Zelophehad’s Daughters

Five fatherless daughters named in Numbers 27 laid claim to what was theirs while navigating a system that failed to bear them in mind. After a census was taken to count male heirs to determine the portion of their inheritance, the five sisters saw property rights awarded only to sons in exile over twenty years old, to the new generation of Israeli men who would lead the Hebrew tribes into Jericho, the promised land. Daughters had no such benefit. Written by men to benefit men, the ruling impacted hundreds of thousands of people and their future stability, but if you were brotherless you were cut out of the deal and left without assets.

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the five determined and diplomatic daughters of Zelophehad, challenged the new decree. With confidence, Scripture indicates, the sisters left their tent and made their way to the entrance of the Tabernacle to bring their petition before Moses and company. Intent on claiming their right not with fists but with facts, the sisters shared their personal history and how the law failed to address brotherless daughters of Israel.

Birthrights that give claim to a family’s inheritance in biblical history are reserved for firstborn sons, never firstborn daughters, let alone second, third, fourth, and even fifthborn daughters. Yet in the coming but not-yet way of the kingdom, God aligns with five female image bearers to upend a patriarchal practice that doesn’t recognize the feminine as worthy, let alone acknowledge their land rights.

Like Zelophehad’s daughters, we operate within systems that are not always mindful of women’s rights, dignity, and agency. But like our biblical matriarchs we can stand in alignment with the Divine and work within dysfunctional spaces, recognizing that our advancements don’t solve all of life’s issues but do offer some reprieve. Our small gains within an imperfect system might feel like a consolation prize when we hoped for more, but it’s something to work with—a shred of movement in the right direction. It sets a precedent for those coming after us to look for a work-around and ask for more. To imagine new ways of existing just as our matriarchs did.

Tiffany Bluhm, The Women We’ve Been Waiting For, Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group, September 24, 2024. Used by permission.