion of land inheritance (chaps. 27–36), returning in the final chapter of the book of Numbers. The presentation of a case of women’s property rights, an exceptional scenario in a patriarchal culture, would ensure that proper justice be meted out in all property inheritance cases in the land. The case did not originate in the postexilic era as some critics believe. The names of two of Zelophehad’s daughters, Hoglah and Noah, are preserved as the names of districts or towns in the region of Samaria (within the territory of Manasseh) in the Samaria ostraca (inscribed pottery fragments). These come from the eighth century BC, at least two hundred years before the exile of Judah. Commentators who date this material in the time of Ezra associate this case with the potential appropriation of property gained through marriage with foreign women. The legal setting in Ezra, however, differs from the present context and applies only to the geographical setting of postexilic Judah, not the territory of Manasseh. The decision in the case of Zelophehad’s daughters, set forth in the days of Moses in the second millennium BC and fulfilled in the land distribution under Joshua (Jos 17:3-6), would still be in force more than five hundred years later.