The Wilderness · c. 1407 BC
Chapter 11
Zelophehad’s Daughters
“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.
For parents
The Lord tells Moses to climb a mountain and look at the promised land. After he has seen it, he will die as his brother Aaron did, because he rebelled against the Lord’s word at the waters of Meribah (Numbers 27:12–14). Numbers 28–29 list the animals to be offered as burnt offerings and sin offerings through the year; they are told as lists, and the killing itself isn’t described. Numbers 30 lets a father cancel his young daughter’s vow, and a husband his wife’s.
Five sisters came forward: , , , and . They were the daughters of , of the families of , the son of . Their father was the son of , who was the son of , the son of , the son of Manasseh.
They stood at the door of the , in front of , the , the leaders and all the community. “Our father died in the wilderness,” they said. “He wasn’t one of the crowd that gathered together against the with . He died because of his own sin. He had no sons. Why should our father’s name be taken away from his family because he had no son? Give us property of our own among our father’s brothers.”
Moses brought their case to the Lord.
The Lord spoke to Moses. “The daughters of Zelophehad are right,” he said. “You must give them property to inherit among their father’s brothers. Their father’s inheritance must go to them.
“Tell the , ‘If a man dies and has no son, his inheritance is to go to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then give it to his father’s brothers. If his father has no brothers, then give it to the closest relative in his family, and that relative will own it. This is to be a law and a rule for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”
The Lord said to Moses, “Climb this mountain of , and look at the land I have given to the Israelites. When you have seen it, you too will die and join your ancestors, as your brother did. This is because, when the community quarreled in the , you rebelled against my word. You were supposed to honor me as holy at the waters, in front of them.”
Those were the waters of , in the Wilderness of Zin.
Moses spoke to the Lord. “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of every living creature, put a man in charge of the community,” he said, “a man to go out ahead of them and come back ahead of them, to lead them out and bring them home. Then the Lord’s community won’t be like sheep that have no shepherd.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Take , the son of , a man with the Spirit in him, and lay your hand on him. Set him in front of Eleazar the priest and all the community, and appoint him to his task while they watch.
“Give him authority, so that all the community of the Israelites will obey him. He is to stand in front of Eleazar the priest. Eleazar will use the to ask for a decision for him, in the Lord’s presence. At his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in: Joshua and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”
Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him in front of Eleazar the priest and all the community. He laid his hands on Joshua and appointed him to his task, as the Lord had spoken through Moses.
The Lord gave Moses a command for the Israelites: “See that you bring me my offering at its set time. It is my food for my offerings made by fire, a pleasant smell to me.”
Every day they were to offer the Lord two male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them, as the daily : one lamb in the morning and one in the evening. With each lamb went a of fine flour, a tenth of an , which is a little over two quarts. It was mixed with oil from beaten olives, a quarter of a , which is nearly two quarts. With each lamb, too, they were to pour out a quarter of a hin of strong drink to the Lord in the holy place, as a . The evening lamb had the same meal offering and drink offering as the morning one. This daily burnt offering had been set up at Mount . It was an offering made by fire, a pleasant smell to the Lord.
On the day they were to offer two male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them. With them went a meal offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and its drink offering. That was the burnt offering for every Sabbath, on top of the daily burnt offering and its drink offering.
At the beginning of each month they were to bring the Lord a burnt offering: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them. With each bull went three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a meal offering, with the ram two tenths, and with each lamb one tenth. The drink offerings were wine: half a hin for a bull, a third of a hin for the ram, and a quarter for each lamb. This was the burnt offering for every month of the year. One male goat was also to be offered to the Lord as a , on top of the daily burnt offering and its drink offering.
The Lord’s was on the fourteenth day of the first month. The fifteenth day of that month was to be a feast, and for seven days they were to eat . On the first day they were to have a gathering and do no regular work.
They were to offer the Lord a burnt offering made by fire: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all with nothing wrong with them. With them went the same meal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for a bull, two tenths for the ram and one tenth for every one of the seven lambs. They were also to offer one male goat for a sin offering, to make for them. These were on top of the morning’s burnt offering, the daily one. Every day for seven days they were to bring the same food for the offering made by fire, a pleasant smell to the Lord. It was on top of the daily burnt offering and its drink offering. On the seventh day they were to have a holy gathering and do no regular work.
On the day of the first fruits, when they brought the Lord a new meal offering at their , they were to have a holy gathering and do no regular work. They were to offer a burnt offering, a pleasant smell to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old. With them went their meal offerings in the same measures, and one male goat to make atonement for them. They were to offer these, with their drink offerings, on top of the daily burnt offering and its meal offering. “See that they have nothing wrong with them,” the Lord said.
On the first day of the seventh month they were to have a holy gathering and do no regular work. It was a day for blowing trumpets. They were to offer the Lord a burnt offering: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them. With them went their meal offerings in the same measures, and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for them. These were on top of the burnt offering for the new moon at the start of the month and the daily burnt offering, each with its meal offering, and their drink offerings, as the rules for them said. It was all a pleasant smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
On of this seventh month they were to have a holy gathering. They were to and do no work of any kind. They were to offer the Lord the same burnt offering: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all with nothing wrong with them. With them went their meal offerings, and one male goat for a sin offering. These were on top of the sin offering of atonement and the daily burnt offering with its meal offering, and their drink offerings.
On of the seventh month they were to have a holy gathering, do no regular work, and keep a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day they were to offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant smell to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all with nothing wrong with them. With them went their meal offerings of fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for every one of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each ram, and one tenth for every lamb. There was also one male goat for a sin offering, on top of the daily burnt offering, with its meal offering and its drink offering.
Each day after that, there was one bull fewer. On the second day they were to offer twelve young bulls, on the third day eleven, on the fourth ten, on the fifth nine, on the sixth eight, and on the seventh day seven. Every day there were two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them, and the meal offerings and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams and the lambs, to match their number, as the rule said. And every day there was one male goat for a sin offering, on top of the daily burnt offering, with its meal offering and its drink offering.
The eighth day was to be a solemn assembly, with no regular work. On it they were to offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant smell to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, with nothing wrong with them. With them went their meal offerings and drink offerings to match their number, and one male goat for a sin offering. These were on top of the daily burnt offering, with its meal offering and its drink offering.
“Offer these to the Lord at your set feasts,” the Lord said, “for your burnt offerings, your meal offerings, your drink offerings and your . They are on top of the offerings you have promised in and the ones you choose to give.”
Moses told the Israelites all of it, everything the Lord had commanded him.
Moses spoke to the heads of the of the Israelites. “This is what the Lord has commanded,” he said. “If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or if he swears an oath to bind himself with a pledge, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said.
“A young woman may make a vow to the Lord and bind herself with a pledge while she still lives in her father’s house. If her father hears of her vow and her pledge and says nothing to her, all her vows will stand, and so will every pledge she has bound herself with. But if her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or pledges will stand. The Lord will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.
“She may have a husband while she is still bound by her vows, or by a promise she made without thinking. If her husband hears it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows will stand, and so will the pledges she has bound herself with. But if her husband forbids her on the day he hears it, he cancels the vow she is under, and the promise she made without thinking, which bound her. The Lord will forgive her.
“But a widow, or a woman who is divorced, must keep her vow: she must keep everything she has bound herself to.
“Suppose a woman made a vow, or bound herself with an oath, while living in her husband’s house. If her husband heard it and kept quiet and didn’t forbid her, then all her vows will stand, and so will every pledge she bound herself with. But if her husband canceled them on the day he heard of them, then whatever she said in her vows or her pledges will not stand. Her husband has undone them, and the Lord will forgive her.
“Her husband may let any vow of hers stand, or he may cancel it, and the same goes for every oath that binds her to afflict herself. But if her husband says nothing to her from one day to the next, he lets all her vows and pledges stand. He has let them stand, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard of them. But if he cancels them later, after he has heard of them, he will carry her guilt.”
These are the laws the Lord gave Moses for a husband and his wife, and for a father and his daughter while she is young and still lives in his house.