Tag Archives: Numbers 27

God’s Radical Decision for Women

September 4, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So Moses brought [the case raised by Zelophehad’s daughters] before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.
Numbers 27: 5-7 (NIV)

The Hebrew tribes are camped on the Jordan River across from Jericho. On the other side of the Jordan lies the Promised Land. The time has come to take possession and everyone in the camp is talking about the land that their tribe and their families will eventually be given. The idea of land to farm and graze and a homestead for the family and future generations to live and flourish has been a common human dream throughout history.

This is a moment of promise for the Hebrews. At Mt. Sinai almost 40 years earlier God gave them a vision for this moment. He gave them his guidebook for life and community with God and others in Leviticus. God told the Hebrews that He was going to show them His ways and they would be an example to all the other nations, empires, and peoples of His ways. This included radical new ideas like a sabbath day of rest, the care for strangers, societal protection for the poor and vulnerable, and being a nation with no human king, pharaoh, or emperor.

Now, at this very moment of history on the edge of fulfilled promise of a land to call one’s own, one of the most amazing stories in the entirety of the Great Story takes place. It is a prime example of God wanting things to be different than human defaults. It is a tale no one taught or talked about in all my many years of sermons and Bible classes. It is the story of Zelophehad’s daughters.

At this moment when everyone is thinking about the land they will be given, the daughters realize they have a problem. Their father died and he had no sons. It’s just the sisters. The ancient near east, especially Mesopotamia, the nations and people groups were staunchly patriarchal. Women had no autonomy. They owned no land. They could inherit no land. Everything was legally channeled through the males in the family.

So, with divine chutzpah, the daughters approach Moses and the elders of the community. This in itself was a radical departure from cultural norm. Women didn’t participate in the meetings of the elders or the formal business affairs of the community. Nevertheless, the daughters broke protocol and they made their case before Moses. They had listened and embraced what God had said at Sinai and what Torah taught about God caring about the marginal, societal protection for the vulnerable, and justice. Why should another family get their family’s promised plot of the Promised Land simply because they had no brother?

Then something more amazing happens. Moses takes the daughters’ case before God. God quickly and unequivocally decides for the daughters. Women can inherit land and own it. God sides with women and demands that it become the law of His people. While there were other ancient cultures in which women had the right to own and inherit land (Egypt being prime among them) the right typically had certain patriarchal limits. Never before had there been a divine decree that simply and directly conferred upon women the right to inherit and own their family property. This was radical.

Remember, in the Great Story everything is connected. What God is doing with physical inheritance here in Numbers is the same thing He will do with spiritual inheritance through Christ:

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” Romans 8:17 (NIV)

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

There are two main themes that flow out of my meditation on Zelophehad’s daugthers in the quiet this morning.

First, I love the holy audacity of the daughters to step-up at the right moment and stand for what was right. It echoes the same chutzpah I see in Wendy and in our daughters. I love it. I love their heart for what’s just for everyone. I love that God blessed their courage and that God divinely cut against what was entrenched human cultural tradition. I hear echoes of the prophet Isaiah: “Your ways are not my ways.”

Second, history has taught me that human defaults and entrenched human culture traditions never change easily. In just a few chapters, the men will find a way to use human legal means to hem in the radical rights God has just granted to women. Early Christian “fathers” made similar moves to hem in the spiritual equality Jesus brought to the table. The tension remains to this day. I don’t think the tension will ever abate this side of eternity because it is connected to the consequences of the Garden in just the third chapter of the Great Story.

But, I can embrace God’s heart. I can embrace and celebrate what He did for the daughters of Zelophehad thousands of years ago and all the women their precedent effected through the centuries. I can embrace and celebrate what Christ did in bringing women to the table as full and equal heirs of God’s Kingdom. And, where it is in my ability I can speak and act in supporting and encouraging that spiritual reality and all that it means.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Radical Verdict in Repressive Times

November 28, 2017 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

So Moses brought their case before the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them.
Numbers 27:5-7 (NIV)

This past week I posted my first words to my grandson. The post “had legs” as is said of posts that become popular and start getting shared in multiple outlets. That makes me happy. They are words that young men, all men, really need to hear and take to heart.

It is, perhaps, a bit of synchronicity that today’s chapter should be a fascinating story of four daughters whose father had no son. The prevailing tradition appears to have been that they and all of their father’s property would be absorbed by their father’s nearest kin and they would officially become part of that man’s family. Essentially, their father’s name and legacy would be snuffed out. Their branch would be pruned from the family tree forever.

So, the women bring their case before Moses, and Moses took the case before God. Those following along on this chapter-a-day journey may have noticed that Moses bringing things before God is a repetitive theme in the book of Numbers. Interestingly enough, God rules in favor of the women. It had to have been a radical verdict in that day, and I imagine it was intensely unpopular with the power male leaders of the Hebrew clans.

I am certainly aware of the many arguments my female counterparts have about some of the historical mores that the Bible describes and prescribes regarding the role of women. Believe me, I am married to a strong woman and we enjoy spirited discussions over our morning smoothies when we journey through stories or teachings that strike women as particularly offensive. Nevertheless, I also find it fascinating that there is continually evidence through the Great Story of God specifically honoring women and raising up women. This is specifically true of Jesus who broke many societal barriers in his behavior towards loving and honoring of the women around Him.

This morning I’m struck that amidst ancient social and political traditions that were rabidly patriarchal, God decided the case in today’s chapter in the favor of women. It did not change all of the prevailing patriarchal attitudes of the day but it is a specific instance of a radically equitable verdict from God in an ancient society whose concept of gender was incredibly more repressive than our own.

Which is what I was trying to get at in my post and my words to my grandson. I myself can’t reverse thousands of years of injustice and single-handedly change society. Yet, I can make a difference in my own thoughts, words, and actions in my spheres of influence. I can influence the attitude of my grandson to do the same in his. Perhaps it will be the rolling of a small stone that will eventually start an avalanche.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Numbers 27

August 4, 2011 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Moses followed God’s orders. He took Joshua and stood him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire community. He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, following the procedures God had given Moses. Numbers 27:22-23 (MSG)

A week or so ago I was catching up with a long-time friend. When I asked him what he’d been experiencing in his own life and faith journey, he commented that he’d learned that life was separated into several different “seasons.” In the simplicity of our youth we tend to think of life in simple terms. We are children and then we become adults. We’re young and then we grow old.

My friend was correct, however. There are many seasons in life and with each passing season there is time of transition which can be accompanied by grief, joy, confusion, contentment, frustration, and any number of other emotions.

There is something essentially human in needing “rites of passage” to help us transition from one season of life into another. In today’s chapter, God saw to it that Moses created a rite of passage to transition authority and leadership from himself to Joshua. Likewise, we have graduation services, weddings, showers, special ceremonies, confirmations, birthday parties, and awards dinners to help us mark time and the occasions when life transitions from one season into another.

My experience is that some of the most important rites of passage have been lost or weakened in our time and culture. The rite of passage for girls into womanhood, and boys into manhood are incredibly blurry (and often non-existent) in today’s world.

Today, I’m thankful for life in all of its seasons. Death-like winter seasons of difficulty teach us wisdom, patience, perseverance and prove our character. Summer-like seasons of joy provide rest, healing, abundance, contentment and celebration. I’m also mindful today of how I can consciously help my family, friends and loved ones as they transition from one season to another through our various rites of passage.