🔢WEB · Numbers 27:9
What does Numbers 27:9 mean?
"If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers."
— Numbers 27:9 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.
You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies, and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.
If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.
If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.
If his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it. This shall be a statute and ordinance for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’”
Yahweh said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.
Explanation
Numbers 27:9 comes in the middle of a larger passage where Moses is establishing rules for inheritance among the Israelites. The verse itself is simple and procedural: if a man dies without a son, and also has no daughter, then his inheritance is to pass to his brothers. In plain language, it's a legal instruction about who inherits property when the more obvious heirs — sons or daughters — don't exist.
The context is essential to understanding why this verse exists at all. In Numbers 27:1-11, five sisters — Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, daughters of Zelophehad — approach Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the leaders of Israel with a problem. Their father had died in the wilderness leaving no sons, and under the existing customs, his name and inheritance would simply disappear from his tribe and clan. The sisters argue that this isn't right, and Moses brings their case before the Lord. God responds by affirming that the daughters' claim is correct (verse 7) and then instructs Moses to lay out a broader inheritance law to cover future situations: if a man dies without a son, give the inheritance to his daughter (verse 8); if he has no daughter, give it to his brothers (verse 9); and the passage continues with further contingencies (uncles, then nearest relative). This was written by Moses as part of the Torah, addressed to the Israelites during their wilderness journey, to establish orderly transmission of land and property once they entered Canaan.
Theologically, this passage reveals God as
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