🔢WEB · Numbers 27:2
What does Numbers 27:2 mean?
"They stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the Tent of Meeting, saying,"
— Numbers 27:2 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph came near. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
They stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the Tent of Meeting, saying,
“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against Yahweh in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin. He had no sons.
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.”
Moses brought their cause before Yahweh.
Explanation
Numbers 27:2 sets the scene for one of the more remarkable episodes in the book of Numbers, though the verse itself is really just a narrative hinge—it describes people taking their place before Israel's leadership to make a request. The "they" in question are the five daughters of Zelophehad: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, whose case is introduced in verse 1. This verse tells us where they stood and before whom: Moses, the civil leader; Eleazar, the high priest who had succeeded his father Aaron; the princes, meaning the tribal and clan leaders of Israel; and the whole congregation, gathered at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the tabernacle that served as the center of Israel's worship and communal life.
The context matters a great deal. This scene takes place after the second census in Numbers 26, as Israel prepares to enter the Promised Land and divide it among the tribes by inheritance. Zelophehad had died in the wilderness without any sons, only daughters, and under the existing understanding of inheritance law, this meant his family line would receive no allotment of land—his name and legacy would effectively vanish from Israel. The daughters' appearance "at the door of the Tent of Meeting" is significant: this was the recognized place where legal and religious matters were brought before God and his appointed leaders. By standing there, before this full assembly of authority—civil, priestly, and communal—the daughters were formally and boldly bringing a legal grievance for adjudication, not merely voicing
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