Joshua 17:3

Zelophehad. Hepher, one of the aforementioned six sons of Gilead, had one son named Zelophehad, who died in the wilderness without any sons. Zelophehad had five daughters, however (Num. 26:33, 34; 27:1-5). The young women themselves had to be champions of their own cause before Moses so as to retain their father’s inheritance and name. The decision that Moses rendered under the direction of God was that the women should inherit their father’s inheritance on the condition that they married within their own tribe so as to keep the property in their own tribe. In point of fact, the sisters married their own cousins, and thus fulfilled the law (Num. 27:6-11; 36:10-12). This incident showed a larger regard for the rights of women than is usually conceded for that time. It established the principle that a woman was not a mere chattel, with no rights of her own. Wherever the principles of the true God have been established, there the state of womanhood has been exalted.