Disease, one of the five daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27:1-11) who had their father’s inheritance, the law of inheritance having been altered in their favour.
Mahlah
Mahlah was the first-named of five sisters whose father died in the wilderness without any sons. Standing before Moses, Eleazar and the whole congregation, they asked, “Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son?” Moses did not decide on his own; he brought their cause before the LORD. The answer was that the daughters of Zelophehad “speak right,” and they were to receive a share of the inheritance. Numbers 27 tells the whole account, and it shows a request from the least expected petitioners being heard and granted.
8 verses
Numbers
Numbers 26:33
And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
Numbers 27:1
Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
Numbers 27:2
And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
Numbers 27:3
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
Numbers 27:4
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
Numbers 27:5
And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
Numbers 27:6
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Numbers 27:7
The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
From Easton's Bible Dictionary
Matthew George Easton, 1897
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884
(disease), the eldest of the five daughters of Zelophehad the grandson of Manasseh. (Numbers 27:1-11)