Editing Daughters of Zelophehad (section)

==Legal issues==
Legal advice, concerning the inheritance rights and obligations of the daughters of Zelophehad, is given twice in the Biblical account. On the first occasion, the topic is about inheritance when there are no male children, while the topic of the second occasion is [[levirate marriage]], and property inheritance remaining within a clan (not the tribe). The daughters are mentioned a third time, in the [[Book of Joshua]], where they are simply portrayed as being given land in the territory of Manasseh, to which their inheritance entitled them;<ref>{{Bibleverse||Joshua|17:3-6|}}</ref> the text is unclear in regards to which part of Manasseh's territory they were granted land, except that it was not in [[Gilead]].<ref>{{Bibleverse||Joshua|17:6|}}</ref>

===Inheritance when there are no male children===
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 073.png|thumb|Casting lots for tribal inheritance, woodcut for [[:c:Die Bibel in Bildern|Die Bibel in Bildern]], 1860, [[:s:Bible (King James)/Joshua#Chapter 14|Joshua, Chapter 14]]]]

In the Biblical account, earlier regulations had specified that [[property]] was to be inherited by heirs who were male, but the daughters were the only children of their now deceased father, and so they came to the door of the ''[[Tabernacle (Judaism)|Tent of Meeting]]'' and asked [[Moses]], [[Eleazer]], the [[tribal chief]]tains, and the rest of the ''congregation'', for advice on what was to be done, as there were no obvious male heirs;<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|26:1-2|}}, {{Bibleverse||Numbers|27:4.|}}</ref> in the [[Talmud]], opinions vary as to whether this means that the daughters petitioned all of these groups at the same time, with them gathered together, or if it means that the daughters first petitioned the ''congregation'', then the chieftains, then Eleazar, and finally petitioned Moses.<ref>[[Bava Batra]] 119b; Rabbi Eliezer supports the former, Rabbi Joshua supports the latter</ref>

The biblical text states that Moses asked [[Hashem]] to rule on the issue;<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|27:5|}}</ref> the Zohar argues that Moses had presented the case to Hashem, rather than deciding it himself, because Moses was modest.<ref name="Zohar 3:205b"/> The biblical account continues by stating that Moses was told by Hashem that the daughters should be considered their father's heirs, and that the general case holds - if there are no sons, the daughter (or daughters) should inherit - and if there are no children at all, the inheritance should pass to the man's brothers, and if there are no brothers it should pass to the ''nearest relative in his clan''.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|27:5-9|}}</ref>

[[Maimonides]], and other rabbinical commentators, extrapolated this into the conclusion that, if they exist, then sons and their descendants are the heirs of an individual, but if they do not it would be any daughters or their descendants, and if these do not exist then it would be the individual's father, and if he is no longer alive then the rule concerning heirs applies to him - the father's sons (the individual's brothers) and their descendants have priority, followed by the father's daughters (the individual's sisters), followed by the father's father (the individual's grandfather), and so on.<ref name="ReferenceA">''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''Inheritance''</ref> However, although this was how the [[Pharisees]] saw the biblical implication, the [[Sadducees]] argued that if there were only female descendants of an individual's sons, and the sons themselves were dead, then the individual's daughters had the right to inherit.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Evidently the regulations preferring male descendants may have come to be disregarded in some respects, as the [[Book of Job]], which textual scholars date to the fourth century BCE, states in its epilogue<ref>Job 42:15</ref> that Job's daughters were given equal inheritance rights to his sons,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and the [[Karaite (Jewish sect)|Karaites]] always gave daughters the same rights as sons.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> By the [[Middle Ages]] it came to be a tradition to evade the inequality between daughters and sons via a [[legal fiction]], in which the father claims that he is indebted to his daughter for a certain sum of money, and that this debt is due by him and his heirs, and then makes a formal agreement that this debt is to be paid upon his death, either in cash or as a proportion of his estate equal to half the share of one of the sons;<ref>''Jewish Encyclopedia'', ''daughter in jewish law''</ref> by this legal mechanism, the daughter would either gain a share in her father's estate, or a sum of money equal to its value.

===Endogamous and exogamous inheritance===
Later in the narrative of the Book of Numbers, the elders of the [[Gilead (tribal group)|clan of Gilead]] petitioned Moses and the tribal chieftains for advice, because they were concerned that if Zelophehad's daughters married men from another [[Israelites|Israelite tribe]], the property that the daughters had inherited the right to would become the property of the other tribe, and would be lost from the [[tribe of Manasseh]], to which Zelophehad had belonged.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|36:1-4|}}</ref> The narrative continues by stating that Hashem gave Moses a response to give to the elders, namely that the daughters must each marry someone from the Gilead clan, but they are otherwise unrestricted in their choice;<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|36:5-6|}}</ref> the narrative also states that the general case was to be applied - that inheritances cannot pass between tribes, but instead any female that inherits land is compelled to marry someone from the same clan as her father.<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|36:7-9|}}</ref> The narrative's coda mentions that the daughters each marry one of the sons of their uncles;<ref>{{Bibleverse||Numbers|36:10-11|}}</ref> the [[gemara]] states that the daughters had demonstrated their righteousness in doing so, as these men were fitting for them, and had not married earlier as they were waiting for suitable husbands.<ref name="Bava Batra 119b" />

The biblical prohibition of heiresses to commit [[exogamy]] was repealed by the classical [[rabbi]]s;<ref name="Bava Batra 120a">Bava Batra 120a</ref><ref>[[Ta'anit (Talmud)|Ta'anit]] 30b</ref> [[Rabbah bar Nahmani|Rabbah]] argued that the rule only applied to the period that [[Canaan]] had been divided between the tribes, and had therefore become redundant, especially as the laws concerning the territory were in abeyance anyway, owing to the destruction of [[Temple in Jerusalem|the Temple]].<ref name="Bava Batra 120a"/> Thus in all forms of Judaism following the [[Oral Law]], women are allowed to marry whom they wish, including [[exogamy|exogamously]], whether they have gained an inheritance or not.