Mahlah

Biblical Account

Mahlah was a daughter of Zelophehad, a man of the tribe of Manasseh. Numbers 27:1 traces his lineage as "Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh." Zelophehad had no sons, only five daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah (Numbers 26:33).

According to Numbers 27:1-11, the five sisters stood at the door of the tent of meeting (the tent where God met with His people; the tabernacle) before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and all the congregation. They stated that their father had not been among the company of Korah but had died in the wilderness in his own sin, and that his name should not be done away from among his family because he had no son. They therefore asked to be given an inheritance (an allotted portion of land) among their father's brethren. When Moses brought their case before the LORD, the answer came that the daughters spoke rightly and that their father's inheritance was to pass to them. A general rule was then established: the inheritance of a man who died without a son was to pass to his daughter, and if he had no daughter, to his brothers.

In Numbers 36, the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead raised a concern: if the daughters married men of other tribes, the land would pass to those tribes and would not return even in the year of Jubilee. Moses commanded that the daughters marry within the families of their father's tribe, and Mahlah and her sisters married the sons of their father's brothers (Numbers 36:10-12).

Joshua 17:3-6 records that the sisters came before Eleazar and Joshua, reminded them of this command, and did in fact receive an inheritance among their father's brethren.

Significance in the Bible

The request of Mahlah and her sisters is recorded as an instance in which the regulations for dividing the land among the twelve tribes of Israel were supplemented in response to a specific case. No words or deeds are attributed to Mahlah individually; she is always mentioned together with her four sisters. The New Testament makes no reference to them.

Interpretation and Discussion

The description of Mahlah as the eldest daughter is an inference based on the fact that she is named first in all four lists of the sisters; the text does not explicitly state their birth order. In Numbers 36:11 the order of the other sisters differs from that found elsewhere, and Jewish interpretive tradition has offered various explanations for this difference.

The narrative often receives attention as a text that addresses women's inheritance in an ancient society. Some interpreters read it as an example of the recognition of women's rights, while others, pointing to the marriage restrictions in Numbers 36, emphasize that the purpose of the regulation was to preserve tribal landholdings.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the five sisters are often referred to collectively as "the daughters of Zelophehad," and sermons typically treat the sisters as a group rather than Mahlah individually. In such preaching they are sometimes presented as an example of faith that trusted God's promise and boldly made its request.

The same name also appears in 1 Chronicles 7:18, where it belongs to a different person, recorded as a son of Hammoleketh among the descendants of Manasseh.