13 October 2014

EJ&T Numbers 36: Inter-tribal marriages

In the Every Jot and Tittle project, I am listing all of the Bible's commandments from Genesis to Revelation, in accordance with Jesus's words in Matthew 5:18-19. I have no idea how many commandments I'll find, but Jewish tradition claims there are 613. See here for a list of those that I've found so far.

  1. A woman who receives an inheritance must not marry outside of her father's tribe.
  2. Every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. Numbers 36:8
    In Numbers 27, the daughters Zelophehad (the first feminists in the Bible?) told Moses that they should be able to inherit from their father since he had no sons. Moses asked God and God agreed with the daughters Zelophehad, issuing commandment 383.

    But now a new problem arose. What if a woman inherits from her father in accordance with commandment 383 (because her father had no sons) and then marries a man from another tribe? If that happens, then the inheritance will belong to her new husband, and her new husband's tribe.

    So Moses asked God what to do. To address the problem, God issued commandment 373.

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