Numbers ends with the story of five sisters . . . always grabs my attention . . . wonder why? Though the story is really not about them, but about God’s inheritance being preserved for God’s people, I do like these girls. And, as I was reflecting on it, I remembered that I’d written on their story before . . . turns out back in 2009. I reread that entry . . . and was re-encouraged by it . . . so I’m rerunning it . . .

Ok . . . so I’ll admit I have a bias . . . but it’s hard not to take notice of a guy who has five daughters . . . Moses took notice. And, as I came across the girls’ story in Numbers 27, I couldn’t help but do a bit of concordance work and do some reading ahead to see what happened to them. So, after just a few minutes of noodling on their story, here’s what impresses me . . .

The guy’s name is Zelophehad . . . Zelo to his friends. He was of the tribe of Manasseh, so his great-great-great-grandfather was Joseph. And Zelo had five daughters and no sons (sound familiar?) . . . and their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah . . . or, translated to English they were Disease, Motion, Partridge, Queen, and Favorable . . . ok, so maybe he and his wife could have found a better “Most Popular Baby Names” book . . . but those were their names . . . whatever . . .

And the reason they find a place in the book of Numbers is because the Israelites wanderings in the desert are coming to an end after 40 years and so, Moses is to take a census in preparation for dividing the promised land after they conquer it. So, they need to know how many are in each tribe so that the proper allocation of land can be made. But guess who’s getting counted . . . the sons . . . that’s kind of the way things were done. Enter the daughters of Zelo . . .

And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”   (Numbers 27:2-4 ESV)

This, to the best of my knowledge, would appear to be the first women’s “equal rights” case. So Moses takes their case before the Lord (27:5) and the Lord says to Moses, “Zelo’s girls speak what is right. You shall give them a possession of the inheritance allotted to the tribe of Manasseh. You will ensure that the inheritance of their father passes to them.” (24:8) In short, it was precedent setting . . . establishing the inheritance laws for those who had no sons (27:8-11). And, I guess, the first thing I note is that God does not have a gender bias as so many would claim. God does not show partiality (Rom. 2:11) . . . in fact, He is the liberator of all people . . . male and female.

Secondly, I say, “Good on the girls.” You don’t sense that they were arrogant or selfish or greedy . . . they wanted to protect their father’s inheritance . . . and they wanted the right thing to be done. They showed some boldness in approaching Moses . . . they pleaded their case . . . the waited on the Lord’s decision . . . Ask and you will receive . . . His will be done.

But, I then read ahead . . . and the girls are again “in the news” in a precedent setting case in Numbers 36. The issue at hand? What if Zelo’s daughters decide to marry men outside of the tribe of Manasseh . . . then their part of the tribal inheritance would go to another tribe . . . and the Manasseh would lose some of the land God had given them. And Moses again goes to the Lord . . .

And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right. This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.'”    (Numbers 36:5-7 ESV)

And I can just hear those who would protest, “That’s not fair! Those girls should be able to marry anyone they want to!” And they could marry anyone they wanted to . . . but they could not take their tribe’s inheritance with them . . . their desire could not trump God’s purposes. God had spoken, just as He did when He gave them the inheritance. Do you only accept the word of the Lord when it “goes your way” or suits your own purposes? . . . or, is the word of the Lord the word of the Lord . . . and the wisdom of God higher than the wisdom of men? Sometimes I think we can be self-serving with God’s Word . . . emphasizing those Bible verses that best suit our agenda . . . and kind of ignoring those that we might view as being constraining.

So, what I really like about Zelo’s girls is that they were God’s girls . . .

The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses, for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers. They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.    (Numbers 36:10-12 ESV)

Good on you girls!

O that I might be like Zelo’s girls . . . bold to approach God’s throne of grace with my petition . . . with a soul that trusts His judgments . . . with ears to hear His command . . . and with a yielded heart to obey and do it His way . . . by His grace . . . for His glory. Amen?