Numbers 27:9

9 If he has no daughter, give it 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.''


FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 27:9 In-Context

7 "Zelophehad's daughters are right. Give them land as an inheritance among their father's relatives. Give them their father's inheritance.
8 "Then tell the People of Israel, If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.
9 If he has no daughter, give it to his brothers.
10 If he has no brothers, give it to his father's brothers.
11 If his father had no brothers, give it to the nearest relative so that the inheritance stays in the family. This is the standard procedure for the People of Israel, as commanded by God through Moses." Joshua
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.