Numbers 36 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study
Numbers 36 Summary - A Quick Overview
WHEN:
These events occurred towards the end of the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
The Israelites were in the wilderness from approximately 1490-1450 B.C.
CHARACTERS:
Moses – God selected Moses to lead the Israelite nation from Egypt to Canaan.
Men of Manasseh – Some men of Manasseh went to Moses with a concern about land inheritance and how land was transferred through marriage.
Daughters of Zelophehad – Zelophehad had no sons so his family’s land inheritance in Canaan was given to his daughters (Num 27).
WHERE:
The Israelites were still camped on the east side of the Jordan River at the plains of Moab (34:1). These plains were located near Pisgah, across the river from Jericho.
OUTLINE:
FEMALE LAND INHERITANCE AND MARRIAGE (36:1-13):
To understand this chapter, it’s important to familiarize yourself with Numbers 26:33 and 27:1-11. In those passages, we are told a man named Zelophehad from the tribe of Manasseh had no sons, so God decreed that his family’s land inheritance in Canaan could pass down through his daughters.
In chapter 36, the men of Manasseh went to Moses with a concern regarding the inheritance of land by unmarried women.
If a daughter of Zelophehad married a man from another tribe, their inherited land, which originally belonged to the families of Manasseh, would be absorbed into their husband’s tribe.
This would permanently remove that land from the portion of Canaan God allotted for the tribe of Manasseh.
Moses agreed that their concern was valid, and he gave the people instruction according to the word of the Lord.
Any woman who inherited her family’s land was required to marry within her tribe so the land wouldn’t change hands.
Zelophehad’s daughters did as Lord prescribed, and married men within the clans of Manasseh.
APPLICATION:
All aspects of our life should be subject to the instruction of God, including our marriages.
Zelophehad’s daughters limited the men in their potential marriage pool because they saw the importance of God’s larger plan in Canaan.
Many people would protest the idea that faith dictates who we can potentially marry, but Paul, in the New Testament, wasn’t shy about telling Christians they needed to limit their potential marriage pool to followers of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 7:39 – “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
