Numbers 27:3

3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of the congregation that rebelled against the Lord in the gathering of Core; for he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Let not the name of our father be blotted out of the midst of his people, because he has no son: give us an inheritance in the midst of our father's brethren.

Numbers 27:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 27:3

Our father died in the wilderness
As all the generation of the children of Israel did, that came out of Egypt, who were twenty years old and upwards, excepting Joshua and Caleb:

and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together
against the Lord in the company of Korah;
which is observed, not so much to obtain the favour and good will of Moses as to clear the memory of their father from any reproach upon it, he dying in the wilderness; and chiefly to show that the claim of his posterity to a share in the land was not forfeited, he not being in that rebellion, nor in any other; so that he and his were never under any attainder:

but died in his own sin;
which though common to all men, every man has his own peculiar way of sinning, and is himself only answerable for it, ( Isaiah 53:6 ) ( Ezekiel 18:4 ) he sinned alone, had no partner or confederate, whom he had drawn into any notorious and public sin, as mutiny to the prejudice of the state, and the rulers in it; so the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``and he did not cause others to sin,''

so Jarchi; some take him to be the sabbath breaker, ( Numbers 15:32 ) , others that he was one of those that went up the hill, ( Numbers 14:44 Numbers 14:45 ) , most likely his sin was that of unbelief, disbelieving the spies that brought the good report of the land, and giving credit to those that brought an ill report of it; and so with the rest of the people murmured, for which his carcass, with others, fell in the wilderness, and entered not into the good land, through unbelief: a sin not punished in their children:

and had no sons.
which was the reason of this application.

Numbers 27:3 In-Context

1 And the daughters of Salpaad the son of Opher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, of the tribe of Manasse, of the sons of Joseph, came near; and these were their names, Maala, and Nua, and Egla, and Melcha, and Thersa;

2 and they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes, and before all the congregation at the door of the tabernacle of witness, saying,

3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the midst of the congregation that rebelled against the Lord in the gathering of Core; for he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Let not the name of our father be blotted out of the midst of his people, because he has no son: give us an inheritance in the midst of our father's brethren.

4 And Moses brought their case before the Lord.

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,