The Bible is a big story—you could even say it’s the Biggest Story! And within the Biggest Story are lots of little stories. Some are famous like Noah and the flood or Moses and the Red Sea. Some are a little less famous, like the time the earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And then there are those stories that you’ve probably never heard of, but you really should know.

Here’s one of those stories.

There once was a man named Zelophehad. We don’t know what his parents had in mind when they called him Zelophehad, but they must have had a good feeling, because Zelophehad is the name they gave and the name he had.

Unfortunately, the life he had—I mean, for Zelophehad—ended before he had a chance to live all the days that others had. But the death he had was not because he had been as bad as Korah had. No, Zelophehad died all on his own, like lots of other people had.

The other sad thing about Zelophehad is to think about all the sons he never had. And since he had no sons, it wasn’t clear what would happen to the land that Zelophehad had.

Thankfully, Zelophehad had five daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they must have been pretty special, because the Bible mentions them several times. They were the sort of girls who knew how to stand up for themselves. So they went to Moses and said, “It’s not right that our father’s name and our father’s land should disappear just because he had no sons. We think daughters should get something too.”

And you know what Moses did? Well, nothing at first. He didn’t have an answer to their question. But he knew God would. So he brought their case before the Lord, and the Lord agreed with the daughters of Zelophehad. If there are no boys, the land can go to the girls. But, God said, they need to marry a man from their own people so that the land would not pass to one of the other eleven tribes.

Most people don’t know this little story in the Biggest Story. It’s kind of confusing and has a lot of strange names (including a Noah who is a girl instead of a boy!). But it’s an important story. It means God wanted the Promised Land to be fair. It means God wants to take care of boys and girls. And it means God can help us when we don’t know what to do. So next time you hear a Bible story you’ve never heard, think about the lessons you can add even from someone named Zelophehad.