This is the last chapter of Numbers. One more book to go to finish up the Pentateuch--the first five books of the Old Testament--which wraps up the story of Moses. I can't wait to find out if Moses defuses the bomb in time!
After all the mayhem and wars and stonings and assorted craziness that has occurred so far, Numbers closes both anticlimatically and typically with this question: is there another way that we can control our women? The answer, you'll be pleased to know, is an emphatic yes!
The heads of the Gilead clan have a problem. They are related to Zelophehad, which means, as you may recall, that their land inheritance has been promised to Zelophehad's daughters. What's so wrong with that? Well, when a woman marries, her husband becomes the sole owner of everything she previously owned--including herself, one would presume. That means that, when the Year of the Jubilee arrives, the land owned by the Gildead tribe will become part of the husbands' tribes. Then the Gilead clan will have no more land! Given the way things are in the Middle East this is a very big deal.
Moses has a great idea: why not limit the daughters' marriage prospects to only men in the Gliead tribe? The New International Version of the Bible says it beautifully: "They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan." When you put it that way it almost sounds fair.
Zelophehad's daughters are cool with this idea--they have to be; what choice do they really have?--and decide to marry their father's cousins. No word on how closely the cousins are related, but something tells me it’s pretty close.
Next stop, Deuteronomy, which--spoiler alert!--transcribes three speeches given by Moses just before the Isrealites take possession of Canaan. Should be riveting.
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