Zelophehad’s Daughters Marry
The leaders of the Josephite clan bring Moses a concern about Zelophehad’s daughters: if they marry outside the tribe, their inherited land will pass into another tribe and diminish their own allotment, especially in the Jubilee.
N1ow the family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the clans of Joseph, approached Moses and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families and addressed them, 2saying, “When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, He also commanded him to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3But if they marry any of the men from the other tribes of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the portion of our fathers and added to the tribe into which they marry. So our allotted inheritance would be taken away. 4And when the Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to the tribe into which they marry and taken away from the tribe of our fathers.”
Moses declares that the concern is valid and gives the LORD’s command. The daughters may marry as they wish within their father’s tribal clan, so no inheritance passes from one tribe to another.
5So at the word of the LORD, Moses commanded the Israelites: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks correctly. 6This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they please, provided they marry within a clan of the tribe of their father. 7No inheritance in Israel may be transferred from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any Israelite tribe must marry within a clan of the tribe of her father, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another, for each tribe of Israel must retain its inheritance.”
Zelophehad’s daughters obey the command and marry within their father’s clan, keeping their inheritance in Manasseh. The chapter then closes by marking these commands as the LORD’s ordinances given through Moses in Moab.
10So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to cousins on their father’s side. 12They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan. 13These are the commandments and ordinances that the LORD gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.