Joshua 17:3-6
Now 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. They 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. Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, because 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.
Tag: Women's Rights
In this section of Joshua, the land is being distributed to the twelve tribes. Joshua is giving the land out to the heads of each of the tribes and that land is subsequently divided to the heads of families. However, in the above text we see that one family had NO sons. This was not a good thing in the time of the world. Sons carried on the father's name. Also, with no son, what would happened to the daughters? If they married outside their clan there would be a cross over of ownership of the land to another of the twelve tribes. The four daughters come forward and request from the leadership their father's portion. The sad thing that happens here is that Joshua and the priest, who are distributing the land, don't already know this, or had "forgotten" the law established by Moses. These four women must have been braved to step up in a time of "men" ruling. Yet, they had God's Word on their side. This is not actually a look at "women's rights" as much as it is a look into the rights afforded to women in God's Word. Man has destroyed the rights of other men and women, not God. God has "roles" each play and God wants those roles to remain. His Word addresses those roles, repeatedly. However, it is easy for men to crush others, including women, with their own version of what is "right." In this story we see the role of women does not allow for the discriminatory practice of subverting women.
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