Zelophehad

Zelophehad died in the wilderness with no sons, and his five daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, stood before Moses to ask a plain question. Why should their father’s name vanish because he had no son? Moses brought their cause to the LORD, who answered, “The daughters of Zelophehad speak right.” From that came a rule for Israel about how an inheritance passes when a man leaves no sons. Joshua 17 shows the promise kept, when the daughters received land among their father’s brothers in Manasseh. Numbers 27 holds the whole scene, and it is short enough to read in a minute.

16 verses

Numbers

Numbers 27:1

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.

Numbers 27:2

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,

Numbers 27:3

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.

Numbers 27:4

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.

Numbers 27:5

And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.

Numbers 27:6

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Numbers 27:7

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.

Numbers 27:8

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.

Numbers 27:9

And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.

Numbers 27:10

And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.

Numbers 27:11

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.

Joshua

Joshua 17:3

But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Joshua 17:4

And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father.

Joshua 17:5

And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan;

Joshua 17:6

Because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons: and the rest of Manasseh's sons had the land of Gilead.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 7:15

And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister's name was Maachah;) and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

First-born, of the tribe of Manasseh, and of the family of Gilead; died in the wilderness. Having left no sons, his daughters, concerned lest their father’s name should be “done away from among his family,” made an appeal to Moses, who, by divine direction, appointed it as “a statute of judgment” in Israel that daughters should inherit their father’s portion when no sons were left (Num. 27:1-11). But that the possession of Zelophehad might not pass away in the year of jubilee from the tribe to which he belonged, it was ordained by Moses that his daughters should not marry any one out of their father’s tribe; and this afterwards became a general law (Num. 36).

Read the full entry

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(first-born), son of Zepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh. (Joshua 17:3) (B.C. before 1450.) He was apparently the second son of Hepher. (1 Chronicles 7:15) Zelophehad came out of Egypt with Moses, but died in the wilderness, as did the whole of that generation. (Numbers 14:35; 27:3) On his death without male heirs, his five daughters, just after the second numbering in the wilderness, came before Moses and Eleazar to claim the inheritance of their father in the tribe of Manasseh. The claim was admitted by divine direction. (Numbers 26:33; 27:1-11)