Bible Person

Hepher

Meaning: a digger · Male · 5 cross references

Hepher is the youngest son of Gilead and the father of Zelophehad in the Manassite line. Through his descendants he becomes important to the inheritance discussions surrounding Zelophehad's daughters. First appears in Num 26:32.1

AI summary: Hepher matters because the cross references place him at the root of one of the Bible's most important inheritance cases. His son Zelophehad dies without sons, and that absence drives the legal and tribal questions raised by Zelophehad's daughters in Numbers and Joshua. Hepher himself is not the speaker in those scenes, but his line is the reason they matter. Taken together, the material presents Hepher as a Manassite ancestor whose family situation shapes Israel's inheritance law.1