אבן עזרא — אבינו מת במדבר והוא לא היה בתוך העדה הנועדים על ה' בעדת קרח כי בחטאו מת

Q — When Tzelafchad's daughters approach Moshe with their inheritance claim, they say: "אבינו מת במדבר והוא לא היה בתוך העדה הנועדים על ה' בעדת קרח כי בחטאו מת ובנים לא היו לו." Two strange details: (1) why specify he wasn't in Korach's assembly? (2) What was the "חטא" by which he died — is the Torah identifying him with a specific sin (the mekoshesh? the ma'apilim?), and why does it matter for the inheritance claim?

A — Ibn Ezra answers (1) cleanly: the daughters mistakenly thought that descendants of those who rebelled against God ("הנועדים על ה'") would forfeit their inheritance share, so they protectively noted that their father wasn't in that camp. On (2), Ibn Ezra cites his contemporary R' Yehuda HaLevi (the Kuzari) and embraces the reading: "כי בחטאו מת" is NOT a separate clause — it connects to "ובנים לא היו לו." The phrase functions idiomatically — "as we say today: 'for his sins this and that happened to him.'" Translation: "for his sins he died without sons." The daughters are saying the childlessness ITSELF was the "חטא"-related fate, not pointing to a specific sin. Ibn Ezra's judgment: "ואיננו רחוק" — entirely plausible. This dissolves the speculative game of identifying Tzelafchad's specific aveirah.