Why does the Torah name Zelophehad’s daughters – Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah – three times rather than simply stating he “had no sons, but daughters” (Numbers 26:33)? Why are they so important?
Excavations in 1910 in the royal compound of Samaria, capital of the kingdom of Israel, uncovered approximately one hundred inscribed potsherds in a storehouse. These “Samaria ostraca,” written in ancient Hebrew script, contain administrative records from Jeroboam II’s reign in the early eighth century BCE.
Surprisingly, two daughters’ names, Noah and Hoglah, appear among the names on the ostraca, alongside their father’s uncles: Abiezer, Shemida, Helek, and Asriel. These records attest to the daughters’ great influence and importance within Manasseh and the kingdom of Israel’s history.
Several daughters’ names are also Israelite place-names. Tirzah was Israel’s capital under Jeroboam son of Nebat. Mahlah is apparently connected with Abel-meholah in the Jordan Valley (Judges 7:22; I Kings 4:12). Milcah does not clearly appear as a city or geographic name, but Adam Zertal identified it with Khirbet Mirkeh near Tel Dothan.
Joshua 17 describes implementation of Moses’ ruling: Manasseh’s inheritance west of the Jordan was divided into ten family portions, “And there fell ten parts to Manasseh” (verse 5). According to Professor Yoel Elitzur in Makom BaParashah, five went to the patriarchal families of Gilead’s sons, called “the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph” (verse 2). The remaining five were matriarchal portions given to Zelophehad’s five daughters (Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead), called “the daughters of Manasseh,” who inherited like sons: “because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons” (verse 6). This presents daughters’ portions in Manasseh as equal in standing to sons’ portions, divided equally five and five.
The daughters sought to preserve their father Zelophehad’s name after his death without sons, but their five portions were actually named for them. Moreover, they sought an inheritance among their father’s brothers but received much more: their portions paralleled those of their grandfather Hepher’s brothers, each equaling that of one of his five brothers.
By approaching Moses, they innovated a law and created an important legal precedent allowing women, in certain circumstances, to inherit their father’s portion. The precedent’s importance and the justice they demanded – preserving their father’s name and fighting for their place – apparently gave them unique standing in their tribe, in the Bible, and in Israel’s history.
Dedicated to Noah, my heroine
