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.” (Num. 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 Josh. 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.”