Audacious Dreams
As a child, my mother often encouraged me to dream. She would add, “and if you are going to dream at all, dream big.” Her guidance helped me understand that while our current reality is often limited by time, knowledge and space: possibility is infinite. Four decades later, my mother’s words still ring true in my heart, but in order for big dreams to be realized big courage and big sacrifice are required. The reality is, most dreams may not have a global scope or gain global recognition, but all dreamers can have divine impact. While our dream may not involve changing the world, if the dream helps us to be the best we can be in the world, it will have divine impact.
If we polled Americans asking them to identify someone who had a dream – many would respond with the name, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[1] I would suggest that the dreams of Rhoda Harris, my great-grandmother, Clarece Long, my grandmother, and Deborah Ellis, my mother, have had divine impact as well, even though their names are not recognizable on a global scale. If we asked Christians to name a Christian figure who had a dream, most would respond – Joseph. But Joseph was not the only descendant of Abraham who was a dreamer.
The twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Numbers (verses 1-11) refers to a group of women who had a dream. They dreamed of something they had never experienced but believed could be true for them. They recognized an injustice and refused to keep quiet and stay in their place. They were initially referred to as the daughters of Zelophehad, who was the “son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph.”[2] While many women in the Bible are not named, the writer of this narrative actually names each of these women: “The names of his daughters were- Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.”[3] At first glance, their dream might have seemed selfish or inconsequential, but it was a dream that had divine impact.
Camped by the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River at Jericho, God told Moses to take a census so that the land of Canaan could be divided and distributed by ancestral houses. Women were not included in the distribution of land, but at the conclusion of Moses’ distribution, the text tells us that daughters of Zelophehad came forward to stake their claim. They were not really invited to the party, but they showed up anyway. They not only showed up but had the audacity to speak—and at the tent of a meeting no less. The tent of meeting was the place where God dwelled,[4] where the tablets rested in the Arc of the Covenant,[5] where sacrifices were brought,[6] and where God spoke directly to Moses.[7] This was a sacred space where women had no power, position or prestige. The only other time that a woman was mentioned being present at the tent of meeting in Numbers was when Miriam was summoned by God to the tent of meeting because she and her brother Aaron were speaking negatively about Moses.[8]
In this pericope, these five sisters went to the tent of meeting seeking justice for their father and equality for themselves. They were literally taking their lives into their hands, and they were willing to die for what they believed.[9] They went before God, Moses, the priest, the elders and the assembled congregation and made their case. The text reveals these women knew their history and they knew the law. They knew that because their father died and had no sons, his daughters were excluded in the distribution of land.
I can imagine them at home having the same conversation and even asking the same question that many women in ministry ask today. Are we any less human because we are women? Are we less able to participate in God’s plans because we are daughters? So they boldly asked Moses a question: “Why should the name of our father be taken away?” Then they audaciously made a request: “Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.” Wow! These women were dreamers and walked in courage. They made this request knowing that doing so was going against their cultural norms and practices. But more than that, while it appeared as though they challenged Moses, they really challenged God. God made the law—not Moses. Moses was following the law that God established. Therefore, when these women brought their case before Moses, he took their request to God. God responded; “the daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they’re saying.”[10]
These women, overlooked and unnoticed, have their humanity validated by God’s admission that they were right. While this wasn’t the first time women were overlooked, because these women dared to audaciously dream and speak, their outcome was significantly different. God not only changed the law for them, God changed the law for future generations as well. God responded to Moses: “if a man dies and has no son, then you shall pass his inheritance to his daughter.”[11]This passage gives us hope. It demonstrates that dreamers not only have divine impact but have the capacity to impact the divine. It encourages us to keep on dreaming. The sisters’ concern was for their father’s name, but God’s response to them included future generations of women as well.[12]
When I was a child, I remember seeing my grandmother on her knees and hearing her pray, “Lord God bless my children, and bless my children’s children, and bless my children’s children’s children.” I was only four years old and my grandmother was already praying for my children. It did not make sense at the time, but now I utter that same prayer for my children – hoping and dreaming for a generation yet to be born. The fact that this chapter opens with the genealogy of these women reminds me that sometimes we must dream not only for ourselves, but for our daughters, our granddaughters, and our great-granddaughters.
These women had a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather named Joseph who was a dreamer.[13] While his dream originally led him to a pit,[14] and then to prison,[15] it ultimately led him to the palace.[16] Because Joseph didn’t give up in the pit or in prison, he eventually ended up saving his family from starvation.[17] While Joseph was not alive to see the accomplishments of his great-great-great-great-granddaughters, I believe that it was the story of Joseph, shared over four generations, that may have encouraged these women to dream big – and ultimately participate in changing God’s law.[18]
Dreams come to fruition through the majestic merger of our words and our actions. Our dreams have the capacity to change our nation and our world. Sound bites and empty rhetoric are not enough. Words and deeds must be in alignment. Perhaps in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we can dream and work for a world where health equity is a reality for all. Perhaps in the midst of racial injustice and inequality, we can dream and work for a world where justice for all can be realized. That’s why the world needs more dreamers—women and men who are not afraid to make the necessary sacrifices in order for a new reality to be birthed. I pray that the courage of Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah inspires us all to dream wildly, speak boldly, and live authentically.
[1] https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf, July 10, 2020.
[2] Num. 27:1
[3] Num. 27:2
[4] Ex .25:8
[5] Ex. 34:1
[6] Ex. 40:6
[7] Ex. 33:9
[8] Num. 12:4
[9] Num. 18:22
[10] Num. 27:7
[11] Num. 27:8
[12] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-daughters-of-zelophehad-power-and-uniqueness/, July 15, 2020.
[13] Gen. 37:5-11
[14] Gen. 37:24
[15] Gen. 39:20
[16] Gen. 41:14
[17] Gen. 47:12
[18] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2259008/jewish/The-Daughters-of-Zelophehad.htm, July 10, 2020.
