The two parts of the story we just heard are found in the book of Numbers: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. We hardly ever read from Numbers, maybe because it sounds like it’s all about math. In this case the numbers are a census: names and numbers are included several times in the book. There are also stories. And commandments – for instance how wives should be treated when their husbands get jealous or think that the wife has committed adultery. (Numbers 5)

Though we don’t read this book often, there are at least two passages from Numbers that you may know. The first is the “Aaronic blessing” in Numbers 6. We often sing a version of this to people when they move away.

May God bless you and keep you.

May the very face of God shine on you

and be gracious to you.

May God’s presence embrace you

and give you peace.

The second passage you might know is the one about Balaam’s talking donkey, in Numbers 22. I’ll let you look that one up if you need a refresher. This is also the book where Miriam and Aaron challenge their brother Moses (Numbers 12) and then God afflicts Miriam with a skin disease and she is put out of the camp. Aaron doesn’t get it the disease. Hmm. No matter, the people refuse to keep journeying until Miriam is well enough to rejoin them.

The story we hear today about the Daughters of Zelophehad is so unfamiliar that when I first heard it, in poetic form as a 25 year old, I didn’t believe it was really from the bible. This passage hardly ever appears in the Christian Sunday lectionary texts; you have to search on your own. Numbers is part of the Torah so it must be more familiar to our Jewish friends.

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, show up in the text right after the second census passage. The first census at the beginning of Numbers is a list of the younger men the right age to be soldiers. The people wander in the desert for 40 years, long enough for the next generation to come of age and the unfaithful to die off. In chapter 26, we get another census, presumably the faithful, the next generation, who deserve to enter the Promised Land.

Zelophehad is the father of five daughters. He is a descendant of Joseph, you know that Joseph, who ruled in Egypt, the Joseph that the pharaoh forgot. Zelophehad comes along generations later, and when he dies his only offspring are five daughters; no sons. This means that these unmarried daughters have no one to provide for them. They get none of the inheritance since they are female.

In this patriarchal society, there are no avenues for women to take care of themselves, to save themselves. There is a reason that the commandments are full of instructions for taking “care of the widows and orphans.” The widows and orphans are low rank, they have no one to look after them, except the community. These young women don’t qualify as widows, but they do seem to be orphans now, out in the wilderness.

As unmarried sisters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, have been thinking this problem through very carefully, strategically. How will they approach Moses and convince him to give them justice? They do not nominate the eldest sister, or the most beautiful sister, or the most clever sister to go before Moses. They decide to all go, together, before Moses, and the priest Eleazar, and the leaders, and the whole congregation. They stand right outside the holy tent of meeting to present their case. Is this a protest, or a sit-in? It seems like more than a quick conversation before worship.

The sisters make the case that their father was faithful, that he wasn’t part of the group that fought against God, and rebelled in the desert. He didn’t disrespect Moses. Zelophehad died “for his own sins.” He died because he died. He was not struck down by God. He deserves to be remembered. And without sons his name will die out, he will not be remembered. That just can’t be right.

Moses hears their plea. What choice does he have, these women have come to him in public. Everyone hears the sisters, as they stand in front of the whole assembly. And their father should be remembered.

Moses takes their case (kind of like a court case) before the Lord. And the LORD speaks to Moses. We don’t know how long it takes for God to speak. But Moses returns with an answer. God agrees with Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. There will be a new succession plan – if there are no sons. And not only that, this is the way it will be from now on, not just for these five sisters but for all families without sons. This is the new law. If a man dies and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance on to his daughter. What a triumph for these sisters, the women.

You can almost hear the sisters singing Psalm 16 together.

O God, keep me safe— 

you are my refuge! 

You, God, are all that I have, 

you are my food and drink. 

My life is safe in your hands.

The property lines have fallen beautifully for me;

What a delightful inheritance I have! (Psalm 16: 1, 5-6)

But their joy is short-lived. As preparations get underway to go into this new “Promised Land” of Canaan, the bickering begins. The men think about all that they will conquer, all the land that will be theirs. And they think about this new rule decided in favor of those daughters of Zelophehad. That could really mess things up. If women are allowed to inherit on par with men, things will become uneven. If the women marry outside their tribe, then they will take their wealth with them. And things will get out of proportion. Intertribal warfare might even break out. No, that cannot happen. Women cannot have that kind of power or agency.

Yesterday, a “number” of us stood in front of the Museum of the Bible. We were there to worship and witness to the fact that the Palestinian people are erased by the Museum, that the state of Israel is slaughtering the people whose families have lived on the land called Israel for generations and generations.

Today we have this text where the men of Israel are fighting over how to divide the spoils of war as they prepare to cross into Canaan, or we could call it Palestine. Though this story is not historically accurate, it does make me uncomfortable. It is a question for another day but: What do we do with these stories that don’t align with how we understand the world today – in terms of land, politics, war, women’s rights? In this case, the women just wanted to survive. Can they share the profits of war? Should they?

Back to the text: the male relatives of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah decide there has to be a do-over. The case must be re-tried. Interestingly, we don’t learn the names of the men, only their lineage, the ancestral names. This time as the men approach Moses and the leaders, there is no mention of Eleazar the priest, or the rest of the gathered community. These men do not stand before the whole congregation outside the holy tent of meeting. They probably don’t need to, they are men. They can get an audience with Moses whenever they want, wherever they want. So these relatives of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah present their case to Moses. These women cannot be permitted to marry willy nilly. The inheritance must stay within the ancestral tribe.

It might just be an oversight by the scribes or translators, or maybe I am reading the text wrong. But I don’t see in the text that Moses brings the case to God. And it doesn’t say, “The LORD spoke to Moses” like when the sisters presented their complaint, like it says multiple times in almost every chapter of Numbers – the LORD spoke to Moses. This time it says, Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the word of the Lord. “The descendants of the tribe of Joseph are right in what they are saying.” Just like that, the men are right?

Moses goes on: This is the word that the LORD commands to Zelophehad’s daughters. Let the daughters marry whom they think best; only it must be into a clan of their father’s tribe …Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the Israelites shall marry one from the clan of her father’s tribe.” In other words, the daughters must marry a cousin to keep the land and wealth in the family. They can marry whoever they think best – as long as he is on an approved list of family members. I wonder if they have the choice not to marry. Can the women hold onto their inheritance if they don’t marry?

For Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, the joy of winning their case and having options can’t have lasted long, not even until the next generation. Again, I imagine the sisters singing a Psalm.

I cry out to you because you answer me.
    So tilt your ears toward me now—
    listen to what I’m saying!

Manifest your faithful love in amazing ways
    because you are the one
    who saves those who take refuge in you,
    saving them from their attackers
    by your strong hand.

Watch me with the very pupil of your eye!
    Hide me in the protection of your wings,
away from the wicked.

They have no pity;
    their mouths speak arrogantly.  (Psalm 17: 6-10 adapted)

I want to know if it is significant that Eleazar the priest is not there this time when Moses changes the rules. I want to know if Moses even took this idea to God at all or if he just decided this one on his own. The poet, Judith Miller, from whom I first heard this biblical story, ends her poem this way:

the brothers of Zelophehad came to Moses

to complain

if those women married out

to another tribe,

then the family would lose

that inheritance

 

the Lord hadn’t thought of that, perhaps

the Lord hadn’t thought of that

the Lord hadn’t thought of that, perhaps

the Lord hadn’t thought of that

This loss in God’s “court” feels too much like our own reality these days. We take steps forward working together across generations, for generations, showing up in public together. And then when it looks like some particular men may no longer have the advantage, the rules are changed, the laws are reversed. The rights of women, queer people, people of color, immigrants, people with different abilities, the civil rights of those who are most often marginalized are erased.

In this time, when it feels like so much is being lost, there is no comfort in this bible story. What we see instead is that we have our work cut out for us. The arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice but not without constant pressure. As Joanna Harader says, “Those of us who want to work with God for justice in the world need to be observant and courageous, strategic and inclusive. And we also need to be vigilant and tenacious.” Prone to Wander, p.84

Last week we began building an Ebenezer, this pile of rocks that reminds us that we meet God here in the wilderness, we meet each other here. We are not alone. The Ebenezer reminds us that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

In this time, when there is a whole lot of trouble, this Ebenezer reminds us to be observant and courageous, strategic and inclusive, vigilant and tenacious.

As we sing the next hymn, if you would like to help build this Ebenezer of remembrance, courage, inclusion and vigilance, you are invited to come forward. Take a rock from the bucket and add it to this symbol of our faith and tenacity.

And now, receive this blessing from the Women who Claim Power:

May our power empower you

to walk through the wilderness as your full self

without diminishment

without apology

without fear.

 

May God’s power hold and guide you

through your strength and your weakness

in all the wilderness places.

 

Prone to Wander, p. 101