במדבר, פרק ל״ו, פסוק ה׳

When the complex issue of tribal land inheritance surfaced, the resolution required divine intervention. Moses could not make the decision on his own and needed a direct answer from God to confirm that the claimants were correct [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The family leaders who stepped forward to present the issue were actually speaking on behalf of their entire tribe [אבן עזרא]. A public declaration was then made to validate the truth of their claim, intentionally designed to bestow honor and glory upon their tribe [אור החיים, שפתי כהן].

The rule preventing land from passing from one tribe to another had already been hinted to Moses earlier, during the initial case of Zelophehad's daughters. However, he deliberately waited for the local family leaders to officially present their grievance. This delay ensured that the law would be publicized at the most appropriate moment and in the full presence of the entire nation [שפתי כהן].

While God confirmed the justice of their claim [ביאור שטיינזלץ], commentators explore the exact boundaries of this divine agreement. One perspective highlights that God only accepted the broader tribal concern in order to protect the geographic distribution of the land. He did not enforce a strict restriction to the immediate family, meaning the women were free to marry anyone within their broader tribe [מלבי״ם]. Conversely, another approach suggests the guidance was indeed to marry as close to the immediate family as possible, ensuring the inherited land remained tightly bound to its original source [שפתי כהן].

Regardless of the specific marital boundaries, there is a broad consensus that restricting the marriage of land-inheriting daughters was never intended to be a permanent law. It was a temporary measure strictly for the generation entering the land. The primary goal was to guarantee that the initial division of the land and its sacred boundaries were established perfectly, without disrupting tribal borders or the laws of the Jubilee year [העמק דבר]. Once the land was fully distributed and the borders were widely recognized, this restriction was lifted. A permanent ban on marriages between different tribes would have caused deep internal fractures, preventing national unity and severely threatening the future survival and growth of the nation [ברכת אשר על התורה].