Commentary on Numbers, Book · Chapter 36
CHAP. XXXVI.
Chapter XXXVI Ver. 1. AND the chief Fathers of the Families of the Verſe 1 Children of Gilead, the Son of Machir, the Son of Manaſſeh, &c.] Not the Fathers of thoſe Families, whoſe Inheritance had been aſſigned them already on this ſide Jordan, in the Land of Gilead: but the other half of the Tribe of Manaſſeh, who were to have their Inheritance in Canaan, where the Daughters of Zelophehad alſo had their Portion, as appears from XVII Joſh. 3, 4, &c.
Come near and ſpeak before Moſes, and before the Princes, the chief Fathers of the Children of Iſrael.] Who were met together in a great Aſſembly, as they uſed to do, about Publick Affairs. See XXVII. 2. XXI. XXXII. 2.
Ver. 2. And they ſaid, the LORD commanded my Verſe 2 Lord.] This ſhows that one of them was the Mouth of the reſt.
To give the Land for an Inheritance by lot to the Children of Iſrael.] See XXVI. 52, 53. For there the Foundation of all theſe Doubts was laid.
And my Lord was commanded by the LORD to give the Inheritance of Zelophehad.] Which ſhould have faln to Zelophehad, had he been alive.
Our Brather.] So they called their near Relations.
Ʋnto his Daughters.] Who petitioned him for the Poſſeſſion which ſhould have been their Fathers, and it was granted them. See XXVII. 6, 7.
Ver. 3. And if they be married to any of the Sons of the other Tribes of the Children of Iſrael.] They being rich, many, it might be ſuppoſed, of the other Tribes, Verſe 3 as well as their own, would court them for their Wives: and if they ſhould chooſe an Husband that was not of their own Tribe, they repreſent to Moſes the Inconveniencies which from thence would follow.
Then ſhall their Inheritance be taken from the Inheritance of our Fathers.] i. e. Go out of our Tribe, to which it originally belonged.
And ſhall be put to the Inheritance of the Tribe, whereinto they are received.] Become a part of the Inheritance of that Tribe into which they married.
So ſhall it be taken from the lot of our Inheritance.] For it muſt have deſcended unto their Children, who were of another Tribe by the Father's ſide; which alone was conſidered, and not the Mothers, in this caſe.
Verſe 4 Ver. 4. And when the Jubilee of the Children of Iſrael ſhall be.] Which was ordained for the preſerving Eſtates in the Tribes and Families to which they originally appertained, XXV Lev. 10, 13.
Then ſhall their Inheritance be put unto the Inheritance of the Tribe whereunto they are received.] The Jubilee will not help us in this Caſe, by making their Inheritances return as other Lands do; becauſe they are become the Inheritance of another Tribe, by the right of Marriage.
So ſhall their Inheritance be taken away from the Inheritance of the Tribe of our Fathers.] So will their Eſtate go out of our Tribe, without remedy, becauſe the Jubilee it ſelf will give us no Relief.
Verſe 5 Ver. 5. And Moſes commanded the Children of Iſrael, according to the Word of the LORD.] Whom, I ſuppoſe, he conſulted about this matter, (as he did when the firſt doubt was moved about the Inheritance of theſe Women, XXVII. 5.) and received the anſwer by which he here commanded the Iſraelites to govern themſelves.
The Tribe of Joſeph.] In whoſe name the chief Fathers of their ſeveral Families made this repreſentation to Moſes; as became Men who took care of the concerns of the whole Tribe.
Hath ſaid well.] In deſiring the Inheritance of theſe Women might not go out of their Tribe; which was prevented by the following Law.
Ver. 6. This is the thing which the LORD doth Verſe 6 command concerning the Daughters of Zelophehad, ſaying, Let them marry to whom they think best.] They were not confined to any particular Perſons; but might have their choice among thoſe who were deſcended from the ſame Stock, as it immediately follows.
Only to the Family of the Tribe of their Father ſhall they marry.] Only with theſe two limitations, that they might not marry a Man of another Tribe; nor a Man of another Family in their own Tribe. For it is very manifeſt, that they are tied to marry into the Family of their Father; and accordingly they did actually marry their Coſin-Germans, as we now ſpeak, v. 11. For this Law was made for the preſervation of Families, (as well as of Tribes) as the Law for the Redemption of Lands was. And therefore theſe words, the Family of the Tribe of their Father, is well tranſlated by Grotius (upon I St. Matthew 16.) familia ſtirpis paternae, the Family of the Sto…k of their Father, which was that they deſired might not periſh, XXVII. 4. and was the ground of the Law, which commanded a Man to marry the Wife of his Brother, who left no Iſſue, XXV Deut. 16. Therefore there being ſeveral Families in the Tribe of Manaſſeh, XXVI. 29, 30, 31, 32. theſe Women could marry only into the Family of the Hepherites.
Verſe 7 Ver. 7. So ſhall not the Inheritance of the Children of Iſrael remove from Tribe to Tribe.] For by preſerving it in the Family to which it was given, it was neceſſarily preſerved in the Tribe.
For every one of the Children of Iſrael ſhall keep himſelf to the Inheritance of the Tribe of his Fathers.] And not endeavour to get any part of the Inheritance of another Tribe, by marrying an Heireſs in it. Plato himſelf took care of this, that when a Man left only a Daughter, his Eſtate ſhould not be carried by her to a Stranger, but ſhe ſhould be bound to marry foreign, one that was neareſt of kin to her. And if there was a want of near Kindred, foreign, &c. it ſhould deſcend to the Children of her Father's Brother, or the Children of the Grandfather, ſome of which he ordains ſhould marry her, Lib. XI. de Legibus, p. 924, 925. Edit. Serrani.
Verſe 8 Ver. 8. And every Daughter that poſſeſſeth an Inheritance in any Tribe of the Children of Iſrael.] Here this Law is made general, that all Women who were Heireſſes, as the Daughters of Zelophehad were, ſhould do as they are here commanded. And this was one of the Attick Laws, which, as Grotius obſerves, were plainly borrowed from the Law of Moſes, foreign, &c. That an Heireſs ſhould not marry out of her Kindred, but diſpoſe of her ſelf and Eſtate, foreign, to one neareſt of kin to her, which was one of the Laws of Solon, as Sam. Petitus obſerves out of Iſaeus, Pollux and others, in his Comment. in Leges Atticas, Lib. VI. Tit. 1. p. 441.
Shall be Wife to one of the Family of the Tribe of her Father.] Here ſhe is confined to her Family, and not merely to her Tribe. But this concerned only ſuch as were Heireſſes: all other Women might marry into what Tribe they pleaſed; as appears by theſe very Books; wherein we read that Aaron himſelf married the Siſter of the Prince of Judah, VI Exod. 22. And if any object that this was before the giving of the Law, it is evident that Jehoiada, a Prieſt, and conſequently of the Tribe of Levi, married King Jehoram's Siſter, who was of the Tribe of Judah, 2 Chron. XXII. 11. And long before this, all the Tribes of Iſrael being in great ſolicitude how to find Wives for their Brethren of Benjamin, did not ſcruple their having them out of any Tribe, if it had not been for their Oath, XXI Judg. 18. And, to add no more, David himſelf, of the Tribe of Judah, married Michael the Daughter of Saul, who was of the Tribe of Benjamin.
The Talmudiſts add, that even theſe Heireſſes might marry into what Tribe they pleaſed, after the firſt Diviſion of the Land by Joſhua: to which they imagine this Law was reſtrained; it being a common ſaying among them, That it did not belong to any Age, but that in which it was made. In the following Ages they pretend a Man might purchaſe Land in any Tribe, and poſſeſs it alway; or have the Inheritance of it by Marriage, though he were of another Tribe, as Selden ſhows their Opinion to be, Lib. de Succeſſionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 18. and Lib. III. de Synedr. c. 4. n. 1. and Buxtorf. de Sponſal. & Divortiis, ſect. 44. But this is well confuted by Grotius in his Annotations upon I St. Matthew, v. 16.
Ver. 9. Neither ſhall the Inheritance remove from one Tribe to another Tribe.] This eſtabliſhes in general what he had ſaid before, v. 7. with particular reſpect Verſe 9 to the Daughters of Zelophehad. But Moſes ben Nachman upon theſe very words, aſſerts the Talmudick Opinion before-mentioned, that this concerns only the preſent Time, not future Ages. And puts this Caſe (which is the ſtrongeſt that can be thought of) if a Woman were married into another Tribe, after which Marriage her Father and all her Brethren dying without Children, the Inheritance fell to her, and conſequently, ſaith he, the Poſſeſſion muſt devolve from one Tribe to another, into which ſhe had married. But according to the Letter of theſe words, the Inheritance was rather to deſcend to the next of her Kindred, than by her be carried out of the Tribe to which it belonged.
But every one of the Tribes of the Children of Iſrael ſhall keep himſelf to his own Inheritance.] Shall cleave, or ſtick cloſe to his own Inheritance, as the Hebrew word ſignifies; and as the Greek and Latin expreſſes it. The reaſon of the Command was, as Procopius Gazaeus obſerves, to prevent the Confuſion of Tribes. How the Vulgar Latin came to deviate ſo much from the Hebrew Text, and from the Intention of this Law, (as it hath done in this and the two preceding verſes) I ſhall not here examine. It is ſufficient to note that Onkelos hath expreſſed the Hebrew Text word for word; and the LXX. do not depart from the ſence of it.
Verſe 10 Ver. 10. Even as the LORD commanded Moſes, ſo did the Daughters of Zelophehad.] Accordingly they followed this direction, when they came into the Land of Canaan, and had received their Portion there. Now there being no ſuch words added here, as there are in other Caſes, this ſhall be unto the Children of Iſrael a Statute of Judgment, XXVII. 11. much leſs a Statute of Judgment throughout your Generations, XXXV. 29. it led, I conjecture, the Talmudick Doctors into the fore-mentioned Opinion, that this Law concerned only the preſent Generation.
Ver. 11. For Mahlah, Tizzah and Hoglah, and Verſe 11 Milkah, and Noah, the Daughters of Zelophehad.] Thus they are called both in XXVI. 33. & XXVII. 1. though they are not there mentioned in the ſame order; for Tirzah is there named laſt, who here is named in the ſecond place. Perhaps they are ſet down here in the order wherein they were diſpoſed in Marriage; and Tirzah, who was the younger, was married in the ſecond place.
Were married unto their Fathers Brothers Sons.] For Hepher, no doubt, had other Sons beſides Zelophehad, who had Iſſue-male, though Zelophehad had not. What their Names were, or how many of them, we do not know; but ſome ſuppoſe them to have been ſix; one of which died in the Wilderneſs without Iſſue. See Selden de Succeſſionibus, cap. 23. where he diſcourſes at large of the Portion which fell to them in the Land of Canaan.
Ver. 12. And they were married into the Families, Verſe 12 &c.] In the Margin, more exactly out of the Hebrew, to ſome that were of the Families; i. e. to one of the Families of Manaſſeh, from whom ſeveral Families deſcended, XXVI. 29, &c.
And their Inheritance remained in the Tribe of the Family of their Father.] The word for Tribe ſignifies ſometimes merely a Family in a Tribe. And ſo the LXX. (as Grotius obſerves in the place before-named) in this very buſineſs, uſes ſometimes the word foreign, and ſometimes foreign; the former of which ſignifies a part of a whole Tribe. And thus Joſephus alſo uſes the word foreign to ſignifie a Family. Mr. Selden hath the ſame Obſervation in his Book de Succeſſionibus, cap. 18. that foreign is ſometimes tranſlated foreign; and then it ſignifies not a Tribe, but foreign, familiam, cognationem, ſeu genus ſanguine proximum; a Family, a Kindred, or thoſe that are next in Blood. But there is no need of theſe Obſervations, if the words be tranſlated, as they may rightly; and their Inheritance remained in the Tribe, and the Family of their Father. See v. 6.
Verſe 13 Ver. 13. Theſe are the Commandments and the Judgments which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moſes, to the Children of Iſrael in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.] He began to deliver the Precepts here intended at the XXVIth Chapter, (See v. 3.) and continues them to this place. By Commandments ſeem to be meant the Precepts about the Worſhip of God, Chapt. XXVIII, XXIX, XXX. and by Judgments the Civil Laws about dividing their Inheritances, and regulating their Deſcent to their Poſterity, and eſtabliſhing Cities of Refuge for Man-ſlayers, which are expreſly called a Statute of Judgment, XXVII. 11. XXXV. 29. Some other things are interſperſed, as God's Commandment to number the People, (which was in order to the aſſigning them their Inheritances proportionable to their Families) to execute Judgment on the Midianites; and to ſet down in Writing their Travels in the Wilderneſs; of which I have given an account in their proper places.
FINIS.