(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 36:1–4, “And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel: And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters. 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 to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance. And when the jubile 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.”
Israel was a patriarchal society, at that stage, and they had to follow the rules of the time. Women were not allowed to own property in their own right. However, the Land was subdivided according to the number of people in each tribe, as counted in the census just before they went into the Land. There was one particular man, Zelophehad, who had no sons, only daughters. The leader of his tribe were concerned that, if his daughters married outside the tribe, part of their inheritance would go to another tribe and they would lose part of the land that the Lord promised to them. This was a major issue as the Land was evidence of the Lord’s blessings that had first been promised the Abraham and, now, were to come to his descendants by the Lord’s hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment