THE CASE OF FIVE WOMEN

Hello to the person reading this. I hope you are well. Today is going to be a once off

blog. My hope for the story I’ve chosen today is for it to hopefully give you a picture

of God that you’ve maybe never seen before. After today I’m gonna start us off on

my next series of blogs, it’s going to be a lot of fun so stick around for it.

Today we’re going to be hanging out in the book of Numbers (I can literally feel you

yawning). The English name is super boring, if you’re a nerd like I am you’ll be

interested to know that the name of the book in Hebrew is ‘In the Wilderness’ which

is MUCH cooler. I won’t bore you with the details of the design of the book, but I will

give you a brief bit of context that I think will be helpful for the story we’re going to

look at today. So Numbers details the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness

as they travel to the land God had promised them. The trip from where they are to

where they’re going should take two weeks on foot. But instead this group of people

end up wandering for forty years (yup years) through the wilderness. The book of

numbers is absolute insanity. It’s this sobering picture of God. He loves you and he

wants you to have life, but if you insist on choosing death God will honour your

choice. Anyway, our story is in chapter 27. After numerous rebellions and deaths

and victories, the old generation passes away outside the land and the next

generation of the people of God are now preparing to enter the Promised Land.

Our story takes place in Moab. In Numbers 27:1-4; “The daughters of Zelophehad

son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged

to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah,

Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They came forward and stood before Moses,

Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of

meeting and said, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s

followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sin and

left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had

no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.” So we meet the daughters of

a man named Zelophehad, his name means ‘shade from terror’. It’s a really strong

name; if you’re in need of a boy name there you go. His daughters go up to Moses;

they do this because Moses is the guy who talks to God on behalf of the nation. So

they come to Moses with a query, their dad dies and he has no sons. This is a

problem because in ancient Israel if a father had no sons then according to the law

his possessions would not remain in the family if he died. Moses hears them out and

according to v5 he takes their case to the Lord. This is significant. The word for case

is ‘Mishpat’ which is the Hebrew word for justice. The Bible is telling us that

according to these five sisters it is unjust for the law of God (!) to prevent them from

inheriting the land simply because they are women. This is their case; they are

saying there is a gap in God’s law that needs addressing. After Moses takes their

claim to God, God responds in v6-7 by saying this; “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.” God said that they were right! These five sisters who have the

gall to question God’s law aren’t condemned to a life of burning in the bad place.

They are instead told they are right, God validates them. The Lord of heaven and of

earth isn’t insecure, he invited these sisters to question him and he even accepted

their request. God agreed with them to such an extent that he even says if similar

situations to theirs arose later, the same precedent should be followed.

So how can this random story expand our view of God? Well let’s look at the

argument of these women. God is establishing a group of people that will reflect his

image into the world. This group of people was a family chosen by God to lead

humanity back into Eden after the failure of humanity led to them being exiled out of

Eden. God sees humanity as his family and he wants to dwell with them. The family

line of these women will disappear from existence if they can’t inherit their father’s

land. The question they are essentially posing to Moses is this; “Why should our

branch of the family tree be cut off from the land of Eden just because we’re

women?” This is the argument their making to Yahweh. God’s response isn’t a

surprise. It’s not an exception or out of character for God to declare that these

women are right. God’s original plan was for men and women to rule together. On

the literal first page of the Bible God says this in Genesis 1:26-27; “Then God said,

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the

fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,

and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in

his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created

them.” This is the original heartbeat of God. When the sisters take their case to God,

this is the heartbeat they’re appealing to. I think that we see the Torah (the laws of

God) as these unmoving rigid fixed things that are there to control us. But I think that

the law was established in order for God to set his chosen family apart from the

nations around them. The Torah represents God working with Israel as he found

them. It was designed to take them towards who they were truly made to be. How

does God find Israel? Well, they exist in a patriarchal society and He has just freed

them from slavery. What these women do is commendable, there was no explicit law

for a situation like theirs and instead of allowing themselves to be pushed out of

existence they take their situation to God and he gives them new life.

And I think that this is it for us. This is a story in a long line of stories that shows us

that the law is not a comprehensive list of rules, what it actually is, at least in my

opinion, is a way of living that was established by the wisdom of God and of course

we have to obey the commands… I’m not a heathen. But as followers of God we are

responsible for seeking the wisdom behind principles within God’s law that we can

then apply to situations not explicitly covered. It’s easy for us to hit the same old

beats. “Women should submit”, “God said men are leaders”, “Paul said women

speaking in church creates disorder” The classics. We can so easily lift these

platitudes up and turn them into who God is. But the tragic irony is that we can lose

God in this approach. God invites us into something greater, theology is messy and

it’s hard and we can need certainty to feel safe, but God invites us into the

uncertainty because God isn’t leading us to certainty, God is leading us to life. And

these five women and their bravery show us that God will move with us if we choose

to seek that life.

I’m not exactly sure how this story is a word from God in your own life today, but I do

believe that it dares us to dream bigger dreams about who God is. As you continue

on with your life, I hope that God shows you that his presence is where true life is.

And may God have mercy on us as we attempt to live in the uncertainty with him.