"The daughters of Zelophehad are right in their statements. You shall surely give them a hereditary possession among their father's brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them.This verse just kinda caught in my head, and I'm not quite sure why. I guess it's because God is often criticized by nonbelievers for being such a major patriarch, with little or no consideration given to women. In their eyes, God's goal is for women to be completely dominated by and subjugated to men. Maybe it's because I'm the only son of an only son, with both my parents having three sisters, but that reasoning always annoyed me.
This is not the case. This verse doesn't really tackle the supposed issue directly, but if the critics were rights, God would have just said, "No, there is no way these mere daughters should inherit their father's property. It should go to his brothers." Many good old patriarchal dynasties operate on that principle. However, God says instead that the daughters' complaint is valid, and orders that they be permitted to inherit the estate. He decrees that the women do have the same value as the sons, albeit in this fairly narrow issue. But I'll take whatever arguments I can get to show the misinformed that they are wrong.
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