The inconvenience of the inheritance of daughters is remedied by marrying in their own tribes, 1-6, lest the inheritance should be removed from the tribe, 7-9. The daughters of Zelophehad marry their father's brothers' sons, 10-13.
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 spoke 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 to his daughters. 3 And if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and will be put to the inheritance of the tribe into which they are received. So it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then their inheritance will be put to the inheritance of the tribe into which they are received. So their inheritance shall 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 has said well. 6 This is the thing which the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, 'Let them marry to whom they think best. Only to the family of the tribe of their father they shall marry.' 7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not move from tribe to tribe, for each of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father so that the children of Israel may each enjoy the inheritance of his fathers. 9 The inheritance shall not move from one tribe to another tribe, but each of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance."
10 Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did. 11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to 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 to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Numbers, Chapter 36[➚]