Seder 123: Numbers 27:3----Zelophehad "Died for his Own Sin"---What Sin?

 When the daughters of Zelophehad bravely brought their case to Moses, they defended their late father, noting that he had not been part of Korah's rebellion, but had "died for his own sin" (Num 27:3).  

Readers have often wondered what sin is being referenced in this passage.  One prominent midrash on this question proposes that Zelophehad was the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath in Numbers 15:32-36.  Another suggests that he was one of those who engaged in an unauthorized and abortive military incursion against Amalekites and Canaanites shortly after God sentenced the nation to 38 more years in the wilderness (Num 14:39-45).  These traditions are discussed, for example, in the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 96b-97a).  

The textual hook that leads to both of these midrashim is the fact that the daughters said that their father died "in the wilderness" (Num 27:3).  The stick gatherer's rebellion also occurred "in the wilderness"(15:32), as did the events of Numbers 14 (see, for example, verses 29, 32, 33, 35).  

However, as commentators Sharon Rimon and Michael Morales point out, it's unlikely that Zelophehad committed either one of these sins.  The military venture of Numbers 14 occurred in the second year of Israel's time in the wilderness.  If Zelophehad had died then, his daughters would have been in their late thirties and early forties by year 40, when Numbers 27 took place.  From Numbers 36 it appears that none of the five were married by that point, which seems unlikely if they were around 40 years old.  

The stick gatherer's sin took place at some unidentified point during the forty years, but it seems to be mentioned in Numbers 15 as an example of a rebellious or high-handed sin (verses 30-31).  The text emphasizes that those who committed such sins would be "utterly cut off" (verse 31), meaning that they would be put to death and their posterity would not be part of the covenant people.  If Zelophehad had been this man, his daughters would not have had a good case to possess some property in the Promised Land.  

Instead, Zelophehad's daughters were arguing that their father had not committed a rebellious sin.  He was not part of Korah's rebellion, they pointed out.  Instead, he was just an ordinary member of the older generation of Israelites that was sentenced to die in the wilderness (26:64).  God had declared that the children of those from this generation would inherit the Promised Land (Num 14:31).  Therefore, it would not be fair for there to be no piece of land associated with Zelophehad just because he had fathered daughters rather than sons.