The Gemara answers: Due to his keen mind, he did not analyze the mishna carefully.

Rami bar Ḥama raised a dilemma: With regard to the claim of a father of the deceased’s father and the claim of the deceased’s brother, such as the claims of Abraham and Jacob to the property of Esau, who was Abraham’s grandson and Jacob’s brother, which of them precedes the other and inherits the property? Rava said: Come and hear a proof from the mishna: A father precedes all of his descendants, therefore, Abraham would inherit, as Jacob was his descendant. The Gemara asks: And why did Rami bar Ḥama have a dilemma; presumably, he was aware of the statement of the mishna? The Gemara answers: Rami bar Ḥama understood that the mishna teaches that a father precedes only his own immediate descendants, but not the descendants of his son.

The Gemara notes that so too, it is reasonable to understand the mishna in that manner, as it teaches: This is the principle: Anyone who precedes another with regard to inheritance, his descendants precede the other as well. And if Isaac were alive, Isaac would precede Abraham and inherit Esau’s property. Now, also, when Isaac is not alive, Jacob should precede Abraham, because of the principle that the descendants of one who precedes another with regard to inheritance also precede the other. The Gemara affirms: Conclude from this clause of the mishna that the brother of the deceased precedes the grandfather.

MISHNA: Zelophehad’s daughters took three portions of land in the inheritance of Eretz Yisrael: Their father’s portion that he received because he was among those who left Egypt; and his portion that he received with his brothers in the property of Hepher, their father; and an additional portion that he received from Hepher because he was a firstborn, and a firstborn takes two portions of inheritance from his father.