How does the request of Salphaad’s daughters become an inheritance rule for Israel?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Moses refers their case to the Lord, who calls their request just and gives them their father’s inheritance. God then states the order of succession when a man has no son: daughter, brothers, father’s brothers, then nearest kin.

Chapter breakdown

Maala, Noa, Hegla, Melcha and Thersa are the daughters of Salphaad, son of Hepher, son of Galaad, son of Machir, son of Manasses, son of Joseph. They stand before Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the people’s princes at the tabernacle of the covenant’s door. They say their father died in the desert, not in Core’s rebellion against the Lord but in his own sin, and had no male children. They ask why his name should be taken from his family because he had no son, and request a possession among their father’s kinsmen.

Moses refers their cause to the Lord’s judgment. The Lord tells him the daughters demand a just thing: give them a possession among their father’s kindred and let them succeed to his inheritance. Moses must tell Israel these rules. When a man dies without a son, his inheritance passes to his daughter. If there is no daughter, his brothers succeed. If there are no brothers, it goes to his father’s brothers. If he has no paternal uncles, it goes to the nearest kin. This is to be sacred to Israel as a perpetual law, as the Lord commands Moses.

The Lord tells Moses to climb Mount Abarim and view from there the land he will give Israel. After seeing it, Moses too will go to his people, as his brother Aaron has gone. God states the reason: they offended him in the desert of Sin during the multitude’s strife and would not sanctify him before them at the waters. These are the waters of contradiction at Cades in the desert of Sin. The command to view the land is recorded here; the ascent and Moses’ death are not narrated in this chapter.

Moses answers by asking the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, to provide a man over the multitude. This man is to go out and come in before them, lead them out and bring them in, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.

The Lord tells Moses to take Josue son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and place his hand on him. Josue must stand before Eleazar and the whole multitude. Moses must give him precepts in everyone’s sight and part of his glory, so all Israel’s congregation may hear him. If anything is to be done, Eleazar must consult the Lord for him. He, all Israel with him and the rest of the multitude are to go out and come in “at his word.” The source does not name a consultation instrument, and that last pronoun does not explicitly name its speaker.

Moses does as commanded. He takes Josue and places him before Eleazar and the assembled people. Laying his hands on Josue’s head, he repeats everything the Lord commanded. The command spoke of placing a hand; the performed action is described with hands.

The story inside

The daughters’ case moves from their stated loss to Moses’ referral and God’s approval. The ruling grants their request and then reaches beyond this family through a conditional inheritance order. A daughter inherits when there is no son; the remaining tiers apply only when the preceding relative is absent. The chapter does not provide a separate account of earlier customary law.

The leadership passage has a similar movement from request to instruction, but also records the instruction being carried out. Moses asks for someone to lead the people, God names Josue and requires a public charge with Eleazar present, and Moses presents Josue and lays hands on him. The viewing command for Moses remains distinct from that completed action. Neither private dynastic alternatives nor a named oracle mechanism is needed to explain the recorded sequence.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The inheritance rule is conditional. God approves these daughters and says a daughter inherits when there is no son, followed by the other named relatives in order. A broad claim that ignores those conditions would change the rule.
2
Referral and response are both recorded. Moses brings the cause to the Lord; God calls the request just. Keeping these actions avoids inventing a legal custom or Moses’ private deliberations.
3
Josue’s appointment has witnesses and instructions. He stands before Eleazar and the assembly, receives the public charge, and is subject to the stated consultation rule. The text leaves the consultation instrument unnamed.

Test your recall

How does Moses’ referral of the daughters’ case lead to both their inheritance and the wider succession rule?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 17377–17395
Numbers Chapter 27 The law of inheritance. Josue is appointed to succeed Moses. 27:1. Then came the daughters of Salphaad, the son of Hepher, the son of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and their names are Maala, and Noa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Thersa. 27:2. And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the people at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and said: 27:3. Our father died in the desert, and was not in the sedition, that was raised against the Lord under Core, but he died in his own sin: and he had no male children. Why is his name taken away out of his family, because he had no son? Give us a possession among the kinsmen of our father.
Lines 17396–17417
27:4. And Moses referred their cause to the judgment of the Lord. 27:5. And the Lord said to him: 27:6. The daughters of Salphaad demand a just thing: Give them a possession among their father’s kindred, and let them succeed him in his inheritance. 27:7. And to the children of Israel thou shalt speak these things: 27:8. When a man dieth without a son, his inheritance shall pass to his daughter. 27:9. If he have no daughter, his brethren shall succeed him. 27:10. And if he have no brethren, you shall give the inheritance to his father’s brethren. 27:11. But if he have no uncles by the father, the inheritance shall be given to them that are the next akin. And this shall be to the children of Israel sacred by a perpetual law, as the Lord hath commanded Moses.
Lines 17418–17429
27:12. The Lord also said to Moses: Go up into this mountain Abarim, and view from thence the land which I will give to the children of Israel. 27:13. And when thou shalt have seen it, thou also shalt go to thy people, as thy brother Aaron is gone: 27:14. Because you offended me in the desert of Sin in the contradiction of the multitude, neither would you sanctify me before them at the waters. These are the waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin.
Lines 17430–17438
27:15. And Moses answered him: 27:16. May the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh provide a man, that may be over this multitude: 27:17. And may go out and in before them, and may lead them out, or bring them in: lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without a shepherd.
Lines 17439–17452
27:18. And the Lord said to him: take Josue the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and put thy hand upon him. 27:19. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest and all the multitude: 27:20. And thou shalt give him precepts in the sight of all, and part of thy glory, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may hear him. 27:21. If any thing be to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord for him. He and all the children of Israel with him, and the rest of the multitude shall go out and go in at his word.
Lines 17453–17460
27:22. Moses did as the Lord had commanded. And, when he had taken Josue, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly of the people, 27:23. And laying his hands on his head, he repeated all things that the Lord had commanded.