"Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.”
5 Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 And the Lord said to Moses, 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. 8 And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. 9 And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers. 11 And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses."
Numbers 27:1-11
Here, then, is a word of encouragement for all who have found themselves in such a position of helplessness and need, lonely, unprotected, unprovided for, under-privileged, deprived of the protection and sustaining force that menfolk can give. There is a God in heaven who cares, who sees, who understands, and will move in answer to our cries, and will pro- vide for our needs. There is no one too insignificant for Him. His tender mercies are over all His works. This is embodied supremely in the gospel narratives themselves, where we see the Son of God, Friend of sinners, making good this word to the insignificant, the poor, the op- pressed the widow of Nain, blind Bartimaeus, the woman of Samaria, the lepers. He was their Champion as well as their Saviour! Let us take this word, then, today, without reserve. It is an assurance about what God is like. Let us bring our plea to Him, and spell it out before Him. Nothing that is a concern to us will fail to be a concern to Him. We should particularly note what is said in 7 'The daughters of Zelophehad are right...'. They had only to speak, to tell out their case, for it to be given immediate and full redress. On this level, the story has so much to teach us, wonderfully reassuring as it is; but there are other, even more important lessons also, as we shall see in the next Note.