Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came near; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah and Hoglah and Milcah and Tirzah. (Numbers 27:1)
The Israelites had to wander through the desert for forty years because of their disobedience. Ten out of twelve spies who went into Canaan at the end of what was supposed to be an eleven day journey to the Promised Land came back with a fearful report. The people did not trust God to help them defeat the Canaanites even after what they’d seen God do to the Egyptians. This angered God and the Israelites were condemned to wander until all adults had died except the two faithful spies – Joshua and Caleb.
Now before entering the Promised Land at last Moses took a census of the people. This was because the land was to be divided according to the size of the tribes.
Moses numbered the people according to the number of families in each tribe, headed by a male descendant of the twelve sons of Israel, Reuben, Simeon, etc… There were male heads of households for all of the families except for the family of Zelophehad, a descendent of Manassah, son of Joseph. When Moses numbered Zelophehad’s family, his five daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah were included in the census (Numbers 26:33).
When Moses passed out the inheritances he only gave them to the male descendants. 
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah all showed up at the door of the tent of meeting and asked why they had been overlooked in the apportioning of the land. They reminded Moses that they were numbered. These women were not asking for selfish reasons; something very important was at stake here. The inheritance was supposed to be passed down in the families forever. There were no males in their family. How was their father’s inheritance going to continue? Why shouldn’t Zelophehad’s family be provided for? Yes, like all of the other people, Zelophehad had died during the forty-year wandering. But he had not been part of Korah’s rebellion against God (Numbers 16). In other words, Zelophehad had not done anything to disqualify him from receiving his inheritance.
Moses took their case to the Lord. God assured Moses that the daughters of Zelophehad were correct. Moses wrote a new case law which the Israelites followed ever after that. When a man died leaving no son, his inheritance should pass to his daughter.
Moses continued to divide the land according to God’s commands. The tribes would be settled in certain places except for the tribe of Levi. The Levites were to be given cities among all of the tribes in order to continue in their work of priestly duties.
“Now the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manassah, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Mosess and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel.” (Numbers 36:1) They agreed that the daughters of Zelophehad had a right to marry and raise up children for their father’s inheritance, but they had a legitimate concern. What if Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah married outside of their tribe? Wouldn’t this confuse the inheritances? If Mahlah, for example, married a Benjamite, would her property then become the property of her Benjamite husband? Would this take away from the property of the children of Manassah and Joseph?
Moses again went before the Lord and received instructions. “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right (Numbers 36:5). The Lord commands that the daughters of Zelophehad may marry whom they with as long as the men are within the family of their tribe. The inheritances may not change hands between the tribes; “for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of htis fathrs. And every daaughter who posesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers” (Numbers 36:7,8).
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah saw the reasonableness of this. All of the daughters married sons of their father’s brothers. In other words they married cousins and kept the property in the family of their tribe.
Now the Israelites had to go into the land of Canaan and dispossess the pagan inhabitants before they could settle down and live there. Under the leadership of Joshua the Israelites defeated some Canaanites east of the Jordan river. Several tribes decided that they liked the land there and wanted to settle on the east side. An agreement was made whereby the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manassah could settle in that land after they helped the other tribes conquer the land west of the Jordan River.
Zelophehad’s family was part of the other half of the tribe of Manassah that settled on the west side of the Jordan. When the boundaries of the land were being settled Mahlah, Noah, 
Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah again had to make sure they would get their inheritance. “And they came near before Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, ‘The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.’ Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers.” (Joshua 17:4). And so, then shares fell to the descendants of Manassah on the west side of the Jordan because the daughters of Zelophehad were included.
This incident should not be overlooked as trivial. It was very important for several reasons. In the first place, it showed that men and women could bring their complaints to Moses at the tent of meeting. God was concerned for all of His people and He executed justice according to HIs commands. In this case the Lord had specified how the land was to be divided. He commanded Moses to give the daughters of Zelophehad a portion in the inheritance in order to fulfill His plans for the land He had promised to Abraham many years before.
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah were intelligent, forthright young women who just wanted to see justice done. They were not asserting their rights as militant feminists. They wanted to see justice done according to God’s will. They are a good example for us when we feel that there has been prejudice against us. We should not go in to a bad situation looking for trouble or to start a fight. We can be reasonable and present the facts and pray that the Lord’s will will be done.
God’s decision to give daughters and inheritance when there was no male heir has been established as the law of the land for centuries. What the daughters of Zelophehad did was to set the precedent. Before this court case, women did not inherit. Even to this day daughters may inherit the family home or business and carry it on for the next generation. We can be thankful that Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah had the wisdom and courage to seek God’s justice.
