Wifey Wednesdays

Hello and welcome to Wifey Wednesdays, a podcast for women who are seeking to be the best wives they can be. I’m your host, Emily Hatfield and this is the show where the plan is always to do things God’s way, especially our marriages.

Today’s episode is yet another episode that is going to combine people together, but they have the same story. And, instead of just two sisters, we are going to be looking at five! We will be referring to them as the daughters of Zelophehad, because it would be long and quite tongue twisting to continually say Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. So, the daughters of Zelophehad it is. And these are single women whose father died in the wilderness all the way back in the book of Numbers. Here is what they tell Moses and Eleazar the priest:
Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons.
4 Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.”

So here are women whose father is not going to receive the promised inheritance because he didn’t have sons. Moses brings the case before the Lord and God tells him - give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers. Verse 11 of numbers 27 goes on to say, “And if his father has no brothers, you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsmen of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and a rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Because these women bravely stand up for what is rightfully theirs under this patriarchal system - we now have the set up for another very famous kinsmen redeemer situation — Boaz and Ruth, which we know is in lineage of Christ. Combining these concepts helps me to see all the more clearly how much God loves and cares for all people — maybe especially those on the fringe.

These women really shouldn’t have received anything. Obviously that’s not fair, but that’s the system. But, being willing to stand up and say - should our father miss out, even though he wasn’t one of the ones whose sins should exclude him from an inheritance in the promised land? This took courage and bravery and, a view of God that was 100% accurate. God is just. God is not going to punish people without cause or being unfair. He cannot do something sinful. He is not an overlooking God. No, he is the God Who Sees. And these daughters of Zelophehad show me that they had faith in the character of God.

There are plenty of women out there who take feminism too far. I am not a man and I don’t want to be, nor do I want to be treated just like one. Equal rights doesn’t mean everyone is treated exactly the same, after all, but equality is something that should be modeled after who God is — just and fair and concerned with those whose power might be stripped from them or used against them. God is a God who protects the vulnerable. It is why we can be women who support the suffragists - who wanted women to be able to vote. We can support women getting equal pay for equal work. We can applaud anyone and everyone who might argue for the fair and just treatment of other human beings. No one should be treated in an unfair way because of the gender they were born or the color of their skin. How God perfectly and wonderfully made us in our mothers’ womb is a beautiful thing to be celebrated. And it seems these daughters are doing exactly that. They aren’t ashamed to be women, but they also aren’t silenced into this position that puts their father’s lineage in the dumpster. They don’t want to be men, but they also don’t want to have their father’s line cut off because they respect him.

I know it can be a fine line, but we cannot be women who don’t celebrate other women just like we can’t be women who wish they were men. We must be women who first and foremost champion God — who He is and what He values. And when we are busy doing that, we will be people who love what God loves, which is everybody. We will love treating people the way God does, which is with justice and protection and love and mercy and grace.

Think about Peter’s realization with Cornelius - God is no respecter of persons. His salvation is free to all. His inheritance is open to all. Think about Paul’s proclamation in Galatians 3 - there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ.

God’s character does not change. And at the heart of the law that the daughters of Zelophehad had expanded is this very character of God — He loves all and cherishes all. He is a great protector. He is a redeemer — just as this new law opens the door for Boaz to be for Ruth. God’s heart has always been on display in His laws — taking care of the sojourner and vulnerable. And God’s heart is on display in the care of these daughters.

I love that we have this account recorded for us. I love that we can see that it’s ok to stand up for our rights. It’s ok to speak up when a law is unjust or unfair. And there’s a way to do to it — not stomping and screaming and acting disrespectfully, but appealing to the character of God for being treated with kindness and equality.

Ultimately, though, other people don’t always have to bend to our requests — and in a fallen world, they won’t. The government of any nation isn’t God’s inspired government like ancient Israel was. And so they will get it wrong. And they will mistreat. And if that happens, we can count it all joy that we are able to experience yet another thing that our Savior experienced — unjust treatment and suffering. Had He demanded His rights instead of going to the cross, we would all be hopelessly lost. So this kind of feels like a win-win for me. I never want people to be mistreated, and as far as it depends on me, I will try not to mistreat others. But if we are mistreated, we can rejoice that our Lord endured worse suffering and worse mistreatment.

Well, that’s gonna do it for today’s episode of Wifey Wednesdays. I hope you’ll join me as we continue throughout this season looking at powerful women in Scripture, who, ultimately, serve the most powerful God — the God who loves and saves and empowers.

Thanks again for listening, and until next time remember - love God, love your husband.