Image: Five wives of Israel’s current far right government leaders, one of them, second from right, with a visible hand gun. Jerusalem, November 2022.
Five women rise up in today’s chapter in the Book of Joshua to stand up for their rights for safety and the future of their families. Their stand is admirable but worth investigating.
What are the values that drive them? What’s at stake? Who wins and who loses at the end of the day when they are part of a zero sum game? Back then and right here and now - these are valid questions and concerns.
Reading the old book enables us to see the scope of stakes and wonder where we are and what will it take to truly work together towards intersectional equity.
The Book of Joshua, like most of the Bible, is a long game of priorities that perpetuate patriarchy - a systematic structure with clear preferences and bias. But throughout this book the pecking order is also constantly disrupted to reveal more complex social layers and realities, alliances and betrayals.
Today’s chapter spotlights five disruptors whose shared story, like that of Caleb’s daughter Achsa, hints at more nuance than the nationalistic narrative indicates.
Achsa was not the only woman to demand land rights in the new land. The five sisters who descend from Jospeh do the same. They are already familiar from previous pages. The five daughters of Tzelofchad, of the tribe of Menasshe, from Jospeh’s lineage, protested to Moses back in the Book of Wilderness, and won their case. With Divine intervention the law changes in favor of daughters’ inheritance rights and the five were promised their own territory since their father had no sons. (With a caveat - they’ll inherit land as long as they marry their own male cousins and keep it in the family.)
Many chapters and years later, here they are, still alive, reminding Joshua and Elazar the High Priest of the deal they made with Moses and Aaron. Their story seems important enough to appear three times throughout the Bible - it’ll show up one more time, with some serious differences, later on in Chronicles. It’s important not only because of the ways women did and do challenge the male-dominated patriarchal power structure - it also informs us of the authority given to households - family units often led by women - inside the larger tribal systems and larger national confederacy that Joshua tried to establish.
Although the five sisters are talking to new leaders here, their names and their claim remains the same as before:
וְלִצְלׇפְחָד֩ בֶּן־חֵ֨פֶר בֶּן־גִּלְעָ֜ד בֶּן־מָכִ֣יר בֶּן־מְנַשֶּׁ֗ה לֹא־הָ֥יוּ ל֛וֹ בָּנִ֖ים כִּ֣י אִם־בָּנ֑וֹת וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ שְׁמ֣וֹת בְּנֹתָ֔יו מַחְלָ֣ה וְנֹעָ֔ה חׇגְלָ֥ה מִלְכָּ֖ה וְתִרְצָֽה׃
וַתִּקְרַ֡בְנָה לִפְנֵי֩ אֶלְעָזָ֨ר הַכֹּהֵ֜ן וְלִפְנֵ֣י ׀ יְהוֹשֻׁ֣עַ בִּן־נ֗וּן וְלִפְנֵ֤י הַנְּשִׂיאִים֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר יְהֹוָה֙ צִוָּ֣ה אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֔ה לָתֶת־לָ֥נוּ נַחֲלָ֖ה בְּת֣וֹךְ אַחֵ֑ינוּ וַיִּתֵּ֨ן לָהֶ֜ם אֶל־פִּ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ נַחֲלָ֔ה בְּת֖וֹךְ אֲחֵ֥י אֲבִיהֶֽן׃
“Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh had no sons, but only daughters. The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
They appeared before the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the chieftains, saying: “Adonai commanded Moses to grant us land among our male kinsmen.” So, in accordance with Adonai’s instructions, they were granted land among their father’s kinsmen.”
These five sisters fight for women’s rights and tribal interests - but is there any concern for the weaker, for the victims of conquest? They, like the rest of Joshua’s people don’t really think much about the fate of the Canaanites who end up either dead, enslaved, or hostile - on their own inherited land. With so many tensions between the tribes of Israel and their territorial completion - the natives, like in so many similar painful modern narratives, become the victims, the enemy, and the lowest on the economic-social ladder.
The sisters are fighting for foothold - literally.
The repeated case comes in the context of their tribe’s attempt to establish a sufficient territory - on both sides of the Jordan river. Theirs is the only tribe to split into two - with the river separating them. The five sisters and their households end up on the Western side. But as it doesn’t seem to be big enough, the sisters' claim to land becomes part of a larger protest of a problem.
Joshua’s surprising response? Go claim new land -- cut down trees, fight the locals for land - fend for yourselves. And apparently - they do. More conquest.
What is this story really about? Why is the tribe of Menashe split into two? The division of eastern vs. western Menashaites reflects the geographical changes over time: In Numbers 26, when the sisters first protest, all of Manasseh is on the east side of the river, but by Joshua 17, the west side is conquered as well, and the families are split based on their lands. The repeat of the sisters’ claim echoes the population growth and need for expansion.
But there’s more - this narrative possibly hints at later historical realities, written into this narrative, in which the Northern Kingdom of Israel - the descendants of Joseph -- rivals the Southern kingdom of Judah - Judah’s offspring.
The tribe of Menashe’s fight for land, including the sisters belong to the north. Prof.Aaron Demsky who tries to make sense of these conflicting narratives and long list of data, genealogy and geography suggested that the reason this story shows up here again is “not a simple attempt to describe the “real” family structure of ancestors but rather an attempt to make sense of the relationships between clans in the time of a given author and/or within certain literary contexts... the story reflects a real settlement cluster in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, with clans/cities bearing the names of the sisters. Biblical, epigraphic, geographic, and archaeological data converge here, filling in many of the gaps, and giving us a picture of the Manassite settlement until the destruction of the Northern Kingdom and the exile of many of its inhabitants in the late 8th century B.C.E. These clans, and their connection with each other, were preserved in Jewish memory through the story of Zelophehad ben Hepher and his five daughters.”
The five sisters, their households, clans, and tribe complete this complicated chapter. They are armed and they are ready.
Seven more tribes await their turn to settle down next, and along with them - the tabernacle, the tent of time, moving into its next sacred site.
Ready to wrap up the journey with Joshua? Almost there.. Join me on November 21 2022, 1pm ET for a one hour Zoom conversation, exploring what we’ve discovered, what are we curious about. I'll be taking time to answer your questions - so please bring one!
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85448738911?pwd=dmRIRndNNDhjaXZsVjh5K3dSYUdLQT09
Meeting ID: 854 4873 8911
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections: Join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible, with daily reflections, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. January 2022-July 2025
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Forward this to the five pictured.