Numbers 36:2

2 They said, "When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land 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 heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh - they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph - approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.

2 They said, "When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

3 But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married.

4 And then when the Year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married - their land will be removed from our ancestors' inheritance!"

5 Moses, at God's command, issued this order to the People of Israel: "What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right.