Reading of the story: The Daughters of Zelophehad

Theme Discussion

Zelophehad’s daughters had an unfortunate dilemma before them when they learned that they couldn’t inherit their father’s land because they were female. They felt it was unfair for inheritance to only go to sons because it left them with no place to live or have a future. God also thought this was unfair and when the daughters brought their issue to Moses he was instructed by God that the daughters were right. God said that if there were no sons for the inheritance to go to then it may go to the daughters. When Moses heard this, he made it the new law.

In this story, God teaches us about equity which means that everyone, male or female, has every right to be treated fairly and justly according to their needs. Like in our story, the daughters needed a place to live so they were able to inherit their father’s property. The story also teaches that equity is more important than equality. Equity is when we give different people the different help they need. Equality, on the other hand, is when we give that help to everyone even if they don’t need it. We are called by God to offer equity to everyone. This is what God asks of us.

What was your favourite part of this story? Were there any parts you didn’t like?

Imagine you, like the daughters, were told you couldn’t have what you needed to have a full life when others were allowed to. How would you feel? What would you say?

Was there ever a time you saw something unfair happening and you spoke up or got involved? If there was, what happened?

Activity

For this activity you’ll need paper, something to draw with, and a sibling or adult.

For this activity you’re going to trace your feet. Each person will do one of their feet. You’ll then put the tracings beside each other and compare them. You should notice that everyone has differently sized and possibly differently shaped feet. If we were going to give people shoes would you give them all the same size? If everyone got the same size that would be equality, they would fit some people but not everyone. If everyone got a shoe their size that would be equity, everyone would have shoes that fit. This is why God teaches us that equity is more important than equality.