John Calvin Commentary Numbers 36:2

"and they said, Jehovah commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by Jehovah to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters." — Numbers 36:2 (ASV)

And they said, The Lord commanded my lord. They allege here a kind of discrepancy: the tribes had the land allotted to them according to God’s command, but now their lots would be thrown into confusion when the inheritance would pass to another tribe.

They assume, however, that it is an acknowledged impossibility for God to be inconsistent with Himself. Therefore, it was necessary for an interpretation to be delivered to remove the legal contradiction (ἀντινομίαν): The Law of God, they say, which ought to remain inviolable, enjoins that the land should be distributed by lot. How, then, will it be consistent for women to carry the inheritance of their own tribe elsewhere?

Thus, in seeking a remedy for this evil, they submit themselves to God’s governance and reverently accept what He had prescribed. Furthermore, they elaborate on the absurdity that would arise from this: namely, that in the fiftieth year, when they were to return to their original lots, as much would be withdrawn from the portion of the tribe of Manasseh as the daughters of Zelophehad had taken away with them.

Reasonably, therefore, they demand that a decree should be given to reconcile the two former laws, which otherwise appeared to be at variance with each other.