Many people use the story of the daughters of Zelophehad to say that women can own land in Yehovah’s kingdom. I think this whole idea comes from our erroneous “wishful thinking” that has aligned itself with the doctrines and traditions of men that we have all learned and accepted as true. But it is not true! We have learned lies, worthless and unprofitable things.  Most folks read what is said about the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27 and simply see what they want or expect to see, but chapter 36 add greater light to this story.

The whole subject of this story is about a MAN (an eesh) who dies and has no son as an heir. It has nothing to do with a woman (an ishshah) who dies. Here is what it says.

And you shall speak to Israel’s seed, saying: ‘If a man [eesh, there are no female eesh] dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’ ” And it shall be to Israel’s seed a statute of judgment, just as Yehovah commanded Moses. (Num 27:8-11)

Because we, in our ignorance, build a doctrine based on a single paragraph (and ignore the whole of Yehovah’s eternal and unchanging word) and then try to make the paragraph fit with the perverted doctrines and traditions of men which we have accepted as truth all our lives,  we miss the truth that is right in front of us. “If a man dies…”

We have failed to understand that the woman is a possession of her man. Please, don’t get mad at me, instead learn what Yehovah says. We can see this truth easily in the 10th commandment which Yehovah gave to Israel’s seed, His Ezrach men.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house [a possession of the man]; you shall not covet your neighbor’s woman [a possession of the man], nor his male servant [a possession of the man], nor his female servant [a possession of the man], nor his ox [a possession of the man], nor his donkey [a possession of the man], nor anything that is your neighbor’s [hopefully you have my point by now].” (Exo 20:17)

Again, the woman is a possession of her man, and what she possesses, he possesses.

So let’s look at the daughters of Zelophehad in light of the bigger picture. We read,

And you shall speak to Israel’s seed, saying: ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. (Num 27:8)

BUT, to keep their inheritance, the daughters of Zelophehad were required to each become the women of someone in their father’s tribe or they would lose their land entirely.

Now the chief fathers of the families of the seed/descendants of Gilead ben Machir, ben Manasseh, of the families of Joseph’s seed, came near and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers  Israel’s seed.

And they said: “Yehovah commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to Israel’s seed, and my lord was commanded by Yehovah to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now if they become to another tribes’ seed of Israel’s seed, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they become; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

And when the Jubilee of Israel’s seed comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they became; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.” Then Moses commanded Israel’s seed according to the word of Yehovah, saying: “What the tribe of Joseph’s seed speaks is right. This is what Yehovah commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them become for women of whom they think best, but only within the family of their father’s tribe.’ So the inheritance of Israel’s seed shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of Israel’s seed shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers [not mothers]. And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of Israel’s seed shall become the woman of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that Israel’s seed each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of Israel’s seed shall keep its own inheritance.” (Num 36:1-9)

And so the daughters of Zelophehad did become their father’s brother’s seed (their cousins).

Just as Yehovah commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, and they became [ותהיינה, ha-ya] their father’s brothers’ seed’s women. (Num 36:10-11)

Oh Yehovah – this is sooo cool! The daughters became their father’s brothers’ seed’s women. Wait until you hear what I have to say about this.

Three important things happened in this story:

• The orphan daughters of Zelophehad got a covering
• and the land came back into the hands of a man
• and the land stayed contiguous with the tribe

This is just one of many topics we discussed in this portion of scripture; you will have to listen to it to learn more about the daughters of Zelophehad and to find out about these other topics. You will be glad you did. 🙂

Daughters Of Zelophehad

2N14 Numbers 26-27:11 and 36
[Click to play this audio or right-click and “Save As” to download]

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