Joshua 17
1Then allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. 2And allotments were made to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.
3Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4They approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. 5Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, 6because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.
I always sit up and pay careful attention when women are mentioned in the Old Testament so this passage interested me big time.
Joshua and the Israelites have made war with just about everyone. They have won most all of the territory that God had promised them and now Joshua is dividing the land up and assigning it to the specific tribes. What follows is several chapters of very specific geographical description and a commentary on which Israelites ended up in each of them. But then, right in the middle of theses passages, Zelophedad’s daughters show up. It says ‘they approached Eleazer the priest and Joshua’. I like these gals already, don’t you? From all indications these women have no male to stand up for them. No father, no husbands, no brothers. They don’t even find an uncle to send with their demand. They do it by themselves. (And while I can’t prove this, these chapters are just chock full of minute detail so it just seems clear that had these gals sent a male emissary, that info would have been included.)
Zelophedad’s daughters state their claim. “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” They aren’t begging or weeping or engaging in any hysterical behavior as far as I can see. They are doing a lil name dropping though which tickles me. I love that they are not ashamed to remind their priest and their leader that there is an authority higher than both of them. And here is the best part. So according to the mouth of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. Joshua hears whay they have to say and basically says…OK. How awesome is that?
This knocks down some biblical fallacies in my opinion. First, a misogynistic God would never allow women to inherit property…especially not ‘The Promised Land’. This passage proves to me (for probably the zillionth time) that God is a whole lot more fair than man would ever be. I don’t get the impression that Joshua planned to give these ladies their inheritance until they asked for it. I’m not suggesting Joshua was trying to cheat them out of anything, I just don’t think they ever crossed his mind. Men are funny that way. But these daughters were clearly on God’ mind. And I love adding yet another passage to my arsenal that makes it very clear that there is nothing wrong with demanding the inheritance that God has promised us.
