What Does Numbers 36:2 Mean in the King James?
And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The daughters do not receive a substitute for inheritance; they are named as its rightful heirs.
THE MEANING
A share can be designated and passed to the people entitled to receive it, even when its expected path must be reopened. Here, the daughters are included within Israel’s inheritance, and their father’s portion is directed to them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a father’s inheritance can only pass through sons: his daughters receive the inheritance itself.
THE ROOT
נַחֲלָה
naḥalah
GROWS FROM
נחל
n-ḥ-l
To inherit or take possession; in a causative form, to cause another to inherit.
The noun נַחֲלָה (naḥalah, inheritance) grows from a root that holds both receiving a possession and causing someone to inherit it. The verse names the daughters as the people who receive their father’s share, keeping them inside the movement of inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit, take possession of, or receive as a share.
נָחַל
This receiving form illuminates the daughters as heirs who take possession of an allotted share.
hinḥîl: To cause someone to inherit; to allot as a possession.
הִנְחִיל
This causative form shows the same root can describe a share being placed into another person’s possession.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance reaches the people identified as heirs through a named allotment or promise.
The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.THE THREAD
The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.Both verses use נַחֲלָה (naḥalah, inheritance), joining the daughters’ claim to a defined share rather than a lesser substitute. Numbers 27:7 makes the transfer plain: their father’s inheritance passes to them among their father’s brothers.
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