Study Desk

Later, Moses and the people were at the sacred tent, crying, when one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to meet his family.

and followed the man into his tent, where he ran the spear through the man and into the woman's stomach. The Lord immediately stopped punishing Israel with a deadly disease,

But instead of punishing them, I forgave them. So because of the loyalty that Phinehas showed, I solemnly promise that he and his descendants will always be my priests."

There were 52,700 men from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph; they were from the clan of Machir, the clan of Gilead his son, and the clans of his six grandsons: Iezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher. Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but he had five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

One day his daughters went to the sacred tent, where they met with Moses, Eleazar, and some other leaders of Israel, as well as a large crowd of Israelites. The young women said:

to carry on his family name. But why should his name die out for that reason? Give us some land like the rest of his relatives in our clan, so our father's name can live on.

Tell the Israelites that when a man dies without a son, his daughter will inherit his land.

If he has no daughter, his brothers will inherit the land.

But if he has no brothers, his father's brothers will inherit the land.

And if his father has no brothers, the land must be given to his nearest relative in the clan. This is my law, and the Israelites must obey it.

then he placed his hands on Joshua and appointed him Israel's leader.

If you reject the Lord , he will once again abandon his people and leave them here in the desert. And you will be to blame!

by one of the victim's relatives. He will take revenge for his relative's death as soon as he finds you.

Even when land is returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration, we will not get back Zelophehad's land—it will belong to the tribe into which his daughters married."

This book contains the speeches that Moses made while Israel was in the land of Moab, camped near the town of Suph in the desert east of the Jordan River. The town of Paran was in one direction from their camp, and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab were in the opposite direction. Earlier, Moses had defeated the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon. Moses had also defeated King Og of Bashan, who used to live in Ashtaroth for part of the year and in Edrei for the rest of the year. Although it takes only eleven days to walk from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea by way of the Mount Seir Road, these speeches were not made until forty years after Israel left Egypt. The Lord had given Moses his laws for the people of Israel. And on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses began explaining those laws by saying:

Caleb son of Jephunneh is the only one of your generation that I will allow to go in. He obeyed me completely, so I will give him and his descendants the land he explored.

Moses said: After we went through Ammon, the Lord told us: Israel, pack up your possessions, take down your tents, and cross the Arnon River gorge. The territory of the Amorite King Sihon of Heshbon lies on the other side of the river, but I now give you his land. So attack and take it!

Moses said to Israel: After we had crossed the Arnon and had set up camp in the Kedemoth Desert, I sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon, telling him that his nation and ours could be at peace. I said:

But Sihon refused to let us go across his country, because the Lord made him stubborn and eager to fight us. The Lord told me, "I am going to help you defeat Sihon and take his land, so attack him!"

We met Sihon and his army in battle at Jahaz,