Chapter 36: Stages, Borders, and Cities of Refuge

Study notes

Moses writes down Israel’s stages after leaving Egypt, Yahweh gives the borders of Canaan, and cities of refuge are appointed where someone who has killed a person by mistake can flee. The daughters of Zelophehad are told they may marry whom they choose, but only within their father’s tribe.

From Numbers 33:1–2 (KoS), Numbers 34:1–2 (KoS), Numbers 35:11 (KoS), Numbers 36:5–6 (KoS).

These notes and questions are original study helps written for this site, not scripture. The verses shown with each question are quoted from the Kingdoms of Scripture Bible.

Notice and discuss

Read each passage, then think about the question on your own or talk it over with others. No answers are collected.

1. When does Israel set out from Rameses, and what is Egypt doing as the people leave?

   They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover the sons of Israel went out with a raised hand, in the eyes of all Egypt. Egypt was burying those among them whom Yahweh had struck, every firstborn, and on their gods Yahweh executed judgments.

   Numbers 33:3–4 (KoS)

   Note · Translation Beyad ramah is with a raised hand, in the open, the same phrase as in 15:30. Pesach is the Passover.

2. What does the congregation do for the killer, and how long must he stay in the refuge city?

   the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the redeemer of the blood, by these rules. The congregation shall rescue the killer from the hand of the redeemer of the blood, and the congregation shall return him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall live in it until the death of the great priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

   Numbers 35:24–25 (KoS)

   Note · Translation Mashach is the verb, anointed. The noun Messiah is not in this verse. The holy oil is the oil of the sanctuary.

3. What problem do the family heads of Gilead’s clan raise about the inheritance given to Zelophehad’s daughters?

   The heads of the fathers of the clan of the sons of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, from the clans of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers of the sons of Israel. They said, Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. If they become wives to any of the sons of the tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe they belong to, and it will be withdrawn from the lot of our inheritance. If the jubilee comes for the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe they belong to, and their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

   Numbers 36:1–4 (KoS)

   Note · Translation Yovel is the jubilee, the fiftieth year, as in Leviticus 25.