Numbers 36

< Back to Numbers Index


TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Another Question About a Woman's Right to Inherit Property

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. The women of Israel would inherit family property if they had no brothers.

  2. The women of Israel would inherit family property if they married within their tribe.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let’s practice the faith and obedience of Zelophehad’s daughters.

QUESTIONS

  1. Where and when did the book of Numbers begin and end?

  2. What was the issue and conclusion concerning Zelophehad’s daughters in Numbers 27?

  3. What would happen to the land if these women married men from their own tribe?

  4. What happened to the inherited property if the women married men from a different tribe?

ANSWERS

  1. Numbers began in the Wilderness of Sinai in the second year of the Exodus. Numbers ends on the Plains of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho, forty years after the Exodus from Egypt.

  2. The five daughters of Zelophehad wanted their father’s portion of land as an inheritance, since he had no sons. The Lord declared that this was right.

  3. Even if the daughters were married and moved onto the land of their husbands’ inheritance, they were still entitled to inherit their own father’s land.

  4. If the woman’s land became the property of her husband from another tribe, tribal boundaries would become confused. Therefore, if a woman was in line to inherit family property she must marry within the tribe to keep the property.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. All five of Zelophehad’s daughters desired to keep the family inheritance, so they submitted to God’s law and married within the tribe. Their obedience and faith were shown in their actions. Do you really believe the promises of the Lord concerning your future inheritance? Would you obey the Lord’s commands in specific areas of your life as these women did?

  2. Review the book of Numbers. What is the most interesting thing you have learned from this study? What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?

CHALLENGE

  1. Think back on your study of the book of Numbers. Praise God for His guidance and faithfulness to the children of Israel. Praise Him for His guidance and faithfulness to you!

KEY VERSES

  • “Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.” Numbers 36:9

  • “These are the commandments and the judgments which the LORD commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.” Numbers 36:13

Numbers, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidNUMBERS 36