Perhaps
we should not include these five young ladies: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and
Tirzah; names that are to endure forever. But they so remind us of Achsah, of
whom I am so fond, that I could not resist at least a mention of them. They had
no brothers, only girls in that family; but they also had learned to love and
value the Land of Promise, and long before they reach that land, they come to
Moses and plead their cause. Because we are girls, are we not to have an inheritance
in that glorious land? “Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren
of our father.” Moses does not know what to do, so he brings the matter before
the Lord, and did the Lord ever turn away any girl or boy, daughter or son?
Nay, I am sure it rejoiced His heart to find five girls who so valued the Land
which in His eyes was the glory of all lands. And so we hear His judgment: “The
daughters of Zelophehad speak right.” (Numbers 27.)
But
what would happen if they married into another tribe? And so in chapter 36 a
special law must be enacted and a whole chapter of the Bible given up, for the
daughters of Zelophehad.
Nor
is this all. These girls are determined not to miss their portion or be
overlooked, and so we find them again in Joshua 17 coming near before Eleazer
the priest and Joshua, again pressing for that inheritance. And they got it.
But more, I am sure that when the Spirit of God is willing to devote so much
space telling us of these young women, it is because their conduct was such a
delight to Heaven. I think Zelophehad must have taught them, as Caleb must have
taught Achsah, to love the land they had never seen.
“And
He hath built a City, of love, and light, and song, Where the eye at last
beholdeth what the heart had loved so long.
And there
is mine inheritance, my kingly palace-home;
The leaf may fall and perish, not less the spring will come.”