The Daughters of Zelophehad () were five sisters – Mahlah ( Maḥlā), Noa ( Nōʿā), Hoglah ( Ḥoġlā), Milcah ( Mīlkā), and Tirzah ( Tīrṣā) – mentioned in the biblical Book of Numbers. They lived during the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt as they prepared to enter the Promised Land and who raised before the Israelite community the legal case of a woman's right and obligation to inherit property in the absence of a male heir in the family. Zelophehad, a man of the Tribe of Manasseh, had five daughters but no sons, and therefore no male heirs.
Biblical account
The biblical text tells little of Zelophehad himself, save that he died during the 40 years when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, and explicitly that he played no part in Korah's rebellion. does not in any case cite the tribe of Manasseh as being involved in the rebellion against Moses.
Zelophehad's daughters petitioned Moses, Eleazar the priest, the tribal chiefs, and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for their rights to inherit his property rights in the Land of Israel. Zelophehad's daughters noted that their father Zelophehad had not taken part in Korah's rebellion, but only died in his own sin. Zelophehad's daughters argued that were they not to inherit, then Zelophehad's name would be lost to his clan. Moses took their case to God. God told Moses that the plea of Zelophehad's daughters was just, and that they should be granted their father's hereditary holding.
Later, the family heads of the clan of Manasseh's grandson Gilead appealed to Moses and the chieftains, arguing that if Zelophehad's daughters married men from another Israelite tribe, then their share would be lost to the tribe of Manasseh and be added to the portion of the tribe into which they married. So Moses, at God's bidding, instructed the Israelites that the plea of the tribal leaders was just and that Zelophehad's daughters could marry anyone they wished, but only among the men of the tribe of Manasseh.
Zelophehad's daughters did as God had commanded in the instructions conveyed to Moses, and each married a son of an uncle, first cousin marriages. When the Israelites entered the land, Zelophehad's daughters appeared before Eleazer the priest, Joshua (who by then had assumed leadership from Moses), and the chieftains, reminding them that God had commanded Moses to grant them a portion among their kinsmen, and Zelophehad's daughters received a portion in the holdings of Manasseh, probably on the east side of the Jordan River.
Rabbinical commentary
In the Talmud and the Zohar the reference to Zelophehad having "died in his own sin" is used to equate him with the man executed for gathering sticks on Shabbat, but Sifri Zutta says that it cannot be known if he was.
In the Talmud, Rabbi Josiah interpreted that they petitioned first the assembly, then the chieftains, then Eleazar, and finally Moses, but Abba Hanan said in the name of Eliezer ben Hurcanus of Judaea that Zelophehad's daughters stood before all of them as they were sitting together.
The Zohar said that Zelophehad's daughters drew near to Moses in the presence of Eleazar and all the chieftains because they were afraid of Moses' anger at Zelophehad and thought that it might be contained in a public forum. According to the Zohar, Moses presented the case to God instead of deciding it himself out of modesty.
A baraita taught that Zelophehad's daughters were wise, Torah students, and righteous. Another baraita taught that Zelophehad's daughters were equal in merit, and that is why the order of their names varies in the text. According to the Gemara, they demonstrated their wisdom by raising their case in a timely fashion, just as Moses was expounding the law of levirate marriage, or yibbum, and they argued for their inheritance by analogy to that law. The daughters also demonstrated their righteousness by marrying men who were fitting for them.
Scholarly views
Two genealogies are given for Zelophehad by the Bible; in the Book of Chronicles, he is listed as a son of Manasseh. in other places where his genealogy is mentioned, he is listed as a son of Hepher, who was the son of Gilead, and therefore merely a descendant of Manasseh. Both of these genealogies record Zelophehad as being a member of the tribe of Manasseh. The apparent contradictions have been addressed by naming Zelophehad as a descendant rather than as the second [son].