(1) The daughters of Zelophehad, of Manassite family—son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh son of Joseph—came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.(2) They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and they said,(3) “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not one of the faction, Korah’s faction, which banded together against יהוה, but died for his own sin; and he has left no sons.(4) Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen!”(5) Moses brought their case before יהוה.

"The daughters of Tzelofchad came forward": This was greatness for them and greatness for their father; greatness also for Machir as well as for Joseph, that such women came forth from them. They were wise and righteous women. What was their wisdom? They spoke at the appropriate moment, for Moses was engaged upon the subject of inheritances ...

(1) "And there drew near the daughters of Tzelofchad": When the daughters of Tzelofchad heard that the land was to be apportioned to the tribes and not to females, they gathered together to take counsel, saying: Not as the mercies of flesh and blood are the mercies of the L-rd. The mercies of flesh and blood are greater for males than for females. Not so the mercies of He who spoke and brought the world into being. His mercies are for males and females (equally). His mercies are for all! As it is written (Psalms 145:9) "The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are upon all of His creations."

(1) יהוה spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first new moon of the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying:(2) Let the Israelite people offer the passover sacrifice at its set time:(3) you shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rules and rites.(4) Moses instructed the Israelites to offer the passover sacrifice;(5) and they offered the passover sacrifice in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai. Just as יהוה had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.(6) But there were some householders who were impure by reason of a corpse and could not offer the passover sacrifice on that day. Appearing that same day before Moses and Aaron,(7) those householders said to them, “Impure though we are by reason of a corpse, why must we be debarred from presenting יהוה’s offering at its set time with the rest of the Israelites?”(8) Moses said to them, “Stand by, and let me hear what instructions יהוה gives about you.”

(5) Moses brought their case before יהוה.(6) And יהוה said to Moses,(7) “The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just: you should give them a hereditary holding among their father’s kinsmen; transfer their father’s share to them.

(8) “Further, speak to the Israelite people as follows: ‘If a householder dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his property to his daughter.(9) If he has no daughter, you shall assign his property to his brothers.(10) If he has no brothers, you shall assign his property to his father’s brothers.(11) If his father had no brothers, you shall assign his property to his nearest relative in his own clan, who shall inherit it.’ This shall be the law of procedure for the Israelites, in accordance with יהוה’s command to Moses.”

(9) And יהוה spoke to Moses, saying:(10) Speak to the Israelite people, saying: When any party—whether you or your posterity—who is defiled by a corpse or is on a long journey would offer a passover sacrifice to יהוה,(11) they shall offer it in the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs,(12) and they shall not leave any of it over until morning. They shall not break a bone of it. They shall offer it in strict accord with the law of the passover sacrifice.

And Moses brought their case: The law was concealed from him. Here he was punished for taking a “crown” (i.e. authority) by saying, (Deuteronomy 1:17) “Any matter which is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me”. Alternatively, this chapter ought to have been written by Moses, but the daughters of Tzelofchad had so much merit, it was written through them.

(63) These are the males enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest who registered the Israelites on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.(64) Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest when they recorded the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.(65) For יהוה had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them survived, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

"In that generation, the women would repair what the men had breached…for the men had not wanted to enter the land, but the women drew close in order to request a portion in that land. Therefore, this section was related on the heels of the death of the generation of the wilderness, for there the men had breached and the women had repaired…"