Numbers 27

Chapter context

What is happening in Numbers 27?

pilgrimagerebellionjudgmentmercy

Numbers 27 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as crises involving spies, Korah, serpents, and Balaam. Numbers combines census lists, camp order, priestly concerns, wilderness rebellion, judgment, mercy, and renewed preparation for entering the promised land. Read this chapter with the wider themes of pilgrimage, rebellion, and judgment in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ Then came 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: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. ² And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, ³ Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. ⁵ And Moses brought their cause before the LORD. ⁶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ⁷ 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. ⁸ And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. ⁹ And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. ¹⁰ And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren. ¹¹ And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses. ¹² And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. ¹³ And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. ¹⁴ For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. ¹⁵ And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying, ¹⁶ Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, ¹⁷ Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd. ¹⁸ And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; ¹⁹ And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight. ²⁰ And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. ²¹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. ²² And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: ²³ And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

Study helps

Glossary

Noah Person v. 1: Rest, (Heb. Noah) the grandson of Methuselah ( Gen. 5:25-29 ), who was for two hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of Adam’s death.
Zelophehad Tribe v. 1, 7: First-born, of the tribe of Manasseh, and of the family of Gilead; died in the wilderness.
Eleazar Person v. 2, 19, 21-22: God has helped. (1. ) The third son of Aaron ( Ex. 6:23 ). His wife, a daughter of Putiel, bore him Phinehas ( Ex. 6:25 ). After the death of Nadab and Abihu.
Tabernacle Object v. 2: (1. ) A house or dwelling-place ( Job 5:24 ; 18:6 , etc. ). (2. ) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24 ) containing the image of Moloch ( Amos 5:26 ; marg. and R. V., “Siccuth”). (3. ) The human body.
Korah Person v. 3: Ice, hail. (1. ) The third son of Esau, by Aholibamah ( Gen. 36:14 ; 1 Chr. 1:35 ). (2. ) A Levite, the son of Izhar, the brother of Amram, the father of Moses and Aaron ( Ex. 6:21 ).
Abarim Place v. 12: Regions beyond; i. e., on the east of Jordan, a mountain, or rather a mountain-chain, over against Jericho, to the east and south-east of the Dead Sea, in the land of Moab. From “the top of Pisgah”, i. e., Mount Nebo. Modern identification: Abarim.
Kadesh-barnea Place v. 14: Holy, or Kadesh-Barnea, sacred desert of wandering, a place on the south-eastern border of Palestine, about 165 miles from Horeb. It lay in the “wilderness” or “desert of Zin”. Modern identification: Ain el Qudeirat.
Meribah Place v. 14: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Ain el Qudeirat.
Zin Place v. 14: Biblical region. Modern identification: Zin Desert.
Joshua Tribe v. 18, 22: Jehovah is his help, or Jehovah the Saviour. The son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, the successor of Moses as the leader of Israel. He is called Jehoshua in Num. 13:16 (A. V. ), and Jesus in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8 .
Nun Person v. 18: Beyond the fact that he was the father of Joshua nothing more is known of him ( Ex. 33:11 ).