Thy Strong Word – Numbers 36: Marriage to Protect the Inheritance

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Rev. Dr. Steve Schave, Director of Urban and Inner City Mission and Church Planting with the LCMS Office of National Mission, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Numbers 36.

“At this rate, there won’t be anything left for our children!” This is a common sentiment in many areas of life. We all want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the same blessings that God has given us. In Numbers 36, the tribe of Manasseh realizes that a loophole in marriage and inheritance laws might leave future generations with no inheritance.

God responds graciously to ensure that their inheritance will be protected for all generations to come, and He commands His people to be careful about who they marry. Indeed, unmarried Christians looking for a spouse are to find one within the household of faith. Our Christian faith, the baptism which predestines us for the land of the resurrection, is the most important inheritance we can pass on to our children and grandchildren.

Thy Strong Word is a daily in-depth study of the books of the Bible with host Rev. AJ Espinosa and guest pastors from across the country. Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation and produced by the LCMS Office of National Mission.

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Numbers 36

Marriage of Female Heirs

36 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the clan of the people of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. ² They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. ³ But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. ⁴ And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

⁵ And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. ⁷ The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. ⁸ And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.’”

¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses, ¹¹ for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers. ¹² They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

¹³ These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.