Numbers 36

36:1 And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:
2 And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.
3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.
4 And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.
6 This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
8 And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.
9 Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.
10 Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:
11 For Mahlal, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons:
12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.
13 These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.


KJV

For Fair Use Discussion and Educational Purposes

These scriptures show us that the daughters of a certain tribe were to marry within their own tribe so that the land they inherited from their father stayed within the Father's allotment given to him by God.

Most of us have a tendency to think that all 12 tribes inter-married within the whole lot of the 12 tribes but that is not the case when we read Judges 20

For instance, when it came to the Tribe of Benjamin, the least among the numbers. Their numbers were reduced to 400 men. The other tribes realized that if they didn't allow their daughters to be married by the men of Benjamin, that tribe would soon be extinct and the Tribes of Israel would no longer be Twelve. They lamented over this curse that they had put upon themselves when they vowed not to give their daughters to the Tribe of Benjamin because of differences that they had with them when Benjamin refused to join the others in a fight.

Eventually, the men of Benjamin were allowed to take for themselves wives from the other tribes, however it was done in another scheming situation whereby they were told to lay in wait among the bushes while the 400 virgin damsels danced in a type of ceremony for Virgins to be chosen by an Israeli man and then the men ran among them and gathered a wife from among them each one and the tribe was saved. The other tribes of Israel figured by doing it this way, they would not be breaking their vow not to let their daughters marry a man of the Tribe of Benjamin. Read Judges 20

Also a good read is this: http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/0721.htm

The Jubilee, when it came, allowed the Land that the daughter had inherited to go back to her own father's Tribe.

Talk about God having an order to all that He commands.

Thanks for the scriptures, as usual Steven and let me add here that there is no excuse for anyone not to get a well rounded coverage of the Bible every single day. I recall years ago, when I first got acquainted with the Bible. It helped so much to learn the history of the people, their cultures and phrases which made God's Word so very interesting from start to finish. There is no such thing as boredom nor is it relegated to just one topic. It is an on-going learning process.

That is why we cannot and do not say we have it all figured out. Everyday is a new lesson. Praise God for the excitement of His Word.

Gerlinda