The other daughters’ geological areas were recorded several centuries later, but the locations have been lost since. These Bold Girls dared to approach Moses for a change in the laws that God had given earlier. As new situations occurred, adjustments in the law were occasionally made, and this is one example. The daughters received an additional requirement: they would have to marry men from the tribe of Manasseh so that their land would stay in that clan. One may think that the privilege of males to inherit was maintained in the end anyway, but note that the names of the daughters remained with the land many centuries later, not Zelophehad’s nor the names of sons they may have had later. At the time they entered Canaan, Manasseh numbered fifty-two thousand people, so their choices of husbands was not limited! Land was actually owned by families and not individuals, and the Israelites acknowledged that ultimately all the land was God’s. As this story illustrates, the great Yahweh, the Old Testament name for God, cares for women and girls, and grants their requests, not only for them, but for all the following generations.
Imagine that the only life you have ever known is wandering in a desert. The promised new land may hold a bright future for some, but for you the prospects are empty. You must survive alone with your sisters in a strange new land and, in addition, your parents are now dead. Your future is bleak if you do not find a man to marry you. Legitimate ways to earn a living are nonexistent for a woman, and you cannot inherit property. Try to find out as many details of the daily life in the wilderness travel from the biblical text as possible, and look up information in other reference books to better understand the routes the Children of Israel may have taken.
Why is this book of the Bible called Numbers? When the Israeli spies reported that the land of Canaan was inhabited by giants, the Children of Israel were afraid to go in and conquer this land. So, a census was taken at the beginning of their wanderings to count the number of fighting men.
God took very seriously this lack of trust in his power to overcome the enemy, and he sentenced the Children of Israel to wander for forty years. All people more than twenty years old died before the end of the wandering. This story is related in Numbers 13–14.
In the story of the five sisters, the constant complaining about having to eat the same food is described in the book of Numbers. Verses 11:7–9 explain how the manna appeared, how it tasted, and how the Children of Israel could prepare it in various ways. The Children of Israel often complained about conditions in the wilderness, and some even wished to return to slavery in Egypt. I tried to re-create the harsh wilderness conditions in this story. We wonder how they could have been so shortsighted as to wish they were back in Egypt, but try to think of yourself in the same situation. We are also quick to complain sometimes!
Not only were the conditions harsh with extremes of temperature, constant lack of water, and the same food every day. Constant fighting with nations that opposed them also occurred. This story brings up many questions about war, and the rightness of killing enemies. This is very hard to sort out. Is killing, even of noncombatants, ever mandated by God? In the wilderness journey and while conquering the Promised Land, it is clearly commanded by God to destroy the enemy, but this was at a time of very special circumstances in the history of Israel.
I find the story of Balaam and Balak to be one of the most bizarre in the whole Old Testament. Ancient Middle East kings engaged in the practice of using seers and diviners for advice in military decisions. Certain prophets had a reputation for special effectiveness and were much in demand for their services. Balaam was one of a profession of diviners or prophets who could be hired by kings to determine the future or call curses or blessings on command. Apparently, they must have been successful at least some of the time. Remember that Balaam was not an exclusive worshipper of Yahweh, yet Yahweh used him in this instance to convey a message to Balak, the enemy king of Moab, and give an encouraging blessing to the Children of Israel. If it was not strange enough that God used a foreign diviner to convey words of encouragement to the Children of Israel, God uses a lowly beast of burden, a donkey, to get Balaam’s attention. Yet, the talking donkey is not the greatest miracle of the story. More fantastic was the working of the Spirit of God, who turned the words of cursing, which Balaam was being paid to pronounce, into words of blessing on the Children of Israel. By very dramatic means, Balaam was made aware that he was to speak only words of blessing and not curses onto God’s people. The words that came out of his mouth were not the words he had planned to say. God will use what and whomever he will to accomplish his purposes.
Questions for Discussion
1. Look up Joshua 16:3–6. Here is the continuation of the story of the daughters of Zelophehad. They do eventually get married and have families who continue to inhabit the lands for many generations. The villages of Hoglah and Tirzah can still be found today in Israel.
2. What is the history of the Children of Israel in Egypt? How did they get there and why are they now in the wilderness? Why did their parents die in the wilderness?
3. Why does this story follow the story of Miriam Who Negotiated? Review the story of Moses. Who was this man and how did he become the leader of the Children of Israel? Put these events on a timeline.
4. Read through the book of Numbers. How many different ways did the Children of Israel disobey God? What were the consequences of their disobedience? (Rejection of authority in Numbers 21:5, complaining Numbers 14:2.)
5. Look up Exodus 34:12–16 where God describes the separation that the Children of Israel should maintain with the other nations. What laws are included in these verses?
6. What was the Ark of the Covenant? What was its significance and why did the Israelites follow it? Look up drawings of how it may have appeared.
Related Cultural and Historical
Questions to Explore
1. Archaeological history is important to understanding the Bible. When was the Bronze Age and the Iron Age? As you read the Bold Girls stories, make a timeline to compare when each of these stories took place. The Israelites were behind their neighbors in acquiring knowledge of how to work with iron. How did that affect their way of fighting and conquering other cities?
2. Find a map of the possible routes that the Children of Israel took during the forty years of wandering. Where are the major stopping places mentioned in Numbers? (Mount Sinai at the beginning of the journey, Kadesh where Moses struck the rock for water, and the plains of Moab, where this Bold Girls story took place). Into what kind of sin did the Children of Israel fall in each location?
3. Does the symbol of a snake wrapped around a pole remind you of a modern day symbol? It also is a foreshadowing of a symbol in the New Testament. What is it? What is the prophecy of Numbers 24:17: “A star will come out of Jacob”?
4. We may read with amusement that ancient people would believe in the power of pagan soothsayers and other forms of magic, but do we do the same thing today? What about in other parts of the world? Where else in the Bible is a person who practices this craft?
5. Can you imagine spending your whole childhood on a camping trip? Do some people constantly live in a similar situation now in the twenty-first century?
Suggested Topics of Discussion for Teachers and Parents of Older Students
1. To the discussion of the various sins into which the Children of Israel fell during the wandering in the wilderness, add the falling into sexual immorality as described in Numbers 25:1–9. Why was it important for the Israelites not to be in contact with the Moabites? What were the evil practices in their worship of Baal?
2. Why did God demand destruction of the Canaanites? Leviticus 18 describes the sexual practices of the Egyptians and the Canaanites. Deuteronomy 23:17 condemns temple prostitution.
3. Discuss
