Noting that Moses asked God to designate someone to succeed him in soon after the incident of Zelophehad's daughters, a Midrash deduced that when the daughters of Zelophehad inherited from their father, Moses argued that it would surely be right for his sons to inherit his glory. God, however, replied (in the words of ) that "Whoever keeps the fig-tree shall eat its fruit; and whoever waits on the master shall be honored." The sons of Moses sat idly by and did not study Torah, but Joshua served Moses and showed him great honor, rose early in the morning and remained late at night at the House of Assembly, and arranged the benches and spread the mats. As he had served Moses with all his might, he was worthy to serve Israel, and thus God in directed Moses to "take Joshua the son of Nun" as his successor.