Introduction:



As with the fictional milkman Tevye, from the village of Anatevka*, God chose to bless Zelophehad not with sons— but instead, with daughters—five of them!

Unlike Caleb and Joshua, but like all other men "twenty years old and upward" (Numbers 14 and Numbers 32:11 ), Zelophehad died in the wilderness.

Joshua, in the firm belief that he was following God's direction, determined to divide his nation's new lands among its men.

And in ancient Israel's patriarchal society, were these orphaned women to receive no portions of the promised land? And if so, were they to "wait, meekly wait and murmur not?"

No, I guess ...