Inheritance by Marriage
36 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, 2 and they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. 3 But if they [a]marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; thus it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4 When the jubilee of the sons of Israel [b]comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
5 Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the [c]word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph are right in their statements. 6 This is [d]what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry [e]whom they wish; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ 7 Thus no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall [f]be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each [g]hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 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.9 Thus no inheritance shall [h]be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each [i]hold to his own inheritance.”
10 Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did:11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. 12 They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance [j]remained with the tribe of the family of their father.
13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan oppositeJericho.
Sometimes, we try to over-complicate things. Here, the daughters of Zelophehad were to inherit the land from their father, because they had no brothers. The men of the tribe were concerned what would happen if these gals married outside the tribe, and forfeited their land to another tribe.
God’s answer is simple, don’t do that… Now, that’s not to say inter-tribe relations were not allowed, I’m sure they had no problems with that otherwise, or it wouldn’t have been an issue. But it reminds me of the attitude we take towards “grey” areas in life.
Like, what would happen if I did this particular thing, it’s not a sin, but it’s kind of questionable? Something our Pastor said recently stuck out to me. Which is basically that we are asking the wrong question.
The sons of Joseph were worried about losing tribal lands, but the real question was, why aren’t you chasing after those girls to make sure they don’t leave your tribe? In the situations we face, the real question is, how can I get closer to God, and does this fit in with that? If not, stop worrying about it and go do something else. Don’t be trying to flirt with the edges, run to the center of God’s heart and chase after him.