I like gutsy girls. I know quite a few of them personally and find them to be inspiring and thought-provoking. These girls are not loud-mouthed, aggressive or entitled. These are girls who think, plan, decide and take action. It is astounding to me that most women out there seem to think that God is not for girls. They seem to think that the Bible is a book by men for men. Well, you need to study the word and discover that there are many Biblical lessons that prove this perception wrong, especially if you study the Gospel of Luke. Recently I came across a reading in the Old Testament of the Bible, that really spoke to my heart. This story would not be in the Bible, if God was anti-girls! I liked this story so much that I decided to put it into my August blog. Sometimes I have to grin when I see and hear modern – day people patting themselves on the back because they have done something never been done before thing. God is really clever! Not an old man with a long white beard sitting amongst the clouds with a big stick and in a bad mood!
These gutsy girls were five sisters and their names are quite challenging, to say the least! I am grateful that my parents gave me a simple name – easy to spell and easy to read and easy to write – helped me a lot when I started school! Gutsy girls can be recognised for being courageous and daring. The oldest daughter of Zelophehad (see what I mean? Imagine learning to write and spell that!) whose name meant – protection from terror or the kinsman is my protector was named Mahlah. Her name meant – ‘weak one’. She may have started her life journey as being weak, but she certainly did not remain weak. The second daughter was named Noah and the meaning of her name is uncertain, but is linked to ‘rest’. The third daughter was named Hoglah and her name meant ‘partridge’. The fourth daughter was named Milcah and her name meant ‘queen’. And the youngest of the gutsy girls was named Tirzah and her name meant ‘friendly’. Gutsy girls don’t need to be mean! These were fellow wanderers with Moses through the wilderness on their way to the promised land. Sadly, Zelophehad, died of natural causes during the journey. It was the custom, the tradition at that time that only sons or brothers inherited land. But Zelophehad did not have sons. That’s when the gutsy girls took a courageous decision. They spoke with Moses and reminded him that their dad had died in the wilderness and that he had no sons. They asked a very fair question : why should the name of our father disappear just because he did not have a son to inherit his portion of land? They expressed their personal feelings to Moses : we feel that we should be given land along with our dead father’s brothers. Moses was wise, he went to God with this request and God gave him His answer.
God said this : the daughters of Zelophehad are correct. Give them land along with their uncles, give these girls the property that would have been given to their father if he had lived. So Moses noted it and God went further: in the future if a man dies without sons, give the inheritance to the daughters. Once they arrived in the promised land and land was distributed, these gutsy girls were quick to remind Joshua. (Moses had already died.) They ended up inheriting ten portions of land. God chose justice above tradition and custom. Don’t you love a happy ending? Their decision paved the way for other women in similar circumstances to inherit property. Reasonable requests should always be considered. Sometimes us girls need to speak up!
You can read this in Numbers chapter 27 : 1 – 8 and also in Joshua 17 : 3
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1 : 9.
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