I was reading at the end of Numbers today. For the second time the daughters of Zelophehad came into the picture. I had to stop and consider what strong women they must have been. Have you ever considered these ladies among the many strong women of the Bible? I don't think I'd given them enough consideration in the past.
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah appear first in Numbers 27:1 - 4.
The nation of Israel is young and unique. The laws and guidelines God has recently given them placed men in positions of leadership and responsibility. These laws, given to prepare for when Israel captured the Promised Land, gave men the right and responsibility for owning and inheriting land. Nothing was said about women and property rights.
However, what was to happen to property and to inheritance passed down from one generation to another, if a father should die without leaving any sons? This had happened in the case of these five strong women. So they approach Moses, not in a private quiet interview; not using an uncle or cousin as an intermediary. They approach themselves: Moses, Eleazar, the leaders and stand in front of the whole assembly of Jerusalem. Seems to me many of us - women or men - might have been rather hesitant to make this approach. But they did not hesitate. M., N, H, M, and Tirzah come with a direct logical question and request.
And Moses is stumped. He had never thought of such an issue. No one else had apparently considered this problem. So Moses goes to the Lord with this very good question. God responds and says these women are correct. You must give them their rightful property inherited from their father.
Very impressive, especially in that era, in that culture. But there is more. We come to the last chapter of Numbers and these five, fiesty sisters are a concern for their tribe. What if they marry outside of the tribe? Then the land they are given will be lost to their tribe and belong to the tribe into which they marry.
So the the clan leaders ask Moses for a ruling. Notice they are not about to argue with the sisters (and God). No one is opposing their right to property, even in this very male dominated culture. Nope, they just are protecting the future land holdings of their tribe.
A ruling is made that in fairness to the tribe and to the sisters (and women who may be in a similar situation) they must marry within their own tribe and thus the land will stay within the tribe. But note how the text reads for these five women:
"This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan." Numbers 36:6
Did you get that? Anyone they please! As long as they stay within the tribe. They get to choose their own husbands! I wonder if all the other Israelite women were jealous? I am not sure that other women were experiencing that same freedom at all. But these five did; each one married their cousins on their father's side. (I hope they made good choices. The text tells us nothing.)
Very interesting. Nothing too theological here; nothing too life applicable in the 21st century; but certainly another indication that the bible provides far more protection and liberation for women, even many centuries before Christ, than most critics ever realize.
So we salute those five women in ancient Israel 3,000 years ago. And we salute those who today, sometimes at the risk of their lives, are pressing for proper protection and equal rights for women in numerous countries around the globe.
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah appear first in Numbers 27:1 - 4.
"They came forward and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the Lord, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”
The nation of Israel is young and unique. The laws and guidelines God has recently given them placed men in positions of leadership and responsibility. These laws, given to prepare for when Israel captured the Promised Land, gave men the right and responsibility for owning and inheriting land. Nothing was said about women and property rights.
However, what was to happen to property and to inheritance passed down from one generation to another, if a father should die without leaving any sons? This had happened in the case of these five strong women. So they approach Moses, not in a private quiet interview; not using an uncle or cousin as an intermediary. They approach themselves: Moses, Eleazar, the leaders and stand in front of the whole assembly of Jerusalem. Seems to me many of us - women or men - might have been rather hesitant to make this approach. But they did not hesitate. M., N, H, M, and Tirzah come with a direct logical question and request.
And Moses is stumped. He had never thought of such an issue. No one else had apparently considered this problem. So Moses goes to the Lord with this very good question. God responds and says these women are correct. You must give them their rightful property inherited from their father.
Very impressive, especially in that era, in that culture. But there is more. We come to the last chapter of Numbers and these five, fiesty sisters are a concern for their tribe. What if they marry outside of the tribe? Then the land they are given will be lost to their tribe and belong to the tribe into which they marry.
So the the clan leaders ask Moses for a ruling. Notice they are not about to argue with the sisters (and God). No one is opposing their right to property, even in this very male dominated culture. Nope, they just are protecting the future land holdings of their tribe.
A ruling is made that in fairness to the tribe and to the sisters (and women who may be in a similar situation) they must marry within their own tribe and thus the land will stay within the tribe. But note how the text reads for these five women:
"This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan." Numbers 36:6
Did you get that? Anyone they please! As long as they stay within the tribe. They get to choose their own husbands! I wonder if all the other Israelite women were jealous? I am not sure that other women were experiencing that same freedom at all. But these five did; each one married their cousins on their father's side. (I hope they made good choices. The text tells us nothing.)
Very interesting. Nothing too theological here; nothing too life applicable in the 21st century; but certainly another indication that the bible provides far more protection and liberation for women, even many centuries before Christ, than most critics ever realize.
So we salute those five women in ancient Israel 3,000 years ago. And we salute those who today, sometimes at the risk of their lives, are pressing for proper protection and equal rights for women in numerous countries around the globe.
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