Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
The respect paid to the daughters of Zelophehad at that early day is
worthy the imitation of the rulers in our own times. These daughters
were no doubt fine-looking, well-developed women, gifted with the power
of eloquence, able to impress their personality and arguments on that
immense assemblage of the people. They were allowed to plead their own
case in person before the lawgivers, the priests, and the princes, the
rulers in State and Church, and all the congregation, at the very door
of the tabernacle. They presented their case with such force and
clearness that all saw the justice of their claims. Moses was so deeply
impressed that he at once retired to his closet to listen to the still
small voice of conscience and commune with his Maker. In response, the
Lord said to him: "The daughters of Zelophehad speak right, if a man
die and leave no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto
his daughters." It would have been commendable if the members of the
late Constitutional Convention in New York had, like Moses, asked the
guidance of the Lord in deciding the rights of the daughters of the Van
Rensselaers, the Stuyvesants, the Livingstons, and the Knickerbockers.
Their final action revealed the painful fact that they never thought to
take the case to the highest court in the moral universe. The daughters
of Zelophehad were fortunate in being all of one mind; none there to
plead the fatigue, the publicity, the responsibility of paying taxes
and investing property, of keeping a bank account, and having some
knowledge of mathematics. The daughters of Zelophehad were happy to
accept all the necessary burdens, imposed by the laws of inheritance,
while the daughters of the Knickerbockers trembled at the thought of
assuming the duties involved in self-government.
As soon as Moses laid the case before the Lord, He not only allowed
the justice of the claim, but gave "a statute of judgment," by which
the Jewish magistrates should determine all such cases in the division
of property in the land of Canaan in all after ages.
When the rights of property were secured to married women in the State
of New York in 1848, a certain class were opposed to the measure, and
would cross the street to avoid speaking to the sisters who had prayed
and petitioned for its success. They did not object, however, in due
time to use the property thus secured, and the same type of women will
as readily avail them selves of all the advantages of political
equality when the right of suffrage is secured.
E. C. S.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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