Numbers 27:1-11: The 5 Daughters

The book of Numbers is about in-between times. The experience of waiting and the refining process of wandering is central to the book of transitions. Anthropologists talk about liminality as a way to describe living at a threshold, beyond the beginning of one’s journey, but searching for answers on where to go. The experience of wilderness and liminality can be a creative struggle if we allow God’s spirit to move us to greater depths of insight and trust. Two sins of the “Wilderness generation” were idolatry & unbelief. Yet God is committed to preparing his people to enter the Promised Land. Sandwiched between the counting of a new generation and appointing Joshua as successor to Moses, the story of five daughters helps us re-imagine God’s heart for justice and flourishing for the most vulnerable in the community of God’s people. Generally, only men are named in Scripture, yet this group of women who are unattached and facing dire poverty band together in a daring act of faith.

Numbers 27:1-11: The 5 Daughters

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by Michael S. Chen