CHAPTER XXXVI. ND the chief fathers of the the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded с A families of the children of by the LORD to give the inherit Law regulating the Inheritance of V. 1. And the chief fathers, etc. Heb. "The heads of the fathers." Gr. "The princes." The regulation here recorded was consequent upon the case mentioned ch. 27, where we read of a special provision made for the female branch of the family of Zelophehad, who belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, but to that half of it which was to settle on the western instead of the eastern side of the Jordan. Moses had indeed secured them an ample inheritance among their brethren, but some of the heads of that family, foreseeing a great inconvenience likely to result in the case of the marriage of these women, came before Moses with a new petition bearing upon ance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters. 3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put e e. 27. 1, 7. the point of the apprehended grievance. While gratefully acknowledging the provision kindly made for them by the commandment of the Lord, they represent that in case these female heirs should marry into other tribes, the inheritances accruing to them would of course be alienated from their own tribe, and be transferred to that into which they married. This would appear to be contrary to the divine arrangement, by which a certain portion of territory was assigned by lot to each tribe, and this would of course be diminished to the extent of whatever was taken out of it. This is now to be guarded against. Should it be objected that this is a case which the divine omniscience would have been expected to have foreseen and provided for without being previously applied to for the purpose, we deem it a sufficient reply to say, that he evidently preferred that his people should learn his will on many points only as the emergencies arose which prompted them to consult him. On this head we subscribe to the very appropriate remarks of Calvin :-" God designedly withheld his decisions until they naturally arose out of the circumstances of the case. He allowed himself to be interrogated familiarly in regard to doubtful points of no primary to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. 5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well. e importance, in order that posterity might recognize his reply as a proof of his fatherly indulgence. Meanwhile let us bear in mind that if heavenly things are the subject of as much anxiety to us as earthly things were to the children of Manasseh, the rule that we should observe will always be made clear to us." V. 4. And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, etc. The jubilee was an institution returning every fifty years, when all manner of alienated inheritances returned to the original possessors. But it is here intimated that this will not remedy the difficulty, since the inheritances would go by the rights of marriage into another tribe, and just so much would be withdrawn from the portion of the tribe of Manasseh as the daughters of Manasseh should take away with them. This they regarded as a prospective injury for which they feel that they ought to have some redress V. 5. The tribe of the sons of Joseph have said well. Moses admits the va lidity of their plea, having referred it to the Most High himself, and thereupon is moved to utter the divine sentence regarding the case, to wit, that these daughters and heiresses of Zelophehad should not only be restricted from marrying out of their own tribe, but that even within the limits of that tribe they should connect themselves with some branch of their own family. This is the import of the words, "Only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry," and also of the similar clause, v. 8. The reason of the law, moreover, was that the family as well as the tribe might be preserved; and the daughters of Zelophehad, when they besought an inheritance, said, ch. 27: 4, "Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family?" This was, doubtless, one of the grounds of the law requiring the marriage of a brother's wife. Deut. 26: 6. V. 8. Every daughter that possesseth an inheritance, etc. Heb. "That is heir of a possession;" the father having no son to inherit his estate. The passage family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. 9 Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance. manded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad: k 11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons. 12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph; 10 Even as the LORD com- and their inheritance remained i 2 Chr. 30. 12. designates those to whom the law applies. It was not intended to restrict other women who had no inheritance; and even of those who had, it is supposed that if they were willing to abandon their inheritance they might marry whom they pleased. Priests and Levites, having no inheritance, were at liberty to marry into any of the tribes. 2 Chron. 22: 11. V. 9. Neither shall the inheritance remove from (one) tribe to another. Heb. lo tissob, shall not go round, revolve, devolve. Gr. "Shall not be transferred."- -¶ Shall keep himself to his own inheritance. Heb. yidbeku, shall cleave, shall stick close to. The term is emphatic, implying the tenacity with which they were to adhere to the divine ordinance in this matter. The design was to preclude, as far as possible, all danger of the confusion of tribes. Vulg. "That the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so as they were separated by the Lord;" which, however, is rather a paraphrase than a translation. According to the construction opposite to this, if a woman were married into another tribe, and her father and all her brethren should afterwards die without children, the inheritance would fall to her, and consequently the possession devolve from one tribe to another, viz., to that into k c. 27. 1. which she had married. According, however, to the letter of the present text, the inheritance was rather to descend to the next of kin to the woman, than be carried by her out of the tribe to which it belonged. V. 11. Were married unto their father's brothers' sons. This would imply, according to the strictness of the letter, that they were married to their firstcousins; but as the phrase "father's brothers' sons may, according to frequent Scriptural usage, denote "father's brothers' descendants," we cannot affirm the literal construction as the true one. V. 12. They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh. Heb. "They were married to some that were of the families, etc.," i. e., to one of the families of Manasseh, from whom several other families descended.T Their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. Heb. "Was unto the tribe, etc." So Dan. 1:21," And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus." Heb. "Was even unto the first year." Ruth 1:2, "And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there." Heb. "Were there." The clause might be more literally rendered, "And their inheritance was (remained) in the tribe (even) the family of their fathers. in the tribe of the family of | hand of Moses, unto the chiltheir father. dren of Israel, in' the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho. 13 These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the V. 13. These are the commandments and the judgments, etc. The distinction between these two terms is probably that between precepts relating to wor I c. 26. 3. 33. 50. ship, and precepts relating to civil ordinances, both which classes we find in the preceding chapters, from ch. 26 to ch. 36. |