Pinhas Numbers: Chapter 25, verse 10 through Chapter 30, verse 1
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — This week I focus on the episode of the five daughters of their deceased father Zelophehad, who had no son to inherit his lands. (Numbers, Chapter 27, vv.1-7) The prevailing policy was that inheritance of land went to sons, the largest portion to go to the eldest.
The daughters argued that, should the holdings go to an outsider, the land would be lost to their father’s clan. Moses, in consultation with God, determined the five sisters should inherit the land. An added proviso was that they needed to marry only within the clan, to assure that the holdings remain within their clan into the future.
This event piqued my curiosity as to how this precedent compared with the practices of other ancient peoples.
In the late 22nd century BCE King Gudea of Sumeria (Southern Mesopotamia) declared “In a household that has no male child, the daughter becomes its heir.” This legal tradition continued in that area, and a later king (c.1930 BCE) stated “If a man dies without leaving a male heir, his unmarried daughter shall be his heir.” Likewise “If in the lifetime of the father, a daughter becomes childless or involved in qadistu (prostitution, but translation is unclear) her brothers shall divide the estate, treating her as an equal heir.”
Quite different, from ~1900-1500 BCE, in the wake of massive immigration of West Semites to the region, the fathers’ custom became to grant daughters a dowry upon marriage, which was supplemented by a gift from her husband. A father would set aside the dowry for his daughter well in advance of her marriage. Upon her marriage, her husband received this dowry in trust, which reverted to her should she later become widowed. Later (16th-11th centuries BCE), there are recorded cases where a daughter either received a dowry or part of her father’s estate as inheritance.
In Anatolia and Assyria 18th-14th Centuries BCE, daughters also shared inheritance with their brothers, though at times with lesser portions.
In general, what developed in these regions was essentially a practice of granting full inheritance to a female heir in the absence of brothers, along with a dowry upon marriage. A dowry could include furniture, housewares, jewelry, and maid-servants. Sometimes a father conferred on his daughter the status of “son,” so she could carry out the ‘ancestral rites.’ (fn1)
Egypt in general carried out similar practices, dating as early at 2675 BCE.
The main basic difference between these practices and those of the Israelites was that the Israelite law mandated that inherited land remained within the tribe, e.g. Dan or Benjamin, etc. This was to avoid an heiress from marrying outside the tribe, and moving her holdings to another tribe.
It seems that the Israelite laws owe to a time of not-yet urbanization, whereas these other ancient examples grew out of the status of states already urbanized. However, even after Israelites became urbanized, they didn’t bother to officially change their rule. (fn2)
Nevertheless, there were certain restrictions, even in the pagan urban societies, tp prevent a female heir from later willing her property outside her society of origin.
As to the Jewish application of inheritance laws, with a preference for male heirs, bizarre situations could arise. In 2 Samuel, Chapter 14, verses 5-11, there is described a conflict between the surviving son and the next-in-line outside the nuclear family. This son was guilty of killing his brother in a dispute, leading those involved to press for capital punishment. King David, in this case, gave a pardon to the son so that the deceased’s widow and her surviving son will not be “without name or remnant upon the earth.”
As there was a clear preference for inheritance to go to sons, the rabbis of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE expressed pains on behalf of women left out from basic inheritance. They declared: “If a man died and left sons and daughters and the property was ample, the sons inherit and the daughters receive maintenance; but if the property was small, the daughters receive maintenance and the sons go a-begging.” This was also unsatisfactory, resulting in the grant of assurance that women were invariably to be assured of support from the father in every marriage contract.
As for today, a survey reported in The Ethnographic Atlas indicates that worldwide inheritance patterns vary all over the map. Examples: the first-born gets inheritance in 247 societies; the last born prevails in 16; in 19 societies land is exclusively given to the offspring judged best qualified; and equality predominates in 301 societies. In 43 societies land is given to all children but daughters receive less.
Notes:
fn1 — Wikipedia: The veneration of the dead, including one’s ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors. Certain sects and religions, in particular the Roman Catholic Church, venerate saints as intercessors with God, as well as pray for departed souls in Purgatory.
In Europe, Asia, Oceania, African and Afro-diasporic cultures, the goal of ancestor veneration is to ensure the ancestors’ continued well-being and positive disposition towards the living, and sometimes to ask for special favours or assistance. The social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times.
fn2 — Milgrom, J. The JPS Torah Commentary, 1989, p. 482.
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Jacobs is a freelance writer interested in religion. He often delivers a commentary on Torah at Congregation Beth El and to his chavurah.