וְלֹֽא־תִסֹּ֤ב נַחֲלָה֙ לִבְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מִמַּטֶּ֖ה אֶל־מַטֶּ֑ה כִּ֣י אִ֗ישׁ בְּנַחֲלַת֙ מַטֵּ֣ה אֲבֹתָ֔יו יִדְבְּק֖וּ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Para que la heredad de los hijos de Israel no sea traspasada de tribu en tribu; porque cada uno de los hijos de Israel se allegará á la heredad de la tribu de sus padres.
Rashi
והעברת — This is an expression (also) denoting “wrath” and it is used here instead of a form of נתן found throughout the chapter to suggest that God’s wrath is directed against one who leaves no son to be his heir (Bava Batra 116a). Another explanation is that the form of העבר “causing to pass” is exceptionally used in the case of a daughter being her father’s heiress because a daughter as heiress ordinarily causes the inheritance to pass from one tribe to another tribe, since her son and her husband are her heirs (Sifrei Bamidbar 134:2; Bava Batra 147a), for it must be born in mind that the command (Numbers 36:7), “The inheritance shall not move from tribe to tribe” was laid only upon that generation (Bava Batra 120a). And so, for the same reason, we have this verb used in (v. 8): “Then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter”, for you see that in all of them (the other cases mentioned here) it says, ונתתם, “and ye shall give” (vv. 9, 10, 11), but in the case of a daughter it says, והעברתם, “and ye shall cause it to pass”.
Rabbeinu Bahya
וכל בת יורשת נחלה ממטות בני ישראל, “and any daughter inheriting ancestral land, etc.” A girl whose father did not have a son who could inherit the land. This is why the Torah had to write a second time (verse 9) “so that the inheritance shall not make the rounds, etc.” (Ibn Ezra).
As a result of this verse it became a custom in Israel that if a girl who had inherited ancestral land married out of her tribe to describe her as a זונה, “a harlot.” She would therefore be deprived of the inheritance from her father.
This is the meaning of the words in Judges 11,1 that Yiftach the Gileadi was the son of a woman known as זונה, harlot [i.e. it is not a reference to her sexual mores. Ed.] The prophet is merely telling us that his mother had belonged to a different tribe than his father. Yonathan ben Uzziel also translates the word זונה in Judges 11,1 in the same way [cited by R' David Kimchi ibid., but is not found in our editions of Targum Yonathan].
Perhaps the meaning of the word לא תסב נחלה refers to persons, not landed property, and this would account for the Torah writing the same words twice. [It would be an oblique reference to the transmigration of the souls. If injustice would occur through the incorrect handling of ancestral property, certain souls thus deprived might have to be placed inside other bodies to right the wrong during another cycle of life on earth. Ed.]
This may also account for the use of the word ידבקו, “they shall cleave” (verse 9), seeing that this is a term applicable to both souls and bodies but not to land. The first time (verse 7) the Torah writes the word it refers to the body, the second time to the soul.
As a result of this verse it became a custom in Israel that if a girl who had inherited ancestral land married out of her tribe to describe her as a זונה, “a harlot.” She would therefore be deprived of the inheritance from her father.
This is the meaning of the words in Judges 11,1 that Yiftach the Gileadi was the son of a woman known as זונה, harlot [i.e. it is not a reference to her sexual mores. Ed.] The prophet is merely telling us that his mother had belonged to a different tribe than his father. Yonathan ben Uzziel also translates the word זונה in Judges 11,1 in the same way [cited by R' David Kimchi ibid., but is not found in our editions of Targum Yonathan].
Perhaps the meaning of the word לא תסב נחלה refers to persons, not landed property, and this would account for the Torah writing the same words twice. [It would be an oblique reference to the transmigration of the souls. If injustice would occur through the incorrect handling of ancestral property, certain souls thus deprived might have to be placed inside other bodies to right the wrong during another cycle of life on earth. Ed.]
This may also account for the use of the word ידבקו, “they shall cleave” (verse 9), seeing that this is a term applicable to both souls and bodies but not to land. The first time (verse 7) the Torah writes the word it refers to the body, the second time to the soul.
Rabbeinu Bahya
ראו כי רעה נגד פניכם , “see here, the evil you plan is staring you in the face.” The meaning of these words is best expressed by Onkelos who translates: ”the evil you have in mind will backfire against you.” The word לאסתחרא in Onkelos means the same as תסוב in Hebrew, i.e. to turn back, to “backfire.” Our sages in Shemot Rabbah 13,5 explains Pharaoh’s argument being that normally young men and their elders are in the habit to offer sacrifices to their gods. Not so their infants and their wives. Anyone who insists that all these people come along must plan to flee and not to merely take a temporary leave of absence. This was the “evil” which Pharaoh accused Moses and Aaron of planning.