Numbers 36:2

2 And they said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the {Israelites}, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance 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 the families of the clans of descendants of Gilead the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the clans of the descendants of Joseph came near and spoke {before} Moses and {before} {the leaders} of the families of the {Israelites}.

2 And they said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the {Israelites}, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

3 But if they become wives to one of the sons from [another] tribe of the {Israelites}, their inheritance will disappear from the inheritance of our ancestors, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; the lot of our inheritance would disappear.

4 When the Jubilee of the {Israelites} {comes}, it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and their inheritance will disappear from the tribe of our father."

5 Then Moses commanded the {Israelites} by the command of Yahweh, saying, "The tribe of the descendants of Joseph [is] right [regarding what they are] speaking.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"