Introduction:

As with the fictional milkman Tevye, from the village of Anatevka*, God chose to bless Zelophehad not with sons— but instead, with daughters—five of them!


Unlike Caleb and Joshua, but like all other men “twenty years old and upward” (Numbers 14 and Numbers 32:11), Zelophehad died in the wilderness.


Joshua, in the firm belief that he was following God’s direction, determined to divide his nation’s new lands among its men.


And in ancient Israel’s patriarchal society, were these orphaned women to receive no portions of the promised land? And if so, were they to “wait, meekly wait and murmur not?”


No, I guess not. These five were spunky girls.


They took their case directly to Moses. And what did Moses decide?


Moses placed the girls’ problem, or maybe it was his own problem, squarely before God:

Text:

Numbers 27:

1 One day a petition was presented by the daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. Their father, Zelophehad, was a descendant of Hepher son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph.


2 These women stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the tribal leaders, and the entire community at the entrance of the Tabernacle.


3 “Our father died in the wilderness,” they said. “He was not among Korah’s followers, who rebelled against the Lord; he died because of his own sin. But he had no sons.


4 Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan just because he had no sons? Give us property along with the rest of our relatives.”


5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.


6 And the Lord replied to Moses,


7 “The claim of the daughters of Zelophehad is legitimate. You must give them a grant of land along with their father’s relatives. Assign them the property that would have been given to their father.


8 “And give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If a man dies and has no son, then give his inheritance to his daughters.


9 And if he has no daughter either, transfer his inheritance to his brothers.


10 If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.


11 But if his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan. This is a legal requirement for the people of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Question:

The daughters had made a pointed yet polite request.
Moses referred them to God.
And God granted their request.


So, end of story? No not so soon.


What if there might a legal wrinkle not mentioned in God’s chapter 27 decree?

Text:

Numbers 36:


1 Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition.


2 They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.


3 But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced.


4 Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”

Text:

Numbers 36:


5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate.


6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe.


7 None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted.


8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property.


9 No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”


10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses.


11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side.


12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

Question:

So, was this land-distribution question neatly settled in the book of Numbers?

Apparently not. By the time of Joshua, chapter 17, these five assertive daughters had still not received any land.

Text:

Joshua 17:


3 However, Zelophehad, a descendant of Hepher son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, had no sons. He had only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.


4 These women came to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the Israelite leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us a grant of land along with the men of our tribe.”

Question:

With what result?

Text:

Joshua 17:4


So, Joshua gave them a grant of land along with their uncles, as the Lord had commanded.

Question:

And when would such godly women learn that they must meekly submit in silence?

This question seems not to have been asked, nor answered, until more than a thousand years later, with the appearance of Paul:

Text:

1 Corinthians 14:


34 Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says.


35 If they have any questions, they should ask their husbands at home, for it is improper for women to speak in church meetings.

Question:

What law stated the women must remain submissively silent? It was not in the Hebrew Torah, and certainly not in the book of Esther.


Women who spoke up were “improper,” according to whom? Perhaps it had become a custom of the Greeks and the Romans.

Text:

1 Timothy 2:


11 Women should learn quietly and submissively.


12 I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.

Question:

Excuse me, Paul, I’m having trouble understanding your argument. What is the basis for your conclusion?

Text:

1 Timothy 2:
13 For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve.


14 And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.

Questions:

Again, excuse me, Paul. Unlike you, I have not been schooled in logic and rhetoric. But with all due respect, do you claim that your conclusion follows logically from the evidence you have cited?


[Excuse me; I’m so sorry; my question to Paul comes about 1,950 years too late for us to expect an answer from him.]


And did the inspired Paul’s reasoning in fact settle such questions once and for all?

Comment:

It seems not.

Questions:

Should we be embarrassed to admit that of the three principal founders of our own church, one was a woman?


I’m not embarrassed to make that admission.
Should I be?


And was this woman submissive, as directed by Paul?

Yes, she was, when she was a child.

Comment:

But “Little Ellen” grew up to became much less submissive. In time she would become boldly assertive—to her husband, to publishers, to pastors, to physicians, to educators, and to presidents of the General Conference. Her influence varied, but it may be greater today than it was when she died, 110 years ago.

Question:

Now, what shall we learn from the success achieved by the bravery, pluck, courage, valor, mettle, daring, spirit, backbone, strength, fortitude, or spunk of Zelophehad’s girls?

Conclusion?

I can offer only wise words that I learned from my—yes, from my mother:
”

It pays to complain.”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.