March 15 - Women Inherit Property

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

2 and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,

3 “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.

4 Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.”

5 So Moses brought their case before the LORD,

6 and the LORD said to him,

7 “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.

8 “Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.

9 If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.

10 If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.

11 If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.’

I love the closeness of God in this passage. The feeling of his presence on earth and Moses' ability to appeal to him directly.

The part of this scripture, however, that I find most interesting is that these women had the faith to go to Moses and ask him to petition God for change. This passage does not mention fear. The women go together and meet with Moses with a seeming certainty that they will be heard. Finally, I am struck by the fact that they went together, as a group, to speak their minds and ask for change.

We like to think of the lone, heroic protester standing firm against injustice (picture Tiananmen Square), but the daughters of Zelophehad went together to ask for change. In community they found strength. I believe that faith and community are where we can find our strength to stand up and demand change.

Link to Bible verses: Numbers 27