The daughters
of Zelophehad
Mahlah, Noah,
Hoglah, Milcah, Tirzah
Who was Zelophehad?
Father: Joseph - son was Manasseh, grandson was Machir, great grandson was Gilead, great great grandson was Hepher, Zelophehad was therefore Joseph’s great great great grandson
Their story is found in Numbers 26, Numbers 27, Numbers 36, Joshua 17 and 1 Chronicles 7 – 5 times and in all but the last passage all 5 names are given. This is amazing when you consider we don’t know the name of Noah’s wife or Lot’s wife. Or even the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 or the bleeding woman in Luke 8. Or think of the woman at the well in John 4.
Numbers 27 verses 1 to 11
“Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the
son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of
the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his
daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
2 And they stood before Moses, and before
Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he
was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against
the Lord in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no
sons.
4 Why should the name of our father be done
away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a
possession among the brethren of our father.
5 And Moses brought their cause before
the Lord.
6 And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying,
7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right:
thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's
brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto
them.
8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his
inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall
give his inheritance unto his brethren.
10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall
give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.
11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye
shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family,
and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute
of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
Numbers 36
“And the chief fathers of the families of
the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families
of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the
princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:
2 And they said, The Lord commanded
my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel:
and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of
Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.
3 And if they be married to any of the sons
of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be
taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance
of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of
our inheritance.
4 And when the jubile of the children of
Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of
the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away
from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel
according to the word of the Lord, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph
hath said well.
6 This is the thing which the Lord doth
command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom
they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they
marry.
7 So shall not the inheritance of the
children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of
Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
8 And every daughter, that possesseth an
inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of
the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy
every man the inheritance of his fathers.
9 Neither shall the inheritance remove from
one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of
Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.
10 Even as the Lord commanded Moses,
so did the daughters of Zelophehad:
11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah,
and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their fathers
brothers' sons:
12 And they were married into the families of
the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the
tribe of the family of their father.
13 These are the commandments and the
judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the
children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.”
This story relates to 3 things:
1. Promise of the land
2. Rest of the book of Numbers
3. Relates to the Pentateuch
Land, Numbers and Pentateuch …
PROMISE OF THE
LAND
When the Children of Israel were about to
enter the Promised Land or Canaan it was given to them by lot as God’s
direction. God apportioned the land to each tribe and to each clan the specific
boundaries that they were to inherit.
The year of jubilee mentioned in this
chapter was a provision in the Mosaic law in the 50th year. If you
had fallen onto hard times, through no fault of your own, you weren’t a
covenant breaker but you had entered into hard times, into poverty, you could
go back and you can have the original lines of your family’s inheritance and it
was a way of trying to enshrine into the Old Testament law sort of a “do over”
a year of jubilee. A second chance.
The problem in Numbers 27 was simple – what
do you do if you have no sons? In the days of the bible the inheritance fell to
the sons. That was normal standard practice.
So now we have a problem – no sons, no heirs, no land. The father’s name would be blotted out
forever. Zelophehad had 5 daughters and no sons. So what is going to happen?
Who would get the land? Will be blotted out forever? No-one will remember
Zelophehad.
The daughters come to Moses and say “this
is not right”. The hard cases at that time came to Moses and if he didn’t know
what to do he sought God’s help. God responds to Moses by saying they had a
point, they were quite correct and the inheritance should be given to the
girls. Look carefully at the words used – the whole legal right of the land was
to be given to the daughters.
The chapter continues with other examples
of inheritance law. If there are no daughters it should be given to the father’s
brothers. If there are no brothers you give it to the nearest relative of the
family. In other words – keep the land in the family.
In Numbers 36 the problem is slightly
different. What happens if any of these daughters marry outside their tribe? The
daughters of Zelophehad were from the family of Manasseh, one of the 12 tribes
of Jacob back in Genesis. Jacob’s son Joseph had 2 sons Ephraim and Manasseh
and at Jacob’s death they were given an equal inheritance instead of Joseph. If
any of these daughters decided to marry outside of the tribe of Manasseh the
land would according to Mosaic Law be transferred to their husbands. Then
obviously the land would disappear. The legal entitlement would be gone forever
So Moses again asks God to work this
problem out. Notice verse 6 “let them marry whom they think best.” So there is
freedom to marry but it must be within their own tribe. This is rule number 2.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO NUMBERS?
The book of Numbers is so called because of
the 2 census – in chapter 1 there is the first. That first census covers the
first 25 chapters of Numbers. In chapter
26 we see a new census being taken – it is for a new generation. When Moses
sent out the spies they were disobedient (Numbers 13 and 14). They believed
they could never take possession of Canaan. God decided because they didn’t
believe they could, they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years. In that
time a whole generation would die and then God would lead the new generation
into the Promised Land. So Numbers 26 to 36 looks at the next generation. Again
in Numbers 32 we see the tribe of Reuben and Gad hesitant to enter into the
Promised Land. They want to stay on this side of Jordan and eventually were
given an inheritance in that land.
In Numbers 25 we read of the Baal worship at
Peor and verse 9 tells us that 24,000 people were punished by death. That is
actually the last of the rebellious generation wiped out before entering the
Promised Land. Chapter 26 is the second generation – the only 2 who were left
were Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.
The second part of Numbers is bookended
with the story of the daughters of Zelophehad. The census is in chapter 26, the
daughters of Zelophehad is in chapter 27 and then the last chapter, chapter 36
returns to their story.
To enter the Promised Land took faith and
look at that faith demonstrated in the daughters of Zelophehad.
When they approached Moses they came to the
tabernacle. Eleazer the priest and the other chiefs of the tribes were all
gathered outside the tabernacle. It was a public place to hear the difficult
cases presented. It was like a court.
Look at what the daughters say to Moses – “Our
father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that
gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of
Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.” The rebellion of Korah resulted
in a number of people being lost but Zelophehad was not one of them. They deserved
to die and have their land stripped from them or be punished in some extraordinary
way. Zelophehad died for his own sins. He was an ordinary man like everyone
else in that wandering generation. The concern was for their family and for the
name of their father.
They are strong women, not afraid to stand
up for themselves for the right reasons. They are such great examples of
obedience and belief. They obey God’s commands to marry within the tribe and
they believe in the promises of God to such an extent they are already thinking
about their future inheritance.
Remember – these women were thinking ahead
to centuries down the line. What will happen to our father’s name? They have a
fearless, gutsy faith. They want to put themselves in possession of the Lord’s
promise.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO PENTATEUCH?
What is the Pentateuch? The first 5 books
of the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
One of the themes in these 5 books is the
hope of the Promised Land. Each book ends with God’s people outside the land
and they are looking forward to one day being in the Promised Land:
Genesis – at the end of this book Jacob’s
family are in Egypt. Jacob wants them to return to Canaan.
Exodus – the very last verse “For the cloud
of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night, in the
sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”
Leviticus – the very last verse “These are
the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on
Mount Sinai.”
Deuteronomy – this is where Moses dies and
the last verse is when Moses is looking out over the Promised Land “This is the
land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to
your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go
over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab,
according to the Word of the Lord.”
Now in the last verse of Numbers we read “These
are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the
people of Israel”. The book ends by noting where they are not – not yet in
Canaan, the Promised Land. They can see the land. They are that close. But not
actually in the land.
The people needed faith to take possession
of the land. And these girls had that faith. They represented a people on the
verge of entering into a new land, the Promised Land, Canaan and an inheritance
that was waiting for them.
How can I apply this story to my life? God
has promised me eternal life and a home in heaven one day. That is my
inheritance. For now I have to keep walking in obedience to God’s will. I must
live by faith. I am confident of what God has promised me one day. The promise
is getting nearer and nearer every day. These daughters came with great faith
and asked for their inheritance. They were not willing to fade away. The book
of Numbers shows us how we can fail. By not taking God at his word. By not
taking God’s promises to heart. Don’t give up, don’t turn around, don’t
complain, don’t doubt. Jesus has gone ahead of us – “I go to prepare a place
for you that where I am there ye may be also.”
Jesus is waiting and watching. He is telling us to keep on going. Our
inheritance is ahead, ready for us to claim.
