"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
We should bear in mind that Israel was still very much in the wilderness; the Promised Land was as yet a dream for them. It was not theirs at that point to apportion to the tribes. Yet, here is a group of people, Zelophehad's daughters, laying claim to an allotted part as if it had been all conquered and made over to the chosen people. Here is faith indeed! Faith in the word of promise. They did not doubt that what God had promised He would assuredly per- form. And they were determined to be in on it. It is very wonderful to think that in the midst of so much faithlessness and backsliding and worldliness in Israel there should be this kind of unquestioning faith in the promises of God. This is a good example of the idea of the faithful remnant, and it reminds us that even in the darkest moments God has his seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal. Nor is it difficult to see a spiritual parallel here. The Promised Land in the Old Testament is a type and illustration of salvation and eternal life, and if this is so, then the five daughters of Zelophehad were staking their claim to eternal life and laying hold upon it. This is a very graphic and telling illustration of how to enter the kingdom of God. They considered the promises of God: and they interpreted them in relation to their own case; and applied them personally to their own needs and desires. To take God at His word and deed this is the way to make the promises one's own by claiming them, laying hold on them by simple faith. Matthew Henry, in his own penetrating way, suggests that in this respect these five daughters of Zelophehad were indeed five wise virgins, and one wonders whether in fact our Lord may conceivably have had them in mind when He told the parable in Matthew 25.