[From May 2, 2013]
"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."
(Numbers 27:4)
It was time to divvy up the land. The Israelites had "settled in" to the Promised Land. They were now ready to settle down. A census was taken. The land was to be distributed in proportion to the size of each tribe of Israel.
In the MANESSEH tribe, a man named Zelophehad had died in the wilderness. He had four daughters. But the land was only being distributed to those with sons. The daughters spoke up to Moses and asked for their fathers' share. Now in a patriarchal society, this was a far-fetched request. It would never pass, right? But Moses took the issue to the LORD... who thought it was a reasonable one. Not only for these women, but for ANY future situation that was similar. That was fair.
Sometimes elements of the Bible get a bum rap for being so male-dominated. But here's a great example of equality. God allowed changes to be made which were more fair than "the way we've always done things." We can learn from this... especially when thinking about all kinds of unequal situations today.
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