Numbers 27King James Version
The daughters of Zelophehad come to Moses. Their father had no sons. They ask why their father's name should disappear from his clan just because he had no son. Moses brings their case before the Lord. God says they are right. They will inherit. A small revolution in inheritance law. Then God tells Moses to climb the mountain and see the land he will not enter, and to lay his hands on Joshua as his successor.
The daughters of Zelophehad come forward with a legal question: their father died without sons, so should his inheritance be lost entirely? God rules in their favor and establishes that daughters inherit when there are no sons. Then God tells Moses to ascend Mount Abarim to see Canaan before he dies. Moses asks God to appoint a successor. God chooses Joshua. Moses publicly commissions Joshua before Eleazar and the congregation.
The land will belong to whoever asks faithfully and persists, and leadership that trusts God's choice over its own continuation is rare and worth noting.
16: "Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may come in before them." Moses' greatest moment may be this: asking God to replace him.
The plains of Moab, 1406 BC, with Canaan visible across the Jordan. Moses knows he will not cross. His request for a successor is not resignation; it is pastoral care for people he has led for forty years. He does not lobby for his own son or for Eleazar. He asks God to choose.
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, the five daughters of Zelophehad; Moses, who brings their case to God; God, who rules in their favor and then announces Moses' death; Joshua son of Nun, who is chosen as successor; Eleazar the priest, who witnesses the commissioning.
The daughters of Zelophehad make a legal argument that changes inheritance law in Israel. They are not plaintiffs in a dispute; they are petitioners asking for a ruling on an edge case. God affirms their claim and codifies it. Their names are repeated four times in Numbers and Joshua, an unusual honor. The commissioning of Joshua in the same chapter pairs the end of Moses' leadership with the beginning of the next.
For when you are fighting for something that should already be yours but the system has not caught up. The daughters of Zelophehad did not complain; they asked. And they asked the right person.
1Then came 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: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
2And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
3Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
4Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
5And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
6And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
7The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
8And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
9And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
10And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.
11And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
12And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.
13And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.
14For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
15And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,
16Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
17Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
18And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
19And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
20And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
21And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.
22And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:
23And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.