(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 27:1–11, “Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. And Moses brought their cause before the LORD. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren. And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
In that era, inheritance was determined by sons. A son would be able to inherit his share of the family land but a daughter would live with her husband on his land. This was to make sure that the land didn’t become disconnected as families mixed and then there wouldn’t be any portion large enough to farm properly. However, the land was meant to stay within each tribe and not to move from one tribe to another. This led to the question raised in this case. One man only had daughters and not sons. If the daughters married someone then their land would belong to their husband and could easily move from one tribe to another. In time it might mean that one tribe would lose all its land and other tribes would have more than their allotted land. In order to make sure this didn’t happen the Lord said that women would be able to keep their father’s share of the Land.
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