Women Seek Justice Due to their Gender and God Agrees.

Numbers 27:1-11 God Provides The Land Inheritance for Daughters Where There Are No Sons

Day 82. But not for New Zealand – all restrictions have been removed there.  Good for them. We’re still waiting our turn while our politicians seem to be experimenting with socialism and control. Meanwhile all over the U.S., people are demanding that their police departments either be defunded or totally eliminated. And they say after that, they’ll figure out how to keep their cities safe. People have lost all sense of right and wrong. The Black Lives Movement is causing quite a stir but more and more blacks themselves are speaking out against it with some very convincing evidence. Finally, as I watch social media each day now, I’m sensing a growing feeling of despair among many with comments like, “What’s the use?” or “It’s too late now.” Well, the Truth is that it is not too late at all. We can have a purpose, we can have hope, we can have peace, and we can love. And we do it all with God and by understanding His Word which gives us His Plan for the world. And so, we keep on trucking studying our Bible and even look for its gems in what most consider to be an otherwise uninteresting book – the book of Numbers. We discovered that it isn’t.  Read on.

The Passage

27 Then 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, came near; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah and Hoglah and Milcah and Tirzah. ² They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the leaders and all the congregation, at the doorway of the tent of meeting, saying, ³ “Our father died in the wilderness, yet he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.”⁵ So Moses brought their case before the Lord.

⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁷ “The daughters of Zelophehad are right in their statements. You shall surely give them a hereditary possession among their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them. ⁸ Further, you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his nearest relative in his own family, and he shall possess it; and it shall be a statutory ordinance to the sons of Israel, just as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

Thoughts on the Passage

Here in this passage we have the female descendants of Joseph (you’ll remember his brothers sold him to some traders who in turn sold him in Egypt as a slave), some six generations later, coming to Moses with a complaint that involves fairness. We also note this appears, at least by this passage, that this the last dispute or concern that Moses has to deal with before dying.

These daughters stood before Moses and Eleazar pointing out the unfairness of their families not being given any land inheritance as they weren’t ‘sons’. Their father had no sons. As part of their case, they present the fact that while their father may have had his own sin, and thus rightfully died in the wilderness, he at least was not part of the company of Korah who rose up against the Lord. So, they were asking “Why then should we be punished?” And they simply asked for their “possession among their father’s brothers who had sons.” It does not sound like a ‘rocket-science’ issue for us today. These ‘daughters’ were right.

But clearly in those days, it was a patriarchal world and women only had the rights afforded to them by man. By now we should also know what Moses does when he is presented with a problem or an issue. He goes to God; and that is exactly what he did this time as well. And God responds.

Now we know that many accuse God and Christ and us Christians of not promoting the equality of women. I have always maintained that nothing could be furthest from the truth. I believe that women are honored by God, by Christ, and by true followers of our Lord’s. Many years ago I read a book that very eloquently and convincingly was able to put that argument in print. For those interested, the book is called: 

Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Culture Analysis

By Wm. J. Webb

Published by Intervarsity, 2001

 It is well worth looking into.  It shows the progression of how God started from the cultures that developed from the beginning of humanity, and move them along, pushing the envelope in the first two of these areas, right through to the New Testament church, but holding the line on the third.

With that in mind, the Lord doesn’t beat about the bush. He starts off His response to Moses by saying, “Look, these daughters are right in what they say. So, give them a hereditary possession among their father’s brothers, and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.”

God cares for what is right. He cares about these women who have no brothers to take them and their families in. Normally, brothers are responsible for their sisters. But where that is not possible, God steps in and does the job one way or another.

And God uses this opportunity to establish some other rules about how inheritance is supposed to work. He establishes the following rules:

1.     A man dies without having sons, inheritance goes to his daughter(s).

2.     If he has no daughter, to his brothers.

3.     If he has no brothers, to his nearest relative in his own family.

And the above was to be a statutory ordinance.

In my opinion, God has always been for justice and righteousness and for taking care of those in need. No woman’s lib organization or movement was needed. In an ideal patriarchal society, women were honored by being taken care of throughout their lives. In Christ’s time, He often spoke of women and with women and for women – all with high regard and esteem; and always with love and compassion. And today, the true Christian man honors his wife and loves her like Christ loves His church. The true Christian male today honors and loves his daughters. He protects them and thanks God for them. God was not a male chauvinist, neither was Christ. And neither is the true Christian male today.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.