Five Sisters Ask

Five young women walk to the front of a huge crowd. Every leader of Israel is watching. The high priest is watching. Moses himself is watching. No one has ever asked what they are about to ask.

Forty years have passed in the wilderness. Israel is camped on the plains of Moab, beside the river Jordan, looking across at the promised land. Moses has just counted the people again, tribe by tribe and family by family, because soon the land will be shared out between them. Each family will receive its portion through the sons. But in the tribe of Manasseh there is a family with a problem. A man called Zelophehad has died in the wilderness. He had five daughters, and no sons at all. Their names are recorded: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. And under the custom of the time, their family is about to disappear from the map.

So the five sisters come forward. They stand at the entrance of the tent of meeting, before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, before the leaders and the whole community. And they speak. “Our father died in the wilderness,” they say. “He was not among the followers of Korah who rebelled against the LORD. He died for his own sin, as everyone of his generation did. And he had no sons. Why should our father's name disappear from his family just because he had no son? Give us property among our father's relatives.” It is a clear, respectful, carefully reasoned request. They are not complaining against God. They are trusting that God's promise of land is meant for their family too.

Now everyone looks at Moses. He has led Israel for forty years. He has heard thousands of cases. He could have decided on the spot. But he doesn't. Moses takes their case to the LORD. Think about that. The greatest leader in Israel does not brush five young women aside. He doesn't say, that's just how things are done. He says, in effect, this question is important enough to bring before God. And so the whole camp waits to hear what God will say.

And the LORD answers Moses. “The daughters of Zelophehad are right.” You must give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives, and pass their father's inheritance on to them. But God does not stop with five sisters. He makes a new law for everyone. If a man dies and has no son, his inheritance goes to his daughter. If he has no daughter, it goes to his brothers. If he has no brothers, to his father's brothers. And if there are none of those, to his nearest relative. Five sisters asked one brave question, and because of it, every family in Israel was protected. Years later, when Joshua divided the land, the sisters came to him and reminded him of God's command. And they received their land.

Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Samaria found dozens of pottery pieces with writing on them, from the eighth century before Christ. They are records of deliveries of wine and oil. Some of them name the districts the goods came from. Among those names, in the hill country of Manasseh, scholars have recognised two of the sisters' names: Noah and Hoglah. It seems that, long after them, there were places on the map still called by their names.

Five sisters ask. You'll find their story in Numbers chapter twenty-seven, verses one to eleven. They spoke up respectfully, a leader listened, and God said, they are right. So here is a question to carry with you. Is there something fair that you need the courage to ask for, and someone you need to listen to?