The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the
son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of
Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and
Tirzah. 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.” Numbers 27:1-4
Inheritances traditionally passed on through the sons,
starting with the firstborn son. As the
Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, after forty years of wilderness
wandering, these five daughters brought a case to Moses to solve—what do they
do if there’s no son to pass the inheritance to and would they receive a share
of the land in the new nation.
In a male-centric community, you’d expect the answer to
be “oh well, too bad” and give their land rights to some distant second male cousin,
but no, God answered this query by saying “Yes, they have a right to the
land.” They received the inheritance and
it showed that women have rights too and God respected them even back then.