Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah: Courageous Confrontation in Numbers

Five women operating from the margins of ancient Israelite culture were fortunate to find in their leader an empathetic humility, and their courageous confrontation changed Jewish law forever.

Pray

Lord, as I read this morning, help me to see what You would have me see in this passage. Build my faith through Your word.

Read

Numbers 26:51-27:11

Reflect

The book of Numbers picks up in Year Two of what would turn out to be forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

Moses has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but the land of milk and honey is still a long way off. Meanwhile, Moses has to establish a system of governance and order in the camp. So he orders that a census be taken (Num 1:2).

The census is based on lineage “by their fathers’ households.” Twenty-five times in the first four chapters of Numbers, Moses tells each tribe to count every male who is at least twenty years old and able to go to war “by their fathers’ households.” Years later, a plague takes out 24,000 “sons of Israel,” and after the plague ended, the Lord told Moses and Eleazar (Aaron’s son) to take another census of all men in Israel who were twenty years old or older, and again, by their fathers’ households.

In all, there were 601,730 men in Israel who were at least twenty years old. Once the census had been completed, the Lord told Moses to divide the land as an inheritance “according to the number of names.” (Num 26:54).

To a larger group you shall increase their inheritance, and to a smaller group you shall decrease their inheritance; each shall be given their inheritance corresponding to the total of those who were numbered of them. But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall receive their inheritance according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. Corresponding to the selection by lot, their inheritance shall be divided between the larger and the smaller groups.”

Numbers 26:54-56

And it is in this context that we meet five courageous and dignified women—five sisters whose bold self-advocacy changed the status quo and established a precedent of justice and land ownership in Israel for other women like them.

Today we meet Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, daughters of Zelophehad.

Numbers 26 is a list of each of the “sons” of each of the tribes of Israel. The list was made for the purpose of deciding how the land would be distributed. But there was a problem with one of the tribes: “Now Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, only daughters; and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.” (Num 26:33)

With no sons to receive his portion of the land, what would happen to Zelophehad’s share in the promise? His daughters wondered the same thing.

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 forward; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, before the leaders, and all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness, yet he was not among the group of those who gathered together against the Lord, in the group of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family simply because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s brothers.” So Moses brought their case before the Lord. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right about their statements. You shall certainly give them hereditary property among their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them.” 

Numbers 27:1-7

They Saw Beyond Themselves

These five women knew their father had been faithful during his life, reminding Moses, “he was not among the group of those who gathered together against the Lord, in the group of Korah.” This referred to Korah’s rebellion in Numbers 16, when a man named Korah organized a group to oppose Moses as the God-ordained leader of Israel. Things ended very badly for Korah and all who went along with him.

But Zelophehad was not among those who rebelled. He was a faithful Israelite—Team Moses all the way.

“Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family simply because he had no son?” Why indeed! His daughters knew that by not having sons to leave a land of inheritance in his name, their father’s name would be “withdrawn from among his family,” and his family would be left with no land of their own. For ancient Israel, the promise of land was at the heart of the covenant between God and Israel. By not receiving the portion due to the descendants of Zelophehad, Manassah would not received its full share, and Zelophehad’s family line would disappear.

The women were not seeking the land for themselves. This being a patriarchal culture, they would belong to the land of whichever man they married. This was not about them getting land for themselves. Their concern was not for themselves, or for their rights, but rather for the bigger picture of their father’s lineage and the protection of his name.

They Spoke Up

After their father’s death, the five daughters broke cultural precedent and “went before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, before the leaders, and all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting,” advocating for their share of the family’s inheritance (Num. 27:2). Courageous in the face of controversy, they did not allow cultural expectations to keep them from doing what they knew was right and just.

And to his credit, Moses did not simply brush them off because this was not how things were done. Faced with a cultural dilemma, Moses inquired of the Lord.

These women, operating from the margins of ancient Israelite culture, were fortunate to find in their leader a sympathetic humility. Moses must have seen the logic in their argument and must have appreciated the case they were making for their father’s family line enough to inquire of the Lord. He was not hasty in his response, but rather took the time to ask God what some might have said was a “no brainer.” Of course these women could not receive their father’s inheritance. That’s for sons!

But God is full of surprises, and their courage, met with Moses’s humility, shone light on the just and egalitarian heart of God. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The daughters of Zelophehad are right about their statements. You shall certainly give them hereditary property among their father’s brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them.'” (Num 27:6)

The daughters of Zelophehad are right. Further reading in Numbers 27:8-11, Numbers 36 and Joshua 17 reflect that the actions of the daughters of Zelophehad changed Jewish law forever. May the Lord continue to raise up women to boldly challenge the status quo, and may the Lord grant sympathetic humility to the men who hold the reins of power in all spheres of life.

Apply

We have come a long way from the days of ancient patriarchal culture, to be sure. Yet I can attest to the many ways echoes of patriarchy continue to govern the experiences of women today. This has been my experience, and if you’re a woman, I expect it has been yours, too.

As we reflect on the example of these five women, we can ask ourselves, Where am I being challenged to speak up? What injustice needs my voice to challenge the status quo and effect change?

We would also do well to pray for men who are in positions of leadership, that they, like Moses, would embody sympathetic humility. It takes courage for men to go against the status quo, too. May the Lord instill the courage and integrity of heart needed for men to seek Him and be willing to risk the disapproval of others for the sake of listening to God and doing their part to level the field for their sisters.

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash