Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Bathra

Folio 117a

GEMARA. Our Mishnah thus agrees¹  with [the opinion of] him who said [that] the land [of Canaan] was divided according 'to those who came out of Egypt.²  For it was taught: R. Josiah said: The land [of Canaan] was divided according to those who came out' of Egypt,²  for it is said, according to the names of the tribes of their fathers³  they shall inherit.⁴  To what, however, may [the verse], Unto these⁵  the land shall be divided for an inheritance,⁶  he applied? — Unto these, [means] 'like these',⁷  excluding the minors.⁸  R. Jonathan said: The land was divided according to those who entered the land,⁹  for it is said. Unto these⁵  the land shall be divided for an inheritance.⁶  To what, however, may, according to the tales of the tribes of their fathers³  they shall inherit, he applied? — [To the following:] This [manner of] inheritance is different from all [other modes of] inheritance¹⁰  in the world; for, in [the case of] all [other] successions in the world, the living are heirs to the dead but, in this case, the dead were heirs to the living.¹¹  Rabbi said: I will give you an example to which this thing may be compared. To two brothers, priests, who were in one town. One had one son and the other had two sons, and these went to the threshing-floor.¹²  He who has one son receives one portion, and the one who has two sons receives two portions. They¹³  [then] return [with the three portions] to their father,¹⁴  and re-divide [the total] in equal shares. R. Simeon b. Eleazar said:

1. Lit., 'we learnt (in our Mishnah)'.
2. According to the number of men that left Egypt and not according to the number that entered Canaan. If, e.g., one of those who came out of Egypt had five sons, while another had only one son, and these six sons entered Canaan, each of the five received only a fifth of his father's share while the one received his father's full share.
3. Those who came out of Egypt.
4. Num, XXVI. 55.
5. Implying, those who entered the land.
6. Ibid. 53.
7. Referring to those that were numbered (ibid. 51), who were twenty years of age and upward.
8. Under twenty. Only those who were at least twenty years of age at the Exodus were included in the number of those to whom the land was divided. Any one under twenty, when leaving Egypt, could only take the share of his father in part or in full according to whether he had brothers or not.
9. Not according to the number of those who came out of Egypt. If, e.g., two men came out of Egypt, and five sons of the one and one son of the other entered Canaan, the former received five shares the latter only one.
10. Lit., 'inheritances'.
11. Those who entered Canaan received shares according to their number, but the total of the shares was again divided in accordance with the number of their fathers who came out of Egypt. If two brothers, for example. came out of Egypt and died, and five sons of the one, and one son of the other entered Canaan, every son received a share, Six shares being allotted to the six sons. All these shares were then transferred to their fathers whose number was two (the dead being heirs to the living), and divided into two shares, each, of course, representing three of the original shares. The five sons thus received between them three of the original shares only, while the one son received for himself alone also three such shares.
12. To collect their priestly dues.
13. The two brothers.
14. Whose estate has not yet been divided between them, in which case all acquisitions are pooled in the estate (cf. infra 137b). And since the three shares thus revert to their father, they inherit from him in equal shares.

The land was divided according to these¹  and according to those,²  in order to carry out [the injunctions in] those two verses.³  How [was] this effected? — He [who] was of those who came out of Egypt⁴  received his share among those who came out of Egypt.⁴  He [who] was of those who entered the land,⁵  received his share among those who entered the land.²  He who belonged to both categories,⁶  received his share among both categories.⁶

The share of the spies⁷  was taken by Joshua and Caleb. The murmurers⁸  and the company of Korah⁹  had no share in the land. Their sons,¹⁰  [however.] received [shares] by virtue of the rights of the fathers of their fathers and the rights of the fathers¹¹  of their mothers.¹²

What proof is there that, according to the names of the tribes of their fathers¹³  was written with [reference to] those who came out of Egypt. perhaps it¹⁴  was said [with reference] to the tribes?¹⁵  — Because it is written, And I will give it you for a heritage; I am the Lord,¹⁶  [which means]: 'It is your inheritance from your fathers'; and this was addressed to those who [subsequently] came out of Egypt.

(Mnemonic:¹⁷  To the more, Zelophehad, and Joseph, multiplied, Manasseh, shall be enumerated.)

R. Papa said to Abaye: According to him who said that the land was divided in accordance with [the number of] those who came Out of Egypt, it is correct for Scripture to say, To the more thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to the fewer thou shalt give the less inheritance,¹⁸

1. Those who came out of Egypt.
2. Who entered Canaan.
3. Num. XXVI, 53 and 55.
4. But not among those who entered Canaan. If, e.g., he was twenty years of age when the Exodus took place, and he died before Canaan was reached, while his sons born on the way, in the wilderness, were still minors when Canaan was entered. In such a case the sons, as his heirs, divide between themselves the share to which he is entitled as one of those who were of age when the departure from Egypt took place.
5. And not of those who came out of Egypt. In the case, e.g., when a father died in Egypt, and his sons, who were minors at the Exodus, were (twenty years) of age when Canaan was entered; or in the case when one left Egypt as a minor and died on the way, while his sons who were born in the wilderness were of age when Canaan was entered; in either of these cases every one of the sons, since he entered Canaan when of age, received a share in the inheritance of the land among all the others who received their shares by virtue of their entry into the promised land.
6. Lit., 'from here and from here'. A case belonging to those who came out of Egypt as well as to those who entered Canaan. The case, e.g., of a father who was of age when the Exodus took place, dying in the wilderness, and his sons, who were born in the wilderness, entering Canaan when of age. In such a case, the sons take portions in the land by virtue of their own rights. since they were among those who entered Canaan, and also the portion to which their father is entitled as one who was among those who came out of Egypt.
7. V. Num. XIII.
8. V. ibid. XIV.
9. V. ibid. XVI.
10. I.e., of the spies, the murmurers and the company of Korah,
11. Who had no sons hut daughters.
12. Provided the grandfathers were twenty at the Exodus.
13. Ibid. XXVI, 55.
14. The expression, tribes of their fathers.
15. That the land was to he divided into twelve portions corresponding to the number of tribes,
16. Ex. VI, 8.
17. An aid to the recollection of the questions or inquiries of R. Papa that follow; in which each of these constitutes a key-word.
18. Num. XXVI, 54. Since the land was not to be divided in accordance with the number of those that entered, it was necessary to state that the tribe that had a larger number at the Exodus was to receive a larger portion, though at the time of the division its numbers were reduced; and, similarly, in the case of a smaller tribe whose numbers had increased.