As India goes through a historic moment of dissent, dialogue and peaceful protest, I am reminded of five women in the book of Numbers who stood before authority and changed the law.
Numbers 27 tells the story of a man who dies without a male heir. According to the law, his family line would lose its inheritance. His daughters (Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah) approached Moses, the priests, the leaders and the whole assembly to present their case. Moses brought the matter before the Lord, and the law was amended to allow daughters to inherit in the absence of a son.
Numbers 27: 5-7
So Moses brought their case before the Lord and the Lord said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as in inheritance among their father’s relatives and give their father’s inheritance to them. “Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter.
When I first read it I was wondering, “How is this improvement?” This is only a clause. Daughters could only inherit if there was no son. Shouldn’t inheritance belong equally to all children regardless of gender?
But then I caught myself.
I was expecting a society four thousand years ago to arrive instantly at the standards I have inherited after centuries of legal, social and moral development.
These five women were not standing in a courtroom in twenty-first century India. They were standing before Moses in the wilderness. What looked like an incomplete victory to me may have been a revolutionary step in their world.
That made me think about our own moment as a country yesterday.
Many people have responded to the resignation of the Education Minister by saying, “This changes nothing.” Others point out that dozens of deeper issues remain unresolved. They may be right. One resignation does not fix an entire system.
But Numbers 27 reminds me that history often moves by amendments before it moves by revolutions.
The daughters of Zelophehad did not receive everything they could have asked for. But because they spoke, the law became more just than it had been before.
Their courage changed the conversation, and eventually changed the law itself.
What strikes me just as much is the character of God in this story. These women were not rebuked for questioning the law or dismissed because they were women. Their petition was heard. Moses took their case before the Lord, and God declared, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right.”
I am reminded of a God who is not threatened by honest questions or faithful appeals for justice. A God who invites people into conversation, who listens, and who calls what is right, right. As a woman, there is something deeply reassuring about seeing women in Scripture speak with courage before both human and divine authority and be met, not with condemnation, but with affirmation.
Coming back to my country I am reminded of the same truth in a different context.
I am reminded of the people who refused to stop speaking.
I am reminded of the power of ordinary people coming together to create extraordinary and larger than life ripples.
And I am reminded that dissent, when rooted in truth and hope, can become an instrument of justice.
May this day remind us that God is not threatened by faithful voices seeking justice, but delights in them.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Correct Oppression
May this day remind us to be the hands and feet of the values we believe in.
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