Another matter: “The daughters of Tzelofḥad…approached…” – greatness for them, greatness for their father, greatness for Makhir, and greatness for Joseph that such wise and righteous women descended from him. What was their wisdom? It is that they spoke at that moment when Moses was engaged in the portion of the inheritances: “To these the land shall be distributed” (Numbers 26:53). They said to him: If we are like a son, let us inherit.
If not, let our mother be subject to levirate marriage.12See Deuteronomy 25:5. A widow is subject to levirate marriage only if she and her husband had no children at all, whether sons or daughters. Immediately, “Moses brought their case before the Lord” (Numbers 27:5). They were righteous, as they married only those suitable for them.
Why did the Holy One blessed be He arrange for them to come to Moses at the end? It was so Moses would not be impressed with himself that he withdrew from his wife for forty years. The Holy One blessed be He informed him with these, saying: These were not commanded,13They were not commanded to withdraw from relations with men, unlike Moses, who had been so commanded regarding his wife. Nevertheless they delayed marriage for many years until they found suitable husbands (see Bava Batra 119b). but they married only those suitable for them.