DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD: STORY OF INHERITANCE AND INFLUENCE
Keywords:
Daughters of Zelophehad, Justice, Inheritance, Levirate Law, Leadership, Property RightsAbstract
Patriarchal societies are mostly regarded as conservative and rigid especially when it comes to the democratic rights of women. Women are habitually curtailed of free expression of speech and activity. Biblical texts are often cited to prove the point either in support of this claim or to prove the misogynic attitude of the author himself. However, the present study unearths a solid example of freedom of speech and expression of women, that too of young daughters of Zelophehad in claiming for their right to property. The study also highlights how open-minded the leaders were in the community headed by Moses to listen, to respect and uphold justice in the case of these young unmarried daughters. Ultimately the study throws a challenge that laws and rules are not stagnant, they are to be framed or reframed with the signs of the time.
References
“Zelophehad,” in Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 10, ed. William Smith and J.M. Fuller, New Delhi: Logos Press, 2004, 1837.
Access through Deen, All the Women of the Bible, 63.
Adolph L. Harstad, Joshua, Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture, Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004, 566.
Branch, “Zelophehad, Daughters of,” 913.
Bratcher and Newman, A Handbook on the Book of Joshua, 223.
Bruce Wells, “Inheritance Laws in Ancient Israel,” https://www.bibleodyssey. org/en/passages/related-articles/inheritance-laws-in-ancient-israel accessed on 15.01.2020.
Budd, Numbers, 302, 390.
C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Pentateuch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001, 798.
Cheryl Anne Brown, No Longer be Silent: First Century Jewish Portraits of Biblical Women, Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press,1992, 41.
Deen, All the Women of the Bible, New York: Castle Books, 1955, 63-64.
Elizabeth M. Tetlow, Women and Ministry in the New Testament, New York: Paulist Press, 1979, 5.
Elke Seifert, Tochter und Vater im Alten Testament. Eine ideologiekritische Untersuchung zur Verfügungsgewalt von Vätern über ihre Töchter, Neukirchener theologische Dissertationen und Habilitationen 9, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1997, 77.
Epstein I., ed., Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, London: Soncino Press, 1960-1989, and
Frederick J. Murphy, Pseudo-Philo: Rewriting the Bible, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, See (Biblical Antiquities: 25-29), 116.
George Buchnan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers, The International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1976, 478.
Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers, 398.
https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.139b.7-10?lang=bi accessed on 21.12.2020.
James Malcolm Arlandson, Women, Class and Society in Early Christianity: Models from Luke-Acts, Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997, 70.
Josiah Derby, “The Daughters of Zelophehad Revisited,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 25 (1997) 169-171; Zvi Ron, “The Daughters of Zelophehad,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 26 (1998) 260-262.
Judith Hauptman, “Images of Women in the Talmud,” in Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rosemary Radford Ruether, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974, 196.
Kerstin Ulrich, “Joshua: Tradition and Justice—Women’s Share in the Inheritance” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature, ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker, Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012, 108.
Kizhakkeyil, The Pentateuch, 402.
Mary J. Evans, Woman in the Bible, Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1983, 23-24, 25-26.
Mary Joan Winn Leith, “Women: Ancient Near East and Israel,” in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 809.
Moshe Meiselman, Jewish Woman in Jewish Law, New York: KTAV, 1978, 84-95; Judith Romney Wegner, Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in the Mishnah, New York: Oxford University, 1988, Chapters 2-7.
Philip J. Budd, Numbers, Word Biblical Commentary, Waco, Texas: Word Book Publisher, 1984, 301-302.
Rabbi Silvina Chemen, “The Daughters of Zelophehad: Power and Uniqueness,” https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-daughters-of-zelophehad-power-and-uniqueness/ accessed on 15.01.2020.
Robert G. Bratcher and Barclay M. Newman, A Handbook on the Book of Joshua, New York: UBS Handbook Series, 1983, 192.
Robin Gallaher Branch, “Zelophehad, Daughters of,” in The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, ed. T.D. Alexander and D.W. Baker, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003, 913.
Ryan, “Five Girls Ask, Why?, 312, 313.
Sebastian Kizhakkeyil, The Pentateuch: An Exegetical Commentary, Bandra, Mumbai: St Paul’s, 2009 (Revised Edition), 402.
Shemesh, “A Gender Perspective on the Daughters of Zelophehad,” 80-82, 83.
Sue and Larry Richards, Every Woman in the Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, 78, 79.
Tamar Kadari, “Daughters of Zelophehad: Midrash and Aggadah,” https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/daughters-of-zelophehad-midrash-and-aggadah accessed on 02.02.2020.
Tetlow, Women and Ministry, 6.
The Mishnah, trans. Herbert Danby, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933.
The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation, trans. Jacob Neusner, Brown Judaic Studies 240, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992.
Virginia Rajakumari Sandiyagu, Women as Eyewitnesses in the Christian Kerygma: The Galilean Women in the Redaction of Luke An Exegetical Study of Luke: 1-3, KristuJyoti Research Series 2, Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti Publications, 2017, 300-305.
Walter Kaiser, “Ownership and Property in the Old Testament Economy,” https://tifwe.org/resource/ownership-and-property-in-the-old-testament-economy/accessed on 14.12.2019.
Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, Vol 1, Stuttgart: Ehrenfried Klotz Verlag, 1961, 131.
Yael Shemesh, “A Gender Perspective on the Daughters of Zelophehad: Bible, Talmudic Midrash, and Modern Feminist Midrash,” Biblical Interpretation 15 (2007) 86.
Access through Deen, All the Women of the Bible, 63.
Adolph L. Harstad, Joshua, Concordia Commentary: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture, Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2004, 566.
Branch, “Zelophehad, Daughters of,” 913.
Bratcher and Newman, A Handbook on the Book of Joshua, 223.
Bruce Wells, “Inheritance Laws in Ancient Israel,” https://www.bibleodyssey. org/en/passages/related-articles/inheritance-laws-in-ancient-israel accessed on 15.01.2020.
Budd, Numbers, 302, 390.
C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Pentateuch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001, 798.
Cheryl Anne Brown, No Longer be Silent: First Century Jewish Portraits of Biblical Women, Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press,1992, 41.
Deen, All the Women of the Bible, New York: Castle Books, 1955, 63-64.
Elizabeth M. Tetlow, Women and Ministry in the New Testament, New York: Paulist Press, 1979, 5.
Elke Seifert, Tochter und Vater im Alten Testament. Eine ideologiekritische Untersuchung zur Verfügungsgewalt von Vätern über ihre Töchter, Neukirchener theologische Dissertationen und Habilitationen 9, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1997, 77.
Epstein I., ed., Hebrew-English Edition of the Babylonian Talmud, London: Soncino Press, 1960-1989, and
Frederick J. Murphy, Pseudo-Philo: Rewriting the Bible, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, See (Biblical Antiquities: 25-29), 116.
George Buchnan Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers, The International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1976, 478.
Gray, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers, 398.
https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.139b.7-10?lang=bi accessed on 21.12.2020.
James Malcolm Arlandson, Women, Class and Society in Early Christianity: Models from Luke-Acts, Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997, 70.
Josiah Derby, “The Daughters of Zelophehad Revisited,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 25 (1997) 169-171; Zvi Ron, “The Daughters of Zelophehad,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 26 (1998) 260-262.
Judith Hauptman, “Images of Women in the Talmud,” in Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rosemary Radford Ruether, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974, 196.
Kerstin Ulrich, “Joshua: Tradition and Justice—Women’s Share in the Inheritance” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature, ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker, Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012, 108.
Kizhakkeyil, The Pentateuch, 402.
Mary J. Evans, Woman in the Bible, Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1983, 23-24, 25-26.
Mary Joan Winn Leith, “Women: Ancient Near East and Israel,” in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 809.
Moshe Meiselman, Jewish Woman in Jewish Law, New York: KTAV, 1978, 84-95; Judith Romney Wegner, Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in the Mishnah, New York: Oxford University, 1988, Chapters 2-7.
Philip J. Budd, Numbers, Word Biblical Commentary, Waco, Texas: Word Book Publisher, 1984, 301-302.
Rabbi Silvina Chemen, “The Daughters of Zelophehad: Power and Uniqueness,” https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-daughters-of-zelophehad-power-and-uniqueness/ accessed on 15.01.2020.
Robert G. Bratcher and Barclay M. Newman, A Handbook on the Book of Joshua, New York: UBS Handbook Series, 1983, 192.
Robin Gallaher Branch, “Zelophehad, Daughters of,” in The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch, ed. T.D. Alexander and D.W. Baker, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003, 913.
Ryan, “Five Girls Ask, Why?, 312, 313.
Sebastian Kizhakkeyil, The Pentateuch: An Exegetical Commentary, Bandra, Mumbai: St Paul’s, 2009 (Revised Edition), 402.
Shemesh, “A Gender Perspective on the Daughters of Zelophehad,” 80-82, 83.
Sue and Larry Richards, Every Woman in the Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999, 78, 79.
Tamar Kadari, “Daughters of Zelophehad: Midrash and Aggadah,” https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/daughters-of-zelophehad-midrash-and-aggadah accessed on 02.02.2020.
Tetlow, Women and Ministry, 6.
The Mishnah, trans. Herbert Danby, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933.
The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation, trans. Jacob Neusner, Brown Judaic Studies 240, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992.
Virginia Rajakumari Sandiyagu, Women as Eyewitnesses in the Christian Kerygma: The Galilean Women in the Redaction of Luke An Exegetical Study of Luke: 1-3, KristuJyoti Research Series 2, Bangalore: Kristu Jyoti Publications, 2017, 300-305.
Walter Kaiser, “Ownership and Property in the Old Testament Economy,” https://tifwe.org/resource/ownership-and-property-in-the-old-testament-economy/accessed on 14.12.2019.
Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, Vol 1, Stuttgart: Ehrenfried Klotz Verlag, 1961, 131.
Yael Shemesh, “A Gender Perspective on the Daughters of Zelophehad: Bible, Talmudic Midrash, and Modern Feminist Midrash,” Biblical Interpretation 15 (2007) 86.
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Published
2020-12-01
How to Cite
Sandiyagu, V. R. . (2020). DAUGHTERS OF ZELOPHEHAD: STORY OF INHERITANCE AND INFLUENCE. Asian Horizons, 14(4), 988–1004. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/ah/article/view/3631
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