Midrash for Numbers 27:5

[(Gen. 42:1:) THEN JACOB SAW THAT THERE WAS GRAIN IN EGYPT.] This text is related (to Job 9:7): THE ONE WHO TELLS THE SUN NOT TO SHINE < AND SEALS UP THE STARS >.¹⁹Gen. R. 91:1. {It simply tells about Jacob and his children, since they were likened to them. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 37:9): HERE WERE THE SUN, THE MOON, AND ELEVEN STARS BOWING DOWN TO ME.} Look at all Job's wisdom! Now who does not know that, if the Holy One tells the sun or the stars not to shine, they do not shine, as stated (in Job 9:7): THE ONE WHO TELLS THE SUN NOT TO SHINE … ? It simply tells about Jacob and his children, [since they were likened to them. Thus it is stated (in Gen. 37:9): HERE WERE THE SUN, THE MOON, AND ELEVEN STARS BOWING DOWN TO ME]. (Job 9:7:) THE ONE WHO TELLS THE SUN NOT TO SHINE. For the twenty-two years that Joseph stayed away from his brothers in Egypt, the Holy Spirit was hidden from Jacob and his children. He was no farther from them than a journey of four or five days; but they did not know that he was in Egypt. Now Jacob and his children had previously been great prophets. Do you want to understand? When Joseph had told them his dream, what did he say (in Gen. 37:10)? ARE WE TO COME, I AND YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR BROTHERS, AND BOW DOWN < TO THE GROUND FOR YOU > ? Then, when he had been sold, they did not know where he was. Ergo (in Job 9:7): THE ONE WHO TELLS THE SUN NOT TO SHINE. Why so? So that the prophets would not be boastful. The Holy One therefore made his power known to them to show them that they were nothing. And so you find with the greatest of the prophets (i.e., Moses). Because he had said (in Deut. 1:17): BUT THE CASE WHICH IS TOO HARD FOR YOU < YOU SHALL BRING UNTO ME >….²⁰Sifre to Deut. 1:17 (17); Sanh. 8a. The Holy One said to him: Are you able to interpret a difficult case? By your life, I am showing you! So, when the affair of the daughters of Zelophehad arrived, he began to have difficulties with it. When he did not know what to say, he brought their cause before the LORD, as stated (in Numb. 27:5): THEN MOSES BROUGHT THEIR CAUSE BEFORE THE LORD. The Holy One said to him: Was it not you who said (in Deut. 1:17): BUT THE CASE WHICH IS TOO HARD FOR YOU < YOU ARE TO BRING UNTO ME > … ? See, you do not know what the women know. (Numb. 27:7:) THE DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD SPEAK WHAT IS RIGHT. These women have judged better than you. And so also in the case of Samuel, when he was measured against Moses and Aaron. Because he had said (in I Sam. 9:19): I AM THE SEER, the Holy One said to him: You have said: I AM THE SEER! By your life, tomorrow I am showing you whether you are a seer. Thus it is stated (in I Sam. 16:1): FILL YOUR HORN WITH OIL AND GO; {COME} [I AM SENDING YOU] UNTO JESSE THE BETHLEHEMITE BECAUSE I HAVE CHOSEN A KING FOR MYSELF AMONG HIS SONS. When he had gone, what is written (in I Sam. 16:6)? AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE HAD COME, THAT HE SAW ELIAB AND SAID: SURELY THE LORD'S ANOINTED IS STANDING BEFORE HIM. The Holy One said to him: Are you the one who said (in I Sam. 9:19): I AM THE SEER? (I Sam. 16:7:) DO NOT LOOK UPON HIS APPEARANCE…. And so also in the case of Jacob [and his children], they were prophets and sages, and nothing was hidden from them. When Joseph was sold, they did not know about him until the Holy One [wanted] < them to know >. Ergo (in Job 9:7): THE ONE WHO TELLS THE SUN NOT TO SHINE….

(Numb. 27:5:) “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord].” Some say that [God] made this become too hard for Moses, as there are righteous people that become [overly] proud in matters of a commandment, and [so] the Holy One, blessed be He, weakens their ability. You find that David said (in Ps. 119:54), “Your statutes were songs for me,” [meaning] they are light and customary for me like songs. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “By your life, your end will be to err about something that [even] the schoolchildren know about.” At the time that he brought up the ark, he erred and put in on a cart, as stated (in II Sam. 6:3),” They loaded the ark of God onto a new cart.” [So God] suspended the ark in the air and the oxen became dislodged from under it. [Then] Uzzah approached to support it, but (according to II Sam. 6:7,) “God struck him down on the spot,” as an error in study is considered as wanton. Immediately (in II Sam. 6:8), “David was distressed because the Lord had inflicted a breach upon Uzzah.” [So] the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say, ‘Your statutes were songs for me?’ Did you not learn (in Numb. 7:9), ‘But to the Kohathites he did not give; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder?’” [So David] began to ponder and say (in I Chron. 15:13), “The Lord our God burst out against us, for we did not seek Him like the law.” And so too, [this happened] with Moses. Because he said (in Deut. 1:17), “But the case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it,” the Holy One, blessed be He, weakened his ability.¹⁷Numb. R. 21:12; above, Gen. 10:6; Sifre to Deut. 1:17 (17); Sanh. 8a. The matter is comparable to a moneychanger who said to his student, “If coins come to you to be exchanged, exchange them, but if pearls should come to you, bring them to me.” [When] a ring of baubles came to him, [the student] brought it to [this] teacher. [But] then the teacher went and showed it to another [money changer]. So too here. Moses said (in Deut. 1:17), “The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me and I will hear it.” [But] when the daughters of Zelophehad came to him, [God] made it too hard for him. (Numb. 27:5-7) “Moses brought their cause before the Lord. [And the Lord said…,] ‘The daughters of Zelophehad speak correctly,’” such is the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Did you not say (ibid.), ‘The case which is too hard for you, you shall bring unto me?’ In the case of the judgment which you do not know, see [that even] the women know it.”

There is a Baraitha that the daughters of Z'laphchad were wise, understood lecturing, and were also righteous. They were wise, as their protest was to the point, for as R. Samuel b. R. Isaac said: "On that day Moses out Master was sitting and lecturing about the law of Yibum. They then said to him: 'If we are considered as a son, then let us inherit; and if we are not considered at all, then let our uncle marry our mother." Immediately follows (Num. 27, 5) And Moses brought the case before the Lord. They understood lecturing, as they said: If we should have a son, we would not say a word. But is there not written in a Baraitha that they said if there should be a daughter instead of a son? R. Jeremiah said: "Strike out the word daughters from the Baraitha." Abaye, however, said: "It is not necessary to strike it out, for they said, 'If there should have been even a daughter from a son, we would not say a word.' " They were upright, because they married only such that were worthy for them.