The request in 27:4 was made by five females. The females signify the weaker ones. In the sight of God, we all are females. This means that in ourselves we all are the weaker ones, even the weakest ones. Only Christ is the strong One.
Spiritually speaking, in the entire universe there is only one male—God embodied in Christ. Christ, therefore, is the unique Husband. All the believers, including the brothers, are females. In God's creation I am a male, but in God's new creation I am a female. The five daughters of Zelophehad typify us, and their request is for us all.
The daughters of Zelophehad had the desire to possess their father's inheritance. In typology, this signifies having regard for the inheritance—grace—given by God; it signifies the desire to inherit God's grace, to inherit Christ as the grace given to us by God. We all need to learn to make this kind of request. The desire to possess Christ as our enjoyment is marvelous, and it is pleasing to God.
Apparently the daughters of Zelophehad were requesting something for themselves. (God is not pleased with a request that is for ourselves.) Actually, they were requesting something for the sake of their father, who had daughters but no sons (v. 4a). In the law there was a statute which said that if a married man died without a male heir, his inheritance with his wife was to go to his brother, who, with the wife, was to beget a son for the first brother. A son born of the first brother's wife through the second brother was to bear the name not of the second brother but of the first, so that the name of the first brother would remain among the people of God. In this way there would be a descendant for the remembrance of the first brother. The concern of the daughters of Zelophehad was that their father's name would be taken away from his family and that his inheritance would go to someone outside his family. They wanted their father's inheritance to go to someone born for him that his name may be remembered among his tribe. Their request, therefore, was not for themselves but for their father. Making a request based on life, they wanted the name of their father to be remembered.
This kind of request is pleasing to God. He does not want any of His children to be without a descendant. Rather, He wants His children to remain in the history of His people. If one of His people does not have a descendant, He likes to find a way to provide a descendant for him so that he will be remembered in the history of His people.