Today’s passage clarifies an exception to the rule that Israelite men inherited the Promised Land. Even though daughters could inherit land in certain cases, the daughters were prohibited from taking their father’s land outside of his tribe. This is one of many passages in the Bible that establish the fact that Yahweh designed society to be male-oriented.
Opening:
Elena stood at the front of the community center meeting room, pointer in hand, PowerPoint glowing behind her with a slide titled “The Male Default: How Society Was Built for Them.” A dozen people sat in folding chairs. Most looked polite.
“Look around,” she said. “Every major institution—government, finance, tech, sports, even the design of the office chairs—was oriented around the male body, the male schedule, the male aggression profile. History books center kings and generals. Medical research used male subjects as the baseline for decades. Public restrooms still allocate space as if men and women have identical needs. The entire social operating system runs on male defaults.”
She clicked to a slide of a standard hard hat and a standard tool grip. “Tools are sized for larger hands. Vehicle safety tests have historically been based on male crash-test dummies. Thermostats are set for the metabolic rate of the average man. Even language includes ‘mankind,’ ‘you guys,’ and the generic ‘he.’ The culture treats male as neutral and everything else as a special case.”
Feminists commonly complain that the world is a man’s world. They want to change that. However, Christians need to look at the world as God looks at the world. As we will see in today’s passage, the Bible treats the world as a man’s world.
Biblical Background:
When Yahweh created man and woman, it was decreed that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife (see Genesis 2:24). This establishes the concept that men initiate the formation of new families.
Throughout the book of Genesis, Yahweh made covenants with men such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Yahweh told Moses to number the Israelites, He told Moses to number the men (see Numbers 1:2). It was only males who were required to appear before Yahweh three times each year (see Exodus 23:17). The priests were men and only male Levites served the tabernacle (see Numbers 3). When men made vows, they were obligated. When women made vows, their husbands or fathers could annul their vows (see Numbers 30). When Moses prepared Israel to apportion the Promised Land, the plan was to give the land to the men (see Numbers 26).
Having said all that, there was an Israelite man named Zelophehad who had no sons, only daughters. When the daughters of Zelophehad asked for an inheritance so that their father’s name would not be extinguished, Yahweh consented to their request (see Numbers 27:7). But even that concession did not eliminate the male orientation, as we shall see in today’s passage.
Num. 36:1 ¶ And the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel,
Num. 36:2 and they said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
Notice the word “sons”. Overall, the land was given to the men. The inheritance given to the daughters of Zelophehad was an exception.
Num. 36:3 But if they marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance.
This also reveals a male orientation. When women married, they became part of their husband’s family. If the daughters of Zelophehad married outside their tribe, they would take the land of Zelophehad to their new tribe.
Num. 36:4 And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
Num. 36:5 ¶ Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word of Yahweh, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements.
Num. 36:6 This is what Yahweh has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whoever is good in their sight; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’
Yahweh agreed that the land had to stay in the tribe to which it was designated. Therefore, the daughters of Zelophehad had to marry within their tribe. Even though Yahweh allowed women to inherit land in certain cases, He still demanded that the women not carry the land outside their father’s family.
Num. 36:7 Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
Num. 36:8 And every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
Num. 36:9 Thus no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each hold to his own inheritance.”
Num. 36:10 ¶ Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did:
Num. 36:11 And Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons.
Num. 36:12 They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of the family of their father.
Num. 36:13 ¶ These are the commandments and the judgments which Yahweh commanded to the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Conclusion:
For many decades, feminists have railed against the male orientation of society. However, that is how God designed life. Men leave their parents and begin new families. Throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh made covenants with men. The Mosaic Law was male-oriented. Most prophets and all the writers of Scripture were men. The New Testament states that men are the heads of their wives and only men can serve as elders. It is, and should be, a man’s world.
Closing:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to BibleMountain.com, click on Subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold or given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”