A few chapters back, we read about the question raised by the daughters of Zelophehad: since their father had no sons, shouldn’t the heritage right to property pass to them (Numbers 27:1-4)? It would not be right for their father’s name to pass from memory.

That question had not been raised before, so Moses had had to bring their case before the Lord, who responded “The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them” (27:5). And indeed a new rule was given, indicating that if a man had no sons, his property would pass to his daughters (27:8).

In today’s reading we discover that some of the Manasseh clan leaders now saw another question: what if those daughters married into another tribe? Then their children would be members of that other tribe, and so that property within the territory of Manasseh would end up belonging to that other tribe; and the land integrity of their tribe would be broken (36:1-4). This again was a question that had not previously been considered, and so once more Moses had to get a decree from the Lord. The daughters of Zelophehad may “marry whom they think best; only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe that they are married, so that no inheritance of the Israelites shall be transferred from one tribe to another” (36:6-7).

We today are probably not much concerned regarding the specifics of tribal territory rights in ancient Israel: yet we would still do well to notice the principle that emerges when new questions come up. The answer to the new question will attempt to build on the previous revelation we have received; but often we will need to seek God’s guidance as we make applications beyond the conclusions we had reached before.

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Open our hearts to seek your will, O Lord, when new questions come up. Many times we assume that all the answers we may need have been previously given; other times we assume that we can make up any new answer we happen to want. Help us recognize that it’s somewhere in between those two: relying on what you have already said, as we seek to understand where the new application is supposed to lead us. Grant us wisdom, to discern well.