The Unexpected Heirs: God's Law and True Justice Text: Joshua 17:1-6
Introduction: The World's Clumsy Scales
We live in an age that is utterly obsessed with justice, but has no standard for it. Our culture is like a man who wants to build a straight wall without a plumb line, or measure a plot of land without a yard stick. The result is a cacophony of competing grievances, where justice is defined by the shrillest voice, the most powerful lobby, or the latest emotional contagion sweeping through the populace. The world offers two basic models for dealing with questions of rights and inheritance, particularly between the sexes. The first is a brutish chauvinism, where might makes right and the weak are left with nothing. The second is a screeching feminism, which seeks to obliterate all distinctions in a revolutionary fervor, and in the process, destroys the very protections it claims to desire.
Both of these are dead ends. Both are rebellions against the created order. And both are thoroughly refuted by the quiet, dignified, and profoundly just proceedings recorded here in the seventeenth chapter of Joshua. This is not some dusty land dispute. This is a case study in divine jurisprudence. It shows us that God's law is not a set of arbitrary rules for an ancient tribe, but is rather the very architecture of a just and stable society. It reveals a system that is patriarchal, yes, but in the truest sense of the word: a system designed for paternal protection, provision, and the preservation of the covenant line. What we see here is not women demanding their rights in a modern, secular sense. What we see is faithful women appealing to God's revealed Word, and a faithful magistrate submitting to that Word. This is the pattern for all true justice.
The Text
And this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer and for the sons of Helek and for the sons of Asriel and for the sons of Shechem and for the sons of Hepher and for the sons of Shemida; these were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the males according to their families. However, Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. And they came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders, saying, “Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So according to the word of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. Thus there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.
(Joshua 17:1-6 LSB)
The Standard Arrangement (v. 1-2)
First, the text establishes the rule before it presents the exception. This is how God's law works; it provides a stable, normative pattern for life.
"And this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families..." (Joshua 17:1-2)
The inheritance is given to Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn. The principle of primogeniture is a stabilizing force in society, not a declaration of the intrinsic superiority of one son over another. It establishes clear lines of authority and responsibility. The inheritance flows through Machir, Manasseh's firstborn, and the reason given is striking: "because he was a man of war."
This is not incidental color commentary. The land of Gilead and Bashan, east of the Jordan, was rugged territory that had to be taken and held by force. Inheritance in God's economy is not a passive trust fund. It is tied to dominion, to responsibility, to the willingness to fight for and defend what God has given. Machir's descendants were rewarded for their martial valor. This establishes a principle that runs throughout Scripture: God gives the inheritance to those who will take it. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. This is not a call for thuggery, but for a robust, masculine faith that is willing to contend for the truth and build the kingdom.
Verse 2 then lists the remaining clans, descended from the sons of Manasseh. The pattern is clear: land is apportioned to tribes, which are composed of clans, which are composed of families, all traced through the male line. This is the God-ordained structure. It is patriarchal. And for this, we should offer no apology. This structure provides identity, stability, and a clear chain of covenantal succession. The question is not whether this structure is good, but how this good structure deals with hard cases.
A Righteous Complication (v. 3-4)
The hard case arrives immediately. What happens when the established pattern has a gap? What happens when a man has no sons?
"However, Zelophehad... had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah." (Joshua 17:3 LSB)
Under a rigid, pagan form of patriarchy, this would be the end of the line. The family name would be extinguished, and the property would be absorbed by others. But this is not a pagan system. Notice that these women are not anonymous. They are named. They are individuals with standing in the covenant community. Their father's lineage is meticulously recorded, showing that he was a legitimate heir.
And what do these women do? They do not stage a protest. They do not demand a revolution. They do not argue that the system is oppressive. They make a formal, legal appeal to the highest authorities in the land: Eleazar the priest, Joshua the commander-in-chief, and the leaders of the tribes.
"And they came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders, saying, 'Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.'" (Joshua 17:4 LSB)
This is the crucial point. Their entire case rests on two words: "Yahweh commanded." They are not appealing to their feelings, or to a nebulous concept of fairness, or to their own felt needs. They are appealing to the revealed Word of God. They are reminding the magistrates of a prior ruling, a precedent established by God Himself through Moses back in Numbers 27. There, God had declared that if a man died with no sons, his inheritance should pass to his daughters, so that his name would not be cut off from Israel.
This is Sola Scriptura in action. These women knew the law better than the men in charge, or at least were more zealous to see it applied. They were courageous. They were articulate. And they were profoundly respectful of the established authority. They came before the leaders, not against them. They were calling the leadership to be faithful to the standard that God had placed over all of them, leaders included. This is the model for all Christian engagement with the civil magistrate. We do not appeal to the shifting sands of public opinion, but to the immovable rock of God's Word.
The Authority of the Word (v. 5-6)
The response of the leadership is as instructive as the appeal of the women.
"So according to the word of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers." (Joshua 17:4 LSB)
Joshua did not form a committee. He did not take a poll. He heard the appeal, recognized it as grounded in God's explicit command, and he obeyed. "According to the word of Yahweh." That settles it. A righteous ruler is not one who imposes his own will, but one who submits himself and his people to the law of God. Joshua's authority was derived from his submission to a higher authority.
The result is a just and elegant solution. The text notes that ten portions fell to this part of Manasseh. The five male-led clans got five portions, and the family of Zelophehad, represented by his five daughters, received one portion, which they would share. Justice was done. The family line was preserved. The law was upheld. The inheritance was secured.
"...because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons." (Joshua 17:6 LSB)
This is not feminism. Feminism seeks to tear down the patriarchal structure. These women flourished by appealing to the righteousness within that structure. This is not chauvinism. Chauvinism would have dismissed them and stolen their father's land. This is biblical justice, where roles and structures are clear, and where those structures are designed to protect the vulnerable and ensure that no one is erased from the covenant family. God's law is more just than man's rebellion, and more compassionate than man's hard-hearted traditions.
Our Great Inheritance
This whole account of dividing the land is a picture, a type, of a greater reality. The inheritance in Canaan was a tangible sign of God's faithfulness, but it was also a shadow of the true inheritance to come.
Who are we in this story? We are the unexpected heirs. In Adam, our line was cut off. We were spiritual Zelophehads, with no sons, no future, and no claim to the inheritance. We were Gentiles, "excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). We had no standing. We had no right to appeal.
But then something remarkable happened. Like the daughters of Zelophehad, we have been given standing. Not because of our own merit, but because of a command from the Father. God the Father commanded that an inheritance be given to those who were joined to His Son. Our appeal is not to Joshua, but to Jesus, our great high priest and king. Our argument is not that we deserve a place, but that "Yahweh commanded" that all who are in Christ would be co-heirs with Him.
"So according to the word of Yahweh," we are given an inheritance. Not a plot of land that can be lost or conquered, but "an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4). We are adopted into the family. Our names are not blotted out; they are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Therefore, we should have the same holy confidence as these daughters. We should know what God has promised us in His Word. We should approach His throne of grace with boldness, not with a spirit of timid servility or a spirit of angry rebellion, but with the confidence of sons and daughters who know their Father's will. Our inheritance is secure, not because of our strength, but because it was given "according to the word of Yahweh," and that Word is Jesus Christ Himself.