Context No. 104 of 4322 · Numbers

Numbers 26:17-32: in context

17of Arod, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites. 18These are the families of the sons of Gad according to those who were counted of them, forty thousand and five hundred. 19The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 20The sons of Judah after their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. 21The sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites. 22These are the families of Judah according to those who were counted of them, seventy-six thousand five hundred. 23The sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites; 24of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites. 25These are the families of Issachar according to those who were counted of them, sixty-four thousand three hundred. 26The sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. 27These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those who were counted of them, sixty thousand five hundred. 28The sons of Joseph after their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. 29The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir became the father of Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. 30These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites; 31and Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; 32and Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.

This is the second census in Numbers, taken on the plains of Moab forty years after the first. The whole generation counted at Sinai has died in the wilderness, and this count is of their children, taken to determine each tribe's share of the land they are about to enter. This passage runs through Gad, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph's sons.

It reads as a list of clan names with totals, and then two sentences interrupt it. The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. Their names are in the register with the note that they left no line. The census counts who is there by counting who came from whom, so a dead end has to be recorded as a dead end.

The other detail is in the Manasseh section, where the family of Hepher produces Zelophehad, who had no sons, and the register lists his five daughters by name: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. That listing is the setup. Two chapters later those five women come to Moses and argue that their father's inheritance should not vanish because he had no son, and the law is changed. A name written into a roster becomes the ground of a legal claim. Whose name have I left off a list, and what might they have been entitled to ask for if it were on there?

Sources

Numbers 26: the second census on the plains of Moab, of the generation born in the wilderness
Numbers 26:19: Er and Onan recorded as having died in Canaan, leaving no line
Numbers 26:33 and 27:1-11: Zelophehad's five daughters named, who then win a change in inheritance law