Calduch-Benages

Maier
1.3 The Writings and Later Wisdom Books Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
This volume in the Bible and Women series covers the third part of the Hebrew
canon (Writings) and two deuterocanonical wisdom books: Ben Sira, the Greek
translation of a Hebrew collection of sayings; and the Wisdom of Solomon.
Several contributors trace the living conditions of women in Persian and
Hellenistic times, while others examine the Israelite wisdom tradition with
regard to its numerous female characters, among them Lady Wisdom and the biblia y mujeres
“strange” woman, the mother of the king and the “strong” woman, as well as the bible and women
“good” and “bad” wife. Essays discover female voices and experiences in Psalms, bibbi a e d onne
Lamentations, and the Song of Songs and connect motifs and metaphors of the bibel und frauen

Writings to ancient Near Eastern iconographical traditions. Finally, the stories

Later Wisdom Books

The Writings and
of Ruth, Esther, and Susannah are interpreted with a focus on their female
protagonists, who embody wisdom and strength in situations of conflict and
therefore may serve as role models of virtue and faith. The Writings and
Later Wisdom Books
Christl M. Maier, Professor of Old Testament, University of Marburg,
Germany.
Nuria Calduch-Benages, Professor of Old Testament and Biblical
Anthropology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy.

The Bible and Women:

An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History
Edited by Christiana de Groot, Irmtraud Fischer, Mercedes Navarro Puerto,
and Adriana Valerio
The collaborative, international multivolume project The Bible and Women presents
a reception history of the Bible and its cultural history, focusing on gender-related
biblical themes, female biblical characters, and the women who throughout history
have read, appropriated, and interpreted the Bible in text and image. Male and
female, Jewish, Christian, and secular scholars elaborate this interdisciplinary work,
bringing theological, archaeological, iconographic, art historical, philosophical,
literary, and social-historical gender studies into conversation. The encyclopedia is
published in German, English, Italian, and Spanish.

Cover detail from Damascus Keter. Photo by Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures.com. Design by Kathie Klein. Edited by
Christl M. Maier and
1.3 Nuria Calduch-Benages

SBL PRESS The Bible and Women: An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History
The Writings and Later Wisdom Books
 The Bible and Women
An Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural History

Edited by Christiana de Groot, Irmtraud Fischer,

Mercedes Navarro Puerto, and Adriana Valerio

The Bible and Women

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Volume 1.3: The Writings and Later Wisdom Books
 The Writings and
Later Wisdom Books

Edited by
Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages

SBL Press
Atlanta
 Copyright © 2014 by SBL Press

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit-
ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission
should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, SBL Press, 825 Hous-
ton Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Escritos y otros libros sapienciales. English.

The Writings and later Wisdom books / edited by Christl M. Maier and Núria
Calduch-Benages.
pages cm. — (The Bible and women: an encyclopaedia of exegesis and cultural
history ; no. 1.3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62837-057-7 (paper binding : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-62837-058-4
(electronic format) — ISBN 978-1-62837-059-1 (hardcover binding : alk. paper)
1. Women in the Bible. 2. Women in Judaism. 3. Bible. Hagiographa—Criticism,
interpretation, etc. I. Maier, Christl M., editor. II. Calduch-Benages, Núria, editor. III.
Society of Biblical Literature.
BS575.E8613 2014
223'.06082—dc23 2014036283

Printed on acid-free, recycled paper conforming to

ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994
standards for paper permanence.
 Contents

Abbreviations..........................................................................................................vii

Introduction
Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages................................................. 1

Part 1: Tracing the Living Conditions of Women

The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi..................................................................................11

Female Names and Gender Perspectives in Chronicles

Sara Japhet.....................................................................................................33

Part 2: “Good” and “Bad” Women? Images of

Women in Israel’s Wisdom Tradition

Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology

Gerlinde Baumann.........................................................................................57

Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job: The Emergence of Cultural
Stereotypes
Christl M. Maier............................................................................................77

Between Misogyny and Valorization: Perspectives on Women in Qoheleth

Vittoria D’Alario. ...........................................................................................93

Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira: A Harmless Classification?
Nuria Calduch-Benages...............................................................................109
vi contents

Part 3: Women’s Voices and Female Metaphors in Poetic Texts

Ancient Near Eastern Pictures as Keys to Biblical Metaphors

Silvia Schroer. ..............................................................................................129

Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter

Donatella Scaiola.........................................................................................165

On Gendering Laments: A Gender-Oriented Reading of the Old Testament

Psalms of Lament
Ulrike Bail....................................................................................................179

Lamentations and Gender in Biblical Cultural Context

Nancy C. Lee................................................................................................197

Shulammite: The Woman “at Peace” in the Song of Songs

Gianni Barbiero. ..........................................................................................215

Part 4: Ambivalent Role Models: Women in Narrative Texts

Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories

Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno....................................................................237

Interpreting Esther: Categories, Contexts, and Creative Ambiguities

Susan Niditch...............................................................................................255

Susanna, Example of Virtue and Daniel’s Female Counterpart

Isabel Gómez-Acebo.....................................................................................275

Bibliography. ......................................................................................................289
Contributors.......................................................................................................317
Index of Ancient Sources. ..................................................................................323
 Abbreviations

AB Anchor Bible
ADAJ Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
AnBib Analecta biblica
AOTC Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BBB Bonner biblische Beiträge
BBET Beiträge zur biblischen Exegese und Theologie
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
Bib Biblica
BibInt Biblical Interpretation
BibIntS Biblical Interpretation Series
BibOr Biblica et orientalia
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
BK Bibel und Kirche
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar Altes Testament
BN Biblische Notizen
BThS Biblisch-theologische Studien
BVC Bible et vie chrétienne
BZ Biblische Zeitschrift
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CurBS Currents in Research: Biblical Studies
DBSup Dictionnaire de la Bible: Supplément. Edited by Louis Pirot and
André Robert. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1928–.
EgT Eglise et théologie
ErIs Eretz Israel
ExpTim Expository Times
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FCB Feminist Companion to the Bible

-vii-
viii abbreviations

FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
HBS Herders Biblische Studien
HKAT Handkommentar zum Alten Testament
HTR Harvard Theological Review
ICC International Critical Commentary
IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preach-
ing
ITC International Theological Commentary
JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JANES Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Studies
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JBQ Jewish Bible Quarterly
JHNES Johns Hopkins Near Eastern Studies
JSJSup Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Per-
sian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series
KAT Kommentar zum Alten Testament
KHC Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LD Lectio divina
LHBOTS Library of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
NCB New Century Bible
NEchtB Neue Echter Bibel
NovTSup Novum Testamentum Supplements
NRTh La nouvelle revue théologique
NTOA Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus
OBO Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis
OIP Oriental Institute Publications
OLA Orientalia lovaniensia analecta
OTG Old Testament Guides
OTL Old Testament Library
OtSt Oudtestamentische Studiën
QD Quaestiones disputatae
RIBLA Revista de interpretación bíblica latino-americana
RivB Rivista biblica italiana
RivBSup Supplements to Rivista biblica italiana
SubBi Subsidia biblica
RTL Revue théologique de Louvain
 abbreviations ix

RStB Ricerche storico bibliche

SBAB Stuttgarter biblische Aufsatzbände
SBS Stuttgarter Bibelstudien
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
SemeiaSt Semeia Studies
SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series
SOTSMS Society for Old Testament Studies Monograph Series
SUNT Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments
TD Theology Digest
TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G.
Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by
David E. Green. 15 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974–2006.
TLOT Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by Ernst Jenni
and Claus Westermann. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. 3 vols.
Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997.
TP Theologie und Philosophie
TUAT Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments. Edited by Otto
Kaiser et al. 3 vols. Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 1982–2002; new
edition, 2004–.
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testa-
ment
WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament
ZAH Zeitschrift für Althebräistik
ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
ZBK Zürcher Bibelkommentare Altes Testament
ZTK Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche
 Introduction
Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages

This volume belongs to the ambitious international project of an encyclo-

paedia of exegesis and cultural history named “The Bible and Women.” The
project seeks to provide an ecumenical, gender-sensitive interpretation and
reception history of the Bible, with a focus on European theological research
and Western religious history.1
When we undertook the task of editing one volume on the Hebrew Bible
in the framework of this encyclopaedia, we embraced the idea as promis-
ing and trendsetting. Within the course of the work, however, we gradually
became aware of the challenge of collecting texts of authors from four lin-
guistic domains that simultaneously reflect different traditions of exegesis and
various scholarly contexts. We are pleased that biblical scholars from five dif-
ferent European countries, Israel, and the United States have contributed to
this volume. Each of them is a well-known expert in her or his field of study
in their respective linguistic domain. As their essays were originally written
in English, German, Italian, or Spanish, they represent diverse social con-
texts, which differ in terms of gender relations and gender theories, as well as
diverse religious affiliations.

1. The Scope and Structure of the Volume

The essays presented in this volume cover the third part of the Hebrew Bible
canon, the so-called Writings (Ketuvim in Hebrew), plus some later wisdom
traditions in the books Ben Sira and Wisdom (Sapientia Salomonis). The bib-
lical wisdom tradition that forms an integral part of the ancient Near East-

1. For the scope, hermeneutics, and goals of the project, see the introduction in volume
1.1, Torah (ed. Irmtraud Fischer and Mercedes Navarro Puerto, with Andrea Taschl-Erber;
Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 1–30. A shorter form is also available on the
project’s website at: http://www.bibleandwomen.org/EN/descripcion.php.

-1-
2 Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages

ern tradition produced a coherent stream of texts throughout the first mil-
lennium BCE and into the Christian era. This coherence was disturbed by
the decision to include only the books of Proverbs, Job, and Qohelet into the
Hebrew canon. Ben Sira—long known as the Greek translation of a Hebrew
original that could be fragmentarily recovered only in modern times—and
the originally Greek book of Wisdom belong to the canon of the Greek trans-
lation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, and therefore may also be treated
in volume 3.1 of this project (Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha). We included
in this volume Nuria Calduch-Benages’s essay on “good” and “bad” wives in
Ben Sira because this wisdom book reiterates the cultural stereotypes that
emerge in Proverbs and presents them to a Jewish-Hellenistic audience. With
regard to gendered images of both the divine and humanity, the interpre-
tation of personified wisdom, which first appeared in Prov 1–9, would be
incomplete without considering its development in the later wisdom tradi-
tion. This connection is demonstrated in Gerlinde Baumann’s article on the
wisdom figure and in a passage of Silvia Schroer’s essay on iconic traditions
behind Lady Wisdom.
Due to its formation in the second century BCE, the prophetic book of
Daniel was not integrated into the canon as part of the Prophets but ended
up in the Writings. For Daniel, we asked Isabel Gómez-Acebo to include the
Greek expansions on Susanna in order to demonstrate the first step of the
book’s reception history, which introduces a female protagonist and, thus,
gender issues. These threads of wisdom tradition motivated us to deal with
the sapiential writings despite their separation within the Jewish and Chris-
tian canon.2
The essays of this volume are gathered under four headings. The first
group of articles traces the living conditions of women, either through a socio-
historical reconstruction of Jewish life in Persian-period Judah or through an
analysis of family and clan relations in postexilic genealogies.
The next set of essays treats the Israelite wisdom tradition with its numer-
ous female figures: Lady Wisdom and the “strange” woman, the king’s mother
and the strong woman, the “good” and the “bad” wife. All four articles not
only underline the highly judgmental presentation of women and their roles
in wisdom but also discuss their societal function and demonstrate that some
texts are not as androcentric as commonly assumed.
The third part of the volume assembles articles about women and gender
relations in single books, some poetic and others prose. They aim either at

2. For the original plan to divide the volumes with regard to the canons, see Fischer,
Navarro Puerto, and Taschl-Erber, Torah, 11–21.
 Introduction 3

reconstructing women’s experience and contexts of living or at unfolding the

meaning of female metaphors. For instance, Psalms and Lamentations mostly
talk implicitly or generally about women. Their gendered images, however,
contribute to the metaphors used for God as well as to the metaphor of the
community as a female body.
The essays of part 4 explore narratives about great female protagonists,
such as Ruth, Esther, and Susanna, who prove their wit and strength in situa-
tions of conflict. While some essays interpret these protagonists as examples
of virtue and faith, they also demonstrate that these female figures may be
ambivalent role models for contemporary female readers.

2. Contents and Genres of the Writings

With regard to contents, literary style, and genre, the Writings assemble very
different texts, which may be variously classified. Some offer poetry, such as
the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and Qohelet,
to which Job may be added despite its short narrative frame. Proverbs, Job,
and Qohelet (with Ben Sira and Wisdom) clearly belong to the wisdom tradi-
tion and thus have a didactic purpose. Psalms, Song of Songs, and Lamenta-
tions provide prayers, songs, and liturgical texts, albeit of very different tone
and contents. Ruth, Esther, and Dan 1–6 contain narratives of brave women
and men in Diaspora who, despite adverse conditions, succeed through faith
and righteousness. Daniel 7–12 holds prophetic visions, which in symbolic
camouflage announce the forcible end of subsequent Greek and Hellenistic
rulers. Ezra-Nehemiah is a historiographical narrative about the rebuilding
of Jerusalem and the reestablishment of a Judean community after the exile.
Chronicles replicates the history of the Judean kingdom from a postexilic per-
spective starting with nine chapters of the genealogies of “all Israel.”
Regarding this collection of rather diverse texts, most of which were writ-
ten or edited in the Persian and early Hellenistic period, it is obvious that they
present vastly different gender relations. Yet all texts are clearly products of
a patriarchal society in which a person is first determined by social status,
that is, as free person or slave, then by social class, and within the same class
by gender, age, and other factors.3 While the biblical texts mirror this pyra-
mid of social hierarchy called patriarchy, some of them also represent voices
of the marginalized or criticize hegemonic discourses of power. Due to this
intriguing feature of the biblical texts—the inclusion of a variety of voices and

3. See Fischer, Navarro Puerto, and Taschl-Erber, Torah, 9–10.

4 Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages

perspectives—many different interpretations may emerge depending on the

hermeneutic position of the interpreter.
The Writings that form the third part of the Hebrew Bible canon were
produced in Jerusalem and its environs from the fifth to the beginning of the
second century BCE, a period of political and economic crises, in which dif-
ferent empires dominated Judah. Therefore, most of their authors may not
have known each other and did not communicate their views to one another.
Since their texts have been assembled in the same corpus, however, their dif-
fering views on women and gender issues may now be perceived as a written
discourse on gender hierarchy, societal values, and power relations. In relating
each book to a specific date and location, which may be more or less evident,
modern Bible scholars may detect some development of views and arguments,
or seemingly persistent ideas. Evidently, the Writings, with their numerous
strong female figures, offer modern readers a fascinating tapestry of women’s
lives and roles as perceived by ancient authors.

3. The Range of Approaches to the Texts

The attentive reader of this volume will realize that the articles differ in the
methodology they bring to the biblical texts. Therefore, we asked each author
to briefly introduce her or his hermeneutics and approach at the beginning of
the essay.
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi aims at reconstructing the lives of women in the
postexilic era through biblical and extrabiblical sources, introducing readers
to the economic and social situation in Persian-period Yehud, the formative
period for some of the Writings. Sara Japhet’s treatment of Chronicles as a
history of Israel that is based on previous accounts in Samuel and Kings as
well as on local Judean traditions of the early Hellenistic period demon­
strates how a historiographical narrative is shaped by the interests of its
authors. She reads the bone-dry genealogies of Chronicles, which modern
recipients often intentionally ignore, as a countervoice to the strong rejec-
tion of marriages with foreign women advocated in Ezra-Nehemiah and
Prov 1–9.
The articles about the wisdom tradition focus on the portrayal of female
characters with a critical eye on the ideologies these characterizations pro-
mote. From a gender-sensitive perspective, such characterization of women
and their roles in society is neither neutral nor merely descriptive, but often
prescriptive by offering role models for ancient readers, both men and women.
As Gerlinde Baumann elaborates, the figure of personified wisdom enriches
the imagery of the divine, yet was also used to promote a certain ethics and
behavior in leading circles of the Persian and Hellenistic period.
 Introduction 5

In contrast, the cultural stereotypes of the “strange” and the “strong”

woman in Proverbs and the “good” and “bad” wives in Ben Sira generated
role models for women in a patriarchal society and an upper-class milieu.
Christl Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages discuss both the benefits and the
risks of such stereotyping. Similarly, Vittoria D’Alario interprets notions about
women in Qohelet as alternating between misogyny and appreciation. She
also demonstrates how wisdom texts that have long been named “misogynist”
may offer astonishing insights into the authority and power of women.
In keeping with the other volumes on the Hebrew Bible canon, Silvia
Schroer examines relations between texts and iconographic traditions that
result from a common cultural set of motifs. The ancient Near Eastern images
of creation and world order as well as gods and goddesses presented on arti-
facts of Syrian-Palestinian art provide a fuller understanding of many of the
metaphors in poetic texts like Psalms, Song of Songs, and Proverbs.
Where dating is impossible on account of a long tradition history of single
texts, such as the book of Psalms, Donatella Scaiola focuses on emblematic
feminine symbols like the mother metaphor, which adds to the imagery of
both the divine and the holy city of Jerusalem. Ulrike Bail and Nancy Lee use
the method of gendering voices in the text, proposed by Athalya Brenner and
Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, to interpret various songs of lament. By point-
ing to intertextual links between Ps 55 and the story of Tamar (2 Sam 13), Bail
is able to read a lament psalm as a prayer that encourages victims of sexual
violence to voice their grief. In Lamentations, Lee detects a strong female
voice that takes the lead in expressing complaint about God’s violent punish-
ing. This voice, she argues, represents the experience of women and may even
belong to a female composer. In reading the female protagonist of the Song of
Songs through the lens of the wisdom tradition in Gen 2–3, Gianni Barbiero
argues that the empowerment of Shulammite does not contradict a fulfilling
love attachment.
The articles on female protagonists in narrative texts analyze their char-
acterization with regard to explicit or implicit gender hierarchies and to
women’s options for finding their place in a patriarchal world. Miren Junkal
Guevara Llaguno interprets Ruth and Naomi as women who reclaim their
life and memory to become a source of empowerment for female readers in
their struggle for life. Susan Niditch discusses a range of feminist readings
of the Esther figure and demonstrates that the expectation and worldview
of the interpreter is key to Esther’s reception. By revealing the subtleties of
the biblical character, the interpreters demonstrate that their diverse readings
of Esther are based on rather ambivalent images of women. Isabel Gómez-
Acebo interprets the figure of Susanna, whose story has been added to the
original text, as a female counterpart to Daniel. Susanna’s struggle against
6 Christl M. Maier and Nuria Calduch-Benages

gender hierarchies gives way to the idea that a people’s liberation can only be
completed if both men and women fight for it.
The essays of this volume do not offer exhaustive or exclusive interpre-
tations of the Writings. Their common characteristic is to focus on gender
issues, power relations, and ideologies within the texts and in current inter-
pretations. The latter belong to the texts’ reception history in Western aca-
demic circles, which until recently have been dominated by male scholars and
therefore often prolonged the inherited androcentric tradition. Most of the
articles do not deal explicitly with the reception history of the Hebrew writ-
ings, but many do offer a critique of incomplete or gender-biased interpreta-
tions by either arguing against standardized exegesis or by carving out coun-
tertraditions that lead to new, gender-sensitive readings of these texts.
The translation of German, Italian, and Spanish contributions into Eng-
lish is a complex task insofar as scholarship differs in the respective linguistic
domains, especially with regard to the interpretation of single biblical books as
well as to feminist issues. We tried to translate the essays into comprehensible
English and in some instances included footnotes that indicate which transla-
tions of the Bible have been used. Through more detailed biographical notes
on our authors, we try to illuminate these different traditions of research.

4. Acknowledgments

The research colloquium held in Marburg in July of 2011, in which most of

the authors submitted their first theses to a critical discussion, was generously
sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The department of
Protestant Theology at the University of Marburg supported the colloquium
by providing rooms, administrative support, and student assistants. We thank
both institutions for fostering our research. For their assistance in organizing
the colloquium, we thank Mareike Schmied, Andrea Schönfeld de Weigel, and
Maurice Meschonat.
In 2011, our project was awarded the Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz
Prize, named after the German church historian Leonore Siegele-Wenschke-
witz (1944–99). With this award, the Verein zur Förderung Feministischer
Theologie in Forschung und Lehre e. V., the Protestant Church of Hesse and
Nassau, and the Protestant Academy Arnoldshain honor studies or projects
that promote feminist theology or gender studies in theological contexts. We
are grateful for this endorsement of our work and have spent the award money
on the translation of some essays.
We especially thank our esteemed authors for their willingness to con-
tribute to this volume, their cooperation in the colloquium, their open-mind-
edness to all our requests regarding their articles, and their patience to wait
 Introduction 7

for publication in four different languages. We greatly appreciate the work

of our translators, some of whom were so generous as to dedicate their skills
without compensation. Our thanks also go to Spencer Kasko, student at Yale
University Divinity School, who reviewed the English essays, and Miriam
Tabea Kraaz, who helped with the editing of the final manuscript in Marburg.
We are very grateful to the project’s main editors for entrusting us with
the edition of this volume and for supporting our work in every step of the
process. Finally, we thank the Society of Biblical Literature for their coopera-
tion in bringing this book into print.

Marburg and Rome, April 2014

 Part 1
Tracing the Living Conditions of Women
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era
Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

A major interpreter of life in the fourth century BCE describes the household
as primarily a productive economic unit, with the woman in charge of turning
raw material into foodstuff and textile into other goods. The wife’s successful
management determines the well-being of the household.

A wife who is a good partner in the estate carries as much weight as her
husband in attaining prosperity. Property generally comes into the house
through the exertions of the husband but it is mostly dispensed through
the housekeeping of the wife. If these activities are performed well, estates
increase, but if they are managed poorly, estates diminish. (Xenophon, Oeco-
nomicus 3.14–15)1

These words do not come from a twenty-first-century feminist scholar (though

they could) but from Xenophon, writing in the fourth century BCE. His book
Oeconomicus describes in detail the running of the household as the backbone
of Greek society. Xenophon devotes half of the book to the wife and her roles.
Such extensive information about the household and its management, with
its division of labor, is unique. Also uniquely, the author constructs a dia-
logue between a husband and wife, giving the unnamed wife an opportunity
to speak about herself and her wishes.
In Xenophon’s account, the wife in an affluent agricultural household
had full administrative and other authority for what transpired indoors. Her
work and her husband’s were viewed as interdependent. Her economic, emo-
tional, and physical contribution was recognized as equal to her husband’s,
both partners potentially endowed with the same spiritual and moral virtues.
The success of the household depended on the mutual contributions of both
spouses. If the wife’s skills and education came to surpass the husband’s, he

1. Sarah B. Pomeroy, Xenophon, Oeconomicus: A Social and Historical Commentary

with a New English Translation (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 121.

-11-
12 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

readily transferred the greater authority and responsibility to her.2 However,

Xenophon also makes it clear that the wife he describes did not originally
possess any of these requisite skills but was trained by her husband when, at
fifteen, she married. Her sole qualifications when she first married were weav-
ing and the ability to control her appetite.
Although Xenophon describes an Athenian household at the outskirts of
Athens, several factors make his book relevant for information about women
in postexilic/Persian-period Judah. First, Xenophon gives us a firsthand
description of someone’s reflection about the lives of women, dated to the
period under study, namely, the Persian period. Second, the agrarian world
he depicts resembles that of Judah in terms of geography and climate, and
produces some of the same crops (grapevines, olive trees, date palms). Third,
his description also corresponds to what modern scholars construe on other
grounds for women in antiquity; for example, the tasks Xenophon assigns to
the woman correspond to much in Carol Meyers’s “Archaeology—A Window
to the Lives of Israelite Women.”3 These also conform to what Hennie Mars-
man depicts in her study of Israel and its surrounding cultures.4 Fourth, this
description in Xenophon largely corresponds also to that of the “woman of
valor” in Prov 31:10–31, the most extensive biblical description of an ideal
wife, her duties, abilities, and worth.
These various parallels between Xenophon and Proverbs are just some of
the hints of common features in perceptions about women in the contempo-
raneous ancient world. They suggest that exploring such contemporaneous
sources can help shed light on women’s lives in the postexilic period and on
interpreting their representations in the Bible. When handled critically and
with care, the numerous and diverse sources from classical Greece and other
neighboring cultures enable scholars to hypothesize about possible similari-
ties or developments, and fill in gaps in the biblical sources.
For this reason I will first (1) briefly describe the postexilic period, and
then (2) review representative extrabiblical sources (from Greece, Egypt, and

2. See Ibid., 143.

3. See Carol Meyers, “Archaeology—A Window to the Lives of Israelite Women,” in
Torah (ed. Irmtraud Fischer et al.; The Bible and Women: An Encyclopaedia of Exege-
sis and Cultural History 1.1; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 19–21. See also
Meyers, “Grinding to a Halt: Gender and the Changing Technology of Flour Production in
Roman Galilee,” in Engendering Social Dynamics: The Archaeology of Maintenance Activi-
ties (ed. Sandra Montón-Subías and Margarita Sánchez-Romero; BAR International Series
1862; Oxford: Archeopress, 2008), 65–74.
4. Hennie J. Marsman, Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position
in the Context of the Ancient Near East (Leiden: Brill, 2003).
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 13

Mesopotamia) in order to envision wider cultural trends in the postexilic/

Persian period. Finally (3), I will place within these contexts the contribu-
tion of the biblical sources in order to understand the lives of women in the
postexilic period.

1. The Postexilic/Persian Period (Sixth–Fourth Century BCE)

Reckonings of the postexilic period usually begin in 539/538 BCE, which coin-
cides with the emergence of the Persian Empire that dominated the ancient
Near East until 333 BCE. According to the Bible and archaeology, Judah was
devastated in 587/586 BCE by the Babylonians. Jerusalem and its temple were
destroyed, and important segments of the population were deported (in 597
and 587 BCE and after). Recent archaeological studies suggest that the popu-
lation in Judah was reduced to 20 percent or at most 30 percent of its former
size.5
Ezra-Nehemiah is the only biblical narrative that explicitly depicts
postexilic Judah. According to Ezra-Nehemiah, Judah was repatriated during
the Persian period. The returnees came in three major waves: the first rein-
stated the cult and rebuilt the temple (Ezra 1–6); the second, guided by the
priest and scribe Ezra, reformed the community by prohibiting marriage with
“foreign” women (Ezra 7–10); the third, guided by Nehemiah the governor,
rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls (Neh 1–7). In mid-fifth century BCE, when the resto-
ration was complete, the community rededicated itself, vowing to abide by the
teachings of the Torah and demonstrating its allegiance (Neh 8–13).
The census list in Ezra-Nehemiah records that over 42,000 returned from
exile to Judah (Ezra 2/Neh 7). When the number for the named groups of men
are added, the “men” tally at about 30,000, which implies that the list includes
some 10,000 women (or women and children). This ratio between women and
men is credible in light of general information about other voluntary migra-
tions in which men, especially young and unmarried, more often undertake
arduous transplanting.
However, the reliability of the list(s) is highly contested. The sum total for
repatriates conflicts with archaeological data. Excavations show no evidence
of a sudden influx of such proportion; furthermore, excavations indicate that
Judah remained poor and sparsely populated throughout the Persian period.
Some scholars therefore suppose that the list is a compilation of several stages

5. Avraham Faust, “Settlement Dynamics and Demographic Fluctuations in Judah

from the Late Iron Age to the Hellenistic Period and the Archaeology of Persian Period
Yehud,” in A Time of Change: Judah and Its Neighbours in the Persian and Early Hellenistic
Periods (ed. Yigal Levin; New York: T&T Clark, 2007), 23–51.
14 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

of return, spanning the whole period and/or an expanded census list of the
cumulative record of the entire Jewish community in Judah over decades.
Nevertheless, the overall picture of several returns and some serious recon-
struction in the fifth century BCE is credible, even if the numbers are heavily
inflated. Judah/Yehud did recover and became more developed by the begin-
ning of the Hellenistic period. The fifth century is a likely time for immigra-
tion in light of other developments in the region, such as increased commerce
on the coast and the end of the Persian wars with Greece (dated to the Peace
of Kallias in 449 BCE).
According to Ezra-Nehemiah, Babylonian Jews and the empire helped
subsidize the reconstruction. But Judah remained unquestionably very poor.
Archaeologists conclude that of the 108 newly established sites, 49 were small,
less than 5 dunams (1.25 acres). Significantly, 372 sites were not resettled in
the Persian period and 27 never again.6
Yet some texts point to some level of affluence among a few. The items for
the temple and the priests suggest that this class of cult professionals was well
supported. Ezra-Nehemiah includes among the returning exiles 7,337 slaves
(Ezra 2:65//Neh 7:67) and 200 male and female singers (Ezra 2:65//Neh 7:67).
Although the number of slaves is proportionately small, it bespeaks a class
with means, as does the presence of singers (Qoh 2:8 also mentions female
singers, where they are acquired for pleasure by the speaker, who claims to
be exceedingly wealthy). Nehemiah, the Jewish governor, claims to pay from
his own (not communal) resources for regularly hosting over 150 people at
his table (Neh 5:17). Perhaps the strongest evidence is Neh 5, where poor
Judeans7 (men and their wives) complain that their land, homes, and children
are seized by their more affluent compatriots, with their daughters especially
vulnerable (Neh 5:1–13).
All sources thus concur that postexilic Judah was small, struggling to sur-
vive economically, and rebuilding its identity as a minority group in a multi-

6. Thirteen sites were of 6–10 dunams; 13 were of 11–20 dunams; 18 were larger than
20 dunams. For another 15, no size is given; see Diana Edelman, The Origins of the Second
Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem (London: Equinox, 2005),
59. These recent studies effectively contradict the claims of scholars who in the 1990s pro-
moted the view that most of the territory of Judah and Benjamin outside of Jerusalem was
only little affected by the Babylonian conquest and destruction. See, e.g., Hans M. Barstad,
“After ‘the Myth of the Empty Land’: Major Challenges in the Study of Neo Babylonian
Judah,” and Bustenay Oded, “Where Is ‘The Myth of the Empty Land’ to Be Found?—Myth
versus History,” both in Judah and the Judeans in the Neo Babylonian Period (ed. Oded Lip-
schits et al.; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 3–20, and 55–74, respectively.
7. It is customary now to refer to the inhabitants of Judah/Yehud in the Persian period
as “Judahites.” I use “Judean” because it is the term more familiar to the general reader.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 15

ethnic milieu. Avraham Faust depicts it as a “post collapse society,” a techni-

cal term for a society that has undergone traumatic destruction and seeks to
restore an infrastructure. Biblical sources reflect a debate about the new way
forward as a colonized people. This includes a debate about criteria for mem-
bership, prompted by the loss of earlier established markers.8
According to Ezra-Nehemiah, women were an important component of
the community. Their presence is acknowledged in every stage of reconstruc-
tion; however, they are not typically named, and their most prominent role in
Ezra-Nehemiah is as “foreign wives” who are deemed a threat.

2. Extrabiblical Sources

While most biblical texts for the postexilic period focus on events in the prov-
ince of Judah, Jewish postexilic communities coexisted in Diaspora, and kept
their ties to Judah. Diaspora communities reflect a modicum of affluence and
stability among these transplanted Judeans. In the Bible, the book of Esther
depicts life in Persia itself. But the extrabiblical evidence is found primarily in
two major Jewish Diaspora centers in the Persian period: the archives from
Elephantine, Egypt, and documents from different communities in Babylonia.
Other valuable information about women’s lives comes from classical Greece,
where diverse sources are more abundant. Although Greek sources do not
specifically pertain to Jewish women, they augment our understanding of
how women in the Persian period (in a neighboring culture) were perceived
socially, legally, and economically. These multiple sources serve as a backdrop
to the sparser sources from the Bible and the archaeology of Judah.

2.1. Women in Classical Greek Sources

As Sarah Pomeroy observes, Xenophon “is the first Greek author to give full
recognition to the use-value of women’s work, and to understand that domes-
tic labour has economic value even if it lacks exchange value.”9 And yet, Xeno-
phon’s praise of the wife’s worth is not typical of Xenophon’s society and is
probably not typical of biblical society. We learn elsewhere from Xenophon
that most Greeks denigrate manual work that can be performed by women
and slaves, having leisure as their ideal. This attitude may also represent a
biblical view, at least in some circles. For this reason, we must guard against

8. See Faust, “Settlement Dynamics,” 43–46.

9. Pomeroy, Xenophon, Oeconomicus, 59.
16 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

equating productivity with prestige, against supposing that the importance of

women’s work generated widespread appreciation for women.

2.1.1. Women in Athenian Sources from the Persian Period

A fourth-century BCE text describes women’s roles in Athens this way: “cour-
tesans [ἑταίραι] we keep for pleasure, concubines [παλλακαί] for our daily
attendance upon our person, but wives for the procreation of legitimate chil-
dren and to be the faithful guardians of our households.”10 How, then, does
Xenophon’s depiction of the happy couple, cited on the first page of this arti-
cle, match what other sources disclose about Athenian women in the classical
period? The Athenian οίκος, home, was—as Xenophon depicts it—a produc-
tion unit. It could include an extended family with several adult sons and their
own spouses and offspring, as well as parents and unmarried daughters. It
would also include slaves and possibly concubines. In all this the Athenian
household parallels the biblical household, the ‫בית‬.
Similarities are less certain in regard to women’s legal status, marriage
practices, inheritance laws, and the like. According to Athenian laws, women
were not independent persons. A woman’s father or husband was her κύριος,
legal “lord” and master. A woman’s marriage was arranged by her male relative
and comprised two stages: the contract between the males and the actual mar-
riage, γάμος, when the bride physically joined the groom’s home. Her dowry,
which was an optional gift by her father to the couple, however, was returned
in the case of divorce or the husband’s death. Divorcing a wife was easy: the
man simply sent her away and returned the dowry.11 Divorcing a husband
was more difficult. Although a woman could do so, she had to appear before
an official and provide a document in order to get a divorce. Her dowry had
to be returned in this case as well; it went to the original giver (her father or
brother). It is not clear whether her husband could block the divorce.12
A childless widow had to return (with her dowry) to her father’s house. If
with children, she could remain in the husband’s household. This was the only
situation in which a woman had a choice. A widow or divorcée could remarry,

10. Pseudo-Demosthenes, Against Neaera 122 (fourth century BCE; cited in Mary R.
Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, Women’s Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Trans-
lation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 82.
11. See Douglas M. MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1978), 87.
12. Ibid., 88.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 17

with her original κύριος making the arrangement. Her husband “on his death-
bed or in his will could give his widow, with dowry, to a new husband.”13
Athenian laws carefully delineated the transmission of property through
the male line. A widow did not inherit her husband’s property. It went instead
to their children or to the husband’s siblings. When a man died without a son
or grandson, his daughter was provided with a male kin who was to marry her
and produce children who inherit.

2.1.2. The Gortyn Code (Fifth Century BCE)

The extensive Gortyn Code from Crete is one of the most complete law codes
from the fifth century BCE. Its laws are primarily family laws, regulating
issues of marriage, inheritance, adoption, rape, and adultery. These laws sug-
gest that women enjoyed a relatively high position in Gortyn when compared
with Athens,14 with parity between women and men in certain areas. Women,
like men, could own property, retain it in marriage, and dispose of it at will.
Both spouses were equally entitled to usufruct. Widows inherited on par with
male kin. Daughters inherited alongside sons. However, a son inherited two
portions of parental property and a daughter only one. Witnessing of legal
arrangements required free men as witnesses, not women. Marriages were
arranged by male relatives (VIII.20–22) and male witnesses (VI.1–2). Women
could initiate divorce and take what they brought into the house—a cer-
tain amount of money as well if the man was the cause of the divorce.15 But,
whereas what a man added to the household remained his, the woman could
take away only half of what she had added to the household.
The laws of Gortyn assume legal social stratification, with free citizens as
the aristocracy that controls the three governing bodies.16 The other groups
were the ἀρεταίροι, that is, free persons excluded from political rights, serfs,
and slaves. Tribes were still important, especially in the case of an heiress
(she was expected to marry within the tribe). A woman’s status was either her
own—if the man joined her household—or the husband’s—if she joined his
(VII.1–10, 15).

13. Ibid., 89, citing Demosthenes 27.5, 45.28 (see 266n189).

14. Ronald F. Willetts, The Law Code of Gortyn, Edited with Introduction, Translation
and a Commentary (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1967), 25. In what follows, in-text references are to
the column and line number(s) of the Gortyn Code.
15. Ibid., 29.
16. These bodies are the κόσμος/κόσμοι, the Council of Elders, and the Assembly, the
latter with limited power, mentioned only once in the code in relation to adoption.
18 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

Ronald Willetts, who has translated and commented extensively on the

laws of Gortyn, observes that some of the stringent measures imposed on vio-
lators of these laws imply that “abuses against women’s rights of tenure must
have been markedly on the increase.”17

2.2. Babylonian/Mesopotamian Sources

Babylonian sources for this period include the Murashu banking records
from Nippur18 and archives and marriage contracts from the Egibi family.19
Additional information comes from the recently studied documents from
or associated with al-Yahudu, a town in Babylonia named, presumably, after
the original homeland of its chief inhabitants, namely, Judean exiles. Some of
the names in these documents are of Jewish origin and more visibly indicate
thereby exiled Judeans who live in Babylonia.
In her detailed examination of the material, Christine Roy Yoder docu-
ments some of the ways that women in Mesopotamia played various roles in
the economy.20 She notes that the sources depict women as household man-
agers, some of whom “manufactured textiles, traded in the marketplaces, and
might own properties”; nonroyal women “engaged in a wide range of skilled
and unskilled professions in numbers equivalent or greater than men.”21 The
Murashu banking records and other Mesopotamian documents demonstrate
that women were able to conduct their husband’s business affairs, such as dis-
tributing and receiving payments.22 They also initiated business transactions,
making and taking loans, managing property, and accruing interests. They
were also parties in the sale and purchase of slaves and land.23

17. Willetts, The Law Code of Gortyn, 21.

18. See the Murashu tablets published by Matthew W. Stolper, Entrepreneurs and the
Empire: The Murašû Archive, the Murašû Firm, and Persian Rule in Babylonia (Leiden: Ned-
erlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1985).
19. See especially Martha T. Roth, “The Dowries of the Women of the Itti-Marduk-
Balatu Family,” JAOS 111 (1991): 19–37.
20. Christine R. Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socio-economic Reading
of Proverbs 1–9 and 31:10–31 (BZAW 304; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001).
21. Ibid., 71.
22. Ibid., 59–60, 66.
23. Ibid., 59–60, 66–67. Transactions by royal women appear in Veysel Donbaz and
Matthew W. Stolper, Istanbul Murašû Texts (Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeolo-
gisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1997), e.g., 114 [no. 44] and CBS 5199, cited by Yoder, Wisdom,
66. Nonroyal women’s transactions are documented, e.g., in Nbn 741 and Camb 279, cited
by Yoder, Wisdom, 60. For a fuller account, see Yoder, Wisdom, 58–68.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 19

Of special interest are marriage contracts and dowry accounts. Although

the vast majority of them record transactions between men, in which the bride
is spoken of but not herself a legal partner, a few of these show that women were
legal persons entitled to give and receive property and also to bequeath it. One
document from the Egibi family archives records that a woman bequeathed
property to her granddaughter as part of a dowry arrangement. In a docu-
ment from al-Yahudu, the bride’s mother is named as the person from whom
the groom requests the daughter in marriage. This mother is also the recipient
of some silver in this process.24 The presence of the bride’s brother, who is
recorded in the document, indicates that the mother is not the only surviv-
ing family member and underscores the authority that the mother possesses.
Although not typical of the contracts, since most of the others are between
men, such examples establish that a woman could constitute a legal partner
in a legal transaction in Babylonia. The Egibi family archives also show that
a woman could receive property from her father as well as her husband. The
dowries of the affluent brides in this archive usually include two to ten slaves,
as well as silver.

2.3. The Jewish Community in Elephantine, Egypt

The over one hundred Elephantine papyri from fifth-century BCE Egypt
provide the most extensive information about Jewish women’s lives in the
Persian period. They come from a garrison of Judeans who lived with Egyp-
tian neighbors and were serving the Persian king. The archives trace via legal
transactions the lives of several women and show that women could marry
and divorce as they wished, on equal footing with men. They could own and
dispose property independently, even when married, and could bequeath
it equally to their male and female offspring. The documents indicate great
mobility across class, ethnicity, and religious boundaries. Tapmut was an
Egyptian slave woman who married a Judean man (K 2).25 Twenty-two years
later she was granted her freedom (K 5). But fifteen years after their marriage,
Anani, her husband, transferred half of his house to her (K 4), with the entire
house to be hers upon his death. They both bequeathed it to their children, to
be divided equally between their son and daughter, Yehoshima. Although she

24. Moussaiff tablet, translated and analyzed by Kathleen Abraham, “West Semitic
and Judean Brides in Cuneiform Sources from the Sixth Century B.C.E. New Evidence
from a Marriage Contract from al-Yahudu,” AfO 51 (2005–6): 198–219.
25. Emil G. Kraeling, ed., The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri: New Documents of
the Fifth Century B.C. from the Jewish Colony at Elephantine (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1953). Since Kraeling numbered the documents, they are referred to as K 1, K 2, etc.
20 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

began as a slave, Tapmut later held a position comparable to her husband’s in

the local Jewish temple to the God Yahu, presumably a Yahwistic temple (K
12:1).26
Another woman, Mibtahiah, was initially married to a Judean man. Her
father granted her property upon marriage, specifying that it must remain
hers, not her husband’s (C 7);27 her husband apparently died before they had
children. Mibtahiah then married an Egyptian architect/builder and became
his business partner. They subsequently divorced amicably and divided their
many possessions, at which point she married his Egyptian partner, who later
took a Hebrew name (a sign of officially becoming a Jew?), and with whom
she bore children who were given Yahwistic names.
The marriage contracts of all the women—the earliest extant Jewish mar-
riage contracts so far—specify that either spouse can initiate a “no-fault”
divorce, each taking back what he or she brought to the marriage. The initiat-
ing spouse pays a designated “divorce money” (K 12; K 7). The ‫( מהר‬mohar),
that is, the gift by the groom to the bride or her family, is not returned to the
groom in either case (K 7). The wife inherits her husband’s property upon
his death if there are no children (K 7). These marriage contracts are con-
strued as an agreement between men—the groom with the father or master of
the bride. However, other documents, such as loans or deeds of conveyance,
list the woman as an actual contractual partner (C 8; C 10; K 10). Although
women are sometimes parties to the contract, the witnesses are invariably
men. Women are also active contributors to the local Jewish temple. About
half of the 103 persons who are mentioned in one document as contributors
of money or gifts of monetary value to the temple are women (C 22).
The marriage documents list the woman’s belongings and give us a sense
of a “trousseau”: the affluent daughter of Tapmut, Yehoshima, in 420 BCE,
brought with her several garments of linen and wool, silver objects includ-
ing utensils, a mirror, olive oil, and balsam oil, some light furniture as well as
“cash” (K 7). Her mother brought to the marriage in 449 BCE only one wool
garment, some balsam ointment, a mirror, and a few shekels (K 2). Yehoshi-
ma’s wealth came to her from her father and indicates that her mother, the
former slave Tapmut, married a prosperous man.
More can be garnered from these documents, but for our purpose it
suffices to say that this community displays legal parity in the postexilic/
Persian period between Jewish women and men. Importantly, women were

26. The term for the office, ‫ לחן‬for him, ‫ לחנה‬for her, is not fully understood. A later
meaning of the term suggests something related to music or chanting.
27. Arthur E. Cowley, ed., Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (Oxford: Claren-
don, 1923). These documents are named C 1, C 2, etc.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 21

economically protected in marriage and in divorce. Although not as fre-

quently represented in extant documents, we see throughout that women
controlled their resources and were able to engage in commerce, buy and sell
property, and undertake loans. In this way community, ethnic, religious, and
social boundaries were permeable.

2.4. Conclusions Regarding Women’s Status and Legal Position

The preponderance of evidence suggests that the disenfranchisement of

women in Athens is an exception to the more widespread position of limited
but definite legal rights for women in terms of marriage, divorce, property,
and inheritance. The practices in contemporaneous Jewish communities such
as those in al-Yahudu and Elephantine are especially suggestive. The biblical
evidence implies a similar situation when we look at the book of Ruth or Prov-
erbs. In Ruth 4 we learn that Naomi is disposing of family land and that Ruth
is likewise entitled to it. Proverbs 31:14 and 17 likewise claim that the woman
is able to negotiate commercial transaction on behalf of the household.

3. Postexilic/Persian Period Biblical Sources

Three sources unambiguously pertain to the postexilic period: Ezra-Nehe-

miah, Esther, and Proverbs. Evidence from Ruth is more difficult to assess
because the book depicts an earlier era, even though it most likely emerges
from the postexilic period.

3.1. Women in Ezra-Nehemiah

Ezra-Nehemiah includes women at key points, although—with one excep-

tion—it never mentions their names.28 The most important texts are those
“covenantal” texts that describe the public reading and the pledge to uphold
the Torah. Whereas Moses’ instructions in Exod 19:15 (“do not go near a
woman”) have rendered women’s presence at the Sinai revelation somewhat
ambiguous,29 Neh 8 specifies twice that women were present at the formal
postexilic public reading and accepting of the Torah (8:2–3). This event,

28. For an overview on feminist research, see Christiane Karrer-Grube, “Ezra and
Nehemiah: The Return of the Others,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of
Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff
and Marie-Theres Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 192–206.
29. See the discussion by Elaine Goodfriend, “Yitro,” in The Torah: A Women’s Com-
mentary (ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss; New York: UTJ, 2008), 407.
22 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

sometimes reckoned as a “second Sinai”30 with enduring consequences, marks

the sustained transformation of the Judeans into “the people of the Book.” It
records the presence of women as recognized, active partners in the formally
constituted community.
Women are also integral to the communal pledge in Neh 10:1–29. We
read about the vow of “the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gate-
keepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who separated themselves
from the peoples of the lands to [follow] the Torah of God, their wives, sons
and daughters, all who know enough to understand, join with their noble
brothers, and take an oath with sanctions to follow the Torah of God” (Neh
10:29–30). Other texts attest to the perceived power of women and their influ-
ence. Of special interest is the female prophet Noadiah, who appears as an
opponent of Nehemiah. Nehemiah singles her out for curses, along with his
chief adversaries—the governor of Samaria and the high official Tobiah: “O
my God, remember against Tobiah and Sanballat these deeds of theirs, and
against Noadiah the prophetess, and against the other prophets that they
wished to intimidate me!” (Neh 6:14). In placing Noadiah on par with other
leaders, Nehemiah’s denunciation indicates that her position carried weight.
Nehemiah does not deny her authority as prophet. Unfortunately, we know
nothing further about her.
The crisis of the so-called foreign wives highlights most vividly the
importance of women and their influence, even if in terms of the danger they
might pose. According to Ezra 9:1–2, returning exiles, especially their leaders,
have married women from among “the people[s] of the land.” Ezra 9 likens
the activities of these women to those of the Canaanite nations that Israel was
commanded to shun and even destroy upon entering the land centuries ear-
lier (see, e.g., Deut 7:1–6; 23:4–7).
It is not clear whether the opposed women in Ezra 9–10 actually belong
to other ethnicities (Moabites, etc.) or merely are charged with being like
them (Ezra 9:1–2); in other words, are they in fact foreign or only deemed
that way because they belong to Israelite or Judean groups that did not go
into exile or do not share the ethos of those responsible for Ezra-Nehemiah?
Either way, the crisis Ezra 9–10 depicts is based on the assumption that
women whose religious practices do not conform to the current standards
of Ezra-Nehemiah should be expelled. The intermarrying men—not the
women—are the targeted offenders, with the greatest opposition directed

30. See Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, “Ezra-Nehemiah,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary
(ed. Carol A. Newsom et al.; 3rd ed.; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2012), 192–200,
here 199.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 23

against priests, who, according to Lev 21, are prohibited from marrying for-
eign women. Ezra 10 records that the priests promise to send their foreign
wives away (10:19), whereas the fate of the other wives is not mentioned in
Ezra-Nehemiah.31
Foreign wives are opposed by Nehemiah as well. He writes: “Also at
that time, I saw that Jews had married Ashdodite, Ammonite, and Moabite
women; a good number of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and
the language of those various peoples, and did not know how to speak Judean”
(Neh 13:23–24 NJPS). Nehemiah soon declares that foreign wives caused even
King Solomon (centuries earlier) to sin (13:26), and subsequently expels the
priest who married a woman from Samaria.
Although the situations in Ezra 9–10 and Neh 13 are markedly differ-
ent, they contribute some important insights into the status of women in
the household and the community. Class and economic issues seem to be
at work since upper-class Judeans are marrying upper-class members of the
surrounding nations, perhaps, like Solomon, for the purpose of cementing
political and economic alliances. The clear message in Ezra-Nehemiah is that
from here onward exogamous marriages, that is, marriages with outsiders, are
forbidden. They threaten the cohesion of the community and undermine its
devotion to God.
Certain conclusions regarding women can be drawn: First, women
appear to be loyal to their own traditions. They perpetuate their own cultural
and religious practices rather than adapt to those of their husbands. Second,
women are influential. Their commitment to their own culture and religion
is so definitive that they and their offspring must be excised when there are
differences with the man’s. This issue seems to be of greater concern in the
postexilic era—as well as in contemporaneous Athens, where a similar law
was enacted in 451—perhaps because citizens now play a greater role in the
community’s religious and political life. Such circumstances, in which families
often determine policies, disclose a greater concern with shared norms than is
required when binding authority is imposed by a monarch from above. Third,
women are not automatically absorbed into the religious and cultural life of
their husbands. They are expected to retain their traditions. Fourth, the chil-
dren go with the mothers. Even if it may not be correct to speak here about
examples of matrilineal descent, this indivisible bond granted mother and
child is noteworthy. Fathers do not retain custody of the children. Although

31. Ezra 10:44 is ambiguous; most English-language translations insert a verse from
1 Esdras, which specifies that these women were expelled, but this is not found in the
Hebrew Bible. The number of men who intermarried is about 110, with seventeen belong-
ing to cultic officials.
24 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

some modern interpreters express an understandable dismay over the deci-

sion to expel children, separating the children from their mother would have
justified a louder outcry. Finally, although women are present among those
supporting the decision (Ezra 10:1), the “foreign” women themselves are not
addressed and they do not voice their position.
Membership in the postexilic community seems to have been a highly
contested issue in the postexilic community, when earlier identity markers,
such as birthplace, no longer applied in the same way and when the fledgling
community was small and a minority in Judah, and even more so in Diaspora.
Isaiah 56:3–8 is one of several postexilic texts that respond to the challenge,
taking a different position from Ezra-Nehemiah, by welcoming foreigners.
The book of Ruth describes how a Moabite woman enters the Judean house-
hold—despite the prohibition in Deut 23:4–7 and the objections in Ezra-
Nehemiah—becoming the ancestress of Israel’s most celebrated king, David.

3.2. Women in the Book of Ruth

As if a response to the exclusion of foreign women in Ezra-Nehemiah, the

book of Ruth illustrates how a Moabite woman is welcomed into the com-
munity in Judah and becomes the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king.
Moreover, whereas women are silent in Ezra-Nehemiah, they are the eloquent
protagonists in Ruth. Although situated at the time of the Judges (eleventh
century BCE), the book of Ruth most likely was written in the postexilic era
and represents a different answer from Ezra-Nehemiah as to whether a for-
eign woman may join the community.32
No biblical book concentrates on women and their lives more than
the book of Ruth. Yet, while the book extols the determination of Ruth the
Moabite and celebrates her and Naomi’s resourcefulness, it also illustrates
the limits of women’s capacity to succeed without reliance on male author-
ity. It thereby shows a world in which women can initiate actions but one in
which official decisions are conferred or confirmed by men. Ruth preserves
the typical pattern in the ancient world in which women can exercise power
to achieve their goals but must also recruit men to their cause because men
have the requisite authority.33

32. See Frederick Bush, Ruth/Esther (WBC 9; Waco, Tex.: Word, 1996), 18–30; Tamara
Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Ruth (JPS Bible Commentaries; Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society, 2011), xvi–xix.
33. For another interpretation of the story of Ruth and Naomi, see the essay by Miren
Junkal Guevara Llaguno in this volume.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 25

Carol Meyers highlights the presence of a community of women in Ruth.34

The women of Bethlehem surround Naomi when she arrives there (1:19).
They reappear at the end (4:13–14) and define the meaning of the story with
“a child is born to Naomi,” who is to care for her in old age (4:14–15), and they
also name that child (4:17). Yet one is also struck by the prior isolation of Ruth
and Naomi, who are widows and probably poor: In the many months between
the arrival in chapter 1 and the birth in chapter 4, Ruth and Naomi are home
alone, except when Ruth is in the field, working close to Boaz’s “girls,” with
whom there is no recorded interaction. The picture offered by the book is one
in which absence of support is striking. This comports well with the hard-
ships that widows experience in the rest of the Bible (see, e.g., the widow in
2 Kgs 4:1), and with the castigations in prophetic literature on account of the
oppression of widows.
A couple of additional insights can be gleaned: first, that “girls” work in
the field, gathering grain—an occupation also familiar from Egyptian paint-
ings; second, that women in Ruth’s position were likely to be harassed if they
were not in the company of other women, because they were either foreign or
poor (see Ruth 2:16, 22).
In terms of legal rights, Ruth 4 indicates that a woman could inherit famil-
ial property, either as usufruct or as outright possession. This follows from the
fact that Naomi’s husband’s land does not revert to the nearest male kin but,
rather, remains under Naomi’s control (4:3). The fact that Boaz negotiates on
behalf of Naomi and Ruth leaves unsettled the issue as to their legal or official
capacity to undertake transactions. We cannot tell whether Boaz acts on the
women’s behalf because they are disqualified or because he gallantly spares
them the arduous task.
An unusual reference to the mother’s house in Ruth 1:8 most likely refers
to the mother’s jurisdiction as the context wherein a widow may find tem-
porary respite while waiting to find a husband. This mention contrasts with
the expectation that widows will return to their father’s house elsewhere in
biblical texts (e.g., Gen 38:11; Lev 22:13). As Carol Meyers observes, the term
highlights women’s role in “effecting nuptial agreements,” which involve “per-
spicacity and diplomacy.”35 Meyers concludes that “in the survival of ‘mother’s

34. See Carol Meyers, “‘Women in the Neighborhood’ (Ruth 4.17): Informal Female
Networks in Ancient Israel,” in Ruth and Esther (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 2/3; Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic, 1999), 110–127; Meyers, “Returning Home: Ruth 1:8 and the Gender-
ing of the Book of Ruth,” in A Feminist Companion to Ruth (ed. Athalya Brenner; Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic, 1993), 85–114.
35. Carol Meyers, “ ‘To Her Mother’s House’: Considering a Counterpart to the
Israelite Bet ab,” in The Bible and the Politics of Exegesis: Essays in Honor of Norman K.
26 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

house’ as a counterpart to the usual term for family household as the fun-
damental unit of society, the wisdom and power of women in ancient Israel
become fleetingly visible.”36
Women in Ruth are deemed the pivot on which historical developments
swing.37 The Davidic genealogy at the end of the book (4:18–22) links the
past (with Tamar’s son Perez in 4:18, but also earlier with Tamar; see 4:12,
where Tamar is named) and the national future. The names in the conclud-
ing genealogy are all of men. But the story’s elaborate depiction of women’s
roles, and the naming of Tamar, Ruth, and Naomi as progenitors (see 4:12–
13, 17) also illustrates how this male genealogy, like all genealogies, is the
work of women, in this case resourceful and courageous women. Granting
such credit to women is particularly perceptible in Persian-period biblical
texts and suggests a more overt recognition of women’s place in the culture
and its literary works.
Orit Avnery sheds a certain light on the phenomenon by suggesting that
Ruth and Esther are a literary attempt to cope with the existential realities of
the Jewish community in the Persian period. Specifically, their stories focus
on marginalization of an “other” who needs access to power—a position akin
to that of the Jewish community under Persian imperial rule.38 She points out
that women are the best protagonists for the exploration because women are
simultaneously “other” (brought from outside into the family) and, insofar as
they stand for the “home,” are also “insiders.”

3.3. Women in the Book of Esther

The book of Esther focuses on Jewish life in Diaspora during the Persian
period. Like the book of Ruth, it places a woman at the forefront and illus-
trates her capacity to exert power, this time in the highest echelons of society.
As a story of an exceptional woman in an exceptional situation (a queen in
Persia), it offers but little evidence concerning the lives of ordinary women.
Still, its very presence in the Bible sheds light on perceptions about women in
the postexilic/Persian period.39

Gottwald on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday (ed. David Jobling et al.; Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1991),
39–51, here 50.
36. Ibid., 51.
37. See Orit Avnery, “The Threefold Cord: Interrelations between the Books of Samuel,
Ruth and Esther” [Hebrew] (Ph.D. diss., Bar Ilan University, 2011), 105.
38. Ibid., 1–13.
39. For another interpretation of the book of Esther, see the essay of Susan Niditch in
this volume.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 27

The book of Esther is more fiction than history and concerns a royal
woman whose life in the court does not represent the common experience of
women. Probably the most important information about women that Esther
offers is its claim that women can exercise power in the political arena: Vashti’s
refusal to obey the king launches a national crisis for the crown, and Esther’s
tact and daring determine policies that rescue her people. Although Esther has
no authority in the court and must achieve her goals by coaxing her man, she
exercises authority in the Jewish community from which the book emerges.
This phenomenon is itself a cultural statement about women in the postexilic
era, even if the reality of women’s lives differs. Thus, at the book’s end, we learn
that a woman’s official letter has an authoritative role in Jewish life. Regardless
of any historical accuracy, the story confirms and establishes Esther’s instruc-
tions as binding on all generations.

Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with the Jew Mordecai, gave full
written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were
sent wishing peace and security to all the Jews, to the one hundred twenty-
seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, and giving orders that these
days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as the Jew
Mordecai and Queen Esther enjoined on the Jews, just as they had laid down
for themselves and for their descendants regulations concerning their fasts
and their lamentations. The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices
of Purim, and it was recorded in writing. (Esth 9:29–32 NRSV)

The Hebrew verb translated in 9:29 as “gave full written authority” is feminine
singular, unambiguously showing that Esther is the author of the letter. The
point is made again in the last verse of this passage. As scholars note, there are
clear signs that Mordecai’s name was inserted at a later point.40 Earlier layers
of the text assert more clearly the singularity of Esther’s role. But enough is
preserved in the canonized version to show that an author articulated and a
Jewish community accepted Esther’s instructions as perpetually binding.
Along with this astounding affirmation, one also discerns most women’s
helplessness. Young women are rounded up at the king’s whim and sent to his
bed, whether willing or not (2:1–8). Esther herself risks death by approach-
ing him unbidden (4:10–17). In addition, as a queen, Esther is confined to
the palace, interacting even with her relative via an intermediary. Such is the
portrait of a most privileged woman’s life in the book of Esther. These details

40. See, e.g., David J. A. Clines, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerd-
mans, 1984), 331.
28 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

reflect circumscribed lives for women even as the book highlights the extraor-
dinary achievements of one extraordinary young woman.

3.4. Women in Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is considered an “instruction manual” aiming to edu-

cate elite men. It depicts women as a major force to be reckoned with. Good
women determine a man’s fate as successful and happy; “evil” women lead
to his destruction. The latter constitute a perennial temptation for the young
men whom the author of Proverbs addresses.41
The book is framed with messages concerning women. The last chapter
begins with the instructions of King Lemuel’s mother (31:1–9); it is followed
by the lengthy acrostic poem of praise about “the capable wife” (Prov 31:10–
31), which ends the book. The poem is the most explicit biblical text depict-
ing the roles and responsibilities of a woman. Beginning with “A capable wife
who can find? She is far more precious than jewels” (31:10 NRSV), it presents
the household as an economic center for the production and dissemination
of food and clothing, with the woman in full charge. The Hebrew is some-
times rendered as “a woman of valor,” a translation that catches the sense of
power embedded in the Hebrew, where the word ‫“( חיל‬strength”) describes
the woman, a term elsewhere possessing military or other forms of power.
Her tireless activities benefit her family and beyond. She controls the purse
from which charity is bestowed upon the poor. The household is ‫ביתה‬, “her
household” or “her house,” her ‫( בית‬31:15, 21).
The poem specifies a number of things, almost all of them consistent with
how Xenophon describes women’s household activities and what scholars
such as Carol Meyers have concluded on the basis of other sources such as
material culture/archaeology for the Judean highland. In Proverbs, the wife
is personally in charge of providing food for the household (31:15), and buys
and plants fields and vineyards (31:16). She acquires flax and wool (31:13) and
weaves both clothes and textile furnishing for the household (31:18, 21–22),
as well as textiles that she sells for profit (31:24). She manages the (female)
staff well (31:15) and is generous to the poor. She is a good administrator
(31:27), whose virtues and skills secure the well-being of her entire family,
bringing profit (31:21). The family’s wealth is due to her, not her husband’s,
diligence. The focus throughout is on her competence as an administrator,
much in the manner we find in Xenophon.

41. For an interpretation of the stereotypes of the “good” and “evil” woman in Prov-
erbs see the essay by Christl M. Maier in this volume.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 29

Interestingly, although we learn that she is a mother—her children praise

her according to 31:28—nothing further is said about child care in this con-
cluding poem. Thus Prov 31:10–31 does not mention the activities that most
intensely would have occupied a woman’s life, namely, giving birth and rear-
ing children. Nonetheless, Proverbs elsewhere articulates the importance of
maternal teaching in the socialization and education of the children (1:8;
6:20). In addition, we get a hint about a woman’s intimate bond with her
child when King Lemuel’s mother addresses the king as “My son … son of
my womb … son of my vows!” (31:2) before imparting teachings that include
warnings about dangerous women.
Proverbs contrasts the wife, depicted as a deer (5:19)—a gentle creature,
always able and ready to satiate—with the seductive, “foreign,” and “strange”
woman (5:3–14; 6:20–35). As Christl Maier suggests (in this volume), that
woman is sexualized as an adulteress who leads young men to their destruc-
tion with her brazen behavior in public and the invitation to her bedroom
in 7:1–27. Setting aside the tendentious nature of the passage as a warning,
and the inevitable hyperbole, we can nevertheless discern certain facets of a
woman’s life in the depiction of the wayward or “foreign” woman. First, we
learn that the woman has made vows and offered a sacrifice of well-being,
her ‫ שלמים‬offering (7:14–15). These details suggest that women were making
vows and fulfilling them, that they were able or expected to bring an offering
themselves, even when married, and that, in certain circumstances, they were
able to determine who could enjoy eating the remains of the offering with
them. This picture largely corresponds to rules concerning the well-being
offerings in Lev 7:11–21 and 22:21 and rules about women’s vows in Num
30. The passage is thus helpful in establishing the independence of women
in this area of sacrificial offerings. Second, her words take the reader into a
luxurious bedroom. The woman says: “I have decked my couch with covers
of dyed Egyptian linen; I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cin-
namon” (7:16–17). The ‫מרבדים‬, “covers,” appears also in Song of Songs and
Prov 31:22, where it is one of the items the woman weaves.

4. Conclusions

Several conclusions emerge. The postexilic community in Judah was small,

struggling for its physical and religious survival in the midst of a multiethnic
milieu under foreign rule. As in the preexilic period, women’s chief respon-
sibilities centered on the household. Their significance and power in this
domain were readily acknowledged. An important difference resulted from
the greater poverty of Judah in the postexilic period, which would have made
30 Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

women’s lives more strenuous. Certain groups, however, lived in relative afflu-
ence, which enabled women greater freedom and independence.
In describing a woman’s life, the sources concur that making bread and
weaving were central tasks. Both tasks were arduous in antiquity. It took three
hours to produce enough flour for a family of six. The technological develop-
ment of the mill in the Roman period alleviated some of this hardship, but in
the Persian period this work was still, indeed, “grinding” work.42 The requisite
physical exertion is acknowledged by Xenophon when the husband recom-
mends that his wife undertake it periodically—but only periodically—as a
form of physical exercise. Archaeological remains show the physical damage
and distortion to the body that resulted from such work.43 For this reason,
as both Xenophon and Prov 31 indicate, a wife would have needed house-
hold help, slaves in Xenophon, “her maids” (NJPS) or “servant girls” (NRSV)
in Prov 31:15. Most agrarian households in impoverished postexilic Judah
would not have had the luxury of such help, and depended on the women’s
ability to shoulder the work themselves—Ezra 2:65//Neh 7:67 mentions only
7,337 male and female slaves when listing the over 42,000 people who popu-
lated the province of Judah. Without slaves, a woman’s life would have been
constant drudgery. Given the poverty of the province of Judah, we can con-
clude that for most women in postexilic Judah economic hardships resulted in
a qualitatively different life from those of Xenophon’s happy homemaker, with
the exception of the small elite depicted in Prov 31.
Legal empowerment of women is evident in the sources where their
rights as wives, heirs, and legal agents are made manifest. Greater recogni-
tion of women’s legal position and rights, together with a shift toward broader
communal responsibility for different strata of the Judean community, may
account for why women’s own ethnicity and background become relevant
in matters concerning membership in the community. In Athens and Judah,
women were no longer merely absorbed into their husband’s household and
group but were also identified in terms of their own. Both Athens in 451 BCE
and Ezra-Nehemiah (in accounts situated in 458 and 444 BCE) restricted
legitimate marriages that qualified offspring for communal membership, and
both communities legislated against intermarriage. A woman’s ethnic and reli-
gious affiliation mattered in new ways. Nonetheless, as Ruth illustrates, inter-
marriage was possible when a woman prioritized a commitment to Israel’s
God and to the Israelite people and disassociated herself from foreign origins.

42. See Meyers, “Grinding to a Halt,” 65–74.

43. Ibid.
 The Lives of Women in the Postexilic Era 31

Concomitantly, the sources display women’s impact and the importance

of the home more prominently than do sources about earlier periods. This
development may be linked to the changed political and social circumstances
at work. With the demise of the autonomous state and the reconstruction of
life as a subjugated nation under imperial control, the home gains new recog-
nition as the arena in which decisive events take place.
 Female Names and Gender Perspectives
in Chronicles
Sara Japhet

The book of Chronicles abounds with women. It mentions by name over

sixty women—more than any other single biblical book—refers to quite a
few anonymous women, usually in relation to others, such as “the wife of x,”
“the daughter of y,” “the mother of z,” and several times mentions women as
a group.1 Some of the names and their bearers are also mentioned in other
biblical works, and were most probably taken over from these sources, while
others are peculiar to Chronicles. Chronicles’ testimony on the topics of

1. The women of Chronicles have not received much attention in biblical scholar-
ship. For previous discussions, see Alice L. Laffey, “I and II Chronicles,” in The Women’s
Bible Commentary (ed. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon. H. Ringe; Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 1992): 110–15; Marie-Theres Wacker, “Books of Chronicles: In the Vestibule of
Women,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the
Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 178–91; Antje Labahn and Ehud Ben Zvi, “Observations
on Women in the Genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9,” Bib 84 (2003): 457–78; Sara Japhet,
The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought (ET, Frankfurt: Lang,
1989; 3rd ed. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2009), 271–74; Japhet, “The Israelite Legal
and Social Reality as Reflected in Chronicles: A Case Study,” now in From the Rivers of Bab-
ylon to the Highlands of Judah: Collected Studies on the Restoration Period (Winona Lake,
Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 233–44; Japhet, “The Prohibition of the Habitation of Women:
The Temple Scroll’s Attitude toward Sexual Impurity and Its Biblical Precedents,” now in
From the Rivers of Babylon, 268–88; Gary N. Knoppers, “Intermarriage, Social Complexity
and Ethnic Diversity in the Genealogy of Judah,” JBL 120 (2001): 19–23. See also the com-
mentaries on Chronicles on the relevant passages. The recent book by Julie Kelso, with the
promising title O Mother, Where Art Thou? An Irigarayan Reading of the Book of Chronicles
(London: Equinox, 2007) is a psychoanalytic discussion of Chronicles from the particular
perspective of Luce Irigaray’s psychoanalytic feminist theory. It is described by the author
as “a charitable mode of reading which enables a therapeutic encounter with the past for the
purpose of change in the future” (xii, emphasis original).

-33-
34 Sara Japhet

women and gender is quite complex, so a few words of introduction seem to

be necessary before the actual discussion of the book’s evidence.

1. Introduction to Chronicles: Mode of Composition and Genres

The book of Chronicles was composed most probably in the second half of
the fourth century BCE, at the beginning of the Hellenistic period,2 and is
the product of this social and cultural milieu. The book is a history, narrat-
ing the history of Israel from the first man, Adam (1 Chr 1:1), to the end
of the first commonwealth with the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians;
it concludes with a short passage from the beginning of the declaration of
Cyrus (2 Chr 36:22–23). Chronicles is thus a “parallel history,” repeating the
history of a period that has already been described in the Pentateuch and the
Former Prophets.
The greater part of Chronicles consists of texts taken from preexisting
sources. These sources are either earlier biblical works—for the most part
Samuel–Kings but also the Pentateuch, Prophets, Psalms, and Ezra-Nehe-
miah—or nonbiblical texts and traditions, the scope and origin of which are
less self-evident.3 Some of these texts are repeated in Chronicles almost liter-
ally or with minor changes, while others are more thoroughly reworked and
reformulated. The remainder of the book consists of passages written by the
Chronicler himself. Much of this material may be recognized by its use of
the Chronicler’s peculiar style and vocabulary, but again, no certainty may be
reached here either. Thus from the point of view of origin, Chronicles is com-
posed of three components: material taken from known sources, presented
literally or with different degrees of change and reworking; material taken
from unknown sources, their existence verifiable by their contents and style;
and material written by the Chronicler himself.
This mode of composition has multiple consequences for the perception
of the Chronicler’s work and message. The Chronicler’s views may of course
be observed in the passages that he wrote himself. However, no less signifi-
cant for understanding his views is the borrowed material, which he reworked
and reformulated to suit his purposes. The fact that so much of the Chroni-
cler’s material is available in other biblical works encourages comparison and

2. See, among others, Sara Japhet, 1 and 2 Chronicles: A Commentary (OTL; London:
SCM, 1993), 3–7, 23–28. The topic is discussed in all the introductions to the commentar-
ies on the book.
3. There should be no confusion between the sources the Chronicler mentions in his
book by name—some of them quite fictional—and the sources he actually used. For the
distinction between the two see ibid., 14–23.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 35

enables the reader to see clearly how the Chronicler’s own understanding of
history is reflected in his work: in the selection of the materials, in the omis-
sions of and additions to the material taken from sources, and in the changes
he introduced. However, the study and use of the borrowed material may be
quite complex, and the analysis should be done with caution and with con-
stant methodological awareness.4
As a whole, Chronicles is a history, relating the history of Israel in a con-
tinuum, as an ongoing chain of causes and effects. However, similar to all bib-
lical historical compositions (and historiography in general), it contains other
literary genres as well: lists of various kinds, speeches, psalms, prayers, and
more. For the perspective of the present discussion, one should distinguish
between two parts of the book, which also represent two modes of historical
presentation: the historical narrative (1 Chr 10–2 Chr 36) and the introduc-
tion (1 Chr 1–9).
The literary features of Chronicles—its mode of composition and its divi-
sion into two distinguished literary parts—have determined the structure and
course of my essay. I will develop the discussion of “women and gender” in
three sections, in which the Chronicles data will be presented and analyzed:
(1) the evidence of the historical narrative (1 Chr 10–2 Chr 36); (2) the evi-
dence of the introduction (1 Chr 1–9); (3) the Chronicler’s remarks on some
legal issues pertaining to women. The analysis of the data will be followed by
a synthesis and conclusions.

2. The Historical Narrative (1 Chr 10–2 Chr 36)

The greater part of Chronicles is taken up by a “parallel history” of Israel from

David to the end of the kingdom of Judah, which is told in two parts: the his-
tory of David and Solomon (1 Chr 11–2 Chr 9) and the history of the king-
dom of Judah (2 Chr 10–36). Even a cursory review of the historical narrative
discloses that women play only a minor role in the story, but this literary fact
is first and foremost a corollary of the genre of biblical historiography—deter-
mined in turn by its Sitz im Leben, the nature of Israelite society at the time.
The historical account as such focuses on the events and deeds of the people’s
leaders, and in Israelite patriarchal society these were almost exclusively men.
Yet a comparison of the Chronicler’s historical narrative with the earlier his-
tories discloses that the place of women in Chronicles is differently balanced.

4. The comparative methodology is the prevalent approach in the study of Chronicles.

For a different position in the context of our topic, which regards the book at face value,
with no consideration of its sources, see Labahn and Ben Zvi, “Observations on Women,”
463 n. 18, and throughout the article.
36 Sara Japhet

Some of the changes are a by-product of other features in the Chronicler’s

narrative, unconnected with the women/gender perspective, while others are
the result of his own goals and views.
Among the general features of Chronicles that bear on the Chronicler’s
presentation of women are first of all his general historical interests and deci-
sions. As mentioned above, the Chronicler begins the historical narrative with
the death of Saul (1 Chr 10) and moves directly to the history of David and his
enthronement over all Israel (1 Chr 11) so that the early history of Israel, as
described in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel, is not included in
the narrative. This historiographical decision results, among other things, in
the omission of quite a few women who played a part—positive or negative—
in the earlier period of Israel’s history. Figures like the matriarchs (Sarah,
Rebecca, and Rachel); Rahab; Deborah, Jael, Delilah, and the other women
in Samson’s life; Jephthah’s mother and daughter; Hannah; and Saul’s wives
and daughters are not included in his story. Furthermore, the Chronicler’s
description of David’s reign skips most of the negative aspects of his reign,
such as the circumstances of his marriage to Bathsheba, the problems in his
household, and the troubles revolving around the inheritance of the kingship.
The women involved in these events, like Bathsheba (2 Sam 12), Absalom’s
sister, Tamar (2 Sam 13), the wise women of Tekoa and Abel (2 Sam 14; 20),
and others, are thus also excluded from his story. The Chronicler also omits
the negative aspects of Solomon’s reign, such as the troubles at the beginning
of his reign and those at its end; nor does he repeat 1 Kgs 11, so that no men-
tion is made of Solomon’s enormous harem (1 Kgs 11:3) or his foreign wives
and idolatry (1 Kgs 11:1–10).
Another well-known historiographic feature of the Chronicler’s work is
the avoidance of a systematic history of the northern kingdom;5 the women
that played a role in the history of the kingdom of Israel are consequently
absent from the Chronicler’s narrative.6
An additional feature of the Chronicler’s work is his selectivity in the use of
genres, most conspicuously his avoidance of novella-like stories.7 The Chroni-
cler does not repeat the prophetic stories of Kings, where women play quite
an important role (1 Kgs 17:8–24; 2 Kgs 4:1–37), nor the story of Solomon’s
judgment of the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16–27). From the perspective of either

5. The Chronicler limited the account of the history of the northern kingdom to its
relationship with Judah; for the details, see Japhet, Ideology, 241–53.
6. Among them, Jeroboam’s wife (1 Kgs 14) and Jezebel, Ahab’s Phoenician wife
(1 Kgs 16:31).
7. See Japhet, From the Rivers of Babylon, 176–78, and 410–11 with n. 57.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 37

topic or genre, many female figures present in the Chronicler’s sources are
absent from his historical account.

2.1. Female Figures Mentioned in the Chronicler’s Sources

The Deuteronomistic frameworks of the histories of the Judean kings in

the book of Kings include, among others, references to the king’s mother,
‫הגבירה‬, who enjoyed a special status in the kingdom of Judah.8 The Chroni-
cler regularly borrowed these Deuteronomistic frameworks from the book
of Kings—with various changes as he saw fit—in his portrayal of the Judean
kings. Among these changes is his treatment of the names of the kings’ moth-
ers. The Chronicler preserved the names of the kings’ mothers for the early
kings of Judah—from Rehoboam to Hezekiah—essentially as they are given
in the book of Kings.9 For the later kings of Judah, from Manasseh on, the
Chronicler systematically omits the names of the kings’ mothers.10 It seems
that the references to the kings’ mothers fell victim to the Chronicler’s more

8. On her title and status, see P. J. Berlyn, “The Great Ladies,” JBQ 24 (1996): 26–35.
For different interpretations of the term ‫ הגבירה‬and the position of the king’s mother in
the kingdom of Judah, see Zafrira Ben-Barak, “The Status and Right of the Gěbîrâ,” JBL
110 (1991): 23–34; Nancy R. Bowen, “The Quest for the Historical Gĕbîrâ,” CBQ 63 (2001):
597–618.
9. The names themselves are the same, except for the name of Abijah’s/Abijam’s mother.
She is called Maacah the daughter of Abishalom in 1 Kgs 15:2, but presented in Chronicles
as both Maacah, daughter of Absalom (2 Chr 11:21–22), and Micaiah, daughter of Uriel
from Gibeah (13:2). On this famous crux see Japhet, 1 and 2 Chronicles, 670–71. Two of
the names appear in variant forms: Jehoaddan of Jerusalem, Amaziah’s mother (2 Chr
25:1//2 Kgs 14:2), is called Jehoaddin/Jehoaddan in Kings; Abjiah the daughter of Zecha-
riah, Hezekiah’s mother (2 Chr 29:1//2 Kgs 18:2), is called Abi in Kings. The other names
are Naamah the Ammonitess, Rehoboam’s mother (2 Chr 12:13//1 Kgs 14:21); Maacah,
Asa’s mother, mentioned in reference to her “abominable thing” (2 Chr 15:16//1 Kgs 15:13);
Azubah the daughter of Shilhi, Jehoshaphat’s mother (2 Chr 20:31//1 Kgs 22:42); Athaliah
the daughter of Omri, Ahaziah’s mother (2 Chr 22:2//2 Kgs 8:26); Zibiah of Beer-Sheba,
Jehoash’s/Joash’s mother (2 Chr 24:1//2 Kgs 12:2); Jecoliah of Jerusalem, Azariah/Uzzia-
hu’s mother (2 Chr 26:3//2 Kgs 15:2); Jerusha/h the daughter of Zadok, Jotham’s mother
(2 Chr 27:1//2 Kgs 15:33); altogether, ten names. Two of the mothers from this group are
not named in Kings and consequently are not named in Chronicles: the name of Jehoram’s
mother is replaced by that of his wife; she, the daughter of Ahab (2 Chr 21:6//2 Kgs 8:18),
is identified as Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, and mother of Ahaziah in 2 Kgs 8:26//2 Chr
22:2; the name of Ahaz’s mother is simply missing.
10. Six names are thus omitted: Hephzibah, Manasseh’s mother (2 Kgs 21:1); Meshul-
lemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, Amon’s mother (2 Kgs 21:19); Jedidah the daugh-
ter of Adaiah of Bozkath, Josiah’s mother (2 Kgs 22:1); Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiahu
of Libnah, the mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah (2 Kgs 23:31; 24:18); Zebudah the daugh-
38 Sara Japhet

general historiographic decision to abbreviate the account of the late years of

the Judean kingdom;11 it is nevertheless of some significance that the Chroni-
cler regarded the names of the kings’ mothers as appropriate for omission.
The stories of several women who play a relatively significant role in the
book of Kings are taken over by the Chronicler in their entirety, with only
small linguistic changes and adaptations: the story of the queen of Sheba
(2 Chr 9:1–9, 12//1 Kgs 10:1–10, 13), the story of Queen Athaliah (2 Chr
22:10–23:15//2 Kgs 11:1–16), and the story about the prophetess Huldah
(2 Chr 34:22–28//2 Kgs 22:14–20). The only change that is of any interest is a
phrase that the Chronicler added to the Deuteronomistic framework of King
Ahaziah: “For his mother [Athaliah] counseled him to do evil” (2 Chr 22:3).
Less significant female figures are also taken from the Chronicler’s
sources. Their inclusion in the historical account thus demonstrates the
Chronicler’s interest: Zeruiah, the mother of Joab and Abshai; the anonymous
mother of the artisan Huram, who made the copper vessels for the temple in
Jerusalem; and Jehoshabeath, the sister of King Ahaziah. Zeruiah is referred
to in Chronicles several times, either in texts parallel to 2 Samuel (2 Sam
8:16//1 Chr 18:15) or in texts peculiar to Chronicles (1 Chr 11:6 [as mother
of Joab]; 18:12 [as mother of Abshai]). Her name is omitted from one parallel
text (1 Chr 11:20//2 Sam 23:18). Moreover, the Chronicler presents Zeruiah’s
pedigree in detail in the context of the genealogies (1 Chr 2:16).12
The mother of the master Huram is mentioned in Chronicles in a some-
what different context than in 1 Kings and described as of a different origin.
In 1 Kings, Huram/Hiram is presented as the artist who created the copper
vessels for Solomon’s temple, and this is how his pedigree is recorded: “He was
the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father had been a Tyrian”
(1 Kgs 7:14). In Chronicles he is mentioned earlier, lent as a special favor to
Solomon by the Tyrian king Huram, and his pedigree is recorded thus: “the
son of a Danite woman, his father a Tyrian” (2 Chr 2:13). There is no way to
decide which of the two pedigrees is correct, but the interest of the Chronicler
in this detail is obvious.
Finally, the Chronicler preserves the names of two more women, but their
role is diminished: Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife, and the anony-
mous daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon’s wife. The encounter between David
and Michal is recorded in detail in 2 Sam 6:20–23 but is only alluded to in
a short sentence in 1 Chr 15:29. The avoidance of Michal’s story is no doubt

ter of Pedaiah of Rumah, Jehoiakim’s mother (2 Kgs 23:36); Nehushta the daughter of Elna-
than of Jerusalem, Jehoiachin’s mother (2 Kgs 24:8).
11. See Japhet, Ideology, 284–90.
12. See also below, p. 42 n. 20 and p. 47.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 39

a corollary of the Chronicler’s policy of omitting the earlier history of David

and his relationships with the house of Saul. In fact, even the survival of this
single verse seems like a result of unsystematic editing.
The daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon’s wife, is mentioned in 1 Kings five
times, in different contexts (1 Kgs 3:1; 7:8; 9:16, 24; 11:1), but four of them
are included in passages the Chronicler did not repeat in his presentation.
Only one reference is included in Chronicles, and this is somewhat elaborated
(2 Chr 8:11//1 Kgs 9:24).13

2.2. Women Peculiar to the Chronicler’s Own Account

One of the features of the Chronicler’s work, expressed in both the introduc-
tion and the historical narrative, is the increase of information regarding
David’s family and descendants, including women. In the historical narrative
the interest in the families of the Davidic kings is attested in materials that the
Chronicler added to the accounts found in his sources. The most elaborate
information is provided for Rehoboam, the third king in the Davidic line. The
passage relating to his family reads as follows:

Rehoboam married Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth son of David and Abi-

hail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse. She bore him sons. … He then took
Maacah daughter of Absalom; she bore him Abjiah. … Rehoboam loved
Maacah … more than his other wives and concubines (for he took eighteen
wives and sixty concubines; he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters).
Rehoboam designated Abijah son of Maacah as chief and leader among his
brothers, for he intended him to be his successor. (2 Chr 11:18–22)

This passage includes some interesting points in relation to our topic. (1)
Two of Rehoboam’s wives are mentioned by name: Mahalath, unknown from
any other source, and Maacah. (2) The impressive pedigree of Mahalath is
recorded for three generations, including the unusual mention of her mother,
Abihail.14 Since both her parents belonged to the house of David, she was
Rehoboam’s second cousin. (3) One of the common biblical expressions of
God’s blessing is a man’s prosperity, expressed, among other ways, in terms
of a great number of children. This blessing is more commonly expressed by

13. For the significance of this matter for the Chronicler’s views, see below, pp. 49–50.
14. While the practice of presenting the names of the male protagonists’ mothers is
quite common, the names of women’s mothers are extremely rare. Another mention of
a woman’s mother, and perhaps also her grandmother—in this case without mention of
fathers—is that of the Edomite king’s wife, Mehetabel the daughter of Matred, the daughter
of Me-zahab (Gen 36:39//1 Chr 1:50).
40 Sara Japhet

the number of sons; but Rehoboam’s prosperity is described both in terms of

his big harem, with its huge number of wives and concubines, and in terms
of his numerous children—including not only sons but also daughters. (4)
Rehoboam is the only one among the kings whose love for his wife is men-
tioned. The practical expression of this love is the election of her son Abijah as
his successor to the throne—a fact that illuminates the role of the king’s wife
in the palace policy.
The Chronicler provides some details about the families of two more
kings.15 He states about Abijah: “Abijah grew powerful; he married fourteen
wives and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters” (2 Chr 13:21). Con-
cerning King Joash, the Chronicler adds to the Deuteronomistic introduction
taken from Kings (2 Kgs 12:1–2//2 Chr 24:1–2) that Jehoiada the priest “took
two wives for him, by whom he had sons and daughters” (2 Chr 24:3). The
Chronicler also provides an additional detail regarding Jehoshabeath, Joash’s
sister, who saved Joash during the massacre of the royal family by Athaliah.
Already from 2 Kgs 11:2 we learn that Jehosheba/th was the daughter of King
Joram and the sister of Ahaziah, but Chronicles adds that she was the wife of
the priest Jehoiada (2 Chr 22:11–12), a detail that explains well how she was
able to hide Joash for seven years in the house of the Lord.
The Chronicler also provides some additional information about the fam-
ilies of the Levites. In discussing the procedure for the distribution of the holy
offerings, the Chronicler mentions the enrollment of the priests and Levites
(2 Chr 31:16–18), and dwells on the enrollment of the Levites. In contrast to
the enrollment of the priests, the registration of the Levites (NRSV: wrongly
“the priests”) included “the dependents of their whole company—wives, sons,
and daughters” (31:18 NJPS). Thus, according to Chronicles, the portions
accorded to the temple’s servants were distributed “to every male of the priests
and to every registered Levite” (31:19), that is, also to the women.
Another detail regarding the Levitical families is the note concerning the
singer Heman who—like some of the kings—was blessed with a large family:
“All these were sons of Heman, the seer of the king, [who uttered] prophe-
cies of God for His greater glory. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three
daughters” (1 Chr 25:5).
Two feminine names are included in Chronicles in the narrative of the
assassination of King Joash. According to the data of 2 Kgs 12:22 (NRSV: v.
21), “The courtiers who assassinated him were Jozacar son of Shimeath and
Jehozabad son of Shomer.” Chronicles presents the names of the assassins’

15. For the daughters of Zerubbabel, the postexilic offspring of Jehoiachin, see below,
p. 43 n. 22 and p. 47.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 41

parents as feminine, and adds their ethnic origin: “These were the men who
conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess and Jehozabad
son of Shimrith the Moabitess” (2 Chr 24:26). There is no way to determine
which is more accurate, but I would conjecture that the Chronicler found this
information in his sources, and that it was later censored and suppressed in
the book of Kings. Contrary to the censor of Kings, the Chronicler did not see
the need to suppress this information.16
The Chronicler included several references to women as a group in
events and narratives peculiar to his story. In a letter sent to King Jehoram,
the prophet Elijah reproves the king for his misdeeds and prophesies to him
a series of punishments to be inflicted by God, among them: “The Lord will
inflict a great blow upon your people, your sons, your wives, and all your pos-
sessions” (2 Chr 21:14). The prophecy is later fulfilled: “The Lord stirred up
the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs … against Jehoram. They marched
against Judah … and carried off all the property that was found in the king’s
palace, as well as his sons and wives” (21:16–17).
In 2 Chr 28, the Chronicler records the war between northern Israel and
Judah that ended with a crushing victory for the north; 120,000 Judean fight-
ers are killed and many Judeans are taken captive: “The Israelites captured
200,000 of their kinsmen, women, boys, and girls” (2 Chr 28:8). In his address,
the prophet Oded rebukes the Israelites: “Do you now intend to subjugate the
men and women of Judah and Jerusalem to be your slaves?” (28:10); under his
influence, the Israelites release them and bring them back to Jericho (28:15).
This event is referred to later in the exhortation of Hezekiah: “Our fathers died
by the sword and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity on account
of this” (2 Chr 29:9).
Women are included in Asa’s oath: “Whoever would not worship the Lord
God of Israel would be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or
woman” (2 Chr 15:13). Women are included among the mourners for Josiah:
“Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, that all the singers, male and female,
recited in their laments for Josiah, as is done to this day” (2 Chr 35:25). Finally,
women are mentioned among those killed by the Babylonians: “He therefore
brought the king of the Chaldeans upon them, who killed their youths by
the sword. … He did not spare youth, maiden, elder, or graybeard” (2 Chr

16. For similar practices of censorship in the text of Samuel, see the changes in rela-
tion to Jether (Ishmaelite in 1 Chr 2:17, Israelite in 2 Sam 17:25); Eshbaal, Saul’s son (1 Chr
8:33; 9:39; called Ish-bosheth in, e.g., 2 Sam 2:8); Merib-baal, Jonathan’s son (1 Chr 8:34;
9:40; called Mephibosheth in, e.g., 2 Sam 4:4); Beelyada, David’s son (1 Chr 14:7; called
Eliada in 2 Sam 5:16; 1 Chr 3:8).
42 Sara Japhet

36:17).17 Unlike the longer description of the Babylonian conquest in 2 Kgs

25, the Chronicler presents the effects of the calamity on all the segments of
the Judean society, including young and old, male and female.

3. The Introduction (1 Chr 1–9)

The introduction forms a special unit in Chronicles: Its purpose is to pres-

ent the ethnographic and geographic background against which the ensuing
historical narrative unfolds, and its literary genres are different from those
of the historical narrative. The introduction consists of lists of various kinds,
speckled here and there with short anecdotes and brief records.
The introduction abounds in feminine names. Among them are twenty-
one individuals and one collective group of women taken from parallel bibli-
cal sources, while the others—forty-three in all—are peculiar to Chronicles.
The names taken from earlier sources are integrated into the Chronicler’s pre-
sentation in three different ways: Twelve names are taken from parallel lists
and presented in Chronicles without change or comment.18 Two names are
taken from the narrative sections of the sources but are added to lists, which
are also taken from the sources, but from different contexts.19 And the rest of
the parallel names are taken from narrative sources and added to the Chroni-
cler’s own lists, which have no prior parallel.20

17. One may hear in this concise verse the echoes of Lamentations, such as 1:18; 2:11,
21; 4:16; 5:11–14.
18. These are (1) Keturah, Abraham’s concubine (1 Chr 1:32//Gen 25:1); (2) Timna,
Lotan’s sister (1 Chr 1:39//Gen 36:22); (3–5) Mehetabel the daughter of Matred the daugh-
ter of Me-zahab (1 Chr 1:50//Gen 36:39); (6–11) six of David’s wives, whom he married in
Hebron—Ahinoam the Jezreelite, Abigail the Carmelite, Maacah the daughter of Talmai
the king of Geshur, Haggith, Abital, Eglah (1 Chr 3:1–3//2 Sam 3:2–5); and (12) Serah, the
daughter of Asher (1 Chr 7:30//Num 26:46, with some changes).
19. These are (13) Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel, David’s wife (1 Chr 3:5)—her
name learned from the story of 2 Sam 12 and added to the list taken from 2 Sam 5:14; and
(14) Tamar, David’s daughter (1 Chr 3:9)—her name taken from the narrative of 2 Sam 13
and added to the list taken from 2 Sam 3:2–5.
20. These are (15) Bath-Shua the Canaanite, Judah’s wife (1 Chr 2:3; referred to in
Gen 38:2); (16) Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law (1 Chr 2:4), the protagonist in Gen 38:6,
11–30; (17) Zeruiah, Jesse’s daughter and the mother of Joab and Abshai (1 Chr 2:16),
mentioned several times as Joab’s mother (e.g., 2 Sam 2:13, 18; 3:39); (18) Abigail, mother
of Amasa and sister of Zeruiah, her name taken from 2 Sam 17:25 and added to the list of
Jesse’s offspring (1 Chr 2:17); (19) Achsah, Caleb’s daughter (1 Chr 2:49), the protagonist of
Judg 1:12–15, her name added to the genealogy of Caleb; (20) Miriam, Moses’ sister (1 Chr
5:29)—her name learned from Exod 2 and added to the genealogy of Levi, abridged from
Exod 6:16–25; (21) Bilhah, Jacob’s wife (1 Chr 7:13), her name taken from Gen 30:3–8;
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 43

A review of these names and the procedures employed to include them

in the Chronicler’s account creates the initial impression that the Chronicler
made an effort to include in his work as many as possible of the names found
in his sources. This impression, however, is misleading, in relation to both
men and women. In his reconstruction of the basic genealogical structure of
the people of Israel, the Chronicler draws selected passages from the Penta-
teuch, omits most of the names that appear in either the narratives or the lists,
and replaces them with his own data. Quite a few female names in the parallel
sources were not included in his work.21
As already mentioned, a total of forty-three women are peculiar to the
Chronicler’s work and do not appear anywhere else in the Bible. Twenty-eight
of them are mentioned by name,22 while fifteen are presented in relation to
men: “the wife/concubine of x,” “the daughter of y,” or “the sister of z.”23 The
total number of women mentioned in the introduction is thus over sixty, with
some references to women in general. Since the genealogies were more sus-

35:25, and included in the genealogy of Dan and Naphtali; (22) one may perhaps add the
daughters of Zelophehad (see Num 26:33; 27:1–11) included as a group, without their
names, in the genealogy of Manasseh (1 Chr 7:15).
21. For instance Eve, the primeval mother, three of the four matriarchs (Sarah,
Rebecca, and Leah), Hagar and Zilpah, Asenath, Joseph’s wife, and Dinah, Jacob’s daughter.
22. These are (1) Azubah (the daughter of Jerioth?), the wife of Caleb, son of Hezron
(2:18–19); (2) Ephrath/ah, the wife of Caleb and the mother of Hur (2:19, 50; 4:4); (3)
Abijah, the wife of Hezron (2:24—unless the text is corrupt); (4) Atarah, the “other wife”
of Jerahmeel and the mother of Onam (2:26); (5) Abihail, the wife of Abishur (2:29);
(6) Ephah, Caleb’s concubine (2:46); (7) Maacah, Caleb’s concubine (2:48); (8) Shaaph
(2:49)—Caleb’s wife or concubine? A masculine name? (BH); (9) Shelomith, the daughter
of Zerubbabel (3:19); (10–14) Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jusab-Hesed (3:19),
the daughters of Zerubbabel; they are identified as female by the numeral five, which is
given in the feminine form (see also below, p. 47); (15) Hazlelponi, the sister of Ishma and
Iedbash (4:3); (16) Helah, the wife of Ashhur the father of Tekoa (4:5, 7); (17) Naarah, Ash-
hur’s wife (4:5, 6); (18) Miriam? known elsewhere as a feminine name but might here be
the name of a man (or is the text corrupt? 4:17); (19) Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter (4:18);
(20) Maacah, the sister of Machir (or of his son; 7:15); (21) Maacah, Machir’s wife (7:16);
(22) Hammolecheth, the sister of Gilead (7:18); (23) Sheerah, Ephraim’s daughter (7:24);
(24) Shua, the sister of Japhlet and others, the daughter of Heber (7:32); (25) Hushim, the
wife of Shaharaim (8:8); (26) Baara, the wife of Shaharaim (8:8); (27) Hodesh, the wife of
Shaharaim (8:9); (28) Maacah, the wife of the father of Gibeon (8:29; 9:35).
23. (1) The daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, the wife of Hezron (2:21); (2) the
daughter of Sheshan (2:35; see below); (3) the mother of Jabez (4:9); (4) the Judahite wife
of ? (4:18); (5) the wife of Hodiah, and sister of Naham (4:19); (6–11) six unnamed daugh-
ters of Shimei (4:27); (12) many “wives and sons” of the tribe of Issachar (7:4); (13) the
Aramean concubine of Manasseh (7:14); (14) the wife taken by Machir for his son (7:15);
(15) Ephraim’s wife (7:23).
44 Sara Japhet

ceptible to textual corruptions, introduced in the process of transmission,

than other parts of Chronicles, the gender of some of the registered persons
may be suspect, but the general picture is not really affected.
The most important feature of the female names peculiar to Chronicles
is their primary function as eponyms rather than as actual persons.24 As such
they are terminological abstractions, representing mostly ethnic but some-
times geographic entities.25 Before going further into this matter a few explan-
atory remarks seem necessary.26
As mentioned above, the major component of the introduction is lists,
most of them genealogical, which may be classified into two groups: verti-
cal genealogies, presenting genealogical trees of individual persons; and hori-
zontal genealogies, commonly termed segmented genealogies, which map the
branching off of families for several generations.27 These segmented genealo-
gies serve to represent social units, be they clans, tribes, or peoples. They are
thus abstract literary structures reflecting social and ethnic situations, with
the names serving as eponymic terms for ethnic units. The eponymic func-
tion of the names may be illustrated by the segmented genealogies of Genesis,
such as the comprehensive map of the world’s peoples (Gen 10); the more
limited maps of the Keturites and Hagarites (Gen 25:1–4, 12–16); parts of
the Edomite genealogies (Gen 36); and more. The Chronicler’s introduction
may thus be seen as a “map”—a rather uneven map—of the Israelite tribes
and their composition. While some of the tribes are described in great detail,
others are presented in only sketchy lines. The most elaborate structures are
those of the tribes of Judah and Manasseh.
The majority of the female names and figures appear in these segmented
genealogies28 and should be interpreted in this literary and sociological con-
text. Unfortunately, not all the names in the genealogies—whether male or
female—are identifiable; many of them are unique, some seem corrupt, and

24. It is rather surprising that Labahn and Ben Zvi (“Observations on Women”), who
present their research as a sociological investigation of the roles of women in the genealo-
gies, ignore the role of the female names as eponyms.
25. The term eponym is Greek, and its meaning is “a real or mythical person from
whose name the name of a nation, an institution etc. is derived, or is supposed to have been
derived” (Webster’s New World Dictionary [Cleveland: Collins, 1974], 472).
26. See also Yigal Levin, “Understanding Biblical Genealogies,” CurBS 9 (2001): 11–46.
27. For the definitions, see Marshall D. Johnson, The Purpose of the Biblical Genealo-
gies (2nd ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), xi–xii.
28. The exceptions include the names of females in the house of David (1 Chr 2:16–17;
3:1–9, 19–20), and prior to David in the tribe of Judah (2:3–4) (see below), along with a few
others. Among them, two are the protagonists of short anecdotes: the daughter of Sheshan
(2:35; see below) and the mother of Jabez (4:9–10).
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 45

their origins cannot always be ascertained. Nevertheless, their careful analysis

from this perspective proves very profitable.
The most important aspect of the female names is their definitions: “wife,”
“concubine,” “sister,” or “daughter.” The definitions “wife” or “concubine”
denote a secondary component within the primary social group.29 Thus the
reference to the marriage of the Judean Hezron with “the daughter of Machir”
(1 Chr 2:21) signifies that the Judean clan Hezron had mixed with Transjor-
danian elements, described as “the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead”
(1 Chr 2:21). Their offspring are then described as “the sons of Machir” (2:23),
which means that from the perspective of Judah they are a secondary ele-
ment, the children of a “wife,” whereas from the perspective of Manasseh they
are a primary element, the children of a son, Machir. Ephrath/Ephrathah is
described as the wife of Caleb (2:19); in the terminological code of the gene-
alogies this would mean that the northern Judean clan of the Calebites had
mixed with Ephraimite elements represented by the female eponym Ephrath.30
The descendants of this bond inhabited some of the major towns in Judah,
such as Kiriath-jearim, Bethlehem, and more (2:50–54; 4:2–4). The same
Judean clan had also mixed with other ethnic elements—Arameans, prob-
ably Midianites, and more—represented by the feminine eponymic names
Ephah (the Midianite), Maacah (the Aramean), and Bithiah (the Egyptian),
described as either “concubines” (2:46, 48) or “wife” (4:18). Similarly, we learn
that the tribe of Manasseh, which settled in Transjordan, had mixed with
Aramean elements; Machir, the major Manassite clan, is presented as the son
of Manasseh and his “Aramean concubine” (7:14), while Machir’s wife bears
the Aramean name Maacah (7:16). As we saw above, these Transjordanian
clans mixed in turn with Judean clans, through the marriage of the Judean
Hezron and “the daughter of Machir” (2:21). The mixture of ethnic elements
could represent inner-Israelite connections, like those between Judah and
Manasseh or Judah and Ephraim, or Israelite and non-Israelite intermingling,
for example, with Aram, Midian, and others.
Some of these “wives” are presented in the genealogies as important
ethnic elements in the overall structure of the social unit, and their offspring

29. See in particular Abraham Malamat, “Tribal Societies: Biblical Genealogies and
African Lineage Systems,” Archives Européennes de Sociologie 14 (1973): 126–36; 132–34;
Malamat, “Origins and the Formation Period,” in A History of the Jewish People (ed. Hayim
H. Ben-Sasson; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976), 1:63–66.
30. For a discussion of this matter and its historical consequences, see Sara Japhet,
“Was David a Judean or an Ephraimite? Light from the Genealogies,” in Let Us Go Up to
Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday
(ed. Mark Boda and Iain Provan; VTSup 153; Leiden: Brill, 2012), 297–306.
46 Sara Japhet

are registered as their mothers’ sons, rather than their fathers’. A case in point
is that of Ephrath/ah, a component of the Calebites, whose offspring are
related to her rather than to their “father”: “The sons of Hur the firstborn of
Ephrathah” (4:4).31 The significance of the eponym Ephrath is illustrated also
by her appearance outside of the Chronicler’s genealogies, for example, in the
prophecy of Mic 5:1.32Another case is that of Keturah, whose offspring are
described as “the sons of Keturah” rather than the sons of Abraham, in both
Genesis (25:4) and Chronicles (1 Chr 1:32).
The eponymic role of “daughters” and “sisters” differs from that of “wives/
concubines.” Within the broader tribal framework, they represent social
units—clans, families, or inhabitants of towns—that are regarded as offspring
of women rather than men. The motives for this change of convention are
not always clear, and neither are its consequences. This lineage is sometimes
explained by the claim that the “father” had no sons, as is the case of the daugh-
ters of Zelophehad: “Zelophehad … had no sons, only daughters. The names
of Zelophehad’s daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah”
(Num 26:33). The records of the book of Joshua specify that “Manasseh’s
daughters inherited a portion in these together with his sons” (Josh 17:6), and
some of their names appear as place names in Ephraimite territory: Tirzah as
the first capital of the northern kingdom (e.g., 1 Kgs 15:33; 16:6), Hoglah and
Noah in the Samarian ostraca.33
Two similar cases, in which cities are called by the names of “daugh-
ters” rather than “sons,” are not explained by the claim that the father had
no sons. The first is Sheerah, Ephraim’s daughter, who “built both Lower and
Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah” (1 Chr 7:24). This would imply that
the inhabitants of these towns affiliated themselves to Ephraim through his
daughter Sheerah, rather than through any of his sons, although only one
of the three towns is called by her name.34 The second case is that of Serah,

31. The description of a man’s lineage through his mother rather than his father is
found in the Bible in a few other cases, such as the sons of Zeruiah mentioned above: the
daughters of Barzillai (Ezra 2:61//Neh 7:63); the assassins of Joash (2 Chr 24:26); and
some more.
32. See Japhet, “Was David a Judean or an Ephraimite?”
33. See Shmuel Ahituv, Echoes from the Past: Hebrew and Cognate Inscriptions from
the Biblical Period (Jerusalem: Carta, 2008), 298–300, 302.
34. For the affiliation of towns—that is, their inhabitants or families—to “fathers,” see
for instance “Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph
the father of Beth-gader” (1 Chr 2:50–52), and more (e.g., 1 Chr 2:24, 42, 44–45, 49). In
this context, a certain person could be the “father” of “half ” a town (1 Chr 2:52–54). Also
specific to such contexts is the presentation of “sons” in a gentilic or plural form, such as
1 Chr 1:11–12, 14–16, and more.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 47

“Asher’s daughter” (Num 26:46), and her brothers’ “sister” (1 Chr 7:30), whose
name may be reflected in another city of Ephraim, Timnath-Serah (Josh 19:50;
24:30); this implies that the inhabitants of this city related themselves to Asher
through a “sister/daughter” rather than to Ephraim.
The eponymic terms “sister” or “daughter” seem to imply that the social
units presented as the offspring of “daughters” enjoyed a status equal to those
presented as the offspring of sons, and may perhaps represent a survival of a
matrilineal rather than patrilineal system; however, in the absence of further
information, no definite conclusions may be reached.
Another feature of the introduction—which is common to both parts of
Chronicles—is the special interest in the house of David, expressed in the
detailed genealogies of 1 Chr 3. These genealogies include the names of ten
women: two form part of the pre-Davidic genealogy of the tribe of Judah,
two are related to David himself, and six belong to a much later phase of the
Davidic house. The earlier figures of the Canaanite Bath-shua, Judah’s wife,
and Tamar his daughter-in-law are part of the segmented genealogies of the
tribe of Judah and serve as “mothers” of the Judean clans (1 Chr 2:3–4//Gen
38). They are both taken from the Chronicler’s sources. I have already men-
tioned Zeruiah, known from earlier sources as the mother of Joab, Abshai,
and Asahel; she is presented in the Chronicler’s genealogical introduction as
Jesse’s daughter, that is, David’s sister (1 Chr 2:16). Also included is Abigail,
Zeruiah’s sister, who is presented as another daughter of Jesse, that is, another
sister of David. She is described as the mother of Amasa and the wife of Jether
the Ishmaelite (2:17).35 The Chronicler also provides the only genealogy of
the Davidic house after the destruction, presented as “the sons of Jeconia”
(that is, Jehoiachin) in 1 Chr 3:17–24. This genealogy includes the names of
six daughters of Zerubbabel: Shelomith,36 who is specified as the sister of her
male brothers, and five more daughters mentioned by name: Hashubah, Ohel,
Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jusab-hesed (3:19–20). They may be identified as female
figures not by their names but by the concluding numeral five, given in the
feminine form ‫חמש‬.37

35. Abigail is presented as the sister of Zeruiah already in 2 Sam 17:25, but there her
father’s name is given as Nahash. The name of Zeruiah’s father is not recorded in 2 Sam
17:25, but he would be Nahash by implication. Thomas Willi, Chronik: Vol 1: 1 Chr 1–10
(BKAT 24.1; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2009), 89–90, tries to harmonize these
conflicting data by suggesting that Abigail’s mother married twice, and Abigail was only
half sister of Jesse’s sons. It is difficult to decide which identification is the correct one.
36. See Eric M. Meyers, “The Shelomit Seal and the Judean Restoration—Some Addi-
tional Considerations,” ErIsr 18 (1985): 33*–38*.
37. Quite a few scholars try to “overcome” this unusual reference by different strategies,
48 Sara Japhet

4. Some Legal Issues Pertaining to Women

The Chronicler’s work contains texts that deal with or reflect on matters of a
legal nature and sporadic anecdotes and casual remarks that may illuminate
this sphere of Israel’s social life. These texts shed valuable light on the Chroni-
cler’s views and positions, and I will touch briefly on four such matters relating
to our topic.

4.1. The Daughter of Sheshan

The concise report about Sheshan serves as an introduction to a long vertical

genealogy: “Sheshan had no sons, only daughters; but Sheshan had an Egyp-
tian slave whose name was Jarha. So Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage
to Jarha his slave and she bore him Attai” (1 Chr 2:34–35).38 The problem
facing Sheshan is attested in other biblical contexts as well: how, in the absence
of sons, does one secure the continuation of his “name,” that is, his inheri-
tance rights and position within his clan, and thus within the community at
large?39 Sheshan’s solution is based on the legal instructions of the slave laws,
particularly Exod 21:4: “If his [the slave’s] master gives him a wife and she
bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be the master’s.”
The law in Exod 21:2–6 deals with a Hebrew slave, who is let free in the sev-
enth year of his servitude (v. 2). The law prescribes, however, that if the slave
is given a wife by his master, after the slave’s manumission the wife and her
children remain the property of the master. This is of course all the more true
for a non-Hebrew slave, who is by definition a slave for life. A wife given to
him by his master and her children would all be his master’s.40 Thus the child
born of the marriage of the Egyptian slave and Sheshan’s daughter is born to

like regarding the feminine form of the numeral as an “irregular form” of the masculine (e.g.,
Willi, Chronik, 117) or regarding the numeral as a later gloss (Edward L. Curtis, The Book of
Chronicles [ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1952], 104). The BH simply instructs: “read ‫”חמשה‬
(not repeated by BHS). I see no reason to follow this track.
38. For a detailed discussion of this passage see Japhet, “Israelite Legal and Social
Reality.”
39. See, e.g., the levirate law in Deut 25:5–10.
40. For a possible yet very different use of this law as the legal basis for the decision
to expel the foreign women and their children during the period of the restoration and
under the leadership of Ezra, see Sara Japhet, “The Expulsion of the Foreign Women: The
Legal Basis, Precedents and Consequences for the Definition of Jewish Identity,” in “Sieben
Augen auf einem Stein” (Sach 3,9): Studien zur Literatur des Zweiten Tempels. Festschrift
für Ina Willi-Plein (ed. Friedhelm Hartenstein and Michael Pietsch; Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener, 2007), 149–50.
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 49

“him,” that is, to Sheshan; the long genealogy that follows presents the line of
Sheshan for thirteen generations, a fact that testifies to the distinguished posi-
tion of the family for many generations.41
This short episode illustrates well certain aspects of the patriarchal
system, in which a daughter is not, and cannot be, an heiress to her father’s
name or estate. She may, however, serve as an instrument through which the
family’s “name” is secured. The episode sheds light also on the Chronicler’s
view regarding the issue of mixed marriage, for which see below.

4.2. The Daughters of Eleazar

First Chronicles 23 contains detailed information about the Levitical families

and functions and includes, among others, a short remark about the line of
Merari, Levi’s third son: “The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of
Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. Eleazar died having no sons but only daughters; the
sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them” (1 Chr 23:21–22). The short note
about the marriage of Eleazar’s daughters illustrates the implementation of
the laws of inheritance as outlined in Num 27 and 36, apropos the case of the
daughters of Zelophehad. “If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall trans-
fer his property to his daughter” (Num 27:8). Then, “Every daughter among
the Israelite tribes who inherits a share must marry someone from the clan of
her father’s tribe” (Num 36:8). This is precisely the procedure the daughters
of Eleazar followed: Since their father had no sons, they married their cous-
ins (1 Chr 23:22). This legal arrangement would secure the continuation of
Eleazar’s name among the Levites, and thus the family’s continued right to the
Levitical portions, as determined by registration.

4.3. The Daughter of Pharaoh

The book of Kings extols Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter and

highlights the fact that Solomon built for her a special residence. During the
period of construction she stayed in “the city of David” (1 Kgs 3:1) but moved
to her own lodging when the works were completed (1 Kgs 9:24). The Chroni-
cler refers to Pharaoh’s daughter only once, regarding her move from the city
of David to her special residence. However, to the laconic statement of the
book of Kings the Chronicler adds an explanation of this move, presented as

41. There is no way to discover who the personages are, listed in this vertical geneal-
ogy. A person by the name of Zabud the son of Nathan—similar to the second and third
generations in this genealogy—is mentioned among Solomon’s high officials as a priest and
the king’s “friend” (1 Kgs 4:5), but this could be merely a coincidence.
50 Sara Japhet

a quotation of Solomon’s considerations: “For he said: No wife of mine shall

dwell in the house of King David of Israel for [the area] is sacred since the ark
of the Lord has entered it” (2 Chr 8:11).
From the remarks of the book of Kings one might conclude that the move
of Pharaoh’s daughter to her own residence emphasized her special position
among Solomon’s wives; in Chronicles, by contrast, the move is viewed as
a legal act, based on religious considerations.42 The daughter of Pharaoh,
according to the Chronicler’s account, is actually removed from “the house
of David,” a matter of necessity not because she is a foreigner—an Egyptian
princess—but because she is a woman! Her dwelling “in the house of David”
is incompatible with the holiness of the area, incurred by the presence of the
ark. Although the ark itself is no longer there—having been transferred from
the city of David to its permanent abode in the temple (2 Chr 5:2–14//1 Kgs
8:1–10)—the holiness it incurred persisted even in its absence.
The issue at hand is the need to safeguard the sacred precincts from any
kind of impurity—a matter of great significance in both biblical and postbibli-
cal laws. The Chronicler’s view illustrates the attempt to set rigorous boundar-
ies in regard to sexual impurity, caused by the very presence of women.43

4.4. Mixed Marriages

The issue of mixed marriage, pertaining in particular to the marriage of

Judean men and foreign women, was one of the most troubling issues during
the Restoration period, as demonstrated by the book of Ezra-Nehemiah.44
The decision made by the Judean community during the time of Ezra was
clear and sharp—to expel both the women and their children: “Let us make
a covenant with our God to expel all these women and those who have been
born to them” (Ezra 10:3). Scholars are still debating whether this decision
was ever implemented,45 but the attitude of Ezra, Nehemiah, and their fol-

42. For a similar structure and formulation, see 2 Chr 23:6; 2 Chr 23:14//2 Kgs 11:15.
43. See in more detail, and in comparison to the regulations of the Temple Scroll,
Japhet, “Prohibition of Habitation.” Also see Shaye J. D. Cohen, “Solomon and the Daugh-
ter of Pharaoh: Intermarriage, Conversion and the Impurity of Women,” JANES 16–17
(1984–85): 23–37; Tarja S. Philip, Menstruation and Childbirth in the Bible: Fertility and
Impurity (New York: Lang, 2006).
44. See in particular Ezra 9–10; Neh 10:31; 13:23–27; Mal 2:10–16. This issue has
attracted much scholarly attention. See, among others, Japhet, “Israelite Legal and Social
Reality”; Ina Willi-Plein, “Problems of Intermarriage in Postexilic Times,” in Shai le-Sara
Japhet: Studies in the Bible, Its Exegesis and Its Language (ed. Moshe Bar-Asher et al.; Jeru-
salem: Mosad Bialik, 2007), 177*–89*, with further bibliography.
45. See in particular Yonina Dor, Have the “Foreign Women” Really Been Expelled?
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 51

lowers is unequivocal: There is no place in the Israelite community for foreign

women of any origin, or their children.46
The Chronicler’s position regarding this matter is diametrically opposed
to that of Ezra-Nehemiah. On the one hand, he does not present the issue of
mixed marriages as a problem, at any period of Israel’s history. Therefore he
does not repeat the record of 1 Kgs 11, which blames Solomon for this prac-
tice, and which served Nehemiah in his rebuke (Neh 13:26). On the other
hand, his own presentation of Israel’s origins and history demonstrates that
he is fully aware of the phenomenon of mixed marriages in Israelite society
along its history. According to his presentation—expressed in remarks taken
from his sources and material peculiar to his work—there is nothing wrong
in mixed marriages, because the spouses and offspring of such marriages are
part of Israel, a welcome component of Israelite society.47As far as the compo-
sition of the Israelite society goes, this is the most inclusivist position attested
in biblical literature.

5. Synthesis and Conclusion

The Chronicler’s evidence regarding the topics of women and gender demon-
strates very clearly that he is in every way a spokesman of his social milieu.
His basic social framework, from which all his positions regarding social and
legal issues are derived, is the patriarchal social system of his time, which is
reflected in both parts of his work.
In the historical narrative the main protagonists of the story are men,
while women play only a minor part in the historical process. The Chroni-
cler did not add any active female participants to the storyline taken from his
sources, which is very much in contrast to his procedure regarding male pro-
tagonists, where additional figures and names of prophets, army command-
ers, temple servants, and more are added to the story.
The patriarchal social system is clearly expressed in the Chronicler’s
structure of Israelite origins, as presented in the genealogical introduction;
however, the conceptual structure of Israelite ethnic identity, formulated

Separation and Exclusion in the Restoration Period (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes
Press, 2006) (in Hebrew). For the opposite claim, that the separation did take place, as
described in 1 Esd 9:36, see Zipora Talshir, 1 Esdras: A Text Critical Commentary (Atlanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2001), 482.
46. See Ezra 9–10; Neh 9:1–2; Neh 10:31; Neh 13:1–3, 23–28 and the article of Tamara
Cohn Eskenazi in this volume.
47. Several of these cases were mentioned above, p. 45. For more detail, see Japhet,
Ideology, 261–74.
52 Sara Japhet

through the construct of eponyms, employs both male and female names.
While the meaning of these eponyms is not the same, as determined by the
different status of males and females in the contemporary society, their epis-
temological function as eponyms is the same for both genders. Moreover, in
the actual genealogical “maps” sketched by these genealogies, some remnants
of the matrilineal system may still be observed.
The patriarchal setting is also expressed, among other ways, in the care for
the continuation of the family’s “name” through male progeny, and the appli-
cation of the inheritance laws. A special aspect of this position is the Chroni-
cler’s attention to purity laws, with its concomitant view of the incompatibility
of women and the holy precincts.
Within the confines of this basic social framework, however, the Chroni-
cler displays a great interest in matters concerning women, and presents them
as essential components of the social structure. He preserves in full all the par-
allel narratives from the book of Kings in which women played a significant
role—the queen of Sheba, the queen Athaliah, and the prophetess Huldah—
and includes other parallel data referring to women. Moreover, the presence
of women in the public domain, and as a component of the social fabric, is
emphasized in the Chronicler’s own descriptions.48
Another feature of the Chronicler’s handling of the “women” motif is his
use of it in the enhancement of his general historical and theological goals.
One of the major foci of the Chronicler’s work is the centrality of the house of
David in the history of Israel, and its theological significance. An important
aspect of this interest is the detailed data about the Davidic families—con-
cerning David himself and some of the Davidic kings. This additional data
contains quite a few details about the women (and the children) of the family.
Chronicles is also the only biblical work that contains the genealogy of the
house of David after the Babylonian conquest, including some data about
women.
To a lesser degree, women serve as a component of the Chronicler’s inter-
est in the Levites, which is illustrated throughout his book.
One of the major goals of the Chronicler’s history is the enhancement of
the concept of “all Israel,” a concept developed throughout the entire work
and emphasized in different ways. The role of women in this context is of the
greatest significance, promoting the Chronicler’s most inclusive definition of
Israelite identity. The Chronicler’s liberal attitude toward mixed marriages is a

48. The book of Kings does not refer to women as participants—or as of any signifi-
cance—in its description of public events: the dedication of the temple (1 Kgs 8), the cov-
enant of Josiah (2 Kgs 23), or the effects of the Babylonian conquest (2 Kgs 25).
 Female Names and gender Perspectives in Chronicles 53

major aspect of this definition of identity—according to his view, mixed mar-

riages were practiced in Israel throughout its history, and the foreign spouses
and their descendants form an integral part of the people of Israel.
In sum, the Chronicler’s positions regarding women and gender may be
seen as vacillating between two poles: At one pole is the traditional patriarchal
system, which forms his basic social presuppositions and dominates his social
views and values, and at the other, his interest in matters female, and his view
of women as an integral part of the social fabric. It is up to the reader to judge
how successful he was in navigating between these two poles and transmitting
this delicate balance in his historical composition.
 Part 2
“Good” and “Bad” Women? Images of
Women in Israel’s Wisdom Tradition
 Personified Wisdom:
Contexts, Meanings, Theology
Gerlinde Baumann

1. Introduction

Wisdom appears in three Old Testament writings in a personified manner:

in Prov 1–9, in Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and in the book of Wisdom (Wisdom
of Solomon).1 In these texts, Wisdom is portrayed as a person who can speak
and act. The word “wisdom” is feminine in Hebrew (Proverbs) and in Greek
(Sirach; Wisdom). The personification of Wisdom is also feminine; she is
therefore often called “Lady Wisdom.” The expansion of an earlier image
of God, dominated by masculine aspects, to include the missing feminine
side may help account for this feminine portrayal of Wisdom.2 Personified

1. For recent overviews of the biblical wisdom figure, see Christl M. Maier, “Weisheit
(Personifikation) (AT),” in Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (2007): http://
www.wibilex.de; Ilse Müllner, Das hörende Herz: Weisheit in der hebräischen Bibel (Stutt-
gart: Kohlhammer, 2006), 96–121 (esp. regarding Proverbs); Irmtraud Fischer, Gottesleh-
rerinnen: Weise Frauen und Frau Weisheit im Alten Testament (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer,
2006), 173–209; Alice M. Sinnott, The Personification of Wisdom (SOTSMS; Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2005); Martin Neher, Wesen und Wirken der Weisheit in der Sapientia Salomonis
(BZAW 333; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004), 18–154; Peter Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty: Femi-
nine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbalah (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2002), 23–38 (incl. Job 28); as well as the articles by Silvia Schroer, Wisdom Has
Built Her House: Studies in the Figure of Sophia in the Bible (trans. Linda Maloney; Col-
legeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2000). Older, but still relevant and readable, are especially
Bernhard Lang, Frau Weisheit: Deutung einer biblischen Gestalt (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1975)
(almost only Proverbs); as well as Gerhard von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abing-
don, 1972), 189–228 (also for wisdom theology as a whole).
2. According to Fischer, Gotteslehrerinnen, 171, the portrayal of Wisdom next to God
demonstrates that postexilic monotheism is forced to be open to nonmasculine images of
God: “If there is only one single deity, it must unite everything within itself and integrate all
functions of all deities, masculine and feminine, into the image of God.”

-57-
58 Gerlinde Baumann

Wisdom appears in different social and literary contexts and can be viewed as
one of the most fascinating literary creations of the Bible,3 especially in rela-
tion to the question of a feminine image of God.
This essay does not include wisdom in Job 28 and in Bar 3:9–4:4 because
in these texts wisdom is not personified, but appears as an entity without per-
sonal characteristics.4 Likewise, this is not the place for more detailed remarks
about the image of wisdom outside the Old Testament writings—in other
words, in Jewish and Christian postbiblical texts.5
In biblical exegesis the consensus is that the image of Wisdom is a poetic
personification.6 Personification is a subgenre of the poetic form of the
metaphor and originates through an interaction between a “source” and a
“target.”7 The target is personified Wisdom herself. The source cannot be so
clearly identified. Theoretically, concrete women (those of flesh and blood)
or even God, gods, or goddesses could be sources. Since personified Wisdom
is a figure of the divine sphere, she should also be analyzed as such.8 For
personified Wisdom, however—as with the imagery of God—the reference
to the concrete world is a broken one. Therefore, actual women as a source9

3. See Sinnott, Personification, 177: “Indisputably, Wisdom is the Bible’s most fascinat-
ing literary figure.”
4. See, e.g., Marie-Theres Wacker, “Baruch: Mail from Distant Shores,” in Feminist
Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible
and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerd-
mans, 2012), 531–38, here 533. She also points out that wisdom in Job 28 and in Baruch is
confusing, unapproachable, and remains “in terms of syntax and semantics the object of
God.” A similar opinion is held by Sinnott, Personification, 173–74; she nevertheless treats
the texts in her monograph.
5. See, e.g., Maier, “Weisheit,” §§1.1.5. and 2.2.1, with references to further texts and
literature.
6. Lang, Frau Weisheit, 168–71, was the first to formulate this theory clearly. For recent
German feminist-theological studies, see, e.g., Maier, “Weisheit,” §1.1.; Susanne Gorges-
Braunwarth, Frauenbilder—Weisheitsbilder—Gottesbilder in Spr 1–9: Die personifizierte
Weisheit im Gottesbild der nachexilischen Zeit (Exegese in unserer Zeit 9; Münster: LIT,
2002), 92–97; Gerlinde Baumann, Die Weisheitsgestalt in Proverbien 1–9: Traditionsge-
schichtliche und theologische Studien (FAT 16; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996), 27–37; as
well as Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 26–68, esp. 26–30.
7. Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 26; important impulses from the English dis-
cussion were provided primarily by Claudia Camp, Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of
Proverbs (Bible and Literature 11; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1985), 73.
8. See also Gerlinde Baumann, Love and Violence: Marriage as Metaphor for the Rela-
tionship between YHWH and Israel in the Prophetic Books (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical
Press, 2003), 31.
9. This position is held primarily by Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 52–68, as
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 59

are less likely; instead, we must look to already existing images of the God
of Israel as well as those goddesses known in Israel at the time. In order to
trace the meaning of personified Wisdom more exactly, these ideas should
also be examined.

2. Personified Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9

2.1. Text and Content

In the book of Proverbs, we find probably the oldest wisdom texts in the Bible;
chapters 10–29 likely originate for the most part from the time of the mon-
archy. They contain mostly wisdom sayings gained from experience about
appropriate behavior in different life situations. Chapters 1–9 introduce the
book. “Wisdom” is mentioned in almost all of these nine chapters. But not
all verses denote personified Wisdom. Most important are the texts in which
she herself speaks: Prov 1:20–33; Prov 8; and Prov 9:1–9; as a person, she also
appears in Prov 3:16–17; 4:6, 8–9; 7:4; 9:11.10
In her first-person speeches, personified Wisdom is positioned at the city
gate (Prov 1:20–21; 8:1–3) and thus in a public location in which trading is
done and where the local court holds its sessions. In the first speech (Prov
1:22–33) personified Wisdom resembles a prophetess. However, she declares
her own message and not the word of YHWH. She warns her audience to
heed her words and not to remain in a situation of inexperience. In the second
and longest speech in Prov 8, personified Wisdom primarily praises herself.
Here she appears at first (Prov 8:4–11) as the bringer of wisdom and knowl-
edge. In Prov 8:12–21, she is described more closely from a number of differ-
ent aspects: She is the counselor of the powerful; she loves those who love
her, and she allows herself to be found by those who seek her; she promises
her followers material wealth, and she walks on the path of law and justice.
Probably the most well-known passage is the third part of this chapter: In

well as by Christine Roy Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Read-

ing of Proverbs 1–9 and 31:10–31 (BZAW 304; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001).
10. Regarding personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9, see Christl M. Maier, “Proverbs: How
Feminine Wisdom Comes into Being,” in Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpre-
tation, 255–72; Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, as well as the English summary of her mono-
graph, “A Figure with Many Facets: The Literary and Theological Functions of Personified
Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9,” in Wisdom and Psalms (ed. Athalya Brenner and Carole R. Fon-
taine; FCB 2/2; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 44–78; Carole R. Fontaine, “Prov-
erbs,” in Women’s Bible Commentary (ed. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe; 2nd ed.;
Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998), 153–60; Bernhard Lang, Wisdom in the Book of
Proverbs: A Hebrew Goddess Redefined (New York: Pilgrim, 1986); Camp, Wisdom.
60 Gerlinde Baumann

Prov 8:22–31 personified Wisdom introduces herself as the one who was born
before God’s creation, and plays as his “favorite” (Heb. ‫)אמון‬11 in the presence
of God. The book of Proverbs is not any clearer in its description of the rela-
tionship between personified Wisdom and God. In the following verses (Prov
8:32–36), personified Wisdom praises those who follow her and threatens
those who do not. In Prov 9:1–9, she finally appears as a lady who invites all
those who pass by to her banquet in her palace. This text passage corresponds
to Prov 9:13–18, a section in which her antagonist, the “strange woman” or
“Lady Folly” (see below §2.2.), speaks.

2.2. Context and Meaning

Feminist-exegetical research on personified Wisdom still focuses on the book

of Proverbs. Most researchers argue that personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9 is
to be seen as a poetic personification and not as a hypostasis of God or as an
allusion or “citation” of an ancient Near Eastern or ancient Egyptian goddess.12
There is little disagreement about the argument that the introduction to the
book of Proverbs (Prov 1–9), including personified Wisdom, is a creation of
members of the urban upper class of the postexilic era (fifth/fourth century
BCE). Their situation is not mainly characterized by economic problems, but
rather by religious or ideological questions: Who is really Israelite and who is
not? Which behavior is proper for this community? Answers to these ques-
tions are given with regard to the figure of the “strange woman” in Prov 1–9.13
She is the negative antagonist of personified Wisdom. The “strange woman”
more strongly exhibits characteristics of concrete women of flesh and blood
than personified Wisdom does. Thus in Prov 1–9 there is a constellation in
which the negatively classified behavior of actual women in the form of the
“strange woman” is juxtaposed with the positive figure of personified Wisdom,
who exhibits very few characteristics of concrete women. As a result, some
feminist exegetes warn against evaluating personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9
only as positive, perhaps as an important “symbol of connectedness” or even

11. For this interpretation, see Othmar Keel, Die Weisheit spielt vor Gott: Ein ikono-
graphischer Beitrag zur Bedeutung des mesaḥ äqät in Sprüche 8,30f. (Fribourg: Universitäts-
verlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974); cf. Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, 4–41.
12. See the research overview of Gorges-Braunwarth, Frauenbilder, 4–64; and Bau-
mann, Weisheitsgestalt, 4–41.
13. See especially Christl Maier, Die “fremde Frau” in Proverbien 1–9: Eine exegetische
und sozialgeschichtliche Studie (OBO 144; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Van-
denhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995); see as well her essay in the current volume.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 61

the “future of feminist spirituality”14—as this is only one side of the coin, the
other side of which devaluates the behavior of actual women.15 Likewise, per-
sonified wisdom may also be interpreted as the “advertiser for the dominant
male culture”:16 she served to press women and men into patriarchal societal
structures that made women heavily dependent on their husbands and forced
them to adjust to rigid patriarchal standards and morals.
The other question connected to personified Wisdom is whether or how
she could have been derived from one of the numerous contemporary god-
desses in Israel and its environment.17

Aspects of goddesses which may have contributed to the image of personified

wisdom are: the first-person speech of personified wisdom in Prov 1:22–33
that resembles the first-person speech of the Egyptian Isis; wisdom as giver
of life and protection in Prov 3:16–18 as close to the Egyptian goddess Maʿat;
wisdom as the tree of life in Prov 3:18 takes up a Mesopotamian motif; Prov
4:6 with wisdom as a lover resembles Maʿat; the first-person speech of per-
sonified wisdom in Prov 8:4–36 has parallels in speeches of Isis, the Egyptian
deities Heqet and Shu as well as the speech of Pharaoh Ramesses II; wisdom’s
portrayal as the power behind the throne in Prov 8:15–16 resembles Maʿat
or a Syrian-Canaanite goddess; the motif of wisdom as a lover and loved one
in Prov 8:17, 20–21, 30 and 7:4 parallels again Maʿat; the fruit of wisdom
in Prov 8:19 takes up Mesopotamian notions; the pre-existence of wisdom
in Prov 8:22 can be compared to Maʿat as well as to the Baʿal epic; the cre-
ation of the world in Prov 8:24–25 comes close to Ugaritic texts; the playful
wisdom in Prov 8:30 has parallels in the Syrian-Canaanite region, as well

14. According to the title and headings in Susan Cady et al., eds., Sophia: The Future of
Feminist Spirituality (New York: Harper & Row, 1986).
15. See Gerlinde Baumann, “‘Zukunft feministischer Spiritualität’ oder ‘Werbefigur
des Patriarchats’? Die Bedeutung der Weisheitsgestalt in Prov 1–9 für die feministisch-
theologische Diskussion,” in Von der Wurzel getragen: Christlich-feministische Exegese in
Auseinandersetzung mit Antijudaismus (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker;
BibIntS 17; Leiden: Brill, 1996), 135–52.
16. So Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in
the Hebrew Bible (BibIntS 1; Leiden: Brill, 1993), 58–62, 54; for a similar tone, see Carol A.
Newsom, “Woman and the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom: A Study of Proverbs 1–9,”
in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (ed. Peggy L. Day; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989),
142–60; Mieke Korenhof, “Spr. 8,22–31: Die ‘Weisheit’ scherzt vor Gott,” in Feministisch
gelesen (ed. Eva R. Schmidt et al.; Stuttgart: Kreuz, 1988), 1:118–26.
17. Sinnott lists further goddesses discussed in current research (Personification, 171).
Lang, Wisdom, 129, sees parallels between personified wisdom and the Sumerian Nisaba as
well as the Egyptian Seshat, two scribal goddesses. For an overview of the discussion (until
1994) and the methodical problems of the results to date in religious-historical research,
see also Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, 13–27.
62 Gerlinde Baumann

as Maʿat, Hathor and the “goddess of play;” Prov 8:31 with wisdom close to
humanity again resembles Maʿat.18

As this list demonstrates, it is Maʿat, the Egyptian goddess of justice and world
order who is primarily discussed as a prototype for personified Wisdom.19
There are, however, a number of reasons that speak against Maʿat as the only
“model”: For one, the content-based connection between personified wisdom
and Maʿat is not close enough to assume that the image of personified wisdom
is based on Maʿat; for another, Maʿat has no myth and does not speak herself.20
In addition, there are a number of other goddesses as possible prototypes in
the world surrounding Israel.21 Therefore it is questionable whether personi-
fied Wisdom in Prov 1–9 was derived only from Maʿat and whether Maʿat has
to be seen in the strict sense as a “model” for personified Wisdom.

2.3. Personified Wisdom and God in Proverbs

In Proverbs, the depiction of personified Wisdom is fed primarily by two

sources: That Wisdom can be imagined as a feminine figure at all undoubt-
edly has to do with the fact that in the ancient Near Eastern world of ancient
Israel there were a large number of goddesses, to some of whom an enormous
amount of power was attributed. As a figure of the heavenly sphere, personi-
fied Wisdom certainly integrates facets of ancient Near Eastern goddesses; it
is not possible, however, to explicitly identify them.22 It is possible, though,
to precisely identify a number of references to religious traditions of ancient
Israel that can be found in the image of personified Wisdom as regards con-
tent. Primarily, these are references to prophetic texts (mostly Jeremiah) as
well as the Priestly creation narrative (Gen 1:1–2:4a).23 Based on these tradi-
tions, a figure is formed that is closely linked to the image of God in postexilic

18. For the source references, see Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, 26–27.

19. For this thesis based on texts, see Christa Kayatz, Studien zu Prov. 1–9: Eine form-
und motivgeschichtliche Untersuchung unter Einbeziehung ägyptischen Vergleichsmaterials
(WMANT 22; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1966), based on iconographic sources,
see Keel, “Weisheit.” For the Egyptian Maʿat (without reference to biblical wisdom), see Jan
Assmann, Maʿat: Gerechtigkeit und Unsterblichkeit im Alten Ägypten (Munich: Beck, 1990).
20. For this argument, see Burton L. Mack, Logos und Sophia: Untersuchungen zur
Weisheitstheologie im hellenistischen Judentum (SUNT 10; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1973), 38.
21. See Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, 24–25.
22. In contrast to Silvia Schroer; see her essay in the present volume.
23. See, among others, Baumann, Weisheitsgestalt, 145–46; Michaela Bauks and Ger-
linde Baumann, “Im Anfang war…? Gen 1,1ff und Prov 8,22–31 im Vergleich,” Biblische
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 63

Israel.24 Personified Wisdom was already present before the creation of the
world; she was created by God and is therefore a figure of the divine sphere.25
A number of aspects contribute to the image of God in postexilic Israel: First,
the Wisdom figure adds femininity to the divine, not only because she herself
is a feminine personification but also due to the fact that she was given birth
by God (Prov 8:24–25). Second, she is a mediator between God and human-
ity; she delivers to humanity the knowledge of the divine idea of inherent
order in creation.26 In this way, personified Wisdom in Proverbs is an exten-
sion of or even a breakthrough in ancient Israelite monotheism: When per-
sonified Wisdom enters the divine sphere, God is no longer the only being in
this sphere. In a more subtle way, personified Wisdom transmits concepts of
feminine and masculine behavior, primarily in her comparison to the “strange
woman” or “Lady Folly” in Prov 1–9.
Personified Wisdom in Proverbs is also a figure through which the knowl-
edge of the divine as well as human wisdom is to be passed on to the next
generation. In the Old Testament, she is the first more-developed feminine
figure of the divine sphere that is positively connoted and finds her origins (in
parts) in Israel itself. As she was already with God before creation, she knows
the deepest secrets of the world. Based on her connection to the “strange
woman,” it is questionable whether she could be received as a liberating figure
for women in the respective time period.

3. Personified Wisdom in the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

3.1. Text and Content

The book of Sirach (Jesus Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus) like the book of Prov-
erbs contains individual sayings or groups of sayings with teachings about
actual life situations. Other than Proverbs—and for the first time in Israel-
ite wisdom tradition—the book also refers explicitly to historical traditions

Notizen 71 (1994): 24–52; Scott L. Harris, Proverbs 1–9: A Study of Inner-Biblical Interpreta-
tion (SBLDS 150; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), 67–109.
24. Contrary to Yoder’s thesis in Wisdom, 111. For her, the “woman of strength” in
Prov 31:10–31 and personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9 are one and the same figure, based on
genuine descriptions of women’s life. Yoder does not fully consider the characteristics of
personified Wisdom, which bring the figure very close to God.
25. The texts are intentionally vague about the relationship between God and Wisdom.
Marie-Theres Wacker formulates rightly that “wisdom literature throughout leaves a cer-
tain ‘free space’ between God and wisdom (cf. Prov 8:30!)” (Wacker, “Baruch,” 534).
26. This is especially emphasized by von Rad, Wisdom, 144–76, esp. 175, in his formu-
lation of personified Wisdom as a “self-revelation of creation.”
64 Gerlinde Baumann

of Israel (primarily in Sir 44:1–50:24).27 Personified Wisdom appears in all

parts of Sirach and therefore plays an important role for the entire writing.28
Conspicuously, larger text passages at the beginning, middle, and end of the
book are dedicated to her. She appears right in the introduction in Sir 1:1–27.
In Sir 24:3–22 (with vv. 1–2 as introduction) she gives a long speech in which
she praises herself. This chapter forms the book’s center and connects the two
halves. In an appendix, personified Wisdom is again praised by the wisdom
teacher and author of the book (Sir 51:13–26). Additionally, there are three
wisdom poems in the book (Sir 4:11–19; 6:18–37; 14:20–15:10).
In Sir 1:1–27 the author introduces personified Wisdom: As in Prov
8:22–31, she was created before the world, and as in Job 28 she can be per-
ceived through the order of the world. Beyond and before all wisdom, how-
ever, is God, and only God is truly wise; he created and conceived Wisdom
and confers her to God-fearing men and women. Primarily in Sir 1:10–20,
personified Wisdom is closely connected to the “fear of God” (similar to Prov
1:7; 8:13; 9:10; Ps 111:10; Job 28:28). In Sir 1:26, the connection of (personi-
fied) Wisdom with divine instruction (Heb., ‫ ;תורה‬Gk., νόμος) is clearly pro-
nounced: “If you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will
lavish her upon you” (nrsv).29 This statement is emphasized by the identifica-
tion of wisdom and torah in Sir 24:23.
Sirach 4:11–19 highlights the love for personified Wisdom: serving her is
equivalent to serving God, and whoever loves her will be loved by God (v. 14).
In this section (according to the Hebrew text tradition), personified Wisdom
herself speaks in five verses. In 4:19, she even warns her followers and threat-

27. See Nuria Calduch-Benages, “The Absence of Named Women from Ben Sira’s
Praise of the Ancestors,” in Rewriting Biblical History: Essays on Chronicles and Ben Sira in
Honor of Pancratius C. Beentjes (ed. Jeremy Corley and Harm van Grol; Deuterocanonical
and Cognate Literature Studies 7; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 301–17.
28. As far as I know, there is no feminist-theological study dedicated only to per-
sonified Wisdom in Sirach. Still recommendable is the monograph by Johannes Marböck,
Weisheit im Wandel: Untersuchungen zur Weisheitstheologie bei Ben Sira (2nd ed.; BZAW
272; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1999). See also Nuria Calduch-Benages, ed., El Libro de Ben Sira
(Sirácida o Eclesiástico) (Reseña Bíblica 41; Estella: Verbo Divino, 2004), esp. 27–36. In
feminist exegesis, personified Wisdom in Sirach is treated in overview articles; see Angelika
Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus): On the Difficult Relations between Divine Wisdom
and Real Women in an Androcentric Document,” in Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Bibli-
cal Interpretation, 539–54; Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 84–97; see also Ibolya
Balla, Ben Sira on Family, Gender, and Sexuality (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature
Studies 8; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011).
29. A similar statement can be found in Sir 6:37; see Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasti-
cus),” 549.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 65

ens them (cf. Prov 1:22–33). On the other hand, Sir 6:18–37 emphasizes the
relationship between personified Wisdom and education, that is, the teach-
er’s judgment or advice. Such instruction is highly praised and is described,
among other things, as a precious crown (6:31), which, like wisdom, must
be achieved. In Sir 14:20–15:10, personified Wisdom acts like a rich woman
who lives in a house, and to whom one should try to be near; in Sir 15, she is
compared to a mother, a young bride, or a wife. Whoever approaches her finds
happiness and a crown of rejoicing (Sir 15:6). Personified Wisdom is thus por-
trayed like the girlfriend of a young man, and his approach to her is described
in erotic or sexual metaphors.30
In another way, personified Wisdom in Sir 24:1–22 speaks of herself in a
style similar to the Hellenistic genre of aretalogy, a form of sacred biography.31
Similar to Sir 1, she emphasizes that she was created by God, but then under-
lines her connections to Israelite history. Like a queen, she wanders through
the world and seeks for a place to live, which she then finds with God’s help in
Jacob or Israel. She lives in Jerusalem and serves before God like a priestess in
the holy tent. She compares herself to different trees that offer their fruits to
those who approach them. Sirach 24 is a text in which numerous allusions to
Old Testament traditions are found and which proves the high, almost divine
position of personified Wisdom. She remains, however, clearly subordinated
to God: He created her, he allows her to live in Jerusalem, and she serves him
in the cult.
At the end of the book of Sirach, the wisdom teacher once again praises
personified Wisdom in Sir 51:13–26. In this passage, the teacher looks back
on his life with Wisdom as a companion and also uses erotic metaphors: As a
young man, he sought her as he would search for a girlfriend or wife, and he
found her. Finally, this hymn to Wisdom aims at elating the students for the
wisdom teacher’s “house of instruction” (51:23).

3.2. Context and Meaning

The book of Sirach was presumably written in the second century BCE by
an educated wise man named Jesus ben Sira who lived in Jerusalem and may
have been a priest. His grandson translated the text into Greek. The Greek

30. For the erotic and sexually explicit language in Sirach and the wise man’s relation-
ship to personified Wisdom, see the summary in Balla, Ben Sira, 226–28; Balla often notes
that the Greek translation of Sirach weakens the erotic content (230).
31. For the aretalogies of Isis, see Silke Petersen, Brot, Licht und Weinstock: Intertextu-
elle Analysen johanneischer Ich-bin-Worte (NovTSup 127; Leiden: Brill, 2008), esp. 184–99.
66 Gerlinde Baumann

version32 is the basis for most of the exegetical work on the book of Sirach,
although the Hebrew text is older (though it only has survived in fragments).
Compared to the time when Proverbs was written, the overall situation
has changed significantly: On the one hand, the issue of “foreignness” in Israel
is apparently not so important anymore; on the other hand, Hellenism now
significantly influences the culture of Israel. In his book of wisdom, Sirach
attempts to connect Israelite and Hellenistic traditions with each other.
Relevant for the interpretation of personified Wisdom are Sirach’s andro-
centrism and his hostility toward women, as Silvia Schroer points out.33 The
positive representation of personified Wisdom contrasts with the negative
representation of actual women; here Sirach partially reiterates the contrast
between personified Wisdom and the “strange woman” in Prov 1–9. While
Wisdom praises herself in Sir 24, there are numerous verses immediately fol-
lowing in Sir 25–26 that speak quite negatively about women. Here as well, the
description of the extremely positive figure of personified Wisdom is coupled
with a degradation of concrete women. Other than at the end of Proverbs
(31:10–31),34 there is no figure in Sirach that integrates both aspects.
In her interpretation, Angelika Strotmann emphasizes that personified
Wisdom in Sirach is based to a large extent on personified Wisdom from
Proverbs.35 Both extend an invitation to a meal (Prov 9:1–6; Sir 15:2–3;
24:19–21), speak like a prophetess (Prov 1:20–33; Sir 4:19), and talk about
their “fruits” (Prov 8:19; Sir 24:19–21).36 In addition, both are closely bound
to the fear of God (Prov 8:13; Sir 1:10–20); they are filled with love for human-
ity and are loved in return (Prov 8:17, 21; Sir 24:18; 51:19–20). Strotmann
also takes a position in the frequently discussed question of whether per-
sonified Wisdom in Sirach, in comparison to Proverbs, has a less universal-
istic profile (i.e., directed toward humanity). Personified Wisdom in Sirach
is much more closely connected to Israel, with the fear of God, the torah,
and the commandments.37 Strotmann points out (in my opinion correctly)

32. There are two Greek versions, a longer (G II) and a shorter one (G I). In most
cases, the shorter one is the basis for modern Bible translations, which is why the reference
point in the following is the shorter version.
33. Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 85–89; see also Nuria Calduch-Benages’s
essay in this volume.
34. Regarding the “woman of strength,” see in addition to the work of Yoder, Wisdom,
also Katrin Brockmöller, “Eine Frau der Stärke—wer findet sie?” Exegetische Analysen und
intertextuelle Lektüren zu Spr 31,10–31 (BBB 147; Berlin: Philo, 2004), as well as Tamara
Cohn Eskenazi’s essay in this volume, §3.4.
35. Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus),” 539–54, 548.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid., 548 and 551–52.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 67

that personified Wisdom in Sirach—compared with Proverbs—is linked to

additional aspects of Israelite theology, which are embedded in a larger con-
text, because Sirach strives for a synthesis between Israelite and Hellenistic
thought. In some respects, Sirach adopts Hellenistic concepts, while he rejects
them in other areas. He writes against a universalistic background in which
the message of Israel’s God is directed to all peoples. Therefore, the iden-
tification with the torah does not represent any limitations for personified
Wisdom, but exactly the opposite, namely an expansion. Moreover, the repre-
sentation of personified Wisdom oscillates between Hellenistic thinking and
the closeness to the aretalogies of Egyptian-Hellenistic Isis38 on the one side
and—compared to Proverbs—the connection to a larger breadth of Israelite
tradition on the other side: Personified Wisdom in the book of Sirach seems
to be both—she is unquestionably Israelite, but at the same time connected to
Hellenistic thinking.
The latter is due to parallels between personified wisdom, primarily in
Sir 24, and the Hellenistic Isis, not only based on the joint literary genre
of the aretalogy but also through the polymorphism39 of both figures. The
parallels also stretch across individual aspects of her representation. The
proposition of Hans Conzelmann that Sir 24:3–6(7) is “nothing other than a
practically literal copy of a song to Isis, which is only retouched in one or two
places”40 has been widely approved in research. According to Conzelmann,
personified Wisdom and Isis share many aspects: they both emerge from the
mouth of God, wander around the earth in an act of creation, and rule the
cosmos. Both figures serve as overseer of the world, goddess of the seas, and
ruler of destiny. For other passages from Sir 24, Conzelmann also names the
closeness to the law (Sir 24:23) and to the cult (Sir 24:10).41 Burton L. Mack
specifies the parallels between Isis and personified Wisdom with regard to
the motif “circulation, descent and search for a dwelling place,” the close

38. For the parallels between Isis and personified Wisdom in Sirach (and in the
Wisdom of Solomon), Mack, Logos, 38, has already pointed out: “Maat is a mythical figure,
but does not have a myth herself; she never speaks in monologues and lacks the sexual
characteristics of wisdom. All these features apply to the goddess Isis. … Because Isis has
a myth, she is closely related to the word, and probably also lended wisdom the sexual
characteristics.” See also John S. Kloppenborg, “Isis and Sophia in the Book of Wisdom,”
HTR 75 (1982): 57–84.
39. Maier, “Weisheit,” refers to this feature in §1.2.4.
40. Hans Conzelmann, “Die Mutter der Weisheit,” in Zeit und Geschichte: Dankes-
gabe an Rudolf Bultmann zum 80. Geburtstag (ed. Erich Dinkler; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,
1964), 225–34, here 228; Mack, Logos, 40, shares this opinion.
41. Conzelmann, “Mutter,” 232–33.
68 Gerlinde Baumann

relationship to the word, the sexual characteristics, and the overall mytho-
logical representation.42
An argument against the close relationship between Isis and personified
Wisdom seemed for a long time to be the dating of the Isis aretalogies and
texts on the Hellenistic Isis to the post-Christian era.43 If one assumes, how-
ever, that these texts only mark the end point of a longer development, then
the close relationship between personified Wisdom and Isis is quite possible.44
In addition, personified Wisdom, with her invitation to refresh her follower
with her fruits (Sir 24:19–21), to nourish, and to provide shade (Sir 24:13–22),
could have been inspired, according to Schroer, by a Near Eastern tree god-
dess.45 In the tree metaphor in Sir 24:13–22, one can also discern—as with a
number of other previously observed aspects—an Israelite tradition, which
Schäfer refers to in the following: “Wisdom is like everything beautiful and
delightful that has ever been promised in the Bible, like all the famous trees
and fragrances, not least like the odor of incense in the Temple.”46

3.3. Personified Wisdom and God in Sirach

Compared to the introduction of Proverbs, how has the relationship between

personified Wisdom and God changed two or three centuries later in the
book of Sirach? Schroer and Strotmann stake out two opposing positions in
German exegesis. In Schroer’s view, personified Wisdom in Sirach, in com-
parison to Proverbs, is more strongly limited; she is clearly subordinated
to the God of Israel and a kind of priestly mediator. The love of Wisdom is
limited in two ways: First, it consists mainly of keeping the commandments;
second, Wisdom acts only in Israel and in the Jerusalem temple.47
Strotmann considers the relationship between personified Wisdom and
God in a somewhat different light. She emphasizes texts such as Sir 4:14, in

42. According to Mack, Logos, 38–42; the last-named aspect is already noticed by
Conzelmann, “Mutter,” 234.
43. According to Lang, Frau Weisheit, 152–54.
44. See also Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, 38.
45. Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 91–92, points to the Canaanite tree goddess
as well as to the Egyptian tree goddess. See her more detailed discussion in “Die Zweiggöt-
tin in Palästina/Israel: Von der Mittelbronze II B-Zeit bis zu Jesus Sirach,” in Jerusalem:
Texte—Bilder—Steine: Zum 100. Geburtstag von Hildi und Othmar Keel-Leu (ed. Max
Küchler and Christoph Uehlinger; NTOA 6; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Van-
denhoeck & Ruprecht, 1987), 201–25, esp. 218–21, and her article in the present volume
(§3.1).
46. Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, 31.
47. According to Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 94–95.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 69

which personified Wisdom and God almost merge with each other. She also
discovers parallels between the search for God according to Deut 6:5 and the
search for wisdom according to Sir 6:26; in the end, both grant the seekers
peace (Sir 6:28; Deut 12:9–10).48 Gottfried Schimanowski points to further
parallels between personified Wisdom in Sirach and God: The “high places”
(Sir 24:4a) are not only the residence of Wisdom but also the residence of
God; the “throne on a pillar of cloud” (Sir 24:4b) is, according to Exod 13:21;
14:19, also the place where God appears.49 The areas of the world named in Sir
24:5–6 are not accessible to humans, but rather only to God—and Wisdom.50
When Wisdom in Sir 24:8 lives in Zion and in Sir 24:9 stays there for all eter-
nity, she takes God’s dwelling place in Old Testament tradition.51 Besides this
near identification or equal status of God and personified Wisdom,52 there
are also texts in Sirach in which personified Wisdom is clearly subordinated
to God. For the latter, Strotmann refers to the creation of personified Wisdom
by God (Sir 1:1–27; cf. Sir 24:3), Wisdom’s obedience to God’s commands (Sir
24:8–9), and her service before God in the temple (Sir 24:10).53
Personified Wisdom in Sirach thus appears on the one hand as a figure
who exhibits characteristics of great independence and high authority and
on the other hand as one who is partially subordinated to God. Schäfer sum-
marizes this ambiguity in arguing that personified Wisdom, as a creation of
God, is not God, but is “nevertheless God’s representative on earth.”54 Her
activities in Israel and in the temple do not limit her outreach since Jerusa-
lem is now seen as the center of the world, to which all peoples relate in their
faith. Personified Wisdom in Sirach and in Proverbs have in common that
they are based on Old Testament traditions and ancient Near Eastern god-
desses. In Sirach, however, the links to the Egyptian-Hellenistic Isis are much
clearer than those to Maʿat in Prov 1–9. Personified Wisdom in Sirach differs
from personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9 through her identification with the
torah as well. In addition, there is a stronger polarization in Sirach than in
Proverbs between the positive Wisdom figure on the one side, with which the

48. Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus),” 549.

49. See Gottfried Schimanowski, Weisheit und Messias: Die jüdischen Voraussetzungen
der urchristlichen Präexistenzchristologie (WUNT 17; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1985), 50.
50. Ibid., 51–52.
51. Ibid., 54.
52. Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus),” 550, regarding Sir 14–15: “Wisdom seems to
be YHWH himself.”
53. Ibid., 551.
54. Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, 30.
70 Gerlinde Baumann

addressees should cultivate a close relationship, and the negatively depicted

concrete women on the other.

4. Personified Wisdom in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)

4.1. Text and Content

The book of Wisdom (Sapientia; Wisdom of Solomon) attempts—like the

book of Sirach—to create a synthesis of Israelite and Hellenistic thought. The
reader is instructed or courted by a single person to turn toward the wisdom
of Israel. The book’s speaker is clothed, however, not only in Israelite but also
in Hellenistic robes; in Wis 9:7–8 he claims to be King Solomon.
In the book of Wisdom, personified Wisdom plays an even more impor-
tant role than in Proverbs or in Sirach.55 Wisdom is the dominant figure in
the first part (Wis 1:1–11:1) and appears at least implicitly in all other parts.
The “encomium,” or hymn, on wisdom in Wis 6:22–11:1 with the transitional
section 6:12–21 talk explicitly about her.56 “Solomon” praises the advantages
of wisdom in life, and even asks God for the gift of wisdom (7:7–22a; cf. 8:21–
18). This song of praise culminates in a hymn to wisdom, her being, and her
works (7:22b–8:1). Wisdom was also at work in Israel’s history (10:1–11:1).
Because of these qualities, “Solomon” wants to win her as a bride and spend
his life with her (8:2–20).
In these passages, wisdom entails a large variety of aspects, many of which
we have already seen in Proverbs and in Sirach. The topic of justice is impor-
tant in the book of Wisdom (Wis 1:1–15); in addition, personified Wisdom
is identified with the power behind the throne (Wis 6:20–21): She is the one
who rules and guides the rulers (cf. Prov 8:15–16). Personified Wisdom was
already present at the beginning of creation (Wis 6:22), at the creation of the
world (Wis 9:9), and knows all of creation, because she is the “master crafts-
woman” or “creator” (Gk. τεχνῖτις; Wis 7:21) of all things. Thus personified
Wisdom appears as God’s co-creator. In Wis 9:4, she can be designated as
πάρεδρος, as the one enthroned beside God. At this point, the book of Wisdom

55. As far as I know, there is no feminist-theological study that focuses only on per-
sonified Wisdom in the book of Wisdom. Yet Silvia Schroer dedicates some space to her in
“Wisdom: An Example of Jewish Intercultural Theology,” in Schottroff and Wacker, Femi-
nist Biblical Interpretation, 555–65. The detailed study by Neher, Wesen, limits itself to the
question of the function and essence of personified Wisdom in the book of Wisdom.
56. See, e.g., Helmut Engel, “Weisheit Salomos,” in Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon
im Internet (2005): §2.2.3, http://www.wibilex.de; Schroer, “Wisdom,” 556–58.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 71

goes one step further than Proverbs and Sirach. However, there are also verses
in which personified Wisdom is subordinated to God, who leads her (7:15).
Different from Sirach, personified Wisdom is no longer compared to the
partner of the person seeking her (Sir 15:2); she is now the life partner of “Sol-
omon” (Wis 6:12–21; 8:2, 18). Only those who live with Wisdom will be loved
by God (Wis 7:28); as such, the role as mediator between God and humans is
even more strongly emphasized. The relationship of personified Wisdom to
God and to humans, as Martin Neher has elaborated, is often conveyed by the
spirit of God (esp. Wis 1:6; 7:7, 22–23; 9:17).57
Personified Wisdom in Wisdom of Solomon differs in some points from
Proverbs and Sirach: First, she is portrayed as a historically powerful being
who intervenes on behalf of the people (Wis 10:1–11:1). In this role, per-
sonified Wisdom can serve as the key to older traditions of Israel.58 Second,
personified Wisdom is connected to immortality, which “Solomon” hopes to
attain through his life partner by making the right decisions and acting prop-
erly (Wis 8:13, 17). Third, the profile of personified Wisdom has changed,
especially in comparison to Sirach, insofar as the erotic and sexual imagery—
even if personified Wisdom is the bride and life partner of “Solomon”— is
missing in her description.59 Fourth, personified Wisdom does not have
her own voice: the book does not present any first-person speeches, and she
instead appears only in the speeches of “Solomon.”

4.2. Context and Meaning

The book of Wisdom was designed with the help of Hellenistic literary forms
and genres, namely in Egyptian Alexandria, probably in the century before or
after the beginning of the Common Era. The book presents a fictitious speech
of King Solomon that focuses on justice and wisdom. Its author is probably a
scribe or wise person who is extremely well-informed about the traditions of
Israel and trained in Hellenistic rhetoric.60
In contrast to her representation in Proverbs and in Sirach, personified
Wisdom in the book of Wisdom has no negative antagonist, neither on a
concrete nor a metaphorical level. There are no texts in the book of Wisdom
in which women are devalued or negatively portrayed; in any case, the book
mentions real women and men only once (Wis 3:12–14). Similar to other

57. See, e.g., Neher, Wesen, 233.

58. Ibid., 236.
59. This feature has been pointed out by Jane S. Webster, “Sophia: Engendering
Wisdom in Proverbs, Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon,” JSOT 78 (1998): 74–77.
60. For more detail, see Engel, “Weisheit Salomos,” §4.
72 Gerlinde Baumann

topics discussed in the book of Wisdom, personified Wisdom also appears

indeterminate and vague.
The book of Wisdom was strongly influenced by the Hellenistic context
in which it was written. The book attempts to express Israelite wisdom in the
rhetorical forms of Hellenistic literature.61 It is probably addressed to young,
Jewish people (more likely men than women) and seeks to offer a synthesis of
Old Testament and Hellenistic wisdom.62 The book assumes a nonpolemical
and fearless stance toward Hellenism, and therefore offers an extended image
of God; it does not seem to be a problem that personified Wisdom is placed
on God’s side as a co-creator sharing God’s throne.
As Mack has pointed out, there is further overlapping between the por-
trayal of personified Wisdom in the book of Wisdom and Isis—in contrast to
personified Wisdom in Sirach and in addition to the polymorphism and the
genre of aretalogy: The aspect of light (Wis 6:12; 7:10, 29) like Isis’s aspect of
the sun goddess; Wisdom is the universal goddess who fills the world (Wis
7:23), a “breath” of God and his purity (Wis 7:25), and the principle of the
cosmos, which she renews (Wis 7:27). Further results of Mack are summa-
rized by Schäfer.

Isis is the spouse and sister of the sun god Osiris; even the term parhedros is
used in her relationship to Serapis, the Hellenistic Osiris. Isis is the goddess
of earth and nature, the “female principle of nature” (to tēs physeōs thēly), the
mother of the cosmos (mētēr tou kosmou).63

Schäfer concludes: “It is this peculiar mixture of Platonic, Stoic and Egyp-
tian elements that gives Wisdom/Spirit in Sapientia Salomonis her distinc-
tive tinge.”64
At the time the book of Wisdom was written, Israel’s cult in the Jewish
communities in Egypt was in competition with the worship of the goddess
Isis. It is possible that the book of Wisdom attempts to again bind those
Jews who tended toward the worship of Isis or even turned away from Juda-
ism more strongly to the Jewish faith.65 In this context, it makes sense that
personified Wisdom was portrayed in the image of Isis. With personified

61. For the Greek literary style and its variations, see ibid., §2.2.
62. See ibid., §4; similarly also Neher, Wesen, 240.
63. Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, 37 with reference to Mack, Logos, 66–72.
64. Schäfer, Mirror of His Beauty, 38; from a different perspective, Neher, Wesen, 239–
40, comes to a similar result: The writer of the Sapientia had “no specific philosophical basis,”
but rather “made use of the philosophical terms common among all educated persons in
Alexandria, in order to systematically integrate them into his theological argumentation.”
65. Engel, “Weisheit Salomos,” §4, emphasizes that the book of Wisdom is a piece of
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 73

Wisdom, who resembles Isis and is also closely tied to the God of Israel,
Judaism would become more attractive.

4.3. Personified Wisdom and God in the Wisdom of Solomon

The relationship between personified Wisdom and God in the book of

Wisdom is constructed similarly to that in Sirach. On the one hand, she is
almost placed on equal terms with God: “She rules all things full of good-
ness” (Wis 8:1); she “is the beginning of it all” (7:12); she lives with God, who
loves her (8:3); whoever loves her will be loved by God (7:28); she knows his
whole creation in all of his works (8:4); she is God’s co-creator (7:21) and is
enthroned as πάρεδρος at the side of God (9:4). On the other hand, she is also
called the “pure effluence from the glory of God” (7:25), and everything that
she is comes from God; he is the one who shows the way to wisdom (7:15),66
and “Solomon” asks him for the gift of wisdom (7:7; 8:21; 9:4, 10). Sometimes
she appears as a personification; for example, when “Solomon” wishes to bring
her home as a bride and live together with her (8:2–20). In other passages,
by contrast (such as 7:22b–8:1), she is more of an abstract—although very
powerful—“being” (cf. Job 28; Bar 3–4). Thus she has the same two sides as
personified Wisdom in Sirach: On the one hand, she is placed on the same
level as God; on the other hand, she is subordinated to him. Seemingly, the
aspect of subordination more likely applies to wisdom as a “being” or “cre-
ation,” whereas personified Wisdom more likely has the same position as God.
A new aspect here is not only that humans love personified Wisdom but also
that God loves her (8:3).67 God and personified Wisdom share a number of
aspects: They allow themselves to be found; they rescue; they love—especially
the people.68 In the retrospection to Israelite history in 10:15–21, personified

internal Jewish promotional literature that is designed not to convince or argue, but to
win over.
66. According to ibid., in §2.2.3, with reference to Wis 8:2–9 (italics in original): “Not
even the shadow of a doubt remains, whether she (like Isis) is also a ‘goddess.’ There is only
one God and creator of everything, who also gives wisdom, which as his creation (Prov
8:22; Sir 1:4, 9) shares in his characteristics and titles.”
67. Schroer, “Wisdom,” 557–58, speaks of Sophia as “the beloved and the companion
of God.”
68. Engel, “Weisheit Salomos,” in §2.2.3 (italics in original): “Through the literary
personification of wisdom, one recognizes that a one-sided or predominantly ‘masculine’
image of God is erroneous.… In the figure of ‘wisdom,’ the author reflects in an original
way the loving, personal presence of God with humans and expresses it in the philosophi-
cal and educated language of his present time.”
74 Gerlinde Baumann

Wisdom acts—compared with the older texts, which are revised here—in the
place of God.
Therefore, Isis was a model for personified Wisdom in the book of
Wisdom, at least in some aspects and with regard to her authority. Again,
personified Wisdom takes on many elements from her forerunners in Prov-
erbs and in Sirach. Her relationship to God vacillates between subordination
and equality.69

5. Summary

Personified Wisdom in Prov 1–9 is born into the world as a figure who is to
lead the reader into the older wisdom of the book of Proverbs (Prov 10–29).
She warns the young people to whom she is speaking to turn toward her and
not to the “strange woman” who wants to lead them to inappropriate social
behavior. But not only with the threats of a prophetess does personified
wisdom speak to her public; she also woos them with the information that she
was already with God before he created the world and therefore has intimate
knowledge of the interrelations of creation and the proper behavior. In Sirach,
personified Wisdom is expanded and receives new competencies; she now
comes close to the fear of God and is identified with the torah. At the same
time, she receives strong erotic-sexual characteristics. In her portrayal, the
influence of the Egyptian-Hellenistic Isis is noticeable, which underlines the
extent of the power of personified Wisdom. Occasionally she has the same
ranking as God. Since God’s sphere of influence now extends to the entire
world, this also applies to personified wisdom—she is now also a figure based
in Israel and its history but shining out over the entire world, confidently
speaking to her listeners. The position of personified Wisdom in the book of
Wisdom is even higher: Now she is at the side of God and is partly made equal
to him; she is the basis of just actions and was already active in the history of
Israel. Yet she does not speak herself anymore. She has become the life partner
of the exemplary wise man “King Solomon,” who praises her highly. They have
a close relationship that, however, has lost its erotic aspects. In close cohabita-
tion with Wisdom, it is now possible for people like “Solomon” to act justly
according to the commandments and thus attain immortality.

69. In my opinion, Schroer neglects the independence of God as well as the passages
of the subordination of personified wisdom under God when she says: “Sophia in the book
of Wisdom is Israel’s God imaged as woman and goddess” (Schroer, “Wisdom,” 564). On
the other hand, Engel in “Weisheit Salomos,” §2.2.3, overlooks the divine characteristics of
Wisdom when he completely disputes the aspect of a goddess.
 Personified Wisdom: Contexts, Meanings, Theology 75

But the joy over this figure, who at least in some instances can be con-
sidered a female image of God in the Bible, is not unclouded, because some
aspects of personified wisdom have given way to feminist criticism: In all three
books, she turns primarily to young men, who are warned about interact-
ing with certain women (Proverbs). The young man should pay more—also
sexual-erotic—attention to Wisdom than to problematic, concrete women
(Sirach), or they should see their ideal life partner in Wisdom, who can help
them to act justly or even attain immortality (Wisdom). Today’s female read-
ers of these androcentric texts should not allow themselves to be pushed into
the less attractive alternative of either identifying themselves with the male
addressees or with the devalued and even demonized women in the texts.
Instead they could try to appreciate personified Wisdom mainly by way of her
numerous connections to ancient Israelite traditions and her power, which is
borrowed from Isis.

Translated from German by Dale J. Provost; revised by Christl M. Maier

 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job:
The Emergence of Cultural Stereotypes
Christl M. Maier

In the last decades, the numerous female figures in Proverbs, Job, and other
wisdom books of the Hebrew and Greek Bible have been widely interpreted.
The present volume also offers many insights into this discussion. In partic-
ular, feminist scholars have analyzed these female characters with regard to
their social status in ancient Israel as well as their symbolic role in a patriar-
chal society. In this article, I deal with the tendency in Wisdom literature to
generate types of human characters. I name them “cultural stereotypes” and
will first demonstrate their dangerous potential in consolidating a bias toward
women (and men). Second, I will analyze some characterizations of women
in Proverbs and Job by treating these portrayals not as timeless truth but as
cultural stereotypes that serve a particular purpose. Methodologically, I com-
bine the perspectives of ideology criticism and feminist criticism, adopting a
reading of wisdom sayings that reveals androcentrism and forms of gender
bias. In some instances, I will broaden my feminist-critical approach with a
social-historical reconstruction of the text’s setting. The combination of syn-
chronic and diachronic approaches helps to carve out the authors’ interests
and intentions to educate their intended audience in a specific way. My thesis
is that cultural stereotypes for women do not, for the most part, adequately
describe women’s lives and, in the end, have a negative effect on the overall
evaluation of women’s roles in society. Last, I will assess the significance of
cultural stereotypes for audiences and readers past and present, and point out
why a deconstructive reading is necessary.

1. Definition and Function of a Stereotype

The wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible are part of an old and enduring
cultural tradition of the ancient Near East that aims at ordering the world.
Starting from Sumerian item lists to collections of proverbs and elaborate

-77-
78 Christl M. Maier

exhortations, the so-called wisdom texts served as material for learning

how to read and write in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In ancient Israel, the say-
ings, exhortations, and poems that now form the book of Proverbs stemmed
from different sources: an oral clan tradition, an urban school tradition, and
postexilic scribal circles.1 The process of collecting and writing down these
sayings can be attributed to learned men (and perhaps some women) at the
royal court (Prov 25:1 mentions the “men of Hezekiah, king of Judah”). They
aim at educating their readers through proverbial sayings and admonitions,
which are often rhythmic or poetic and thus easy to memorize.2 A peculiar
feature of these proverbs is binary pairing such as “wise” and “fool” (10:8;
11:29), “lazy” and “diligent” (13:4; 26:14–16), “righteous” and “wicked”
(10:3, 6, 11; 11:23).3 In describing certain deeds and thoughts of a “wise”
or a “foolish” person, the proverbial sayings characterize them as types, or
rather, stereotypes.
The term stereotype was introduced into the discourse on social life by the
journalist Walter Lippmann (1898–1974), who defined it as “an ordered, more
or less consistent picture of the world, to which our habits, our tastes, our
capacities, our comforts and our hopes have adjusted themselves.”4 Lippmann
further argues that in order to cope with their complex world people need
stereotypes. From a psychological point of view, building stereotypes seems to
be a coping strategy, with the help of which, in light of conflicting perceptions
and complex anxieties, humans are able to orientate themselves in their world.
Johnny Miles rightly points out that stereotyping individuals or groups always
runs the risk of “othering,” that is, distinguishing individuals or a group from
oneself through negative assessments.5 Such stereotyping reduces particular-
ity and distinctiveness by fusing the behavior or habits of individuals into a
homogenous evaluation. In other words,

1. For an overview of the material, see Christl Maier, “Proverbs: How Feminine
Wisdom Comes into Being,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Criti-
cal Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and
Marie-Theres Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 255–72; 255–56. Proverbs 22:17–
23:11 has direct parallels in the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope.
2. For this setting, see Roger N. Whybray, The Book of Proverbs: A Survey of Modern
Studies (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 19–21.
3. In Egyptian wisdom literature, another binary pair besides “wise” and “fool” is “hot”
and “hush”; see Hellmut Brunner, Altägyptische Weisheit: Lehren für das Leben (Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1988), 24–27.
4. Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922; repr., New York: Macmillan, 1949), 95.
5. Johnny Miles, Constructing the Other in Ancient Israel and the USA (The Bible in the
Modern World 32; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2011), 30–33.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 79

a stereotype fixates on a few, simple, essential characteristics (behavior,

disposition, physical qualities) and reduces people to those characteristics.
These characteristics are taken out of context and attributed to everyone
associated with that characteristic. … Such a process where projection fuels
the stereotype that reduces, essentializes, naturalizes, and fixes does serve
several functions, not least of which are to establish identity and boundaries.6

A cultural stereotype is one that has become permanent, that is, a standard
image in a certain culture.
The negative depiction of the “wicked” (Heb. ‫ )רשׁעים‬may serve as an
example: they speak violent words, and their mouth pours out evil (Prov 10:6,
11, 32; 11:9, 11; 12:6; 15:28; cf. Ps 73:8–9), their actions are deceptive or evil
(Prov 11:18; 12:2, 10; 13:5; 21:7; cf. Job 10:3; Ps 37:14, 32), they bribe other
people (Prov 17:23), they give treacherous counsel (Prov 12:5), and their
ways lead others astray (Prov 12:26; 15:9). The aim of this dismissive char-
acterization of the “wicked” is twofold. First, the sages try to reveal violent
actions and deceitful speech as detrimental to human relations. In contrast-
ing such behavior with the positive characterization of the “righteous,” they
intend to instruct their audience about socially accepted behavior. Second,
the stigmatization of the “wicked” and especially the recurrent announce-
ment of their well-deserved doom aim at consoling the “righteous” that the
obvious thriving of the wicked will end soon (see Ps 37; 73). Acknowledging
the sages’ urge to define desirable behavior, one has to be aware that they
promote a certain ideology. Stereotyping becomes problematic if it is used to
denigrate certain persons or if it leads to a reduced perception of reality. If
cultural stereotypes are taken as real and gain the status of undisputed truth,
they exclude others and lose their potential to bring order to the complexity
of life.
The problem of “othering” individuals or groups when using stereotypi-
cal characterization arises especially if modern readers perceive the state-
ments of the biblical wisdom tradition as time-invariant and cross-cultural
truth without acknowledging the differences in societal values and gender
relations between then and now. In order to ward off such interpretations,
the ideology inherent in cultural stereotypes has to be critically assessed.
From a feminist perspective, such ideology criticism requires a reading that
deconstructs the cultural stereotypes and analyzes their function for the
society of the texts’ authors.

6. Ibid., 31.
80 Christl M. Maier

2. Cultural Stereotypes of Women

In the maxims of proverbial wisdom, that is, the thematically unsorted say-
ings in Prov 10–30, women are portrayed as mothers, spouses, widows, and
prostitutes—thus by reference to their relationship with men. The proverbs
constantly speak about women, not from their own perspective, and when
they mention women, they primarily name problems in relations between
men and women. The book of Job focuses so much on the male protagonist
and his dispute with his male friends that it appears as a world almost without
women.7 Women are only mentioned in passing as mother, widow, the wife of
the neighbor, and servant—again always in relation to men. In the following,
I analyze four major types of women characterized in Proverbs and Job: the
diligent wife, the seductress, the female counselor, and the poor widow.

2.1. The Diligent Wife

In proverbial wisdom, the married woman is viewed with regard to her use-
fulness to her husband: “A strong wife is the crown of her husband, but like
rottenness in his bones is the one who brings shame” (Prov 12:4).8 The crown
as a visible symbol of royal power (see 2 Sam 12:30) is here used metaphor-
ically for the high value of a diligent woman as companion in life. Similar
value is attributed to the wife in the saying “a prudent wife is from YHWH”
(Prov 19:14; cf. 18:22). While a woman’s beauty is praiseworthy (Job 42:15),
beauty is not sufficient for a marriage partner if it is not paired with discre-
tion, as stated in Prov 11:22: “a gold ring in a pig’s snout [is] a beautiful woman
without good sense.” The “good” spouse is thus beautiful, bright, diligent, and
subjects herself to the paterfamilias, the master of the family. Summarizing
the significance of the diligent wife, Prov 14:1 states, “The wisdom of women
builds her house, but foolishness tears it down with her own hands.”
These proverbs articulate common knowledge of an agricultural clan cul-
ture with households that are largely oriented toward producing their own
food and basic handicraft, which were widespread in Israel in premonarchic
times and even until the seventh century BCE.9 Israelite women were respon-
sible for the daily meals and crafts like spinning and weaving as well as for
their children’s early education. Thus, in Prov 10–30, the partnership of men

7. See Christl Maier and Silvia Schroer, “Job: Questioning the Book of the Righteous
Sufferer,” in Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical Interpretation, 221–39.
8. All translations of biblical passages are mine unless otherwise noted.
9. See Carol Meyers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988).
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 81

and women is economically based; love between the marriage partners is not
mentioned at all.
A predominant theme, however, is the potential failure of such domestic
partnership. Five proverbs mention a belligerent spouse who aggravates the
life of her husband: “A persistent dripping on a day of continual rain and a
contentious wife are alike” (27:15). “Dwelling in a corner of the roof is better
than in a house shared with a contentious wife” (21:9; cf. also 19:13; 21:19;
25:24). This negative counterpart of the diligent wife also emerges from focus-
ing on the welfare of the male family head and serves as a means to blame the
woman for any conflict that may occur.
The postexilic frame of the book of Proverbs (chs. 1–9; 31) deepens the
stereotype of the ideal wife through a personification of Wisdom and the
strong woman.10 While Lady Wisdom integrates different roles of women and
even goddesses,11 Prov 9:1–6 underlines her particular role as principal of the
house: She builds her spacious house, prepares a copious meal, and invites
young men in order to nourish them with food and wisdom teaching.
The acrostic poem in Prov 31:10–31 summarizes all positive aspects of the
diligent wife in characterizing her as an industrious household manager: she
works day and night, spins, weaves, and tailors clothing; she produces food in
fields and vineyards. She even buys a field and a vineyard (v. 16) and contacts
foreign traders (v. 24). She is called ‫אשׁת־חיל‬, “woman of valor” (v. 10), a title
that is otherwise only used for Ruth the Moabite (Ruth 3:11). Since the term
‫ חיל‬expresses physical and mental strength as well as courage, I name her the
“strong” woman.12 Like Lady Wisdom, the strong woman builds her house,
feeds, and educates the members of her household (vv. 15, 26–27).13 Both
female figures enhance the wealth and honor of the men around them and are
therefore praised as “more worthy than corals” (8:11; 31:10). An assessment of
the ideology of this stereotype reveals that the characterization of the diligent
wife in Prov 31:10–31 bears some ambivalence.
As Christine Yoder has demonstrated, the activities of the strong woman
in Prov 31 are documented in extrabiblical sources as workings, sometimes

10. For the role and dating of the frame, see Claudia V. Camp, Wisdom and the Femi-
nine in the Book of Proverbs (Bible and Literature 11; Sheffield: Almond, 1985), 282–90.
11. See the article of Gerlinde Baumann in this volume.
12. In her dissertation, Karin Brockmöller, “Eine Frau der Stärke—wer findet sie?”:
Exegetische Analysen und intertextuelle Lektüren zu Spr 31,10–31 (BBB 147; Berlin: Philo,
2004), offers a detailed literary analysis of the poem.
13. For an evaluation of the parallels, see Silvia Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House:
Studies in the Figure of Sophia in the Bible (trans. Linda Maloney; Collegeville, Minn.: Litur-
gical, 2000), 18–25.
82 Christl M. Maier

even professions, of women in the Persian period.14 Yoder, Karin Brock-

möller, Irmtraud Fischer, and I thus read the poem as a condensed portrayal
of women’s authority and self-reliance in the Persian period.15 Considering
the initial question, “Who can find a woman of valor?” as rhetorical in the
sense that its answer is no, Jutta Hausmann cautions against reading the poem
as an affirmative image of women’s life and sees in the figure the unattainable
Lady Wisdom.16 Alternatively, the poem may be interpreted as a means to
restrict the influence of women to the house, while it asserts the public role
of the husband (31:23).17 In my view, the modern distinction between private
and public is not valid for Israelite society in the Persian Period since the
household of Prov 31 includes an extended family and serves as the basic eco-
nomic unit. Thus its management is not just private, but of communal signifi-
cance. Indeed, the text states that the skills of the strong woman are publicly
praised (vv. 28–31).18
In sum, the literary figure of the strong woman offers a summary of wom-
en’s roles and skills that emerges as an ideal, a cultural stereotype, especially
because of its exaggeration and elaboration. The most striking feature of the
strong woman is that she incorporates aspects not only of Lady Wisdom but
also of the “strange” woman, who belongs to the stereotype of the seductive
woman (see below §2.2). Her comparison with merchant ships (v. 14) and her
possession of imported linen and purple fabric (v. 22) refers to Phoenician
trade; she has contacts with traders (v. 24), who in most cases were foreigners
like the associates of the strange woman in Prov 5:9–10. The coverings the
strong woman makes for herself (v. 22) are named with the same term as those
in the house of the “strange” woman (7:16).19 With perfumes and fine fabrics,

14. Christine R. Yoder, Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Reading

of Proverbs 1–9 and 31:10–31 (BZAW 304; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001), 75–91. See also Ina
Willi-Plein, “‘Eschet Chajil’: Weisheit und Lebensart Israels in der Perserzeit,” in Exegese
vor Ort: Festschrift für Peter Welten zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Christl M. Maier et al.; Leipzig:
Evangelische, 2001), 411–25.
15. Yoder, Wisdom, 91, calls her a “composite figure of real—albeit exceptional—
women in the Persian period”; see also Brockmöller, Frau der Stärke, 232–35; Irmtraud
Fischer, Gotteslehrerinnen: Weise Frauen und Frau Weisheit im Alten Testament (Stuttgart:
Kohlhammer, 2006), 169–72.
16. See Jutta Hausmann, “Beobachtungen zu Spr 31,10–31,” in Alttestamentlicher
Glaube und biblische Theologie: Festschrift für H.D. Preuß zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Jutta
Hausmann and Hans Jürgen Zobel; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1992), 261–66.
17. This reading is mentioned and then refuted by Fischer, Gotteslehrerinnen, 169.
18. Similarly Brockmöller, Frau der Stärke, 164–65, who also lists a range of tradi-
tional interpretations of this feature.
19. See Yoder, Wisdom, 92–93.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 83

both women possess imported luxury goods, which refer to the Persian era,
when trade in such wares was blossoming. Whereas this association with for-
eigners, trade, and imported supplies is judged positively with regard to the
strong woman, it is rendered negatively in reference to the strange woman.
This contrast demonstrates that stereotypes are not logical but often related to
emotive and sensational judgments.
While unfolding this ideal, however, the portrayal of the strong woman
“reinforces the values and customs of a context that is patriarchal in structure
and androcentric in bias.”20 The speaker of the poem may be male or female
like in Prov 1–9. Moreover, the preceding instruction of King Lemuel’s mother
to her son in 31:1–9 offers a context in which a female advisor is plausible.21
Finally, the characterization of the diligent wife has a long tradition in
Israelite wisdom. As a cultural stereotype, the depiction clearly influences the
expectations of young men, who are the primary addresses of the admoni-
tions and poems in the book of Proverbs. Yet, as a written text and especially
through their mnemonic and acrostic forms, the sayings, instructions, and
poems also influence the assessment and self-image of real women from the
monarchic to the Persian period and beyond. Whether women in ancient
Israel were encouraged or confined by this stereotype cannot be reconstructed,
yet modern readers should be aware of the portrayal’s ambivalent message.

2.2. The Seductress

The integrity of the family and its property, which are targeted by the Hebrew
sages, may be endangered by sexual relations between the male family head
and other women. Instead of scolding the man for such relations, however,
proverbial wisdom blames the women.

For a prostitute [‫ ]זונה‬is a deep pit

and an alien woman [‫ ]נכריה‬is a narrow well.
She also lies in wait like a robber and increases the unfaithful among men.
(Prov 23:27–28)

The mouth of strange women [‫ ]זורת‬is a deep pit;

he with whom YHWH is angry falls into it. (Prov 22:14)

20. Ibid., 109.

21. Fischer, Gotteslehrerinnen, 150, 167–68, argues that if one sees the king’s mother
as speaker also of Prov 31:10–31, the addressee in v. 29 could even be her royal daughter.
84 Christl M. Maier

The prostitute is paralleled with the “alien” woman, who may not be a for-
eigner but who is “extraneous” to the family. Proverbs 23:27–28 deems both
women dangerous to the man who encounters them since the locations “deep
pit” and “narrow well” connote darkness, danger, and even death. Both say-
ings underline that meeting such women are a sign that the man’s relation to
God is impaired.
This pointed image of the prostitute is amplified by an antagonist figure
to Lady Wisdom in Prov 1–9, who is alternatively named “foreign,” “alien”
(‫)נכריה‬, or “strange” (‫ )זרה‬and serves as a stereotyped outsider to the commu-
nity. While the Hebrew and English have various terms to denote otherness or
foreignness, the German word fremd comprises all of these meanings. In Prov
6:24, this figure is called “the evil woman” (‫)אשׁת רע‬, while Prov 6:26 names
her “the wife of another man” (‫ )אשׁת אישׁ‬and judges her as more harmful
than a prostitute (‫)אשׁה זונה‬. In direct contrast to Lady Wisdom, the figure
is called “Lady Folly” (‫ )אשׁת כסילות‬in Prov 9:13. Four admonition speeches
in Prov 1–9 (2:16–20; 5:1–23; 6:20–35; 7:1–27) warn a young man, called
“my son,” of this mysterious woman whose characterization is showered with
negative attributes. According to Prov 2:17 she is unfaithful to her human
companion (cf. 7:19) and to her God. From the perspective of the instruction’s
speaker, only a man who is inclined to wisdom and thus knows righteousness
and justice can resist this woman (2:6, 9, 16).
The admonition in Prov 5 warns the son against the smooth words of this
adulterous woman and threatens him in the case of disobedience with the loss
of possessions and good reputation in the community (vv. 9–14). Instead of
embracing the strange woman, the teaching person recommends that he dis-
cover his own wife as the source of satisfying sexuality (vv. 15–19).
Another warning in Prov 6:20–35 has strong intertextual links to the pro-
hibitions of the Decalogue against stealing, committing adultery, and coveting
one’s neighbor’s wife.22 The teaching person argues that this woman who can
fan the flames of passion with a single alluring gaze will lead the ensnared
young man to dishonor or even legal proceedings—in short, social death.
Finally, Prov 7 describes a scene intended to unmask the dangerous pre-
tense of the strange woman who resembles Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:7–12).
While the husband and master of the house is away (v. 19), she wanders the
streets under the protection of the dusk to ensnare her victim (vv. 9, 12). She
persuades a spineless man with flattery and deceptive words (vv. 14–20) and

22. See Christl M. Maier, “‘Begehre nicht ihre Schönheit in deinem Herzen’ (Prov
6,25): Eine Aktualisierung des Ehebruchsverbots aus persischer Zeit,” BibInt 5 (1997):
46–63.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 85

entices him into her house and onto her bed, which has been arranged with
fine quilts and perfumes. The warning is reinforced by drastic metaphors, rep-
resenting the strange woman’s house as antechamber to the underworld and
the woman as a murderous warrior (vv. 26–27; cf. 2:18–19; 5:4–6; 9:18).
Although this imagery is reminiscent of Ishtar, the ancient Near Eastern
goddess of love and war, the strange woman in Prov 7 neither has the qualities
of a deity nor, it seems, worship a goddess. An association with cultic apostasy
arises only implicitly based on the idea that foreign women worship foreign
deities, which is also found in Num 25:1–3; Ezra 9–10; and Neh 13:26.
Claudia Camp detects implicit connotations with foreign worship in sim-
ilarities of the woman’s portrayal in Prov 2:17 and 7:14 with prophetic texts
that use the metaphor of adultery to criticize the worship of foreign deities
(Jer 3:3–5; 13:21, 25; Isa 57:7; Zech 5:5–11).23
The naming of the woman as foreign or strange carries different connota-
tions and also alludes to the rejection of marriages with “foreign women” (‫נשׁים‬
‫ )נכריות‬mentioned in Ezra 9–10 and Neh 13:23–31.24 The overt focus on her
sexual behavior, however, is based on the stereotype of the dangerous prosti-
tute in the older wisdom tradition. Characterizing her as sexually promiscu-
ous denigrates and dismisses her as a potential marriage partner. Instead, she
becomes the antagonist of both the “good” wife and Lady Wisdom. In this
figure, connotations of ethnic, cultic, and ethical deviation are condensed into
a rhetorical construct that renders all strangeness feminine.

The shifting metonymic associations of woman with strangeness—women’s

blood standing for all pollution, foreign wives standing for all things foreign,

23. See Claudia V. Camp, Wise, Strange and Holy: The Strange Woman and the Making
of the Bible (JSOTSup 320; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000), 42–53.
24. Nancy Nam Hoon Tan, The “Foreignness” of the Foreign Woman in Proverbs 1–9: A
Study of the Origin and the Development of a Biblical Motif (BZAW 381; Berlin: de Gruyter,
2008), analyzes the figure of Prov 1–9 basically with regard to other texts about the “foreign
wives” (Deuteronomistic History; Ezra-Nehemiah). She posits that the “foreign” woman
in Prov 1–9 designates apostasy (104), which in my view is rather the idea of the Greek
translation of Proverbs. For the topic of intermarriage, see the essays of Tamara Cohn Eske-
nazi and Sara Japhet in this volume. See also Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Eleanore P. Judd,
“Marriage to a Stranger in Ezra 9–10,” in Temple and Community in the Persian Period (vol.
2 of Second Temple Studies; ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Kent H. Richards; JSOTSup
175; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994), 266–85; Christl M. Maier, “Der Diskurs um interkul-
turelle Ehen in Jehud als antikes Beispiel von Intersektionalität,” in Doing Gender—Doing
Religion: Fallstudien zur Intersektionalität im frühen Judentum, Christentum und Islam (ed.
Ute E. Eisen et al.; WUNT 302; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013), 129–53.
86 Christl M. Maier

adulterous women standing for idolatrous Israel—have reified into an “onto-

logical metaphor”: Strangeness is a Woman.25

The portrayal of the seductress—named strange in Prov 1–9—thus offers

a clear case of othering that merges physical, behavioral, ethnic, and social
aspects into a cultural stereotype.26 Viewed against the Persian-period back-
ground and its supposed challenges to the reestablishment of an Israelite com-
munity in the province of Yehud, the portrayal of the seductress highlights
the ideological message to the young men not to seek a marriage partner on
their own but to rely on their parents’ and teacher’s insight and counsel to
find a “good” wife.27 Although the warnings explicitly address only a son, the
negative stereotype of the strange woman offers a role model also for daugh-
ters, albeit in reverse, that is, in the sense that daughters are seriously warned
not to become a strange woman or a prostitute. For a society challenged by
economical and political constraints, the education of the next generation in
“conservative” ethics, that is, an ethics that retains values, may seem appropri-
ate. Interpreters, however, should be aware of possible harmful effects that
such texts may exert on readers today if taken at face value. In my view, the
denigrating characterization of the seductive woman is both androcentric and
prejudicial to the general perception of women.

2.3. The Female Counselor

Proverbs 1:8 and 6:20 explicitly affirm that a father or a mother could take
the role of the wisdom teacher. This idea is also present in the earlier pro-
verbial wisdom, although more indirectly stated (Prov 10:1; cf. 15:20; 20:20;
23:22; 29:15). In Prov 31:1, the mother of Lemuel, king of Massa, appears
as a personal and political advisor to her son. Like the speaker in Prov 7:1
she warns him against sexual misconduct and drinking bouts. This foreign
mother serves as a positive role model: she repeats the ethical admonitions of

25. Camp, Wise, Strange and Holy, 59.

26. Therefore, the strangeness of the figure includes different facets, deduced from
“reality” and with metaphorical meaning; it cannot be restricted to just one meaning as
Michael V. Fox, Proverbs 1–9 (AB 18A; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 134–41, and Daniel J.
Estes, “What Makes the Strange Woman of Proverbs 1–9 Strange?” in Ethical and Unethical
in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue (ed. Katherine Dell; LHBOTS 528; New
York: T&T Clark, 2010), 151–69, try to argue.
27. For a fuller assessment of the sociohistorical background of Prov 1–9 see my Die
“fremde Frau” in Proverbien 1–9: Eine exegetische und sozialgeschichtliche Studie (OBO 144;
Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995), 25–68, 264–69.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 87

personified Wisdom to judge rightly (cf. Prov 1:3; 8:15–16 with 31:9) and to
help the destitute and poor (cf. Prov 8:27–31 with 31:8–9).
Lady Wisdom and the strong woman are the most prominent examples of
female counselors. Wisdom lauds her own good council (8:14–16) and scolds
those who would not heed her advice (1:23–25, 30). The strong woman opens
her mouth with wisdom and gives good instruction (31:26). As Silvia Schroer
has demonstrated with regard to Hebrew Bible narratives, the task of being
a good counselor to her husband is part of the ideal characterization of the
female spouse.28
Only Job does not follow his wife’s counsel and even rejects her advice,
which leads commentators to assess her role controversially. Job’s wife also
experiences the loss of their children and their property, but she is neither
fully elaborated as a character nor granted a name. Although she seems to
have accompanied him until his recovery, the epilogue does not mention her
or any other woman as mother of Job’s ten children born to him after his res-
titution (42:13). In the prologue, she only utters two short sentences: “You still
hold on to your integrity. Bless God, and die!” (2:9). The Hebrew leaves open
whether the first sentence is a comment or a question and whether she asks
Job to bless or curse God. In case of the latter, the Hebrew verb ‫ברך‬, “to bless,”
would serve as a euphemism. Traditionally, the suggestion of Job’s wife has
been interpreted as an expression of incomprehension and mockery, because
it echoes the prediction of the adversary (“the Satan”) that Job would bless/
curse God to the face (2:5). The church father Augustine, for instance, calls the
wife a diaboli adiutrix, “Satan’s helper,” who was to tempt Job—and thus uses
the stereotype of the belligerent wife. Yet the woman’s speech adopts not only
the adversary’s words but also God’s announcement that Job will persist in his
integrity (2:3).29 The text deliberately leaves the meaning of ‫ ברך‬undecided: as
a curse in the sense of fending off disaster or a blessing in the sense of praising
what is worthy of praise.30 It may be read as a suggestion that Job bless God
once more as long as he holds on or is able to hold on to his integrity and then
die at peace with God after his farewell.31 Alternatively, the words of Job’s wife

28. Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House, 52–68.

29. For this interpretation, see Jürgen Ebach, Hiobs Post: Gesammelte Aufsätze zum
Hiobbuch, zu Themen biblischer Theologie und zur Methodik der Exegese (Neukirchen-
Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1995), 68–70.
30. See Tod Linafelt, “The Undecidability of brk in the Prologue of Job and Beyond,”
BibInt 4 (1996): 165–72; Magdalene L. Frettlöh, Theologie des Segens: Biblische und dogma-
tische Wahrnehmungen (2nd ed.; Gütersloh: Kaiser/Gütersloher, 1998), 308–14.
31. Thus a midrash on Job 2:9; see Solomon A. Wertheimer, ed., Batei Midrashot (2nd
ed.; Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kuk, 1968), 2:165.
88 Christl M. Maier

may be interpreted as pointing out the absurdity of Job’s holding on to God

and proposing that he curse and turn away from this God who has forsaken
him and then die, since blasphemy would incur the death penalty (see Lev
24:16). Both cases could involve compassion or, at any rate, common sense
instead of mockery or sarcasm. Thus Job’s wife is portrayed as recommending
a way out of hopelessness even if it means death. But Job rejects her as “one
of the foolish women” (‫;אחת הנבלות‬32 2:10). Although Job rebuffs his wife’s
counsel, it is through her that the plot moves on and Job reaches a point where
he even considers the possibility of not accepting evil from God.33
The lacuna in the Hebrew text has been filled in subsequent rereadings of
Job’s story. The Greek text tradition has preserved a much longer version of
the couple’s dialogue, in which Job’s wife talks about her suffering to find work
and sustain her sick husband and herself:

Then after a long time had passed, his wife said to him, “How long will you
persist and say, ‘Look, I will hang on a little longer while I wait for the hope
of my deliverance?’ For look, your legacy has vanished from the earth—
sons and daughters, my womb’s birth pangs and labors, for whom I wearied
myself with hardships in vain. And you? You sit in the refuse of worms as
you spend the night in the open air. As for me, I am one that wanders about
and a hired servant—from place to place and house to house, waiting for
when the sun will set, so I can rest from the distresses and griefs that now
beset me. Now, say some word to the Lord and die!’ ” (Job 2:9 LXX)34

While the origin of this longer text is disputed, it is usually dated later than
the Septuagint and thus represents an expanded interpretation.35 The wom-
an’s speech emphasizes Job’s steadfastness but also envisions her affliction and
grief, rendering her more sympathetic.
The Testament of Job, written probably in the second century CE, is based
in its description of Job’s wife on this Greek text. In this writing, Job’s wife is

32. Besides the idea of foolishness, the equivalent Hebrew masculine term ‫ נבל‬repre-
sents a socially inferior person (Prov 30:8) but also one who denies God (Ps 14:1).
33. This reading is suggested by Ellen van Wolde, “The Development of Job: Mrs Job
as Catalyst,” in A Feminist Companion to Wisdom Literature (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 9;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1995), 201–21.
34. Translation by Claude E. Cox in Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds.,
A New English Translation of the Septuagint and the Other Greek Translations Traditionally
Included under That Title (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 671.
35. See Martina Kepper and Markus Witte, “Job/Das Buch Ijob/Hiob,” in Septuaginta
Deutsch: Erläuterungen und Kommentare (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2011),
2:2047–48; David J. A. Clines, Job 1–20 (WBC 17; Dallas, Tex.: Word, 1989), 53.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 89

sympathetically portrayed as full of compassion and loyal to her husband,

caring for him, feeding him, and even giving her hair to buy bread (T. Job
23:2–10).36 She even receives a name, Σιτίς, which is evocative of Αυσίτις,
the Greek translation of Job’s homeland Uz, or Σιτίδος, an allusion to Greek
σιτίζειν, “to give bread.” Eventually she dies and Job has a second wife, called
Dinah, with whom he has more children, among them three daughters who
also inherit part of Job’s property with a special spiritual significance (cf. Job
42:14-15 with T. Job 46).37
These later narrative traditions and the controversial interpretations of
Job 2:9 demonstrate that it depends on the reader’s imagination whether Job’s
wife is seen as belligerent or diligent, an evil or a good wife. Since in the book
of Job her character is not developed and she is only briefly mentioned, one
may interpret her according to the stereotype of the nagging wife or the help-
ful counselor.
Although the stereotype of the female counselor offers, like the one of the
diligent wife, a positive evaluation of women’s contribution to marriage and
family, it is similarly embedded in a patriarchal context and a gender hierar-
chy of which the husband is at the center.

2.4. The Poor Widow

From the androcentric perspective of the “good” wife, widows and orphans,
whose status is defined by the absence of a husband and father, appear as mar-
ginalized and in danger of being deprived of their property. Proverbs 23:10
conveys the prohibition against violating the borders of the field of orphans,
which is well known from the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope (7:11–
14),38 to Israelite wisdom. When Prov 15:25 describes YHWH as maintaining
the boundary for the widow, it indicates that any violation of her land prop-
erty is considered an offense against God (see also Prov 22:28). Both sayings
underline that in ancient Israel women and children had minor legal rights
and would not be able to defend themselves in court.39

36. See Pieter W. van der Horst, “Images of Women in the Testament of Job,” in Studies
on the Testament of Job (ed. Michael A. Knibb and Pieter W. van der Horst; SNTSMS 66;
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 93–116.
37. For a feminist interpretation of this writing, see Luzia Sutter Rehmann, “Testa-
ment of Job: Job, Dinah and Their Daughters,” in Schottroff and Wacker, Feminist Biblical
Interpretation, 586–95.
38. See Brunner, Weisheit, 241.
39. For the status of widows, see Christl M. Maier and Karin Lehmeier, “Witwe,” in
90 Christl M. Maier

In the book of Job, the existence of the poor widow and the orphans is
especially indicative of the distorted world order (Job 24:3, 21). The descrip-
tion of communal misery in Job 24 mentions infertile, childless women and
widows whose infants were used as pawns because their mothers were in
debt. While Eliphaz accuses Job that he has sent away widows empty-handed
(22:9), Job defends himself arguing that he always supported both widow and
orphans (29:12–13; 31:16–17) and as a wealthy landowner upheld the prin-
ciples of solidarity with the poor laid down in the Torah (Deut 24:17, 19–22).
While the stereotype of the poor and oppressed widow was certainly
based on the experience of numerous women, especially in times of politi-
cal or economic crises, it also reveals the androcentric viewpoint that women
and children would not survive without a male guardian. The poem praising
the strong woman in Prov 31, however, contradicts the idea that women are
economically dependent on their husbands, although one has to acknowledge
that her husband is still alive. Even if many widows were actually poor, the
cultural stereotype of the “poor widow” unduly constricts the reality.

3. The Function and Significance of

Cultural Stereotypes in Wisdom Literature

Cultural stereotypes, I have argued, are necessary to order one’s world, to

deal with one’s anxieties and instabilities of perception. The series of cul-
tural stereotypes of women in Proverbs and Job presented here establishes
clear distinctions between the “evil” and the “good” woman. The rather fixed
characteristics and clear negative or positive evaluations of the diligent wife,
the seductive woman, the female counselor, and the poor widow encour-
age the intended audience to choose the “right” way, to find a “good” wife.
For young men this meant following their parents’ religious tradition and
especially their suggestions for a spouse instead of endangering their prop-
erty and reputation by contacts with a “strange” woman. The book of Prov-
erbs, especially its postexilic frame, aims at educating sons of the wealthy
and landowning class to choose a way of life that may be called “conserva-
tive” in the best sense of the word, namely, preserving established values. The
instructions and poems demonstrate an outright didactic purpose to instruct
a male addressee about how to live a successful life. In reverse, the story of
Job demonstrates the loss of such a life and the breakdown of the male pro-
tagonist’s relationships with his wife, children, friends, and other persons.

Sozialgeschichtliches Wörterbuch zur Bibel (ed. Frank Crüsemann et al.; Gütersloh: Güter-
sloher, 2009), 667–68.
 Good and Evil Women in Proverbs and Job 91

Beyond a mere individual level, both writings instruct their audience about
socially accepted behavior. Job’s statements that he cared for his household,
fed the poor, and never cast an eye on his neighbor’s wife (Job 29:12–16;
31:9–10) reflects the ideal behavior of a male family head. The poem about
the strong woman (Prov 31:10–31) concisely develops the ideal of a wife and
household manager. These stereotypical characterizations of both women
and men serve to reduce the complexity of life.
I argue that all traditions preserved in Proverbs and Job demonstrate the
influence of women on men and women’s significance for the functioning of
family and household. Recent studies about the social organization and eco-
nomic situation of Judeans in the Persian province of Yehud show that the
contribution of women to the family’s sustenance, their role as wise counsel-
ors to their husbands, and their education of small children was significant,
because the household formed the basic unit of society.40 Their role and influ-
ence, however, did not mean that the patriarchal structure of the family was
shattered. Only some women of the upper class could establish inheritance
rights or marriage contracts that preserved their individual property and ren-
dered them economically autonomous. Moreover, women were involved in
the production of cultural stereotypes like the strange woman and the diligent
wife as the figure of the mother as teacher underlines (Prov 1:8; 6:20; 31:1).
Thus one has to acknowledge that women in ancient Israel shared this andro-
centric perspective.
While such stereotyping can be explained in relation to the social-his-
torical background of the texts, it is in no way innocent but rather has a
direct effect on the evaluation of women and their roles. This effect can be
seen in the different interpretations of Job’s wife, who may be seen as a “good
counselor” or a belligerent and thus “bad” wife, depending on which stereo-
type a specific interpreter favors. From a feminist point of view, the othering
of the strange woman and the negative assessment of Job’s wife cannot be
accepted without objection, even if Lady Wisdom, the strong woman, and
the foreign king’s mother are praised and positively characterized. That the
female stereotypes in Proverbs and Job had a detrimental effect on the over-
all assessment of women can be seen in the later wisdom writings: Sirach
repeats and deepens the distinction between good (Sir 26:1–4, 13–18) and
bad women (Sir 25:15–26; 26:7–12, 22–27) and calls daughters a source
of constant anxiety for a man (Sir 7:24–25; 42:9–10).41 Both Ecclesiastes/
Qoheleth and Sirach even discuss whether “the woman” is the cause of all

40. See Yoder, Wisdom; Maier, “Der Diskurs um interkulturelle Ehen,” 141–46.
41. See Nuria Calduch-Benages’s essay in this volume.
92 Christl M. Maier

evil (Qoh 7:26; Sir 25:24).42 In wording similar to the characterization of

the strange woman of Prov 1–9, a text from Qumran, originally named “the
Wiles of the Wicked Woman” (4Q184), describes a seductive woman who
brings about destruction.43 In the reception history of female characters, this
binary stereotyping eventually led to the polarization of the “whore” and
the “holy one,” the sexually promiscuous seductress, and the faithful, almost
asexual mother—stereotypes that exert some influence even today.
My effort to highlight the complexity and variety of portrayals of women
in the books of Proverbs and Job intends to make today’s readers aware of their
dangerous potential in consolidating a bias towards all women. With regard
to the denigrating effect of stereotyping women as “wise” or “strange,” “good”
or “bad,” I plead for a deconstructive reading that brings out the ambivalence
of such an androcentric perspective on women. Thus, beyond all stereotypes,
new images of women (and men) may arise.

42. For an assessment of Qoh 7:26, see Vittoria D’Alario’s essay in this volume.
43. See Tan, Foreign Woman, 112–21. However, it is not clear whether 4Q184 typifies
real women or personifies apostasy in a female figure.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization:
Perspectives on Women in Qoheleth
Vittoria D’Alario

1. Introduction

In the book of Qoheleth, the subject of women has to be framed in the context
of a more general reflection about humans (‫)אדם‬, in connection to their con-
dition of frailty (‫)הבל‬. The book of Qoheleth is primarily concerned with an
anthropological question, as can be inferred from the opening of the text itself:
What do people gain from all their toil under the sun? (1:3).1 In his search,
Qoheleth2 questions human experience, presenting it in its many facets. His
observations range from social phenomena of injustice and oppression (3:16;
4:1–3; 8:9; 9:3) to everyday issues, such as the meaning of work (2:11, 17–22;
5:12–17; 6,1, 12) and the value of interpersonal relationships (4:8–12), as well
as the political sphere (4:13–16; 5:7–8; 10:5–7). The human being, with the
multiplicity of its experiences, as well as with its demands and limits, is the
main object of Qoheleth’s reflection.
In the first six chapters of the book, Qoheleth, through reflections and
exemplifications, endeavors to prove the uselessness of human strivings,
especially when they are aimed at self-affirmation and omnipotence. In the
second part of the work (7:1–11:6), he takes into account humans’ potential
for knowledge and consequently the limits of wisdom. In Qoh 6:10–12 he
poses some questions challenging one of the fundamental principles on which
the quest for wisdom is based, that is, a human person’s capability of finding
his or her own way in the present and making plans for the future: “Whatever

1. For citations of biblical verses, the translation of this essay uses the New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV). In cases where the author provided her own translation into
Italian, the translator translated this text into English.
2. For the meaning of the Hebrew word “Qoheleth,” see below, §2.4. The author under-
stands Qoheleth as a male wisdom teacher.

-93-
94 Vittoria D’Alario

has come to be has already been named, and it is known what human beings
are, and that they are not able to dispute with those who are stronger. The
more words, the more vanity, so how is one the better? For who knows what is
good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass
like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?”
The texts concerning women in Qoheleth are included in the second part of
the book and, though rare, are particularly relevant to our theme: 7:26–28 and
9:9.
On a first reading, the texts on women seem to contradict each other, as
is often the case with different topics in the whole book. In 7:26–28 Qoheleth
gives the impression of aligning his negative judgment on women with that of
all the antifeminist writers of the ancient world,3 while in 9:9 there is a posi-
tive exhortation to enjoy the relationship with one’s own wife. Thus there is a
shift from a pessimistic view, which emphasizes the vulnerability of the female
person, to her subsequent valorization.

2. Women and the Mystery of God’s Work (Qoh 7:23–27)

In order to provide a correct interpretation of Qoheleth’s thought, it is impor-

tant to start by analyzing his remarks first in their immediate context and then
in the whole work. The analysis should never be limited to single verses, since
it is crucial to consider Qoheleth’s arguments in the section comprising the
texts on women and to respect its logic, even though it might often be differ-
ent from ours.4

3. It is no wonder feminist literature has never appreciated this passage of the Qohe-
leth, in which the personal experience of the author can allegedly be found. See Athalya
Brenner, “Figurations of Women in Wisdom Literature,” in A Feminist Companion to
Wisdom Literature (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 9; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995),
50–66, 59–60; Carole R. Fontaine, “Ecclesiastes,” in Women’s Bible Commentary (ed. Carol
A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe; 2nd ed.; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1998), 161–
63. For a critical evaluation that takes into account different interpretations of Qoheleth,
see Jennifer L. Koosed, (Per)mutations of Qohelet: Reading the Body in the Book (LHBOTS
429; New York: T&T Clark, 2006), 77–87.
4. On the relationship between logic and rhetoric in the book of Qoheleth, see Vit-
toria D’Alario, Il libro del Qohelet: Struttura letteraria e retorica (RivBSup 27; Bologna:
Dehoniane, 1993), 185–231.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 95

2.1. An Antifeminist Qoheleth? (Qoh 7:26–28)

The first text I will analyze is Qoh 7:26–28,5 which is presented here in its
immediate context, 7:25–29.

I turned my mind to know and to search out,

and to seek wisdom and the reason of things [‫]חׁשבון‬,
and to know that evil is folly and foolishness madness.
And I find that more bitter than death is woman, if [since]
she is all laces: her heart a net, shackles
her arms. He who pleases God escapes her,
but the sinner is taken by her.
See, this I found, says Qoheleth, adding
one thing to another to arrive [‫]מצא‬
at a final sum, which I still seek and not find.
One man among a thousand I found:
but a woman among all I have not found.
See, only this I found,
that God made man upright,
but they seek out many devices [‫]חׁשבנות‬.

We are in the presence of one of the most controversial passages of Qohe-

leth, one that can be translated and interpreted in many different ways. The
first difficulty is that of identifying the mysterious female character described
in verse 26. Is it the portrait of women in general or of a particular kind of
woman? Some scholars have propounded the hypothesis that Qoheleth is here
referring to the metaphor of “Woman Wisdom,” frequently attested in the
book of Proverbs. If these verses are isolated, they would retain their cryptic
character forever; examined, however, in the light of the context in which they
are included, they can be understood more adequately.
There is no doubt about the immediate context: verses 25–29, presented
as a finite unity, both in the theme (the sage’s continuous and passionate quest)
and in the literary clues, allow for a precise delimitation of the pericope.6 First,
we have to notice the inclusio between ‫ חׁשבון‬in verse 25 and ‫ חׁשבנות‬in verse
29; it certainly is one of the text’s keywords (on which more later). In addition,
there is frequent use of the first person singular, the “I” of the sage, which

5. I am proposing my own translation of the text, which will be justified throughout

the analysis.
6. For this delimitation of the pericope, I share the arguments of José Vílchez Líndez,
Eclesiastés o Qohelet (Nueva Biblia Española; Sapienciales 3; Estella: Verbo Divino, 1994),
322–33.
96 Vittoria D’Alario

addresses the issue of women. Women become the object of a persistent quest,
as evident in the fact that the verb ‫“( מצא‬to find”) recurs seven times in these
verses. Qoheleth’s reflection on women, though, finds its place in an even
wider section beginning at 7:23 and ending at 8:1, in which Qoheleth investi-
gates the matter of the quest for wisdom and evaluates its results.
First of all, let us consider verses 23–24, which show the inaccessibility
of wisdom, shrouding with mystery all that Qoheleth has sought and found.
All this I have tested with wisdom and I have said:
“I will be wise!”
But wisdom was far from me,
That which was is far and deep, very deep,
who can find it out [‫?]מצא‬

He states that he has examined everything “with wisdom”: ‫ בחכמה‬defines

wisdom as an instrument for research, a means to achieve wisdom. Nonethe-
less, the results obtained by Qoheleth are unsatisfactory, because wisdom is
ultimately unattainable. Qoheleth has to stop before the unfathomable abyss
that presents itself to him, a reality that in many ways remains incomprehensi-
ble and mysterious. Verse 24 ends with a rhetorical question: “Who can reach
it?” Here the verb ‫מצא‬, one of the text’s key words, appears for the first time.
This verb has several different meanings and must be explained each time it
is used.7 In 7:24 it means “to grasp,” and reality itself cannot be grasped. The
answer to the question posed by Qoheleth cannot but be negative. Nobody,
no matter how hard they try, is actually able to grasp the essence of things
and to understand the deep meaning of reality.8 The issue of women is framed
within this reflection about the mystery of being, where Qoheleth questions
the ability of the human mind to attain a comprehensive understanding of
reality. The discourse on women becomes, then, an exemplification, as is often
the case with Qoheleth’s frequent resorting to “typical” figures of the literature
and experience of his time in order to substantiate his arguments.

7. In using the verb ‫מצא‬, Qoheleth utilizes the rhetorical device of antanaclasis. See
Anthony R. Ceresko, “The Function of Antanaclasis (ms’̣ ‘to find’//ms’̣ ‘to reach, overtake,
grasp’) in Hebrew Poetry, Especially in the Book of Qoheleth,” CBQ 44 (1982): 551–69;
see also the more recent study by Luca Mazzinghi, “The Verbs ‫‘ מצא‬to Find’ and ‫‘ בקש‬to
Search’ in the Language of Qohelet: An Exegetical Study,” in The Language of Qohelet in
Its Context: Essays in Honour of Prof. A. Schoors on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday
(ed. Angelika Berlejung and Pierre van Hecke; OLA 164; Leuven: Peeters, 2007), 91–120.
8. The phrase ‫( מה־שׁהיה‬7:24) might mean both being (“what has happened”) and
becoming (“what will happen”). See Antoon Schoors, “Words Typical of Qohelet,” in
Qohelet in the Context of Wisdom (ed. Antoon Schoors; BETL 136; Leuven: Peeters, 1998),
17–39, esp. 23–24.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 97

2.2. The Mystery of the Fatal Woman (Qoh 7:25–26)

Despite having concluded that wisdom is unattainable (v. 24), Qoheleth car-
ries on his quest. The verb ‫ סבב‬is also used in the introductory poem to
describe the rotatory movement of wind twirling on itself. This is a meta-
phor for the human mind occupied, according to God’s will, with a pitiful
but unavoidable quest, which forces it to return repeatedly to the same topics.
There seems to be a circularity of the spirit, which some authors claim to be
reflected in the structure of the book.9 At this point, Qoheleth’s commitment
is so intense that verse 25 is rich in verbs pertaining to the field of research:
‫“( ידע‬to know”), ‫“( תור‬to explore”), ‫“( בקשׁ‬to search”)—three verbs that have
two nouns as their objects, namely, ‫“( חכמה‬wisdom”) and ‫חׁשבון‬, a term that
indicates the outcomes of research.10 Qoheleth aims to investigate and explore
the whole tradition of Jewish wisdom in order to verify its conclusions. For
this reason, he focuses on one of the fundamental theses of the tradition: that
evil is folly and foolishness is madness. His reflection on women is produced
in this context.
Verse 26 begins with the participle of ‫מצא‬, “I find.” Is this a personal
experience Qoheleth himself has gone through, an experience that has
brought him to the conclusion that women are bitterer than death? Is he actu-
ally stating his own opinion about women, or rather was the proverb inserted
by a later redactor, struck by the disparaging tone of Qoheleth’s arguments?11
Another hypothesis is that Qoheleth might have encountered in his search the
commonplace association of women with evil and foolishness.12

9. On the circular structure of the book of Qoheleth, see D’Alario, Il libro del Qohelet,
227–29.
10. The term ‫ מה־שׁהיה‬is used in Qoheleth and Sirach, especially meaning “quantifi-
able, concrete result,” “final, practical result,” or “final sum and point of arrival,” which can
be reached only by adding facts to one another. See Klaus Seybold, “‫ ָח ַׁשב‬ḥ āšab,” TDOT
5:228–45, esp. 235.
11. This is the interpretation according to Maria Claustre Solé i Auguets, Déu, una
paraula sempre oberta: El concepte de Déu en el Qohèlet (Collectània Sant Pacià 65; Bar-
celona: Facultat de Teologia de Catalunya, 1999), 141–46. She believes that the text would
remain coherent even without v. 26. Such a negative judgment of women cannot be found
anywhere else in this book, while Qoheleth often repeats the same concepts. All other ref-
erences to women (Qoh 2:8b; 9:9) relate to those texts that suggest to live joyfully in the
present (2:24; 3:12, 22; 5:18b; 8:15; 11:5).
12. See Prov 1:7–33; 8:1–9, 18. On the dualism wisdom/foolishness, see Armin Lange,
Weisheit und Torheit bei Kohelet und in seiner Umwelt: Eine Untersuchung ihrer theolo-
gischen Implikationen (EHS 23; Theologie 433; Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1991), 7–48.
98 Vittoria D’Alario

This last hypothesis is the most plausible, especially because of the use of
the participle,13 which Qoheleth usually employs to introduce ideas belonging
to tradition.14 The participle introduces what Qoheleth finds during his quest.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to determine which sources inspired him to portray
women in such a negative way. It might have been rabbinical Jewish thought,
where the power of women is associated with the theme of death,15 or, more
simply, Wisdom literature warning young men not to associate with the “for-
eign” woman, because her paths lead to death.16 However, it remains clear
that verse 26 highlights the lethal power of women, because they are able to
imprison men in a mortal trap.17 The same words are used to refer to time and
accident in 9:12: “For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken
in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time
of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.” Basing his conclusions on these
elements, Dominic Rudman goes so far as to define the woman as the agent of
some inescapable deterministic force.18 The woman would thus be the symbol
of the arbitrary nature of divine intervention in the life of a man, a topic dealt
with in 9:11–12.19 In this text, Qoheleth delineates a deterministic approach to

13. See Diethelm Michel, Untersuchungen zur Eigenart des Buches Qohelet (BZAW 183;
Berlin: de Gruyter, 1989), 235–37; Luca Mazzinghi, “The Verbs ‫ מצא‬and ‫ בקש‬in Qohelet,”
110–11.
14. Norbert Lohfink, “War Kohelet ein Frauenfeind? Ein Versuch, die Logik und den
Gegenstand von Koh. 7,23–8,1a herauszufinden,“ in La Sagesse de l’Ancien Testament (ed.
Maurice Gilbert; BETL 51; Gembloux-Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1979), 259–87,
esp. 277–87. According to him, Qoheleth doesn’t state his own experience in v. 26, but
rather a perception of women widely shared in Wisdom literature. Lohfink goes on to sug-
gest switching Qoheleth’s words from direct to indirect speech: “I find that bitterer than
death is woman,” interpreting the relative pronoun ‫ אשׁר‬as causal: “since, in fact.”
15. Lohfink, “War Kohelet ein Frauenfeind?” 278–83. In v. 26 woman would thus be
presented as a terrible power, even more so than death, especially because of her ability to
generate new life. Consequently, Lohfink translates the adjective ‫ מר‬as “strong” instead of
“bitter,” because Qoheleth’s language was deeply influenced by Aramaic, where ‫ מר‬might
also mean “strong.” He finds a close relationship between Qoh 7:26 and Song 8:6, in which
love is said to be stronger than death.
16. A showcase of the different female figures associated to Qoh 7:26 can be found in
Jean-Jacques Lavoie, La pensée du Qohélet: Étude exégétique et intertextuelle (Héritage et
projet 49; Québec: Fides, 1992), 129.
17. See Yohan Y.-S. Pahk, “The Significance of ‫ אׁשר‬in Qoh 7,26: More Bitter Than
Death Is the Woman, if She Is a Snare,” in Schoors, Qohelet in the Context of Wisdom,
373–83.
18. Dominic Rudman, “Woman as Divine Agent in Ecclesiastes,” JBL 116 (1997):
411–27.
19. Ibid., 420.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 99

time, which can be seen in 3:1–15 as well. According to Rudman, Qoheleth’s

portrayal of women in 7:26 might be confirmed in 3:8, where “a time for love”
is mentioned. Moreover, women’s role as an instrument for divine judgment
on humankind is highlighted: “He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner
is taken by her” (7:26). Rudman concludes that “escape from the woman is
therefore a mark of divine favor. Though one who falls victim to ‘time’ (‫)עת‬
may not find the work of God, he may find contentment. Qoheleth’s advice
to the ‘sinner’—the vast majority, if not all, of his audience—is to accept the
decision of God with equanimity.”20 Taking into account these similarities in
terminology, is it possible to hypothesize a relationship between the two pas-
sages in which Qoheleth mentions women (7:26–29 and 9:9)? Such a possibil-
ity cannot be discarded, given Qoheleth’s insistence on some topics that are
presented under a different light, thus also implying a reinterpretation, as we
will see in the analysis of the second text on women: Qoh 9:9.
As for Qoh 7:26–28, going so far as to consider women as the means of
some deterministic force is perhaps far-fetched, but still it cannot be denied
that the female figure acquires here a symbolic value far beyond its factual
historicity. We are now in a place to better understand the scope of this sym-
bolic transposition.

2.3. Qoheleth and the “Woman Wisdom” Metaphor

Some interpreters, drawing on the similarities between Qoh 7:26 and some
passages in the book of Proverbs, have suggested that Qoheleth might be
referring to the “Woman Wisdom” metaphor.21 There is no doubt that the
portrayal of the woman in Qoh 7:26 might evoke the negative image depicted
in Prov 5:3–5; 7:25–27. Both of these texts deal with a “foreign” woman who
is able to lead men to death by means of her seducing power. The adjective ‫מר‬
is linked by assonance to the bitterness of absinthe in Prov 5:3–5: “For the lips
of the foreign woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in
the end she is bitter as absinthe, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go
down to death; her steps lead straight to the hell.” The other images in Qoh
7:26 evoke Prov 7:21–27, the latter sketching a portrait of the foreign woman,
which seems an illustration of the former. Net and lace (Prov 7:22) suggest the
woman’s ability to imprison men in a lethal grip. However, as is well known,
the foreign woman in the book of Proverbs represents an unknown wisdom,

20. Ibid., 421.

21. On this topic, see Thomas Krüger, “‘Frau Weisheit’ in Koh 7,26?,” Bib 73 (1992):
394–402.
100 Vittoria D’Alario

simultaneously dangerous and fatal to young Jews.22 Two attitudes can be

taken in the presence of female seduction skills: that of the wise man, who
is good before God, and that of the sinner, who becomes a victim because of
his foolishness. In verse 26c there is in fact a summary of the fundamental
options provided by traditional ethics.
Is Qoheleth alluding to Woman Wisdom? This is a fascinating hypothesis,
which could be justified by the context in which the reflection on women is
placed. This suggests, I propose, that Qoheleth is developing a discourse on
wisdom and on metaphors focusing on the female figure, widely employed in
the wisdom tradition; this would be consistent with the whole context.
In 6:12 Qoheleth questions the capacity of human wisdom to understand
what is good for humankind.

For who knows what is good for mortals

while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow?

To this he adds another query, concerning human ability to project oneself

toward the future.

For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?

These are two rhetorical questions, both implying a negative answer: no one,
not even the savant, can really understand what is good for humanity, because
human existence is not only characterized by its brevity but also and especially
by ‫הבל‬, “vanity, futility.” This makes a human’s image itself evanescent: he or
she lives his or her life like a shadow.
In the following chapters—from 7:1 to 11:6—Qoheleth proceeds to
develop this idea through various arguments, ranging from the question of
the connection between deed and consequence (7:15–22) to that of knowl-
edge of past and future (8:7–8). He particularly insists on the latter point,
arguing that humans cannot know their future, let alone the time of their own
death. The conclusion of this reflection can be found in 8:16–17.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom,

and to see the business that is done on earth,
—how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night—

22. On the feminine metaphor in the book of Proverbs, see Christl M. Maier, Die
“fremde Frau” in Proverbien 1–9: Eine exegetische und sozialgeschichtliche Studie (OBO
144; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995), 184–214;
Irmtraud Fischer, Gotteslehrerinnen: Weise Frauen und Frau Weisheit im Alten Testament
(Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2006), 174–203.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 101

then I saw all the work of God,

that no one can find out what is happening under the sun.
However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out;
even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.

Qoheleth here states his conviction that true wisdom is unattainable, and that
we cannot fully understand the meaning of things (8:1). This is proved by the
unfathomable mystery of woman and of her relationship to men. The female
figure in Qoh 7:26–28 becomes the measure of the obscurity of reality, in its
many contradictions.
In chapters 7–8, Qoheleth formulates a critical discourse on wisdom.
Consequently, the metaphorical use of the female figure, widely accepted in
traditional thought, becomes here a tangible exemplification of the impossi-
bility of adopting absolute criteria to understand reality.
Qoheleth started on a quest that brought him to evaluate the traditional
negative image of women, which is interpreted as a metaphor for foreign
wisdom. This metaphor is used in the book of Proverbs as a warning to young
students against the allure of foreign culture, which leads to idolatry and thus
to death. At this point, it is necessary to point out that Qoheleth himself is a
teacher, as attested in the epilogue of the book (12:9–10). However, he is not
a traditional instructor who teaches at school. On the contrary, his figure is
reminiscent of that of the wandering philosophers of the Hellenistic era, for
example, the cynics and skeptics of Socratic inspiration. “Other than being
wise, Qoheleth also taught people knowledge; he listened to, searched for, and
composed many proverbs. Qoheleth sought to find pleasing words, and wrote
accurately words of truth” (Qoh 12:9–10).
The characteristic element of his teachings is to question “everything,”
and even the metaphorical use of the female figure might be included in
this critical research. Moreover, Qoheleth’s mind is open to any inspiration
the culture of his time has to offer: his work frequently alludes to terms and
categories taken from Greek philosophy, as well as from apocalyptic Jewish
thought, with which he establishes a dialectical relationship. His research
covers every field of knowledge, focusing on themes and problems of tradi-
tional faith and everyday life. Therefore, it is no surprise that this pericope on
women once again shows Qoheleth’s intention to deliver to his disciples—and
to all of us—a different take on those clichés so popular at the time.

2.4. Human Wisdom and God’s Design (Qoh 7:27–29)

Verse 27 begins with “see, this I found,” and it is of particular importance

because it also contains the expression ‫אמרה קהלת‬, “Qoheleth said.” This for-
102 Vittoria D’Alario

mula was probably used by the editor to highlight the relevance of Qoheleth’s
statements, but in this context his use of the feminine form might relate to a
personification of Wisdom different from the traditional one.23
The object of the expression “see, this I found” is verse 28a: “which I still
seek and do not find.” Qoheleth, like Socrates, is convinced that human knowl-
edge cannot reach the truth: he knows that he knows nothing.24 The open-
ing statement in verse 28a is perfectly suited to the specific kind of research
Qoheleth is carrying on, a kind that never reaches definite conclusions. Each
stage of his quest leads to further research, an inescapable endeavor that God
bestowed on humans so that they would keep struggling for it (3:10).25
In the book of Qoheleth there is a frequent use of the opposition “search/
not find,” an example of which can be found in verse 28b, where it is con-
structed around a highly enigmatic statement.26

One man among a thousand I found:

but a woman among all I have not found.

What is then the meaning of verse 28b? Is Qoheleth like Diogenes, who
equipped with a lamp set out to search for a human being? The answer to
this depends heavily on how we decide to translate ‫אדם‬. Is it the word for
“human being” or for “man”? Some have interpreted ‫ אדם‬as a synonym for
‫אישׁ‬,27 thus emphasizing the opposition man/woman. However, in Qoheleth
the term ‫ אדם‬always refers universally to humankind.28 Even if this is the
case, the proverb nonetheless sounds misogynistic: in searching the totality
of humankind it is possible to find at least one righteous person, but not even
one will be found if we take into account women only. This interpretation,

23. Some authors have argued that Qoheleth was a woman. See Amos Luzzato, Chi era
Qohelet? (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2011), 7.
24. For a thorough examination of knowledge in Qoheleth, see Annette Schellenberg,
Erkenntnis als Problem: Qohelet und die alttestamentliche Diskussion um das menschliche
Erkennen (OBO 188; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
2002), 150–59.
25. Agnès Gueuret, “Observations sur Qohélet,” Sémiotique et Bible 127 (2007): 25–39,
30: “not stopping to search, knowing that one cannot find her.”
26. On the importance of the verb ‫ מצא‬in the structure of Qoh 7:26–29, see Ingrid
Riesener, “Frauenfeindschaft im Alten Testament? Zum Verständnis von Qoh 7,25–29,”
in “Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit…”: Studien zur israelitischen und altorientalischen Weisheit.
Diethelm Michel zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Anja A. Diesel et al.; BZAW 241; Berlin: de
Gruyter, 1996), 193–207.
27. See Mitchell Dahood, “Qohelet and Recent Discoveries,” Bib 39 (1958): 302–18, 310.
28. Anton Schoors, “Words Typical of Qoheleth,” 17–20.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 103

quite popular among exegetes, can be countered by referring to verse 28b, in

which Qoheleth is not dealing with justice, but with humankind and with that
portion of it constituted by women. The opposition between ‫ אדם‬and ‫אשׁה‬
could be intentional: so, what could its meaning be?
Keeping in mind what has been said about the general context, I believe
that the text might be interpreted as follows: If we carry out an investigation of
man meant as human being, we might obtain a result—however modest (one
man in a thousand!)—but if we were to investigate a woman, we would not
find anything! A woman will always be a mystery, as mysterious as the very
essence of humankind, which, being a creation of God, cannot be grasped
by man. The maxim in verse 28b, exactly because of its general character,
cannot be interpreted as misogynistic: it does not deal with men and women
in moral terms. It is indeed moralism, with its overzealousness, that Qoheleth
criticizes in 7:16: “Be not overly righteous; neither make yourself overly wise:
why should you destroy yourself?” In the book of Qoheleth, women become
a “cipher” of an unfathomable reality, a mystery leading to a deeper mystery:
the work of God.
Verse 29 concludes this complex pericope by finally stating Qoheleth’s
position: “see, only this I found.” His quest does not end in complete skepti-
cism. Faced with human opinions about the woman, which is traditionally
conceived as a metaphor for Wisdom, Qoheleth has not come to any conclu-
sion (I still seek and I don’t find). Hence, he falls back on God’s original plan.
The fact that the verb ‫“( מצא‬to find”) appears seven times in this pericope
should not be overlooked. It is, I believe, a relevant number because of its
implicit reference to the perfection of creation, exhorting the reader to tran-
scend the realm of experience so as to frame the theme of women within a
wider discourse that refers to the beginning of creation. In the beginning, God
created man as a righteous being. ‫יׁשר‬, a term referring to moral righteous-
ness, defines what is straight in opposition to what is twisted. In verse 29b,
the idea of tortuousness is conveyed by the term ‫“( חׁשבנות‬machinations”).
They (arguably Qoheleth’s interlocutors) elaborate complicated theories, and
end up clouding God’s design with their convoluted conjectures, exactly like
Job’s friends. God’s wisdom is instead simple and straight: He created ‫אדם‬,
male and female.

3. Woman and the Joy of Living (Qoh 9:9)

The second passage we are going to analyze (Qoh 9:9) opens up a completely
different perspective on women, because here Qoheleth clearly gives a positive
evaluation of the female figure, albeit within the context of an even more mis-
erable and more dismal reflection on human existence (9:1–12). Once again,
104 Vittoria D’Alario

context might prove crucial to understand the meaning of Qoheleth’s words.

Chapter 9 opens with an important statement: the just and the wise, and their
works, are in the hands of God (9:1). However, such a reassuring assertion
seems to be undermined by the following words: “whether it is love or hate
one does not know” (9:1b). No one can claim knowledge of God’s judgment
over men’s actions, because divine logic is unfathomable. In order to prove
this theory, Qoheleth investigates the question of deed and its consequence in
9:2–3, arguing that the same fate awaits the just and the wicked alike, the good
and the bad, the pure and the impure, those who offer sacrifices and those
who do not, who vow and who fear vowing. Death is everyone’s destination,
irrespective of one’s behavior. It is on the basis of this indisputable assumption
that Qoheleth proves the inadequacy of the traditional doctrine on the firm
connection between deeds and fate.
The final verses of this chapter (9:11–12) insist on this reflection, men-
tioning five other categories of humans: the swift, the strong, the wise, the
cautious, the clever. Society does not take into account people’s skills and, if
said skills are not rewarded during life, they are much less so after death. Time
and chance do not spare anyone.29 It is within such a complex context that
we can find the invitation to joy, which is elaborated to great extent (see 2:24;
3:12; 3:22; 5:17; 8:15).

3.1. Companion or Wife? (Qoh 9:9)

The following passage, although easier to penetrate, still retains some dif-
ficulties.

Enjoy [‫ ]ראה‬life with the woman you love,

all the days of your vain life,
which God has given you under the sun,
because that is your fate
in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.

Let us start by analyzing the verb ‫ראה‬, which is usually translated as “to
enjoy.” This verb is usually accompanied by the noun ‫טוב‬, with the mean-
ing of “to enjoy what is good” (see 2:1; 3:13; 5:17; 6:6). Horacio Simian-Yofre
argues instead that “to enjoy” is not an evident translation of ‫ ראה‬in this pas-
sage, and that the meaning here might be closer to the concept of knowledge:
“to behold” or “to contemplate.” In addition, he connects the relative clause

29. See Vittoria D’Alario, “Liberté de Dieu ou destin? Un autre dilemme dans
l’interprétation du Qohélet,” in Schoors, Qohelet in the Context of Wisdom, 457–63.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 105

“which God has given you under the sun” to the woman rather than to “all
the days of your vain life.” Consequently, he proposes a translation that differs
considerably from the one commonly known.30

Contemplate life with [the] woman you love,

that God gave you under the sun,
for all the days of your vain life,
(for all of them, your vain days);
for this is your portion in life,
and in your toil which you suffer under the sun.

Although appealing, this interpretation is not consistent with the context in

which we find Qoheleth’s exhortation. In fact, verse 8 does not invite to con-
templation, but to joy, and to make use of all those possessions, such as clothes
and perfumes, which make life more acceptable.
Verses 7–10 constitute a well-defined unit,31 in which Qoheleth develops
his exhortation to enjoy life, once again in unconventional terms, to the point
of eliciting charges of hedonism or Epicureanism.32
Verse 7 includes an invitation to eat and drink, already expressed in other
passages in which Qoheleth elevates the joy of living to a principle. In 9:7 the
double clause is given by the expression “your bread and your wine,” which
clearly evokes the celebration of a happy event in everyday life. The expres-
sions “with joy” and “with cheerful heart” insist on the positive feelings that
should inspire everyday life. At this point, it is important to clarify the reason
for this invitation, stated in verse 7b “for God has cherished your works.”
There is no certainty about God’s future judgment over the actions of man (cf.
3:17; 9:1b), but there is no doubt about divine favor in the present, as explic-
itly stated in 2:25 and 3:13. Happiness is a right of humans and at the same
time a gift from God, and cannot derive from extraordinary events, despite
what might be inferred from 3:4–7. In fact, it is important to show the marks

30. Horacio Simian-Yofre, “Conoscere la sapienza: Qohelet e Gen 2–3,” in Il libro del
Qohelet: Tradizione, redazione, teologia (ed. Giuseppe Bellia and Angelo Passaro; Cammini
nello Spirito; Biblica 44; Milano: Paoline, 2001), 314–36, esp. 333.
31. On the definition of this unit, see Pedro R. Anaya Luengo, El hombre, destinatario
de los dones de Dios en el Qohélet (Bibliotheca Salmanticensis; Estudios 296; Salamanca:
Publicaciones Universidad Pontificia, 2007), 211–21.
32. See Ernest Horton, “Koheleth’s Concept of Opposites as Compared to Samples
of Greek Philosophy and Near and Far Eastern Wisdom Classics,” Numen 19 (1972):
1–21, esp. 14–18. On the theme of carpe diem in Qoheleth, see Ludger Schwienhorst-
Schönberger, Nicht im Menschen gründet das Glück (Koh 2,24): Kohelet im Spannungsfeld
jüdischer Weisheit und hellenistischer Philosophie (HBS 2; Freiburg: Herder, 1994), 204–7.
106 Vittoria D’Alario

of one’s joy at any time, such as white clothes and perfume on one’s head (v.
8). It is essential to enjoy everyday life thoroughly and in simplicity, without
struggling to reach futile chimeras and dreams of grandeur leading only to
disappointment. This joyful existence has to be lived with one’s wife.
In 9:9 the term ‫ אשׁה‬is not accompanied by the article. The omission
would suggest that the reference here is to “any woman,” rather than the wife,
who is introduced with the definite article.33 Based on the hypothesis that
the reference here is not to the “wife” but to “any woman” one is in love with,
the text would further confirm Qoheleth’s nonconformity. He would not be
thinking of marriage, but rather of love free from all ties, which would thus
become a source of joy and delight, following the principle of carpe diem.
Other scholars maintain that the absence of the article is not that impor-
tant in the language of Qoheleth, which might be influenced by Aramaic34
or Phoenician; in this case, ‫ אשׁה‬would still refer to the “wife” even with no
article. Johan Yeong-Sik Pahk supported this interpretation by connecting the
relative clause “that God gave you” to the woman, on the basis of parallelism
between this passage and other biblical texts (Exod 21:4; Judg 21:18; 1 Kgs
11:19) as well as ancient Near Eastern texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh
(3.12–13), which promote the idea of an institutional family.35
As we have seen, the question of the female figure once again involves
the interpretation of the figure of Qoheleth as a savant. A nonconformist or a
traditionalist? A hopeless pessimist or a preacher of joy? Whatever the answer
to this dilemma—which goes beyond the scope of this essay—it has to be
acknowledged that, as far as our discourse on women is concerned, in Qoh
9:9 the female figure is definitely valorized. In this regard, we must stress the
importance of the particle ‫עם‬, “together with,” which suggests an equal rela-
tionship between a man and his woman.

33. Keeping this in mind, Schoors translates “Enjoy life with a woman you love all of
the days in the absurd life God gives you under the sun.” See Antoon Schoors, “L’ambiguità
della gioia in Qohelet,” in Bellia and Passaro, Il libro del Qohelet, 278–80.
34. See the bibliography on this subject in Johan Y.-S. Pahk, Il canto della gioia in
Dio: L’itinerario sapienziale espresso dall’unità letteraria in Qohelet 8,16–9,10 e il parallelo di
Gilgameš Me. iii. (Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici, series minor 52; Naples: Istituto Univer-
sitario Orientale, 1996), 248–58.
35. Johan Y.-S. Pahk, “A Syntactical and Contextual Consideration of ʾiš in Qoh. IX 9,”
VT 51 (2001): 370–80.
 Between Misogyny and Valorization 107

3.2. Qoheleth and the Gift of Love

Qoheleth counters the disruptive power of death with love, although it is not
explicitly stated whether this love is to be experienced freely or in the con-
text of marriage. It is a love relationship that closely resembles the one in the
Song of Songs, with which the book of Qoheleth shares peculiar aspects. In
Qoh 7:28 the opposition search/not find actually brings to mind Song 3:1–2;
5:6, where there is an allusion to the tormented search for God, which usu-
ally takes place during the darkness, as in the book of Job or in the Psalms.
The book of Qoheleth and the Song of Songs share a common sense of mys-
tery: the Song looks into the enigma of love, which contains the mystery
of creation,36 whereas Qoheleth insists on the mystery of divine wisdom,
impenetrable to the human mind, allowing for a reflection on God’s great-
ness, who omniscient and omnipotent rules the world. The theme of women
is a part of Qoheleth’s arguments on the mystery of divine works and the
limits of human wisdom.
Human life is ‫—הבל‬everything suddenly might vanish like smoke—but
God does not leave humans alone in the abyss. He manifests his presence,
bestowing gifts of joy in everyday life. Love also is one of God’s gifts, a gift that
men and women can share, thus rendering their transitory existence more
joyful. Can these joys totally compensate the sense of vanity and the uncer-
tainty of life? This question is difficult to answer.
Certainly, man and woman are united in a common destiny of a life
marked by sorrow as well as joy. Maybe the answer to our questions can be
found in Qoheleth’s exhortation: “In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the
day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other” (7:14).
The duty of any human being is to conform to God’s will, serenely accept-
ing both sad and happy moments. Life is a gift from God, and it has to be thor-
oughly experienced together with one’s companion. However, what matters
above all is to revere God and to observe his commandments (12:13).

Translated from Italian by Fiorenzo Iuliano

36. See Gianfranco Ravasi, Il Cantico dei Cantici (Bologna: Dehoniane, 1992), 69.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira:
A Harmless Classification?
Nuria Calduch-Benages

1. Introduction

The book of Ben Sira (also known as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus) was written
between 200 and 180 BCE in Jerusalem, where its author, a professional
scribe, ruled some sort of school or academy of wisdom.
The crisis provoked by the attempted hellenization of the Jewish people
under the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–163 BCE) was already
latent in the time of Ben Sira. In the first decades of the second century BCE,
the confrontation between the new Hellenistic ideas and the traditional reli-
gious values of the Jews had already begun. Nevertheless, Ben Sira wrote his
book not to oppose or defend against Hellenism but rather to strengthen the
faith and confidence of his people. In other words, his main purpose was to
encourage the Jews to stay attached to the religion, wisdom, and traditions of
their ancestors.1
Compared with Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth, and the Wisdom of Solomon,
the book of Ben Sira dedicates the largest space to women. In fact, 10 percent
of this sage’s teachings from Jerusalem refer to particular women or, from
time to time, present typically feminine images such as those relating to moth-
erhood (“the maternal bosom/womb,” 1:14; 40:1; 46:13Hb; 49:7; 50:22) or to
birth (“born of woman,” 10:18). Mothers, wives, widows, daughters, virgins,
maids, singers, courtesans, prostitutes, and adulteresses always appear in rela-
tion to men: son, husband, father, a eunuch, master, or client/victim. More-
over, they all move in the shadows of anonymity, without an identity, faceless
members of a generic and undefined group. Even in the “Praise of the Ances-
tors” (Sir 44–50), a real parade of famous personalities in Israel’s history, no

1. For a good introduction to the book, see Richard J. Coggins, Sirach (Guides to the
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha 6; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998).

-109-
110 Nuria Calduch-Benages

woman is named. On that occasion, Ben Sira could well have included the
matriarchs or the heroines of his people, among others, but he chose to silence
them, thus also silencing their stories and memories.2
Now, my goal is not to make a general survey of women in the book of
Ben Sira3—that would exceed the scope of this essay—but rather to consider
one category of women: the wives, and their classification into “good” and
“bad” on the basis of the Hebrew text (not always available) and the Greek
version.4 What does this classification correspond to? What are its criteria?
For what purpose does the sage use it? What are its implications? None of
these questions seem to exceedingly preoccupy A. B. Davidson, the author of
the first article on Ben Sira and women, written in the late nineteenth century.

2. Nuria Calduch-Benages, “The Absence of Named Women from Ben Sira’s Praise of
the Ancestors,” in Rewriting Biblical History: Essays on Chronicles and Ben Sira in Honour
of Pancratius C. Beentjes (ed. Jeremy Corley and Harm van Grol; Deuterocanonical and
Cognate Literature Studies 7; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 301–17.
3. See especially the following monographs: Warren C. Trenchard, Ben Sira’s View
of Women: A Literary Analysis (BJS 38; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1982); and Ibolya
Balla, Ben Sira on Family, Gender and Sexuality (Deuterocanonical and Cognate Litera-
ture Studies 8; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011). See also Judith E. McKinlay, Gendering Wisdom
the Host: Biblical Invitations to Eat and Drink (JSOTSup 216; Gender, Culture, Theory 4;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1996), 160–78; Angelika Strotmann, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus):
On the Difficult Relation between Divine Wisdom and Real Women in an Androcentric
Document,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary
on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres
Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 539–54; and Nuria Calduch-Benages, “Ben Sira
y las mujeres,” Reseña Bíblica 41 (2004): 37–44. For the Syriac version, see Nuria Calduch-
Benages, “La mujer en la versión siríaca (Peshitta) de Ben Sira: ¿Sesgos de género?” in Con-
greso Internacional “Biblia, memoria histórica y encrucijada de culturas” (ed. Jesús Campos
Santiago and Víctor Pastor Julián; Zamora: Asociación Bíblica Española, 2004), 686–93.
4. The evolution of the text of Ben Sira is undoubtedly the most complicated of all
the books of the Old Testament. Ben Sira wrote in Hebrew (Hb), but his work was mainly
preserved in Greek (Gr), Syriac (Syr), and Latin (Lat). Since 1896 the Hebrew text has
been gradually recovered, and we now have about two-thirds of it. Notwithstanding many
unresolved problems, most scholars now agree on the existence of two text forms, a shorter
and a longer one, both in the Hebrew (HbI and HbII) and Greek textual tradition (GrI and
GrII). On this question, see Patrick W. Skehan and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Wisdom
of Ben Sira: A New Translation with Notes by Patrick W. Skehan, Introduction and Com-
mentary by Alexander A. Di Lella (AB 39; New York: Doubleday, 1987), 51–62; Maurice
Gilbert, “Siracide,” DBSup 12 (1996): 1390–402; and Nuria Calduch-Benages, En el crisol
de la prueba. Estudio exegético de Sir 2,1-18 (Asociación Bíblica Española 32; Estella: Verbo
Divino, 1997), 113–21.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 111

The judgment of Jesus-ben-Sira … regarding women is popularly supposed

to be very damnatory. This opinion is scarcely justified. Sirach believes that
there are bad women and good women, and if the badness of a bad woman
be something as bad as can be, the goodness of a good woman is something
superlatively good. … They pretty well balance one another.5

I will delve into this supposed balance between good and evil to discover the
meaning of this classification, its role in the sage’s teaching, and the ideologi-
cal assumptions that support it. My general approach will focus on the literary
dimension of the selected texts, paying special attention to the communicative
strategies used by the author as well as to the influence of the sociohistorical
context on his work and teaching.
Before embarking on this study, I want to make an important observa-
tion. Ben Sira is the heir of an ancient wisdom tradition, in which women
(motherhood, marriage, adultery, and prostitution) constitute one of the main
themes. Its authors tend to separate them into “good” and “bad,” and they
often refer to them ironically or even satirically. Some notable examples are
the demotic Instruction of Ankhsheshonqy (24–25),6 Papyrus Insinger (the
ninth instruction),7 the Anthology of Stobaeus (22–23)8 as an example of the
gnomic Hellenistic wisdom, or the monostiches of the playwright Menander
(83–87).9 In this sense, then, the texts of Sirach presented below merely per-
petuate a line of thought that persists in the time of the sage.

2. Two Main Categories of Wives

Along with daughters (7:24–25; 22:3–5; 42:9–14) and dangerous women (9:1–
9; 23:22–26), wives receive special attention from Ben Sira. As already indi-
cated, the sage places them in the two basic ethical categories of good and evil,
the same categories he also uses to refer to people in general. Among these, the

5. Andrew B. Davidson, “Sirach’s Judgment of Women,” ExpTim 6 (1894–95): 402–4,

402.
6. Miriam Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature in the International Context: A
Study of Demotic Instructions (OBO 52; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht, 1983), 88–90.
7. Ibid., 203–5.
8. Curt Wachsmith and Otto Hense, eds., Ioannis Stobaei Anthologium (vol. 4 of
Anthologii libri quarti partem priorem ab Ottone Hense editam continens; Berlin: Weidman,
1909), 494–99 (chaps. 22–23 = chaps. 67–74 in the edition by A. Meinecke). See specifically
the Poem on Women by Semonides of Amorgos in 22.193 (pp. 561–66), the first misogynist
work of Western literature (sixth century BCE).
9. Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature, 50.
112 Nuria Calduch-Benages

servants stand out as the only ones who, like wives, are explicitly character-
ized as good/wise/intelligent (7:20–21; 10:25) or bad (33:27; 42:5).10 We must
not forget that, at the time, wives and servants, as well as sons, daughters, and
cattle, were considered true possessions of the paterfamilias (see 7:18–28).
The most significant texts on wives are concentrated in chapters 25–26,
immediately after the self-praise of Lady Wisdom. If, in chapter 24, the pro-
tagonist was the mysterious figure of personified Wisdom, now concrete and
real women from everyday life occupy center stage. If the first is distinguished
by the excellence of her speech, the latter seem to be voiceless. They do not
utter a single word, but are constantly the subject of discussion. They are
subject to the sage’s teaching. The instructions on the wives alternate in the
following order: 25:13–26 (bad wives);11 26:1–4 (good wives); 26:5–12 (bad
wives); 26:13–18 (good wives).12 To these passages we must add 36:21–26
Hebrew (26–31 Greek) on the good wife, situated inside a section on discern-
ment (36:18–37:31). Finally, many verses scattered throughout the book com-
plete the portrait of the good wife (7:19, 26a; 9:1; 25:1, 8; 28:15; 40:19.23) and
of the bad wife (7:26b; 9:2; 33:19ab; 37:11a; 42:6; 47:19).
All these texts presuppose a male audience, and especially young men
who attended Ben Sira’s school in Jerusalem. They belonged to wealthy fami-
lies of the city and were preparing themselves to occupy positions of responsi-
bility in the future. The sage directed his teachings about the wives specifically
to them. Consequently, all the advice reflects the mentality and perspective of
a husband—everything in the book suggests that Ben Sira was married—who
wants to instruct the future husbands about the virtues they should look for
in a wife and about the dangers they must avoid. Hence, the division between
good and bad wives, emerging from a totally male-centered perspective,
contemplates only the husband’s happiness, desire, convenience, honor, and
authority. For this reason, some of the sage’s statements about marital har-
mony, in which husband and wife are placed on the same level, are truly sur-

10. Woman and servant appear together in the Instruction of Ankhsheshonqy: “Do
not open your heart to your wife or to your servant” (13:17) (Lichtheim, Late Egyptian
Wisdom Literature, 78).
11. On this passage, see Renate Egger-Wenzel, “‘Denn harte Knechtschaft und
Schande ist es, wenn eine Frau ihren Mann ernährt’ (Sir 25,22),” in Der Einzelne und seine
Gemeinschaft (ed. Renate Egger-Wenzel and Ingrid Krammer; BZAW 270; Berlin: de
Gruyter, 1998), 23–49.
12. The next passage (26:19–27) only exists in the Syriac and in the long form of the
Greek version (GrII); consequently, it does not seem to come originally from Ben Sira (pace
Skehan and Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 351). Verses 19–21 talk about the choice of
the spouse, and vv. 22–27 give both positive and negative maxims about women and mar-
riage. See on this subject Balla, Ben Sira on Family, 107–110.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 113

prising; he says, for example, “With three things I am delighted, for they are
pleasing to the Lord and to men: Harmony among brethren, friendship among
neighbors, and the mutual love of husband and wife [συμπεριφερόμενοι]”13
(25:1); or “Friend and companion are encountered at the right time, but espe-
cially the woman with the husband” (40:23 Gr).14 In these verses, we should
note the order in which the spouses are cited: husband and wife, wife and
husband, as well as the absence of possessive adjectives to indicate the rela-
tionship between them.

2.1. Bad Wives

In texts on bad wives, the Hebrew expression ‫רע]ת[ אשה‬, “evil woman,”
appears three times (25:13, 17, 19), and the Greek one, γυνὴ πονηρά, “the bad/
evil woman,” is repeated four times (25:6, 25, 26:7; 42:6).15 At first glance, it
is unclear what this feminine evil is, since both the noun and the adjective
are used in a rather broad sense. Only in the light of context, and in some
cases with the help of the different versions, is it possible to discover mean-
ings, nuances, and specific allusions. It is, however, clear that the women’s
wickedness is worse than any other evil (25:13.19a), and so the evil woman
deserves the fate of the sinner (25:19b), that is, to marry a sinner and not a
just man, so that she will serve as punishment for her husband.16 The same
view, although without explicit mention of sin and punishment, is shared by
Hesiod: “For a man … there is nothing else more chilling than an evil one
[wife], a meal-ambusher who scorches her husband without a firebrand, even
though he be strong, and gives him over to raw old age” (Works and Days,
695).17 Similarly, Euripides writes: “Terrible is the violence of the ocean waves,
terrible the impetuosity of rivers and burning breath of fire, terrible poverty
and a thousand other things, but of all calamities the worst is a bad woman”

13. On this term, see Balla, Ben Sira on Family, 58–60.

14. See, on the contrary, the Hebrew text of MsB in the second hemistich (the first one
is damaged): “but better than both is a sensible woman [‫]אשה משכלת‬.”
15. See manuscript Bmg: ‫טפשה‬, “crazy.”
16. John J. Collins, Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age (OTL; Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 1997), 67; and Charles Mopsik, La Sagesse de ben Sira: Traduction de l’hébreu,
introduction et annotation par Charles Mopsik (Collection “Les Dix Paroles”; Paris: Verdier,
2003), 173n2.
17. Martin L. West, ed., Hesiod, Works and Days: Edited with Prolegomena and Com-
mentary by M. L. West (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978), 129.
114 Nuria Calduch-Benages

(Uncertain Fragments, 1059).18 Much later, the midrash on Ps 59 points out:

“If she [a woman] is a bad wife, there is no end to her badness.”19

2.1.1. Communicative Strategies

As a skilled master and teacher, Ben Sira employs various communicative

strategies to convey his teachings and to convince the audience. In the two
longer passages on bad wives, 25:13–26 and 26:5–12, two strategies are worth
mentioning: the ingenious use of grammatical persons and the concentration
of images (the latter will be discussed in the next section).
Both passages abound in general as well as specific judgments, expressed
in the third person in a marked proverbial style: “Worst of all wounds is that
of the heart, worst of all evils is that of a woman” (25:13); “A bad wife is a
chafing yoke; he who marries her seizes a scorpion” (26:7). Among the say-
ings, there are interspersed pieces of advice given directly to the disciple in
the second person, and formulated negatively: “Stumble not upon woman’s
beauty, nor be greedy for her wealth” (25:21); “Allow water no outlet, and do
not trust an evil woman” (25:25);20 and positively: “Keep a strict watch over an
unruly daughter/wife” (26:10); “Follow close if her eyes are bold” (26:11). One
of these pieces of advice is the climax of the first composition, in which Ben
Sira unhesitatingly recommends divorce to the husband if his wife refuses to
submit to his will: “If she walks not according to your wishes [lit., “if she does
not walk according to your hand”], cut her away from you (25:26).”21
In my view, however, the rhetorical power lies in the use of the first-per-
son singular: “With a dragon or a lion I would rather dwell than live with
an evil woman” (25:16). With this rhetorical device, frequent throughout
the book,22 the sage not only expresses his opinion (which appears muted at
25:19b) but also imposes himself as an authority on his disciples, for whom

18. August Nauck, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta: Supplementum adiecit Bruno

Snell (Hildesheim: Olms, 1964), 695 (translation mine).
19. William G. Braude, trans., The Midrash on Psalms (3rd ed.; Yale Judaica Series 13;
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), 1:509. See also Papyrus Insinger 8:10 (Lichtheim,
Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature, 204).
20. Other examples are found in 7:26; 9:2; 33:20ab; 37:11a.
21. Nuria Calduch-Benages, “‘Cut Her Away from Your Flesh’: Divorce in Ben Sira,” in
Studies in the Book of Ben Sira: Papers of the Third International Conference on the Deutero-
canonical Books, Shime‘on Centre, Pápa, Hungary, 18–20 May, 2006 (Géza G. Xeravits and
József Zsengellér; JSJSup 127; Leiden: Brill, 2008), 90–92.
22. See Jan Liesen, “Strategical Self-references in Ben Sira,” in Treasures of Wisdom:
Studies in Ben Sira and the Book of Wisdom: Festschrift M. Gilbert (ed. Nuria Calduch-
Benages and Jacques Vermeylen; BETL 143; Leuven: Peeters, 1999), 63–74.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 115

the master’s words take on special meaning. His teaching is based not only
on the legacy of tradition or wisdom but also on personal experience. This
is the special way in which he confers credibility to his words. Moreover, in
25:24, this time using the first-person plural, Ben Sira speaks as an authorized
teacher and also apparently as spokesman for all husbands. Now, if we accept
the interpretation proposed by Jack Levison, instead of seeing in the text a
reference to Eve’s sin (see Gen 3:6), this is to be understood in direct relation
to the context: “From the woman [implying “wicked”] [is] the beginning of
sin, and because of it we all [implying husbands] die.”23

2.1.2. Description of the Bad Wife

In 25:13–26 and 26:5–12, Ben Sira attributes to the “bad” wife other epithets
that render a more detailed portrait of our protagonist. She is described as
talkative (25:20: ‫אשת לשון‬, γλωσσώδης), jealous of other women (26:6: ἀντί­
ζηλος ἐπὶ γυναικὶ), a drunkard (26:8: μέθυσος), sensual/an adulteress (26:9:
πορνεία γυναικὸς), stubborn (26:10: ἐπὶ θυγατρὶ ἀδιατρέπτῳ),24 and shameless
(26:11: ἀναιδοῦς ὀφθαλμοῦ). These qualifiers, with the exception of the first
one, are in the sexual sphere or are related to it by the context. For example,
jealousy between wives may be motivated by sex; drunkenness is associated
with indecent conduct and illicit relationships (26:8b; cf. 9:9; 19:2); and the
wife’s stubbornness is related to an offense of a sexual nature against the hus-
band (see 26:11a). This is how Alonso Schökel understands 26:10 when he
translates: “Keep a close eye on the shameless [rather than stubborn] girl [i.e.,
wife], so that she does not take the opportunity to fornicate.”25 Finally, the evil
wife is the one who financially supports her husband (25:22) and does not
make him happy (25:23). In this category we also find the “hated” or “hateful”
(‫שנוהא‬, μισουμένῃ) wife, that is, the less beloved wife, possibly in a bigamous
marriage, or the abhorrent and undesirable wife who, finally, ends up being

23. Jack Levison, “Is Eve to Blame? A Contextual Analysis of Sirach 25:24,” CBQ 47
(1985): 617–23. For a different view see the recent study of Teresa Ann Ellis, “Is Eve the
‘Woman’ in Sirach 25:24?” CBQ 73 (2011): 723–42.
24. Although the Greek text speaks about the daughter, according to Semitic custom
(see Gen 30:13; Prov 31:29), this designation can also refer to the wife; see A. Minissale, Sir-
acide (Ecclesiastico) (Nuovissima versione della Bibbia dai testi originali 23; Rome: Paoline,
1980), 135.
25. L. Alonso Schökel, Proverbios y Eclesiástico (Los Libros Sagrados 8.1; Madrid:
Cristiandad, 1968), 238.
116 Nuria Calduch-Benages

divorced by her husband. In any case, the sage’s advice to the husband is blunt:
“Do not trust her” (7:26).26
As previously indicated, the use of images is characteristic of the text.
Ben Sira employs them to make an impact on his young audience and prepare
them for when the time comes to choose a wife. There is a notable abundance
of images taken from the animal world.27 Except for the ox, the animals men-
tioned in connection with the bad wife are all extremely dangerous: serpent,
lion, dragon, bear, and scorpion.28 In two daring hyperboles, Ben Sira com-
pares the snake’s venom with the hatred of women (25:15) and confesses that
he prefers to live with lions and dragons rather than with a wicked woman
(25:16).29 This last text reminds us of the aphorisms, certainly more gentle,
in Prov 21:9, 19 and Prov 25:24. Although “living in a desert” (Prov 21:19) or
“on a corner of a roof ” (Prov 21:9, 25:24) is tiring but feasible, the comparison
used in Sir 25:16 states that the time spent with an evil woman is absolutely
intolerable. The image of the bear, associated with its proverbial ferocity (see
1 Sam 17:34; 2 Sam 17:8), is reflected in the somber face of the evil woman
(25:17). Later, in 26:7, the maladjusted (chafing) yoke of oxen seems to evoke
25:8, which refers to incompatibility between the spouses. Here, however, the
difficulty lies only in the woman, who is a constant source of irritation for the
husband. Wanting to control an evil woman is like trying to catch a scorpion.
It is an arduous and risky enterprise, because this little animal is constantly
moving and its sting contains a deadly poison (cf. Deut 8:15).
Other metaphors refer to the human body. A woman’s wickedness not
only appears in her countenance (25:17) but also affects the husband’s health:
inert hands make him incapable of working, and quaking knees prevent him
from moving with agility and security (25:23). Due to a wicked wife, his life is
painful, like walking on shaky ground (“Like a sandy hill to aged feet,” 25:20),
in other words a project lacking firmness30 without prospects for the future
and always dependent on circumstances.
The sage’s instruction in 26:12 concludes with a series of suggestive images
on the double meaning of the immoderate sexual appetite of the wicked wife;
these images are reminiscent of Jerusalem’s promiscuous behavior in Ezek

26. On this verse, see Calduch-Benages, “Cut Her Away from Your Flesh,” 86–88.
27. Cf. the Instruction of Ankhsheshonqy: “When a man smells of myrrh his wife is
a monkey before him. When a man is suffering his wife is a lion before him” (15:11–12)
(Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature, 80).
28. See also 26:25, only in Syr and GrII: “A shameless woman is regarded as a dog.”
29. See Egger-Wenzel, “‘Denn harte Knechtschaft und Schande ist es,” 29–30.
30. Víctor Morla Asensio, Eclesiástico: Texto y Comentario (El Mensaje del Antiguo
Testamento 20; Estella: Verbo Divino, 1992), 134.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 117

16:25. Like the whoring city, the bad wife offers herself to any man who comes
along: “As a thirsty traveler with eager mouth drinks from any water that he
finds, so she settles down before every tent peg and opens her quiver for every
arrow” (26:12).

2.1.3. The Husband of the Bad Wife

The evil woman’s husband is always present. Indeed, his presence in the text is
constant, and even overwhelming in the text. He is everywhere, either explic-
itly (“her husband,” 3x; “peaceful husband,” 1x) or implicitly. Let us recall that
the instructions are given by a husband (I, we) and directed to other men, who
are already married or have not yet chosen a wife (you).
Ben Sira emphasizes the physical and psychological consequences that
living with a wicked wife has for her husband: his strength fails and sadness
fills his heart when he is with his friends (25:18, 23 Hb and Gr). By her irritat-
ing behavior and sharp tongue (25:20; 26:6–7), the wife takes away his happi-
ness. Hence, the sage recommends avoiding infatuation with the evil women,
especially if she is beautiful or rich (25:21),31 since in this case the husband
sees his honor sullied when he is forced to rely on her assets (25:22).32 Such
a situation was inconceivable for the mentality of the time, so that the sage
sees it as “hard bondage”33 and “great shame.” The husband’s honor will also
be seriously threatened if his wife falls into the vice of drunkenness (26:8) or,
even worse, maintains illicit relations with other men to satisfy her sexual
desire (26:9–12).
Clearly, then, the husband should keep the evil woman in check. Just
remember what happened to Solomon and the shame that came over him
for having succumbed to women, losing his authority over them and, worst
of all, being controlled by them (47:19). In other words, the sage describes “a
man ‘unmanned’ by women.”34 To prevent this shameful history from repeat-
ing itself, Ben Sira gives the husband the following recommendations: Do
not trust an evil woman (25:25; 7:26; 9:2), do not give her power (33:20ab),

31. Rudolph Smend, Die Weisheit Jesus Sirach (Berlin: Reimer, 1906), 231: “The rich
woman is both a bait and a trap.”
32. See Claudia V. Camp, “Understanding Patriarchy: Women in Second Century
Jerusalem through the Eyes of Ben Sira,” in “Women Like This”: New Perspectives on Jewish
Women in the Greco-Roman World (ed. Amy-Jill Levine; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991),
1–40, here 29.
33. Possibly an allusion to the oppression suffered by the Israelites in Egypt (Exod
1:14; 6:9; Deut 26:6).
34. Balla, Ben Sira on Family, 150.
118 Nuria Calduch-Benages

mistrust her (42:6), or, in extreme situations, give her a certificate of divorce
(25:26). For Judith E. McKinlay, divorce is the only alternative for the husband
who wants “to remain in control, and presumably to be seen to be in control
for the sake of his honor and reputation.”35

2.2. Good Wives

In the passages about good wives, the Hebrew expression ‫אשה טובה‬, “good
wife,” appears twice (26:1, 3), corresponding to the Greek γυνὴ ἀγαθὴ (26:1, 3,
16;36 7:1937). The goodness of the wife, as noted by Burkard Zapff in his com-
mentary, is not so much a moral quality but rather “the idea that the woman
will turn out to support the life of her husband.”38 Ben Sira is certainly not
the first to point out how beneficial the good wife is to her husband (see Prov
31:11–12, 23). The same idea is found in the demotic Instruction of Ankh-
sheshonqy: “A good woman of noble character is food that comes in time
of hunger” (24:21);39 in Hesiod: “For a man carries off nothing better than a
good wife” (Works and Days, 702);40 and Theognis: “Nothing, Cyrnus, is more
delightful than a good wife” (1225).41

2.2.1. Communicative Strategies

The communicative strategies that stand out in the texts about the good wives
are the presence of a macarism, or beatitude, in 26:1–4; the exclusive use of
the third person; and the novelty of some images in 26:13–18 and 36:21–26
Hebrew (26–31 Greek) (see the following section).
It is surprising that, in a poem dedicated to the good wife, the first verse
contains a statement referring to the happiness of her husband.42 Instead of
“Happy is the husband of a good woman” (the usual translation of 26:1Gr;

35. McKinlay, Gendering Wisdom the Host, 171.

36. MsC: [‫יפה א]שה‬, a “beautiful wife.”
37. Gr: γυναικὸς σοφῆς καὶ ἀγαθῆς; MsA: ‫אשה משכלת‬, “a prudent wife” (also in 25:8;
40:23).
38. Burkard M. Zapff, Jesus Sirach 25–51 (NEchtB 39; Würzburg: Echter, 2010), 150.
39. Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom, 89.
40. West, Hesiod, Works and Days, 129.
41. Martin L. West, ed., Archilochus, Hipponax, Theognidea (vol. 1 of Iambi et elegi
graeci ante Alexandrum cantati; 2nd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 233
(translation mine).
42. For Claudia V. Camp, on the other hand, “the point is not that he feels internally
happy but that he has attained an honor worthy of social notice” (Camp, “Understanding
a Patriarchy,” 24).
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 119

cf. 25:8c), one would expect something like: “Blessed is the good woman
because …” Thus the accent would fall on the alleged protagonist and not
on her husband. We need to note that the Hebrew text of manuscript C (also
Syr) adopts an emphatic position: “Good wife, happy husband.” Be that as it
may, the important thing is that this initial macarism sets the tone of 26:1–4,
which after being interrupted in 26:5–12 (on the bad wife) is taken up again
at 26:13–18.
We have seen that the texts on bad wives are characterized by the alter-
nate use of grammatical persons, in particular, the presence of the sage’s “I”
(we). This is not so in the passages about good wives, since most are formu-
lated in an impersonal style based on statements in the third person with a
rhetorical question, for example, in 36:26 Gr. The only exceptions are the rec-
ommendations given directly to the husband/disciple in 7:19: “Do not dismiss
a sensible wife” (Hb); “do not separate yourself from a wise and good woman”
(Gr); and 9:1: “Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom” (Hb, Gr). In other
words, the personal tone and highly incisive insistence with respect to the bad
wife has disappeared and left room for a reflection of a proverbial character,
which is more objective and therefore less striking for the audience. Here, too,
we would have liked to hear the sage’s voice directly. However, for whatever
reason, he chose to express himself indirectly and impassively.

2.2.2. The Description of the Good Wife

In 26:1–4, 13–18 and 36:21–26 Hebrew (26–31 Greek), other adjectives are
attributed to the good wife: “strong, brave” (26:2: ‫אשה חיל‬, γυνὴ ἀνδρεία),43
“charming/graceful” (26:13: ‫]חן[ אשה‬, χάρις γυναικὸς), “prudent” (26:13b:
‫שכלה‬, ἡ ἐπιστήμη αὐτῆς), “silent” (26:14: γυνὴ σιγηρά), “beautiful” (26:15:
‫ ;אשה יפה‬cf. “beauty of a woman,” ‫אשה יפה‬, in 36:22, “beautiful face,” κάλλος
προσώπου, in 26:17, and “beautiful feet/legs,” πόδες ὡραῖοι, in 26:18), “modest”
(26:15: γυνὴ αἰσχυντηρά), “chaste soul” or “capable of self-control” (ἐγκρατοῦς
ψυχῆς), “peaceful or curative language” (36:23: ‫)מרפא לשון‬, and “compassion-
ate and gentle/sweet” (36:23: ἐπὶ γλώσσης αὐτῆς ἔλεος καὶ πραΰτης). If we take
into consideration the rest of the book, the good wife is also described as “sen-
sible” (25:8: γυναικὶ συνετῇ; 40:23: ‫)אשה משכלת‬, “wise” (7:19: γυναικὶ σοϕῆς),
“devoted” (40:19: ‫)אשה נחשקת‬, and “irreproachable/without fault or defect”
(40:19: γυνὴ ἄμωμος).
This brief review of the vocabulary renders it obvious that beauty is the
quality most appreciated in the good wife. In 36:21–26 (26–31), for example,

43. Also in 28:15 (in plural).

120 Nuria Calduch-Benages

beauty not only is the first of the qualities listed but also is described with a
superlative (“it surpasses everything desirable”). If, in these texts, Ben Sira
exclusively presents the positive side of female beauty (see also 7:19), on other
occasions he also warns of its dangers (9:8; 25:21; 42:12). Of course, in both
cases this is always seen from the perspective of the man/husband. Along with
beauty, the virtue of silence, traditionally praised by the sages, deserves special
attention. Surprisingly, this is the only quality that is accompanied by explicit
mention of the Lord: “A silent woman is a gift from the Lord” (26:14; cf. 26:3).
For Syriac Menander, the control of the tongue is a decisive criterion for the
choice of wife: “And if you want to take a wife, make first inquiries about her
tongue, and take her [only] then. For a talkative woman is a hell and … a bad
man a deadly plague” (Sentences, 118–22);44 and a monostich of Menander,
the foremost representative of the New Comedy, says: “Silence is any woman’s
ornament” (83).45
In addition to specific words, images give much information about the
good wife. Inspired by Prov 19:14 (“House and estate are an inheritance from
parents, but a sensible woman is granted by the Lord”), Ben Sira equates the
good wife with a “generous gift” (good lot or portion) that the Lord bestows
on the man who fears him, that is, a good and pious husband (26:3). A very
different aspect is the image of the “sealed mouth” found in 26:15. In fact, this
is an ambivalent image that can refer either to the control of the tongue or to
the chastity of the wife, who should not exercise her sexuality outside of mar-
riage.46 The latter meaning can be glimpsed in the Greek version that replaces
this image with the expression “self-controlled person or character,” which
refers to the “modest woman” of the first hemistich. The good and beautiful
wife is so attractive that, in 26:15a, she is compared to the glorious spectacle
of the sun when it rises to the heights.47
However, the most innovative images are, without doubt, those that
appear in 26:17–18. As C. Mopsik puts it: “La comparaison de la beauté et de
la grâce de l’épouse de celui qui craint Dieu avec les objets sacrés du temple

44. Tjitze Baarda, “The Sentences of the Syriac Menander (Third Century A.D.): A
New Translation and Introduction,” in Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends,
Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-
Hellenistic Works (vol. 2 of The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha; ed. James H. Charlesworth;
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985), 583–606, 595.
45. Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature, 50.
46. According to Di Lella, “(restricted, shut up of) mouth” is a euphemism for “closed
vagina” (Skehan and Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 350). This opinion is shared by
Mopsik (La Sagesse de Ben Sira, 175).
47. In the second hemistich, the Hebrew text and the Greek notably differ. See on this
matter Balla, Ben Sira on Family, 66–67.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 121

de Jérusalem est tout à fait exceptionelle dans la littérature hébraïque de

l’Antiquité.”48 Let us consider the text in the Greek version.

A lamp shining upon a holy candlestick

face upon49 a slender body.
Golden columns on silver pedestals
are [her] pretty legs on firm heels.50

If, in the previous verse, the sage has compared the good wife to the noblest
and most luminous star of nature (26:16; cf. 43:1–5), now he compares her to
the noblest and brightest elements of the cult. Thus, from the cosmic order
we pass to the religious and cultic order. The wife’s beautiful face, sustained
by a well-formed body, shines like a lamp on the holy lampstand, and her
pretty legs are supported by firm heels that evoke the majestic columns of
gold and silver plinths of the temple. These comparisons raise many ques-
tions; for example: Is there, then, “something sacred” about the figure of the
good wife described in 26:17–18?51 Is she able to give dignity to “the liturgy
of the home”?52 Why so much emphasis on physical beauty? Or where are
the wife’s human, moral, and religious values (cf. Prov 31:10–31)? Are these
verses a real compliment to the woman, or do they transmit another, less flat-
tering message?53
In my view, the close relationship established between women and litur-
gical sacred space refers to the discourse of Lady Wisdom, more precisely in
24:10–11, 15, where by means of a series of very suggestive expressions and
images the sage describes the liturgical function of the protagonist.54 In 24:10
she declares her active participation in the worship service: “I officiated in the
holy tent before Him, and so I settled in Zion.” However, as Judith E. McKin-
lay rightly indicates in reference to 26:17–18, “this is a static picture; in these
verses the wife is very much an object that is being evaluated, in contrast to
the Picture of Wisdom and Simon actively taking part in liturgical services.”55
In fact, what Ben Sira exalts is the beauty of the bride, her face, her body, and
implicitly her sex appeal. Reading between the lines, we can see something

48. Mopsik, La Sagesse de ben Sira, 176 (italics mine).

49. MsC has “the splendor of a face.”
50. All of v. 18 is missing in MsC.
51. Alonso Schökel, Proverbios y Eclesiástico, 238.
52. Morla Asensio, Eclesiástico, 136.
53. Skehan and Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 351.
54. See Nuria Calduch-Benages, “Aromas, fragancias y perfumes en el Sirácida,” in
Calduch-Benages and Vermeylen, Treasures of Wisdom, 15–30.
55. McKinlay, Gendering Wisdom the Host, 172.
122 Nuria Calduch-Benages

that the sage does not say openly: the more beautiful the wife is, the more her
husband wants her (see 36:22 in manuscript B: “The beauty of a woman lights
up the face and surpasses any human desire [lit., “eye”].”
Finally, in 36:24–25 (29–30), the sage describes the good wife with two
images of married life, referencing the urban world and the rural world: as a
column (vertical dimension) and a fence (horizontal dimension), respectively.
If, on the one hand, the image of the column suggests the idea of support
(foundation, rest), on the other hand, the fence suggests the notion of protec-
tion (safety, surveillance).56 It is difficult to say what specifically constitutes
this support or protection, as the author does not offer any details. In any
case, since the main objective of 36:21–26 (26–31) is to provide criteria for
choosing a wife, we can understand that those pictures are simply intended
to highlight the crucial importance of the woman in a man’s life. The rabbis
taught, “He who has no wife dwells without good, without help, without joy,
without blessing, and without atonement” (midrash on Gen 2:18).57

2.2.3. Her Relationship with Her Husband

An attentive reader soon realizes that the good wife is praised not for her
intrinsic value as a person but in relation to what she is, does, and means for
her husband. As in the texts about the bad wife, here the husband’s presence
is strongly felt, either explicitly (“[her] husband” four times; “man” twice) or
implicitly by means of masculine pronouns and adjectives.
In fact, the central theme of the texts studied here is not so much the
good wife but rather her husband receiving benefits from her. Not all men
are worthy of her; therefore, the Lord gives her to the husband who fears him
(26:3, 14). She is a priceless gift, more precious than coral and gold (7:19;
26:14–15; cf. Prov 31:10). She is a blessing that brings a long, peaceful, and
joyful life (26:1–2). The wife’s goodness is a value that transcends the eco-
nomic status of the husband, whether he is rich or poor, with positive effects
for his body and soul: joy fills his heart, and it lights up his face (26:2, 4; 36:22
[27]). In a different order, the good wife delights her husband with her physi-
cal charms (or kindness) and makes him prosper economically with her pru-
dence or skill (26:13; cf. 40:19cd). It is impossible not to recall the poem of the
strong woman in Prov 31, especially verses 11–12: “The heart of her husband

56. Morla Asensio, Eclesiástico, 180.

57. Midrash Rabbah Translated into English with Notes, Glossary and Indices under
the Editorship of Rabbi Dr. M. Freedman and Maurice Simon (3rd ed.; London: Soncino,
1961), 1:132.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 123

trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not
harm, all the days of her life.”
Dazzled by her beauty, her modesty, her sweet and friendly talk58 or
silence, the husband becomes an exceptional being, unlike other mortals, a
kind of angel on earth (36:23 [28]). Thus Ben Sira formulates the sentence: “He
who acquires a wife [presumably a good one] gets his best possession, a helper
fit for him and a pillar of support” (36:24 [29]). A man needs to build a home,
a family, have offspring; but above all, he needs social recognition, because
as Gilbert rightly noted, the wife is the “principle of social integration.”59 The
husband of the strong woman of Proverbs certainly received social recogni-
tion through her. The text says about him, “he is respected in the town square
when he sits among the elders of the city” (Prov 31:23). The sage describes
the other side of the coin in Sir 36:25–26 (30–31), three verses that could be
summarized as follows: Who will trust a vagabond, without a wife, without a
family, and without a home? Few words are enough for a wise man, and the
young disciple, presumably, has got the message.

3. Conclusion

A brief comparison between the passages on the bad wife and the good wife
leads to the following results. In my opinion, Ben Sira seems to be more inter-
ested in the bad wife than in the good one. Indeed, he gives her not only a
special place in his instruction (the first of the series, see 25:13–26) but also
far more attention (see the number of verses dedicated to each). Moreover, the
sage speaks about her in a very personal, vivid, and incisive style. The same is
true for the advice and recommendations he gives to the disciples about her,
which contrasts sharply with the impersonal and dispassionate tone used to
describe the good wife. Is the sage speaking from experience? Does his wife
belong to the category of “bad wives”? Of course, we do not know, but the
texts may seem to indicate this.
On the other hand, the sage presents both good and bad wives in the same
way, that is, in terms of physical appearance, control of language, and behavior
in the sexual sphere (more pronounced in the case of the bad wife), as these
three aspects affect, positively or negatively, the personal and social life of her
husband. Hence, the reference point of all the texts is not, as we might expect,
the figure of the wife, whether good or bad, but her husband in his role as

58. According to Schökel, the good wife is a woman “who caresses as she speaks”; see
Proverbios y Eclesiástico, 274.
59. Maurice Gilbert, “Ben Sira et la femme,” RTL 7 (1976): 426–42, 438.
124 Nuria Calduch-Benages

paterfamilias for all intents and purposes. The classification proposed by Ben
Sira works then as follows: the wife is good when she is good for her hus-
band, and she is bad when she is bad for her husband. This same androcentric
perspective is perceptible in the introduction to the commentary of Hilaire
Duesberg and Irenée Fransen: “It would be good to know whether Ben Sira
was happy in his family or not.” And immediately they add: “He told us about
both cases with almost the same vivacity. From his eloquence, it is not pos-
sible to make any conclusion neither in one sense nor in the other”60—which
incidentally is not entirely accurate. The two cases to which the authors refer
are, of course, the happily married husband and the unhappy one.
Ben Sira stresses the patriarchal control of women, especially of the wife.
Described with cross-cultural topics relating to women (beauty, modesty,
silence, and sweetness), the good wife is called to obey meekly the authority
of the husband, to please him in everything, and above all not to compromise
his honor by her words, gestures, or behavior. In other words, she is regarded
as an effective aide who, however, must be kept under control. The one who is
in control has the power.
How can the sage’s ideas and teaching about wives be judged? How is their
apparently harmless classification as “good and bad wives” to be assessed? In
my opinion, the answer should not be sought solely in the sage’s exacerbated
misogyny, possibly associated with a negative family experience, or in the
mentality and customs of a society and a culture in which women had almost
no rights and were completely subordinated to men, or in the influence that
ancient wisdom exercised in his work.61 Could it be that Ben Sira was inter-
ested in maintaining this position and therefore instilled this attitude in his
young disciples? In the end, they would be responsible for transmitting it to
new generations, that is, perpetuating it among their people. Ben Sira was not
the only Jewish sage in second-century-BCE Jerusalem. In fact, he represents
a collective, a group or school of wisdom that was confronted with others
who advocated different and even contradictory ideas, such as the Enochic
circles. He was also confronted with the progress of Hellenism and proposed
his alternative.62 As I mentioned in the introduction, Ben Sira did not adopt a
polemical approach against Hellenistic culture and philosophy but a concilia-

60. Hilaire Duesberg and Irenée Fransen, eds., Ecclesiastico (La Sacra Bibbia volgata
latina e traduzione italiana dai testi originali illustrate con note critiche e commentate a
cura di Mons. Salvatore Garofalo. Antico Testamento sotto la direzione di P. Giovanni Rin-
aldi C.R.S.; Torino/Rome: Marietti, 1966), 50.
61. See Silvia Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on the Figure of Sophia
in the Bible (trans. Linda Maloney; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 2000), 84–97, 85–86.
62. Calduch-Benages, “Absence of Named Women,” 312–13.
 Good and Bad Wives in the Book of Ben Sira 125

tory one. From the beginning to the end of his book, he maintains an impres-
sive balance through the use of pondered expressions, opportune omissions,
implicit allusions, and fine irony. His main aim is to transmit the true wisdom
(fear of the Lord, love for the law, and the tradition) to the new generations in
such a way that the young disciples recognize themselves in the shared past
and assume it as part of their identity. With respect to women (wives), the sage
does not make any concession. A change, however small, in favor of women
would have shaken the patriarchal system that protected him, and that would
have been too dangerous. One who loses control loses his power.
 Part 3
Women’s Voices and Female
Metaphors in Poetic Texts
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures
as Keys to Biblical Metaphors
Silvia Schroer

Relations between ancient Near Eastern art and biblical texts are not only of
interest for gender research. It is generally illuminative to analyze such interre-
lations in order to precisely locate a literary motif or theme with regard to the
history of religion or theology and to better understand the proposition of the
biblical text. Gender research in theology and exegesis particularly requires
extrabiblical sources that provide information about women’s history or the
development of religious ideas and help to identify androcentric perspectives
of biblical texts. This essay does not aim at illustrating the reality behind bibli-
cal texts, so-called Realienkunde, although it may be legitimate and important,
for instance, to relate the scenes on the field in the book of Ruth with Egyptian
depictions of impoverished women who collect corn stalks behind the mowers
(fig. 1).1 This image from Egypt illustrates a social reality similar to the one
in the book of Ruth. Registering such depictions enhances our knowledge
of actual life in ancient cultures. Yet there is no inner or closer relationship
between the book of Ruth and the Egyptian image. For the themes selected in
this essay, however, there are interrelations between textual and iconographic
traditions, which result from a shared cultural treasure trove of motifs and
thus are similar to a citation: A given text may cite an iconographic tradition.
Within the ‫כתובים‬, the Writings, such interrelations especially exist for the
poetic books such as Psalms, wisdom books, and the Song of Songs; their
metaphors open a window to the iconographic traditions of Palestine/Israel
and its neighboring cultures at every turn; or rather, these metaphors are more
comprehensible if viewed in light of iconographic motifs.2 In contrast to the

1. All illustrations of this essay are reproduced by courtesy of the Bibel + Orient
Museum Fribourg, Switzerland.
2. The interrelations between iconography and biblical texts are summarized in each
volume of the standard work of Silvia Schroer and Othmar Keel, Die Ikonographie Palästi-

-129-
130 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 1. Wall painting of the tomb of Menna (ca. 1400 BCE). During the harvest of barley
in the fields, Menna, who sits in a hut, supervises the workers. Poor, naked women, who
glean, get into a fight (Staubli, Begleiter, fig. 12).

books of the Torah, the Writings more often reveal relations between texts and
pictures along a broader range of themes and motif sets.
Metaphors in the Psalms at large, for instance, constitute a reception
and actualization of ancient Near Eastern iconography since the Psalter as
a corpus is a repository of this tradition’s iconographic symbolism.3 Many
metaphors that are used in Israel’s language of prayer are hardly comprehen-
sible without this background. In many cases, gender issues are implied with
regard to images of both humanity and divinity.4 And in terms of creation
theology, the Psalms offer many astonishing impulses that are also relevant
for gender issues (Ps 8; 104).5 Ancient Israel’s attitude toward mortality and

nas/Israels und der Alte Orient: Eine Religionsgeschichte in Bildern (IPIAO), vol. 1, Vom aus-
gehenden Mesolithikum bis zur Frühbronzezeit, 2005; Silvia Schroer, vol. 2, Mittelbronzezeit
(2008); Silvia Schroer, vol. 3, Spätbronzezeit (2011) (Fribourg: Academic Press); in the fol-
lowing cited as IPIAO 1, 2, 3.
3. See the standard work by Othmar Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient
Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (trans. Timothy J. Hallett; Winona Lake,
Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1997).
4. For obvious and hidden feminine images of the divine, see Othmar Keel, Gott weib-
lich: Eine verborgene Seite des biblischen Gottes (Liebefeld: Bibel + Orient Museum, 2008).
5. See Othmar Keel and Silvia Schroer, Schöpfung: Biblische Theologien im Kontext
altorientalischer Religionen (2nd ed.; Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht, 2008). The entire topic of animals in the biblical tradition opens
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 131

death, recorded throughout the Hebrew Bible, and especially in the Psalms
as well as in Qoheleth (3:19–21), offers a truly tangible challenge for feminist
theology. However, not only the Psalms are rich in iconographic concepts.
The divine speeches in the book of Job are based on iconographic motifs
such as the “master of animals” or the battle of Horus against hippopotamus
(Behemoth) and crocodile (Leviathan). At first sight, the significance of cre-
ation theology linked to these motifs for feminist issues seems hardly evident.
Closer inspection, however, reveals how critical this model is to the concepts
of creation in Gen 1 and 2, because it does not define humans as the rule or as
all creation’s crowning glory.6 The Song of Songs enriches the experience and
portrayals of the two lovers with images that convey divine beauty and agency;
these icons are fed by venerable images of gods and goddesses both of the
Near East and Egypt.7 This book was originally a collection of songs of long-
ing and love from Palestine/Israel. In terms of genre, these songs are closely
linked to love lyrics of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Although these songs may
have been cheerfully sung at weddings, they are not proper wedding songs.
The relationship between the man and the woman is situated beyond or at the
margin of societal norms and to some extent only in wishful fantasy. Thus it
comes close to the initial relation of man and woman in paradise, described in
Gen 2 beyond or before the liabilities of reality like the founding of a family,
the raising of children, and matrimonial norms. In Gen 2, man and woman
have a relationship as equal partners. There are images of a human pair in
ancient art from the Middle Bronze Age, which demonstrate that there was
the experience of equality between the sexes besides and despite a patriarchal
and hierarchical social order.
The themes and motifs of Hebrew love songs are saturated with images
and metaphors that are partly of Egyptian origin and partly based on the
treasure of Near Eastern motifs. Especially the beloved woman in the songs
often mirrors the goddesses of Palestine/Israel, as well as Syria, Anatolia,
and—less frequently—Egypt. The oscillating form of the divine appears to

fresh approaches to the perception of humanity and the world with interesting gender
aspects; see Silvia Schroer, Die Tiere in der Bibel: Eine kulturgeschichtliche Reise (Frei-
burg: Herder, 2010).
6. Christl M. Maier und Silvia Schroer, “Job: Questioning the Book of the Righteous
Sufferer,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the
Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 221–39.
7. Othmar Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben: Zur Metaphorik des Hohen Liedes (SBS
114/115; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1984); Keel, The Song of Songs: A Continental
Commentary (trans. Frederick J. Gaiser; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994).
132 Silvia Schroer

have motivated early on an understanding of the texts in terms of an encoun-

ter between heaven and earth, transcendence and immanence. Eroticism
encompasses a cosmic and a religious dimension that is fed by anterior ideas
manifest in ancient art.8
The Writings date partly to the postexilic and even the early Hellenistic
era. Thus in particular cases, the time lag between the mythological tradi-
tions and the actual art, to which the metaphors revert, may be immense. The
“master of animals,” a figure of ancient Near Eastern iconography attested
constantly as early as the third millennium BCE certainly constitutes the
backdrop of the divine imagery in Job 39. In this specific case it is evident
that the motif was still in use in contemporary, that is, Persian-period, glyp-
tic and that it is also attested in the glyptic of Palestine/Israel. It is therefore
safe to assume that the authors of the book of Job knew this image and actual
artifacts from their own experience. One cannot reconstruct such a complete
“chain” of a motif in all cases, however. The “playful” wisdom figure in Prov
8:22–31, for instance, traces back to “role models” in Syrian and Egyptian
art. Yet exactly which depictions the authors of this text had in mind and
whether they knew them from their own experience cannot be reconstructed
anymore. In the ancient Near East, traditions of art were shaped by hand-
craft tradition and thus were stable not only for centuries but also for millen-
nia. Sometimes we only have two loose ends in hand, an icon and a biblical
motif or a metaphor without really knowing the way of transmission from
one to the other. Nevertheless, it would be nonsensical to rule out any rela-
tion just because some elements are lacking in the chain of tradition. Simi-
larly, literary connections, such as the one between the book of Job and the
Mesopotamian precursors of the “suffering servant” or the one between Prov
22:17–23:11 and the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope cannot be dis-
puted categorically even if the way of transmission cannot always be recon-
structed satisfactorily.9 Constellations of motifs like the “master of animals”
or the “woman at the window” are generally more suitable to secure the way
of tradition than one isolated icon like a sole branch. The idea that the scribes
or groups of authors to which we owe particular psalms or the Song of Songs
or the book of Proverbs would sit at their desks and understand a meta-
phorical statement such as “the persons who pray take refuge in the shadow

8. Martti Nissinen, “Song of Songs and Sacred Marriage,” in Sacred Marriages: The
Divine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity (ed. Martti Nissinen and
Risto Uro; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 173–218.
9. Bernd U. Schipper, “Die Lehre des Amenemope und Prov 22,17–24,22—eine Neu-
bestimmung des literarischen Verhältnisses (Part 1),” ZAW 117 (2005): 53–72; Part 2, ZAW
117 (2005): 232–48.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 133

of God’s wings” (see Ps 38:7) only metaphorically, that is, that they would
neither know the mythological or iconographic reference nor aim at evok-
ing it in their audience, projects modern notions of text production onto the
ancient world and does not sufficiently accommodate the Hebrew language’s
closeness to images. Each metaphor in a psalm—for instance, “God is a mid-
wife” (Ps 22:10–11)—evoked a world of ideas that was sustained by myths,
cult, mental images, and literary metaphors. It is anachronistic to postulate
“pure” metaphors, namely, figures of speech that would not reactivate the
mythological-imaginary background.
The following selection of examples is oriented toward groups of motifs
and metaphors with iconological backgrounds which are either central or
used repeatedly in the ‫כתובים‬, the Writings, and which are relevant to femi-
nist or gender issues. To a large extent, we will deal with perceptions of the
divine and images of gods or goddesses respectively.

1. Images of Confidence: God’s Caring Qualities

1.1. Pregnancy, Birth, and Mother-Child Relationship

Hebrew anthropology devotes much attention to the fact that humans are
born.10 To be born of a woman is a basic datum of being human. In manifold
ways, being born is related to the presence and acting of the divine. Israel’s
God participates in the development of the embryo in the womb, assists the
child’s coming to light in the birthing process, and places the newborn at its
mother’s breast. For women in ancient cultures, such divine assistance during
pregnancy and birth was essential. Their pleas for a smooth birth and life for
the mother, the newborns, and infants have been perpetuated in myriads of
votive figurines (figs. 2–3).

Yet it was you who drew me from the womb;

you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.

10. [Translator’s note: The author uses the German term Geburtlichkeit, which can
hardly be translated into English.] See also Silvia Schroer, “Ancient Near Eastern Pictures
as Keys to Biblical Texts,” in Torah (ed. Irmtraud Fischer et al.; The Bible and Women: An
Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural History 1.1; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Litera-
ture, 2011), 31–60; 44–46. For the topic of birth in the Hebrew Bible, see Detlef Dieck-
mann and Dorothea Erbele-Küster, eds., Du hast mich aus meiner Mutter Leib gezogen:
Beiträge zur Geburt im Alten Testament (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2006); Mari-
anne Grohmann, Fruchtbarkeit und Geburt in den Psalmen (FAT 53; Tübingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2007).
134 Silvia Schroer

On you I was cast from the womb,

and from my mother’s belly you have been my God. (Ps 22:10–11)11

In Ps 131, the praying person compares the existential orientation of the

child, which she carries in her arms, with her own mental state with regard to
YHWH.12 The image of an infant at its mother’s breast symbolizes satiation,
peace, and security.

Like a weaned child on/with its mother;

like the weaned child on/with me—is my ‫נפשׁ‬. (Ps 131:2)

Psalm 139:15 suggests that an individual is “woven” in the earth and born
by mother Earth. At the same time, however, it is YHWH, Israel’s God, who
creates the human being in the womb. According to ancient Israelite imagina-
tion, a mother’s womb is associated with the womb of the earth, and thus the
human being will return naked “there,” that is, into the motherly earth (Job
1:21; Sir 40:1). This set of metaphors is distinctive insofar as Israelite cosmol-
ogy and theology of creation are generally reluctant to deal with biological
ideas of development and becoming.13 In Ps 90:2 the birth imagery is trans-
ferred even to the mountains and earth, which are said to be born by God (cf.
Prov 8:22–23). Deuteronomy 32:18 commemorates God’s labor pains during
the birth of an individual.14
In Palestine/Israel, depictions of mother and child are attested only since
the early Iron period (ca. 1100 BCE), more frequently in the Persian period
(sixth–fifth century BCE; see figs. 4–6). The “mother and child” icon has an
almost divine aura—similar to the “cow and calf ” motif that also symbol-
izes divine care15—and replaces an icon attested in the polytheistic religions
since the third millennium, namely, the image of the royal child sucking at his

11. [Translator’s note: Because the author translated the biblical passages herself, the
English wording of the NRSV has been adapted accordingly. The verse numbers always
follow the Masoretic Text; sometimes NRSV differs by one number.]
12. Erich Zenger, “ ‘Wie das Kind bei mir…’: Das weibliche Gottesbild von Ps 131,”
in “Gott bin ich, kein Mann”: Beiträge zur Hermeneutik der biblischen Gottesrede: FS für
Helen Schüngel-Straumann zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Ilona Riedel-Spangenberger and Erich
Zenger; Paderborn: Schöningh, 2006), 177–95.
13. See Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, 108–21.
14. A woman’s womb receives special dignity because God himself is struck with
‫רחמים‬, “compassion,” which is situated in the uterus. From the womb emerge life and the
ability for empathy, which protects and preserves everything that is alive. See Silvia Schroer
and Thomas Staubli, Body Symbolism in the Bible (trans. Linda M. Maloney; Collegeville,
Minn.: Liturgical, 2001), 68–82.
15. See Schroer, “Ancient Near Eastern Pictures,” 53, figs. 26–27.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 135

Fig. 2. Terracotta figure from northern Israel or

Phoenicia (six–fifth century BCE). From the Persian
period on, women were depicted as pregnant, naked,
or clothed with a wrap, or as nursing a child. In earlier
periods, pregnancy is denoted, if at all, only discretely
(Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, fig. 76).

Fig. 3. Cypriot terracotta of a woman with a

child, from Kition/Larnaca (probably sixth cen-
tury BCE) (Winter, Frau und Göttin, fig. 385).

Fig. 4. Fragmentary terracotta figure

from Beth Shean (early Iron Age, 1100–
1000 BCE). A woman adorned with
bracelet, belt, crossband over the chest,
and necklace holds a child in her arm,
who faces the viewer. Due to its com-
posure the child is a toddler rather than
a baby or newborn (Winter, Frau und
Göttin, fig. 57).
136 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 5. Terracotta figure of a woman with dressed hair,

clothed only with a belt, who holds a child on her arm,
from Pella in Jordan (ninth century BCE) (sketch by
Ulrike Zurkinden-Kolberg after Potts et al., “Preliminary
Report,” 141, with pl. 22.3).

Fig. 6. Phoenician terracotta of a woman with child

from Tell Zippor (fifth century BCE) (Urs Winter,
Frau und Göttin, fig. 60).

Fig. 7. Egyptian bronze figure of Isis with a child (sixth–fifth

century BCE). The goddess here is crowned, as often, with
cow horns and sun disk, which is rather typical for the god-
dess Hathor (Winter, Frau und Göttin, fig. 405).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 137

Fig. 8. Amulet from Megiddo (ca.

1000 BCE). The amulet depicts the
goddess Isis nursing the Horus child.
Connected to this image is the entire
mythological story of Horus, begotten
by the reanimated Osiris, conceived
and born by Isis, chased by Seth,
saved and protected by Isis. From this
image of a protective and powerful
goddess, women expect assistance for
themselves and their child (Hermann,
Ägyptische Amulette, no. 42).

Fig. 9. Silver pendant from Ugarit (four-

teenth–thirteenth century BCE). In this
heavily schematized picture of a goddess,
the vulva, connected to fertility by a twig,
small breasts, and the face are empha-
sized. The beautiful, Hathor-like goddess
is kindly facing the viewer; hairstyle and
necklace are especially accentuated as
well as the ears that are almost oversized
and not hidden by the big curls (Schroer,
IPIAO 3, no. 839)

divine mother’s breast.16 In Egyptian iconography, the image of Isis breast-

feeding Horus on her lap occurs since the Third Intermediate period (from
1070 BCE); the icon enjoyed great popularity also in Palestine/Israel (figs.
7–8). Although this mother and child are mythic and royal figures, Isis and
her child play an important role also in the piety of the common population.
As essential as being fed at a mother’s breast is the experience of being
viewed, or facing someone kindly.17 In the Psalms, the benevolent face of God
is a recurrent motif of prayer language (Ps 17:15; 31:17; 41:13; 104:29). The
metaphor is based on images of goddesses, more rarely gods, who face their

16. See ibid., 51, fig. 23.

17. See ibid., 55, figs. 32–33.
138 Silvia Schroer

followers kindly. In Palestine/Israel, it is the indigenous earth and vegetation

goddess who faces her devotees benevolently. Moreover, she has big ears in
order to hear their concerns (see Ps 130:2) and to answer their prayers (see fig.
9 above). Thus in the gender-neutral metaphors of biblical texts, sometimes
gendered signs of the history of religion are supplied.

1.2. “In the Shadow of your Wings”

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

All people take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Ps 36:8)

You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to YHWH:
My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust!
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,
from the deadly pestilence;
with his pinions he will cover you,
and under his wings you will find refuge …
You need not fear. … (Ps 91:1–5*)

The yearning of the psalmists to take refuge in the shadow of God’s wings is
attested several times and belongs to the metaphors of security (see also Ps
17:7–9; 57:2; 61:4–5; 63:8–9).18 In the ancient Near East, wings are associ-
ated with virility,19 but often also with protection. First and foremost, orni-
thomorphic gods and goddesses have wings, for instance, in Egypt since
the third millennium BCE: Horus, but also the vulture goddesses Mut and
Nechbet (figs. 10–11). The goddess Maat in her feminine form often wears
a vulture’s wings (fig. 12). In principle, almost every goddess or god may be
furnished with wings in specific roles.20 The protégé of Egyptian winged gods

18. Silvia Schroer, “‘Im Schatten deiner Flügel’: Religionsgeschichtliche und feminis-
tische Blicke auf die Metaphorik der Flügel Gottes in den Psalmen, in Ex 19,4; Dtn 32,11
und in Mal 3,20,” in “Ihr Völker alle, klatscht in die Hände!”: FS für Erhard S. Gerstenberger
zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Rainer Kessler et al.; Münster: LIT, 1997), 296–316.
19. Wings grow ad libitum, e.g., to the “master of animals,” which in ancient Near
Eastern glyptic appears alternately without or with wings, even with four wings. In this
case, the wings express numinosity, i.e., superhuman capabilities of the depicted figure. In
the Middle East, Ishtar appears winged already on seals of the third millennium, although
the aspect of protection is missing.
20. On scarabs of the fifth and fourth century BCE, even Isis enthroned with a child
occasionally appears winged; see Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses,
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 139

Fig. 10. Granite statue from Tanis

(time of Ramses II, 1279–1213 BCE).
In the Egyptian delta, the god Horon,
originally a Canaanite god of the neth-
erworld, is portrayed as a falcon, like
Horus. Here, he protects Pharaoh
Ramses II, who is depicted as a child
(Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 689).

Fig. 11. Golden pectoral (breast deco-

ration) with inlays of lapis lazuli and
glass, from the mummy of Tutankh-
amun, Valley of the Kings (1333–1323
BCE). From the Old Kingdom on
the griffon vulture represents the
goddesses Nechbet and Mut, some-
times also Nut. The vulture goddess
with the two Shen-rings, symbols of
protection, accompanied the kings
during life and death (Schroer, IPIAO
3, no. 732).

Fig. 12. Counterweight of a pec-

toral, made of gold, silver, and
colored glass inlays, from the
tomb of Tutankh-amun, Valley
of the Kings (1333–1323 BCE).
Exceptionally, the goddess Maat
here stands not behind but before
the enthroned king in order
to protect him with her wings
(Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 699).
140 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 13. Pectoral of quartz, with

inlays of glass and gold, from the
tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley
of the Kings (1333–1323 BCE).
Osiris’s sisters Isis and Nephthys
protect with their wings the
djed-pillar that represents Osiris
(Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 795).

Fig. 14. Carved ivory plaque

from Samaria (ninth–eighth
century BCE). The kneeling
goddesses at the djed-pillar of
Osiris are no longer marked by
their traditional symbols as Isis
and Nephthys, but wear sun-
disks on their heads (Keel and
Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses,
and Images of God, fig. 243).

is initially the king, or with regard to Isis, the god Osiris. As the deceased
identify with Osiris, the idea that one may find refuge under the wings of
goddesses like Isis, Nephthys, or Nut, becomes popular (figs. 13–14). Also
the protective deity Bes is often depicted as winged. Scholars discuss whether
the image of God’s wings in the Psalms is based on zoomorphic images of
the divine, namely, ornithomorphic ones, or whether it refers to the rather
vivid view of a big bird’s wings in relation to an anthropomorphic, perhaps
even gynomorphic, figure.21 A further possibility of association pertains to
the sphere of winged sun-disks, which have a long tradition in Egypt and
Middle Asia. It is hardly feasible to fully prescind from these original vehicles
of images. In Exod 19:4 and Deut 32:11, too, YHWH introduces himself as a
vulture that cares for his offspring.22

and Images of God in Ancient Israel (trans. Allan W. Mahnke; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996),
fig. 363b.
21. Joel M. LeMon, Yahweh’s Winged Form in the Psalms: Exploring Congruent Icono­
graphy and Texts (OBO 242; Fribourg: Academic Press; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupre-
cht, 2010).
22. See Schroer, “Ancient Near Eastern Pictures,” 50–53.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 141

2. Theology of Creation:
God as “Master of Animals”

Reading the book of Job from a feminist perspective poses many challeng-
es.23 The main protagonists of this book are male; women have only support-
ing roles, even if these are significant. In the frame narrative, God and Satan,
one of the divine sons, appear on stage. In the dialogue sections, Job and his
three, later four, friends alternate as speakers, and finally, God appears. The
interpretation of God’s speeches is highly significant for the exegesis of the
entire book. Othmar Keel offered a groundbreaking interpretation of these
chapters through his analysis of the motifs of the “master of animals” and
Chaoskampf (“the struggle against chaos”), against Behemoth and Leviathan
in Job 39–41.24 After introducing himself by traditional motifs such as the
creator of the cosmos in chapter 38, God presents himself as shepherd and
master of animals of the wilderness in Job 38:39–39:30. Five pairs of animals
are listed here as examples of divine care and sovereignty: lion and raven, wild
goat and deer, wild ass and wild bull, ostrich and war horse, a bird of prey
and the griffin vulture. God cares for the wild animals;25 he controls them
and their world, which is not subjugated to and uninhabitable for humans.
The same ten animals that are mentioned in the second part of the first divine
speech are attested in ancient Near Eastern iconography in connection with
a male figure. In a dominant gesture, a nude hero, a winged, numinous figure
or a (Persian) king seize in their right and left hand lions, goats, ostriches,
and so forth on the neck or the hind legs (figs. 15–16). The animals, too, may
be winged, a feature that clearly emphasizes the scene’s mythical dimension.
The master of animals is a quasi-divine figure that represents supremacy over
chaos. Judean stamp seals showing a “master of ostriches” and “master of wild
goats” (figs. 17–18) attest that these local variants of the figure were vener-
ated in the region as favorites, which may even represent an authentic divine
image linked to the deity YHWH.26 The book of Job unfolds this icon, which
is attested from the third millennium for almost two thousand years in both
the Near East and the Aegean, in a narrative way. In contrast to the creation

23. See Maier and Schroer, “Job.”

24. Othmar Keel, Jahwes Entgegnung an Ijob: Eine Deutung von Ijob 38–41 vor dem
Hintergrund der zeitgenössischen Bildkunst (FRLANT 121; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1978).
25. Only the horse does not represent the chaotic antiworld that accompanies cre-
ation, but a hostile world of war and dominance created by humans.
26. Othmar Keel, Die Geschichte Jerusalems und die Entstehung des Monotheismus
(OLB 4/1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007), 205–11.
142 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 15. Middle Assyrian cylinder seal (fourteenth–eleventh century BCE). A “master of
animals,” with face and upper part of the body in frontal position, seizes with his left and
right hand two wild goats or ibexes at their horns, thus pulling them off the stylized tree,
on which they straighten up to eat its leaves. The animal world, the wilderness, is thus
kept in check in favor of the ordered world (Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, fig. 156).

Fig. 16. Neo-Assyrian cylinder seal (ninth–seventh century BCE). A four-winged “master
of animals” seizes two erect wild bulls at one front leg each. The wings underline the
potency of the divine hero. He, too, seems to pull the wild animals off a stylized palm tree
that symbolizes the ordered world (Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, fig. 157).

story in Gen 1–2, the theology of creation in these divine speeches does not
focus on humanity. God turns out to be the master and shepherd of the entire
creation. The wild animals accomplish nothing for humans and are said to
have an independent existence, similar to Ps 104. God also feeds the wild
goats and other animals that have their own habitats and a right to live inde-
pendently of and without being exposed to human domination. Even if at first
sight the image of a hero who dominates the animals may hardly be attractive
for a feminist approach, it offers some important clues for the specific under-
standing of creation and Creator in the wisdom writings.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 143

Fig. 17. Scaraboid from Beth Shemesh (ca. Fig. 18. Stamp seal impression from Dan
1000 BCE). A strongly schematized Judean (early Iron Age, 980–840 BCE). A “master
“master of animals” seizes two ostriches of animals” seizes two wild goats by the
(Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, fig. 162). neck and pulls them backward (Keel,
Corpus, Dan no. 6).

3. Images of Women—Images of Goddesses

The suppression of the goddesses in the religious symbol system of the south-
ern Levant sets in already under Egyptian hegemony in the Late Bronze Age,
that is, in the second half of the second millennium BCE.27 Fighting, belli-
cose, mostly male gods dominate the repertoire of images. The presence of
goddesses is more frequently only hinted at by “representatives” such as the
branch, the goats at the tree, the dove, and so forth. The goddesses are no
longer represented in full figures and less often on precious material. This
trend continued during the following centuries, when the states Israel and
Judah, later on Judah alone, existed. In the eighth to the sixth century BCE,
however, there was a revival of full-figured goddesses in terracotta art.
Apparently, the veneration of a local goddess did not cease until the exilic
period. By polemical renunciation the biblical texts attest to cults for Ashe­
rah or the Queen of Heaven and demonstrate that these were not marginal
phenomena. At the same time, the worship of YHWH was able to copiously
absorb and integrate important traditions of the goddesses’ heritage. Part of
this legacy was integrated into ideas about Israel’s God and the divine wisdom
figure. Another part remained alive when experience of the divine in creation
and love was expressed by the venerable images of the cults for goddesses. A
third part was taken up in images and roles of women in Israel. As Urs Winter
has demonstrated,28 images of women and images of goddesses often come

27. For more details, see Keel and Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God.
28. Urs Winter, Frau und Göttin: Exegetische und ikonographische Studien zum weibli-
144 Silvia Schroer

very close to each other. Every woman could try to resemble the goddess by
imitating her (imitatio deae).
In ancient art, the goddesses of the Levant are not labeled by crowns,
scepters, clothing, or symbols as goddesses like the Egyptian or Mesopota-
mian deities. The tendency of similarity thus is effective in both directions,
a phenomenon that may be related to the idea of humans being created in
the likeness of God (Gen 1:28). In the biblical text, such likeness is stated for
both sexes.
Clay figurines from Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine/Israel emphasize
the same body parts as the description of the woman in the Song of Songs, for
instance, the navel (Song 7:3), the proudly cherished breasts (8:8–10), or the
proud, towering neck adorned by necklaces (4:4; 7:5) and beautiful hair (fig.
19).

3.1. The Long Life of the Twig and Tree Goddesses

The earth and vegetation goddess of Middle Bronze Age Palestine/Israel

(1750–1550 BCE) is characterized by twigs. This main attribute would play
a role in the country’s iconography and history of religion for centuries. The
mighty tree is named in Hebrew ‫אלה‬, “goddess” (fig. 20). In the books of Prov-
erbs and Psalms, the tree of life often appears, to which also divine wisdom is
compared.

She is a tree of life to those who grasp her;

whoever holds on to her can be called happy. (Prov 3:18)

Grasping and holding onto a palm tree or a stylized tree is a frequent motif in
glyptic art (figs. 21–22). Whoever holds on to twigs or branches grasps the life
that they symbolize. In Sirach one finds the phrase:

To fear YHWH is the root of wisdom, and her branches are long life. (Sir 1:20)

Not only the Levantine tradition of the goddess’s twigs and mighty trees, but
also the palm tree, which is widespread and popular in Mesopotamia and
Egypt, has left traces in biblical metaphors.

How fair you are, how beautiful!

O Love, with all its rapture!

chen Gottesbild im Alten Israel und in dessen Umwelt (2nd ed.; OBO 53; Fribourg: Univer-
sitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1987).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 145

Your stately form is like the palm;

your breasts are like clusters of dates.
I say: I will climb the palm, take hold of its branches;
Then your breasts will be like clusters of grapes,
your breath like the fragrance of apples,
and your palate like choicest wine
that goes down smoothly to my caresses,
gliding over the lips of sleepers. (Song 7:7–10)

Fig. 19. Terracotta from the Levant (1900–1600

BCE). Peculiar of this small figurine are the skillful
headdress, necklace and hips, accentuated eyes, and
the big navel, whereas breasts, face, and arms were
not modeled. The ears may originally have carried
rings (Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 395).

Fig. 20. Fragmentary clay

pitcher from Lachish
(end of thirteenth cen-
tury BCE). The inscrip-
tion reads “donation,
a gift for my mistress
’elat [i.e., the goddess]”;
the word ’elat is written
directly above a tree that
is flanked by horned ani-
mals (Schroer, IPIAO 3,
no. 852).
146 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 21. Scarab from Sichem (seven-

teenth–sixteenth century BCE). Two
kneeling female worshipers hold or
touch a big branch or little tree; above
them a goddess fetish that represents
the twig goddess of Palestine/Israel, but
here is shown in the Egyptian context
of the veneration of Hathor with uraei,
Horus falcon, and the hieroglyphic sign
for “gold.” (Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 418).

Fig. 22. Scaraboid from Ekron (seventh

century BCE). A worshiper, clothed in a
long robe, touches a tree with one hand
while he seems to carry a donation in
his other hand (Keel, Corpus 2, no. 51).

The comparison of the woman with a palm that nourishes and brings forth
delicious fruits traces back to primarily Mesopotamian iconographic tradi-
tions in which the goddess Ishtar was associated with date palms already in
the third millennium (fig. 23). Centuries later, big date palms stood in the
courtyard of the Ishtar temple at Mari (fig. 24). The association of the date
palm with breasts is found, even if rarely, in the glyptic art of the first millen-
nium BCE (fig. 25).
In the book of Ben Sira (Sirach) wisdom is influenced less by the idea
of the tree of life,29 but is characterized as tree goddess who offers food and
drink. The person who seeks wisdom’s company is praised.

29. For this topic see Urs Winter, “Der ‘Lebensbaum’ in der altorientalischen Bildsym-
bolik,” in … Bäume braucht man doch: Das Symbol des Baumes zwischen Hoffnung und
Zerstörung (ed. Harald Schweizer; Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1986), 57–88; Winter, “Der
stilisierte Baum: Zu einem auffälligen Aspekt altorientalischer Baumsymbolik und seiner
Rezeption im Alten Testament,” Bibel und Kirche 41 (1986): 171–77.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 147

Fig. 23. Cylinder seal of the Akkadian period (ca. 2300–2200 BCE). A praying person is
lead in front of the enthroned goddess Ishtar. Left of this “initiation scene” are two women
plucking dates from a palm. While the goddess is depicted in her warrior robe, the date
palm refers to her nourishing aspects (Schroer and Keel, IPIAO 1, no. 260).

Fig. 24. Colored wall painting from the palace of Mari (1800 BCE). The image is located to
the right of the entrance to the throne room and shows the temple of Ishtar, in which the
ruler of Mari and the goddess Ishtar meet. The temple is located in a huge park with styl-
ized trees and date palms. Two men climb each of the palms’ slim trunks (for harvesting
or fertilizing?). In the preserved crown of the palm to the right a white dove starts to fly off
(Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 434).
148 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 25. Relief from Karatepe (ca. 700 BCE).

Under a date palm, a woman, either queen,
royal wet nurse, or goddess, presents her
breast to a child, probably a prince. As on
older Egyptian pictures of this type, the heir
to the throne sucks while standing (Winter,
Frau und Göttin, fig. 411).

Happy is the person who meditates on wisdom and reasons intelligently, …

who builds his nest in her leaves,
and lodges under her boughs;
who is covered by her shade from the heat,
and dwells in her shelters.
Whoever fears YHWH will do this,
and whoever holds to the law will obtain wisdom.
She will come to meet him like a mother,
and like a young bride she will welcome him.
She will feed him with the bread of learning,
and give him the water of wisdom to drink. (Sir 14:20, 26–15:3)

Divine Wisdom, who manifests herself in an abundance of trees in the book

of Ben Sira, extends an invitation.

Come to me, you who desire me,

and eat your fill of my fruits.
For the memory of me is sweeter than honey,
and the possession of me sweeter than the honeycomb.
Those who eat of me will hunger for more,
and those who drink of me will thirst for more. (Sir 24:19–21)

While the Canaanite tradition of the goddesses of the earth and vegetation
may be in the background of this invitation, the mention of feeding and giving
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 149

Fig. 26 (left). Relief from Abusir in Egypt (thir-

teenth century BCE). In this case the date palm is
presented with only human arms and hands that
hold a tablet with food and a jug. In most images
of this type, also the upper part of the body and
the head of the goddess are visible in the treetop
(Winter, Frau und Göttin, fig. 464).

Fig. 27 (right). Painting from the tomb

of Pashedu in Der el-Medineh (ca. 1100
BCE). The deceased kneels in the shade
of a treetop, from which a goddess leans
over to him offering water and bread
(Winter, Frau und Göttin, fig. 462).

to drink explicitly refers to an Egyptian tradition. In tomb paintings of the

New Kingdom starting with Thutmosis III, various goddesses appear as tree
goddesses that nourish and offer shade and recreation. They lean out of the
treetops in order to feed the dead. In the oldest paintings, they even present
their breast; yet a dominant later variant has them offering food and drink and,
as the epigrams reveal, words of invitation. Tree goddesses are often depicted
as sycamores or date palms (figs. 26–27). Palms do not grow everywhere in
the Levant; thus people valued them as something special and admired their
impressive form. The sweet dates were extremely popular back then, espe-
cially because people neither had nor were able to produce goodies besides
honey and fruit sugar. While Ben Sira probably refers to the Egyptian icon of
the tree goddess, he transposes her from the context of the world of the dead
to the world of the living.30

30. Silvia Schroer, “Die Zweiggöttin in Palästina/Israel: Von der Mittelbronze IIB-Zeit
bis zu Jesus Sirach,” in Jerusalem: Texte—Bilder—Steine (ed. Max Küchler and Christoph
Uehlinger; NTOA 6; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1987), 201–25. For the continu-
ing significance of the twigs or branches in the history of religion of Palestine/Israel, see
also Thomas Staubli, “Land der sprießenden Zweige,” Bibel und Kirche 60 (2005): 16–22.
150 Silvia Schroer

In the Song of Songs (2:1–2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2; 7:3), the Egyptian back-
ground of the imagery of love is retrieved when the lips of the lovers or the
woman’s bosom are compared to a refreshing lotus plant (fig. 28). Twigs and
lotus flowers are often exchangeable in Levantine art, especially in stylized
presentations (figs. 29–30).

Fig. 28 (right). Egyptian faience bowl (1350–1300

BCE). Lotus flowers surround the face of the god-
dess Hathor. This goddess was often linked to
the biotope marsh and its corresponding plants,
papyrus and lotus, as well as animals, for exam-
ple, ducks. The lotus is a symbol of freshness and
renewed life because its flowers open up each
morning in new purity (Schroer, IPIAO 3, no 748).

Fig. 29 (below). Drawing on a pitcher from Kuntillet Ajrud (ca. 800 BCE). Two wild goats
(or ibex) straighten up to a stylized tree with lotus buds. Goats at a tree are a long-attested
motif that is strongly connected to the Levantine goddesses. Here, the icon appears above a
striding lion, so that the parallel to the same constellation with a full-fledged goddess (see
the next figure) is obvious (Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben, fig. 107).

Fig. 30 (right). Golden pendant from Minet el-Beida,

the port of Ugarit (ca. 1400 BCE). The nude goddess,
adorned with necklaces, bracelets around arms and hips,
as well as a beautiful Hathor headdress, is standing on a
striding lion. Besides the wild goats that she lifts up by the
hind legs, the serpents that cross behind her belong to her
sphere of influence (Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 859).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 151

3.2. The Goddesses and Their Animals

Starting in the second millennium BCE, doves appear in the context of the
erotic goddesses of Syria and Palestine/Israel. They stand for the love and
sex appeal of the goddess; they fly as envoys to her partner, the weather-god
or prince of the city, and become an emblem of love (figs. 31–33). In the
poetry of the Song, the lovers’ eyes with their passionate gaze are compared

Fig. 31. Classical Syrian cylinder seal (eighteenth century BCE). The Syrian goddess
takes off her dress in front of an enthroned ruler of the city. Doves fly from her to her
partner to underline the erotic aura of the scene, to which also the reclined hares and
horned animals belong (Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 439).

Fig. 33. Cypriot limestone figure (prob-

ably Hellenistic, third–first century
BCE). Already in antiquity, the billing
of the doves, which is interpreted as
Fig. 32. Etruscan mirror (fifth century enamored whispering sweet nothings
BCE). The dove flies from the enthroned until today, has brought the birds close
goddess Aphrodite to her lover Adonis to the goddesses of love or love itself
(Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben, fig. 53). (Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben, fig. 39).
152 Silvia Schroer

to doves—not with regard to their form or appearance but in terms of the

message they deliver.

Ah, you are beautiful, my love; ah, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves. (Song 1:15; cf. 4:1; 5:12)

In another verse, the beloved is addressed and named a dove.

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff,

let me see your face, let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. (Song 2:14)

Further animals that typically accompany the goddesses are gazelles, does,
and wild goats (figs. 34–35). For the protection of the lovers in the Song of
Songs one would swear by them—not by YHWH:

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the wild does:
do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases! (Song 2:7; cf. 3:5; 8:4)

Fig. 34. Middle Assyrian

cylinder seal (thirteenth
century BCE). The light-
footed deer and gazelles
were admired for their deli-
cate and agile mobility. As
shy animals of the wilder-
ness, they were associated
with the goddesses of love
(Keel, Deine Blicke sind
Tauben, fig. 80).

Fig. 35. Scarab of the end of the Middle or

Late Bronze Age (fifteenth–fourteenth cen-
tury BCE) from Tell Beit Mirsim. Reclined
wild goats, in later periods very often suck-
ling goats or ibex, evoke the sphere of the
goddesses. The twigs underline this asso-
ciation (Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 843).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 153

Fig. 36. Fragment of a stone vessel

from southern Iraq (2400–2250
BCE). The goddess with opu-
lent hair and a crown of horns, in
which grain spikes or twigs seem
to stuck, carries a date risp in her
hand (Schroer and Keel, IPIAO 1,
no. 212).

Fig. 37. Terracotta plaque from Mari (ca. 1800

BCE). The goddess Ishtar with a crossband on
her chest and weapons in her hands in a clas-
sical pose places one foot on a lying lion. She is
accompanied by two gods or rulers armed with
axes. The entire group is standing in frontal
pose on a mountain marked by a scales pattern
(Schroer, IPIAO 2, no. 449).

The earliest types of goddesses in the Near East depict the female figure with
a gorgeous tuft of curls (fig. 36). For the lover in the Song, her black hair is
evocative of lively goats.

Your hair is like a flock of goats,

moving down the slopes of Gilead. (Song 4:1)

Like the Neolithic female figurines or the goddess Ishtar (fig. 37), the beloved
woman in the Song appears in the company of lions and panthers (see §2
above), which withdraw to barren mountain regions.

You will come with me from Lebanon, my bride;

with me from Lebanon;
you will depart from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions,
from the mountains of panthers. (Song 4:8)
154 Silvia Schroer

3.3. Images of Women and Goddesses as Elements of Temple and

Palace Architecture

In its description of the blessing Israel’s God offers, Ps 144 compares the coun-
try’s young men with well-grown trees and the young women with special
elements of the splendid buildings of its time, the hall of a palace or temple.31
It is striking that in these metaphors women are associated with architectural
forms and men with plants.

May our sons be like saplings, well-tended in their youth,

our daughters like cornerstones trimmed to give shape to a palace. (Ps
144:12)

Equating young men or righteous persons with ever-growing trees is a fre-

quent motif in the Hebrew Bible (Deut 20:19; Ps 1; Jer 17:8; cf. Ps 128:4; Sir
50:12). The connection between a woman and a building or the activity of
building is already presupposed in Gen 2:21–22, when YHWH “builds” (Heb.
‫ )בנה‬the woman from the man’s rib.32 Particularly temple models from the
Levant suggest a relation between female bodies and architecture. In windows
and entrances of such small temples, nude women appear often like columns
and seem to play, sometimes paired with lions, a role as guards (figs. 38–39).
The nude female bodies at the entrance that needs to be protected may have
had a “disarming” effect. They are replaced by columns or pilasters in other
models (fig. 40). The hoard of clay temple models from Yavneh near Tel Aviv
contains many exemplars that depict small naked female figures or stylized
trees or columns/pilasters, but also goats at the tree of life or cherubim.33
A motif not only attested in the Writings but also in the Prophets, which
corresponds with a relevant icon of ivory carving, is the “woman at the
window” (Prov 7:6). In Prov 7, the seductress of a young Judean, of whom
the frame of the book of Proverbs warns unrelentingly, is a married foreign
woman. She is portrayed as a woman who, during her husband’s absence, is up
to nothing else than alluring young men into her house for a sexual adventure.

31. See Silvia Schroer, “Frauenkörper als architektonische Elemente: Zum Hinter-
grund von Ps 144,12,” in Bilder als Quellen/Images as Sources: Studies on Ancient Near
Eastern Artefacts and the Bible Inspired by the Work of Othmar Keel (OBO special edition;
ed. Susanne Bickel et al.; Fribourg: Academic Press; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
2007), 425–50.
32. In Prov 9:1, divine Wisdom “builds” her house and carves out its seven columns
herself.
33. See Raz Kletter et al., Yavneh I: The Excavation of the “Temple Hill” Repository Pit
and the Cult Stands (OBOSA 30; Fribourg: Academic Press, 2010).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 155

Fig. 38. Fragmentary terracotta

stand from Pella in Jordan (elev-
enth–tenth century BCE). Two
nude women are flanking a win-
dow-like opening, both originally
standing above a lion head, of
which only one is preserved. This
kind of ceramic stands evokes, like
the temple models, the façade of
a sanctuary (Schroer, Images and
Sources, fig. 9).

Fig. 39. Terracotta model from Kerak

in Jordan (eleventh–tenth century
BCE). Two nude women, adorned
with rings and necklaces as well as
with a beautiful headscarf, flank the
entrance to the temple model. Prob-
ably they hold a tympanum in front of
their left breast (Schroer, Images and
Sources, fig. 8).

Fig. 40. Terracotta model from Tell el-

Fara North (end of tenth century BCE).
Instead of female figures, the model
has only pilasters with volute capitals,
between which a crescent moon appears
(Schroer, Images and Sources, fig. 11).
156 Silvia Schroer

She starts her slick raid by looking out for prey at the window of her house.34
Such an upper-class woman at the window is, however, a famous motif, espe-
cially in Phoenician ivory art of the first millennium BCE (fig. 41), but also
in monumental art (fig. 42). Ivory plates with a woman, finely adorned and
with dressed hair, in a frontal posture at the palace window decorate furniture
and walls in the courts or the sleeping rooms of officers. It is, however, diffi-
cult to locate in detail the identity of the woman and thus the meaning of the
motif. Is the woman a goddess or rather a woman who seeks to look proud
and attractive like the goddess? Does the motif allude to erotic encounters,
or even love for sale, or do these faces represent mainly powerful women,
whose appearance at the window implies a different kind of message? The
location of the window suggests a situation of spying out. Other biblical texts
like the stories of Sisera’s mother (Judg 5:28–30), Michal (2 Sam 6:16), and
Jezebel (2 Kgs 9:30–34) reveal that their looking out is connected to situations
of crisis, issues of power, and decisive words. Although the setting in Prov
7:6 is not political, the woman’s appearance at the window entails a twist of
fate, at least for the man. The woman at the window exerts an almost magic
attraction on him, which also extends to the bed that she has prepared for
him and herself. Starting with Early Bronze Age art in Palestine/Israel (third
millennium BCE), the bed with a pair of lovers stands pars pro toto for the
pleasures and anticipation of love between a man and a woman (fig. 43). In a
less problematic context, such scenes of love’s encampment are described in
the Song of Songs.

… his left hand is under my head, his right arm embraces me. (Song 2:6)

3.4. (The Goddess of) Love as Mythical Antagonist of Death’s

Power

Song 8:6 conveys a programmatic statement about the relationship between

death and love. The woman assures her beloved:

for [my] love is fierce as death,

[my] passion relentless as the netherworld.

In the Hebrew text, mythological, impressive words without article are used:
‫ מֹות‬or rather ‫ ָמוֶ ת‬, “death”; ‫שׁאול‬, “netherworld”; ‫אהבה‬, “love”; and ‫קנאה‬,
“passion”; continued by images of fiery arrows, flashes, and cosmic forces like
floods of water. Both ‫מות‬, “death,” and ‫רׁשפים‬, “arrows,” are etymologically

34. See also Christl M. Maier’s essay in the present volume.

 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 157

Fig. 41. Ivory plaque from Arslan

Tash (eighth century BCE). A
woman with fine hairstyle and
diadem or headdress looks out of
a window that seems to be placed
above a palace balustrade; her ears
are accentuated. The cross on her
headdress may mark her affiliation
with the goddess (Winter, Frau und
Göttin, fig. 308).

Fig. 42. Double-sided carved stone

head from Amman (seventh century
BCE). The head with a height of thirty
centimeters was part of a balustrade
that could be viewed from both sides
(Schroer, Images and Sources, fig. 20).

Fig. 43. Old Babylonian terracotta

plaque (eighteenth–seventeenth BCE). A
woman and a man lie naked on a bed in
an embracing posture. The bed seems to
be covered with a nice blanket (Winter,
Frau und Göttin, Fig. 360).
158 Silvia Schroer

connected to Semitic deities. In Ugarit, Mot is the deity of deadly drought.35

Reshef is a dreaded god armed with spear and lance who brings but also wards
off plagues.36 Behind such abstract “love” there is the loving woman; it is her
love that is fierce like death and therefore effective as an amulet worn at the
beloved’s arm. This role, however, is incomprehensible without the actual
goddesses of love in the ancient Near East who revolted against the death of
their brother or husband.37 This mythology and veneration of goddesses who
subdue death is not only documented by images. The images, however, often
reveal the core type—for instance, the woman “wailing” over the death of her
brother or beloved—more clearly than the narratively unfolded myths.
In Ugarit, Mot, the deity of deadly drought, and the weather-god Baal
fight against each other. Baal succumbs, but before he is drawn to the neth-
erworld by Mot, the fierce goddess Anat, who here includes aspects of the
goddess of love, conceives from him a bull, the new Baal. Thus, in the cycle
of seasons, Baal revives once and again due to Anat, who defies Mot. In the
eastern Mediterranean region, this tradition has been merged with the fate
of Adonis, the beloved of Aphrodite, by Hellenistic times at the latest; yet the
female part, as far as the sources account, was limited to the wailing.
Bewailing the dead and resisting death play a central role also in the
Egyptian myths of Osiris and Isis. Osiris is slain by his brother Seth; his sister
and spouse Isis collects the parts of his corpse and yet conceives with the dead
a son and avenger, Horus, who restores life against Seth’s force and destruc-
tive power. From the thirteenth century BCE until the first century CE, this
conception of Horus is depicted in chapels of Osiris, such as in the famous
representation of the funerary temple of Sethos I in Abydos (fig. 44). Thus life
prevails over death, thanks to Isis. Iconographic sources from Lachish and
Samaria attest that the wailing women Isis and Nephthys were known in Pal-
estine/Israel (see above). The idea that female eroticism is able to infect even
the dead with life has probably been generally known in the Middle East for
a very long time. Erotic nude female figures are documented from Neolithic
times and in much greater quantity than male figures. Sometimes, especially

35. See John F. Healey, “Mot,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (ed.
Karel van der Toorn et al.; 2nd ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1999), 598–603.
36. See Izak Cornelius, The Iconography of the Canaanite Gods Reshef and Ba‘al: Late
Bronze and Iron Age I Periods (c 1500–1000 BCE) (OBO 140; Fribourg: University Press;
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994).
37. See Silvia Schroer, “Liebe und Tod im Ersten (Alten) Testament,” in Liebe und
Tod: Gegensätze—Abhängigkeiten—Wechselwirkungen (ed. Peter Rusterholz and Sara M.
Zwahlen; Bern: Haupt, 2006), 35–52.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 159

Fig. 44. Painted limestone relief from Abydos. Isis in female form is standing at the head of
the deceased Osiris, who lies on the bier. In the shape of a female falcon sitting on Osiris’s
phallus, she conceives Horus. The falcon-headed figure standing at Osiris’s feet represents
the grown-up Horus. The goddesses Isis and Nepthys are also depicted to the left and right
in a falcon’s shape (Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 801).

clay figurines are found in tombs, that is, near the dead, to which they may
convey a breath of pulsating life.38
In the narratives of ancient Israel, the loving goddesses who defy death
are replaced by mundane women who fight death in its different variations.
Women fight, sometimes in a rather risky and even provocative manner, for
the dissemination of life, such as Lot’s daughters (Gen 19:30–38), the childless
widow Tamar (Gen 38), or Ruth and Naomi (in the book of Ruth). Besides,
there are ample stories in which women distinguish themselves as protec-
tors and saviors of life: Michal (1 Sam 19:8–17), Abigail (1 Sam 25), the wise
woman of Abel-beth-Maacha (2 Sam 20:14–22). The midwives Shiphrah and
Puah (Exod 1:15–22), too, and, much later, Esther and Judith defy death and
save the entire people. Silent but impressive and effective is the attestation of
Rizpah’s love; by day and night she dispels the wild animals from the unburied
corpses of her sons, who became victims in a politically motivated murder
case (2 Sam 21:8–14).

38. See Othmar Keel and Silvia Schroer, Eva—Mutter alles Lebendigen: Frauen- und
Göttinnenidole aus dem Alten Orient (3rd ed.; Fribourg: Academic Press, 2011).
160 Silvia Schroer

4. Goddesses as Models of (Personified) Wisdom

In the wisdom writings of the postexilic period, wisdom (‫ חכמה‬in Hebrew,

σοφία in Greek, sapientia in Latin) is often personified.39 She assumes dif-
ferent roles, for instance in the frame of the book of Proverbs, in central
chapters of the book of Ben Sira and in later writings such as Baruch or the
Wisdom of Solomon.40 Wisdom (‫ )חכמה‬is not a goddess; neither veneration
nor cult is attested for her. She is part of a monotheistic—not polytheistic—
symbol system. Nevertheless, she receives her significance, also her clarity,
her colors, and her contours from the goddesses of Israel’s neighboring poly-
theistic regions. The relationship between the Egyptian Maat theology and
the Israelite wisdom theology is particularly constitutive. The Egyptian con-
cept of Maat, the “righteous order,” is comprehensively attested in texts and
images.41 Like the Egyptian goddess Maat, the wisdom figure of the Hebrew
Bible cannot be separated from a comprehensive objective order and righ-
teous behavior. Wisdom (‫ )חכמה‬is a prophet and a teacher of righteousness;
studying her leads to righteousness (‫ )צדקה‬since wisdom is something like
the inner side of justice. The introduction to the book of Proverbs starts with
verses that demonstrate the close connection between wisdom, righteousness,
justice, and equity (Prov 1:2–3). In the speech of personified Wisdom (Prov
8:1–21), the Hebrew root ‫צדק‬, “to be righteous,” is used five times (vv. 8, 15,
16, 18, 20). The Wisdom of Solomon, too, begins with a programmatic call
to righteousness (Wis 1:1). The Hebrew term ‫צדקה‬, “righteousness, justice,”
accentuates the social aspects of justice. The Egyptian idea of Maat, however,
is broader and also implies the cosmic and natural order; thus her image can
be found in the context of music, judicial office, the funerary court, and the
cult. In her calls, Wisdom addresses especially the powerful:

By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;

by me rulers rule, and nobles, all who govern rightly. (Prov 8:15–16)

Although all humans are called to act righteously, the king has the particular
task to support justice and righteous order (fig. 45), to sustain and defend it,
and thus to prove himself to be the son of God who created this world order
(in Hebrew ‫חכמה‬, “wisdom,” or ‫עצה‬, “counsel”). According to Job 28, God

39. See Silvia Schroer, Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on the Figure of Sophia in
the Bible (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 2000).
40. See also Gerlinde Baumann’s essay in this volume.
41. See the essential work by Jan Assmann, Ma‘at: Gerechtigkeit und Unsterblichkeit im
Alten Ägypten (Munich: Beck, 1990).
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 161

Fig. 45. Scarab from Tell el-Ajjul (1390–1353 BCE).

The throne name Amenophis’ III, the father of Echna-
ton, constitutes the image of the sitting goddess Maat
with a feather on her head and an ankh-sign (for life)
on her knees. The pharaoh’s name “the master of Maat
is the sun-god” is a programmatic affirmation that the
king will respect and implement the righteous order
(Maat) of the sun-god Re in his government (Schroer,
IPIAO 2, no. 693).

Fig. 46. Pectoral (breast deco-

ration) of Pharaoh Sheshonq
II from Tanis (tenth century
BCE). Together with the god-
dess Hathor, Maat (to the right
with the feather of an ostrich
on her head) protects the sun-
disk in its bark. At the same
time, Maat stands within the
sun-disk in a worshiping pose
before the enthroned sun-god
Amun-Re (Keel and Schroer,
Schöpfung, fig. 167).

alone knows the way to wisdom, which is hidden. The biblical idea of righ-
teousness that goes before YHWH (Ps 85:14) corresponds to Maat, who sits
or stands before Re-Harachte in the sun-bark (fig. 46).
Whereas in Egypt the cultic offering of Maat by the king counts as an
effective ritual to secure justice and order (fig. 47), the biblical traditions, both
in prophetical and wisdom texts (e.g., Ps 50), devalue such cultic-magical
“offering” of righteousness in favor of a religious ethics (Ps 40:7–11; 50:14–15;
51:18–19; 69:31–32). According to biblical authors neither king nor humans
generally are able to increase YHWH’s righteousness, because he already owns
it completely (Ps 36:7, 11; 48:11–12; 85:11, 14; 89:17). The king rather receives
righteousness from YHWH (Ps 72:1–2) and swears to hold on to divine righ-
teousness (Ps 101).
The passage that most clearly reveals the mythological remnants of per-
sonified wisdom is Prov 8:22–31. In order to legitimize her divine author-
162 Silvia Schroer

Fig. 47. Scene of a relief on a sandstone

column from the temple of Sethos I in
Abydos (1290–1279 BCE). The king
dedicates the sitting Maat figure on his
hand to the god Ptah, who stands in a
chapel (Schroer, IPIAO 3, no. 720).

ity, Wisdom talks about her beginnings, when the world was created and she
delighted the Creator God with her presence. As a literary genre, wisdom’s
first-person speech is mainly influenced by Egyptian divine speeches; it also
resembles in tone later Hellenistic aretalogies. Othmar Keel has been the first
to discern and describe the iconographic background of personified Wisdom,
who banters and jokes before YHWH.42 Life-affirming and attentive divine
female figures like the Egyptian Hathor, but also earlier Syrian goddesses,
have been an inspiration for the Wisdom figure (fig. 48). The biblical text
paints Wisdom (‫ )חכמה‬in the colors of these goddesses as a counterpart to
Israel’s Creator God. Creation here happens, in contrast to Gen 1–2, in rela-
tionship. When Wisdom in the book of Wisdom is named with the specific
Greek word πάρεδρος, “the one enthroned beside” the God of Israel, this title
evokes polytheistic images of divine pairs (fig. 49).

By your wisdom you have formed humankind. …

Give me the wisdom that sits by your throne [τὴν πάρεδρον]
and do not reject me from among your children. (Wis 9:2, 4)

42. Othmar Keel, Die Weisheit spielt vor Gott: Ein ikonographischer Beitrag zur Deu-
tung des mesaḥ äqät in Sprüche 8,30f. (Fribourg: Universitätsverlag; Göttingen: Vanden-
hoeck & Ruprecht, 1974). The Hebrew word mĕśaḥ eqet (‫ )משׂחקת‬relates to bantering and
joking, which makes somebody laugh or just rejoice. The same word is used for David’s
cultic dance in front of the ark of the covenant in 2 Sam 6:5, 21. The verb ‫ ׂשחק‬does not
mean “to play” as a child would do, but rather “to banter or flirt with someone” and “to
jump, dance.” Michal’s reaction in 2 Sam 6:20 proves that the verb has erotic overtones,
because Michal finds David’s dancing embarrassing.
 Ancient Near Eastern Pictures 163

Fig. 48. Classical Syrian cylinder seal (1850–1750 BCE). A nude goddess unveils herself,
probably while dancing in front of the weather-god. He strides over hilltops while the god-
dess meets him on his attributive animal, the bull. A procession of worshipers accompanies
the sacred encounter that guarantees the thriving of plants, animals, and humans. In con-
trast to the Egyptian goddesses, who are not depicted dancing, the older Syrian goddesses,
who in the iconography of Palestine/Israel develop into the special type of twig goddesses,
have a strong sex appeal; they are portrayed in action, while unveiling or perhaps dancing
in front of a ruler or god (Keel and Schroer, Schöpfung, fig. 89). While in Egyptian art the
flirting goddess is not represented, the Egyptian myth “Conflict between Horus and Seth”
(TUAT 3:938) narrates that Hathor, by her erotic dance, helped the ailing and aging creator
god Re to recover.

Fig. 49. Relief at the western wall of the great hypostyle hall of the Amun temple in Karnak.
The deities Mut and Amun-Re are jointly enthroned in a chapel; in front of them stands
Ramses II (1279–1213 BCE) (Nelson, The Great Hypostyle Hall, pl. 39).
164 Silvia Schroer

As many scholars have demonstrated, the book of Wisdom literally refers

to the veneration of Isis in Hellenistic Egypt, which had been influenced by
Greek thought until the beginning of the Roman period. With regard to ico-
nography, however, Isis is much better known in her role as mother (see the
references to Isis and Horus above) than in her role as spouse of the ruling
god. Thus she is hardly the model for the πάρεδρος mentioned in Wis 9:4.

Translated from German by Christl M. Maier

 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter
Donatella Scaiola

1. Introduction

There are many feminine metaphors and symbols throughout the Old Tes-
tament, particularly in the Psalter. Important symbols—for example, the
bride (Pss 45; 128:3) and childbirth—are not considered in this essay, but
they could be studied at some future date. The working hypothesis of this
essay is as follows: In the Psalter, feminine symbolism is, generally speaking,
positive; we do not find equivocal or problematic figures as in other wisdom
books—for example, Proverbs, which features the adulteress, the idolatress,
the foreigner, the seductress—or any other misogynist descriptions such as
those found in Job 2:9–10 and Qoh 7:28.1 Due to the vast number of feminine
metaphors in the Psalms, I can only deal in this essay with some specific texts
in the Psalter. The approach I take here is canonical and therefore synchronic.
I analyze the last stage of the Psalter; the textual corrections and redactional
history of the Masoretic Text are not taken into consideration. This study
is not exhaustive but is intended to be emblematic. In order to substantiate
my working hypothesis, the essay is presented in two parts. In the first, I
analyze the metaphor of the mother; in the second, the metaphor of the city.
These two metaphors are connected to each other and in fact overlap in the
psalms taken into consideration. Thus in the Psalter one can find interesting
feminine symbols and metaphors from which, of course, theological conse-
quences result.

1. For different interpretations of Job 2:9–10, see the essay by Christl M. Maier (§2.3);
for Qoh 7:28, the essay by Vittoria D’Alario (§2) in this volume. One could add Tob 2:14,
even though this book is not present in the Hebrew canon.

-165-
166 Donatella Scaiola

2. The Motherly Metaphor:

“From the Womb of My Mother, You Are My God”

In Pss 22, 139, and 131, among others, God is described as a mother2 or is con-
nected with the birth of a person and with his or her growth. In this section, I
will first consider the metaphors of pregnancy and creation in Ps 139:13–16,
which describes the life of a child before birth. Second, I will examine the
metaphor of childbirth as it is presented in Ps 22:10–12. Third, I discuss the
weaning stage as portrayed in Ps 131:1–2. The fourth aspect regarding moth-
erhood to be explored is in retrospection of life during old age, as found in
Ps 71:5–9, 17–18. In considering these metaphors as a portrait of God, new
insights in theological study can be gained.

2.1. Psalm 139:13–16: Pregnancy and Creation3

In many texts,4 the authors of Scripture consider the antenatal moment, the
time before birth, and suggest the idea that there is a relationship between the
acceptance of oneself as a creature shaped by God and as a son or daughter
in the mother’s womb. This experience is universal, an anthropological and
spiritual experience, the peculiar characteristic of which consists of recogniz-
ing indebtedness to God for a life that we did not give to ourselves, that we
did not produce autonomously, and that, perhaps, we would not necessarily
wish to have. To recognize ourselves and to accept ourselves as creatures and
as sons or daughters, therefore, are not different experiences, but the expres-
sion of a singular awareness. This consciousness could lead to the bearing of a
grudge against God, which can be overcome by a process leading to a trustful
abandon. In Ps 139 we find a process that begins with the discovery of God
as all-knowing (vv. 1–6) and omnipresent (vv. 7–12) Creator, from whom the
psalmist tries to escape even by attempting to destroy himself,5 but comes in

2. For more details, see Marianne Grohmann, Fruchtbarkeit und Geburt in den
Psalmen (FAT 53; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), who analyzes many psalms that deal
with this topic.
3. Ibid., 27–50.
4. For the insights in this paragraph, I am indebted to Roberto Vignolo, “Il legame
più complesso: Luci e ombre delle relazioni parentali nella Bibbia,” in Genitori e figli nella
famiglia affettiva (ed. Giuseppe Angelini; Disputatio; Milan: Glossa, 2002), 147–215. See
also Roberto Vignolo and Laura Giangreco, “Paternità e maternità,” in Temi teologici della
Bibbia (ed. Romano Penna et al.; Dizionari San Paolo; Cinisello Balsamo: Edizioni San
Paolo, 2010), 980–85.
5. Ps 139:11 (“And if I say: ‘Surely the darkness shall envelop me, and the light about
me shall be night’”) describes an attempt to regress to the original chaos, upsetting the
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 167

the end to receive him and at the same time, in so doing, to receive his original
creatural condition.

For you have made6 my reins;

You have knit7 me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.8
My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret
sewed together9 in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed10 body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book,
when as yet there was none of them.11 (Ps 139:13–16)

As in Job 10:8–11 and Jer 1:5, life in the womb is described with a sense of
admiration and is recognized as a wonderful action of God, realized in the
secret of the womb, which is associated with mother earth (v. 15). In order to
describe God’s deed, the psalmist uses a metaphor that comes from the world

creation’s order, by removing the separation between light and darkness (Gen 1:2–3). In Ps
139:11 there are also terms similar to the experience narrated in Job 3.
6. In the Hebrew text, the verb ‫ קנה‬means “to buy, to own” and “to form, to create, to
give birth to” (e.g., Gen 4:1; 14:19, 22; Exod 15:16; Deut 32:6; Prov 8:22; Ps 78:54). The verb
can have different subjects: God, a human person, and also a woman, Eve, e.g., in Gen 4:1.
7. The verb ‫ סכך‬means “to weave” and “to protect”; this double meaning creates a
wordplay that cannot be translated into English (or into Italian), but is theologically very
telling, because it inextricably connects creation and providence. This relationship comes
from the mother’s womb (the preposition ‫ב‬, meaning “from,” is given).
8. This verse can also be translated slightly differently. For example, we can read it this
way: “I will thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works;
and that my soul knows right well.”
9. The verb ‫רקם‬, here in pual (a hapax legomenon), is very suggestive because it refers
to a multicolored brocade textile. The verb is found eight times in the book of Exodus
(26:36; 27:16; 28:39; 35:35; 36:37; 38:18.23; 39:29), and is always used in a sacral context. It
also refers to the ark of the covenant’s veils.
10. The hapax term ‫גלמי‬, has been translated in many different ways. It can be con-
nected to something rolled up (see the use of the verb ‫ גלם‬in 2 Kgs 2:8). The meaning
“embryo” may come from this root. In another text, Job 10:8–11, we find another metaphor
used to speak of the human body’s formation. Ps 139:6 could also be translated in this way:
“My embryo saw your eyes.”
11. This part of v. 16 is difficult. Literally it can be read: “On your book all of them [i.e.,
“the days”) are written, the days are formed and no one in them.” Several textual correc-
tions have been proposed. The image of the book of God is rather frequent in the Hebrew
Bible; see Ps 56:9; 69:29, 87:6.
168 Donatella Scaiola

of craftsmanship. He speaks of the weaving of a cloth (vv. 13, 15) and of God’s
book, the book of life (v. 16). God “weaves” the psalmist’s internal organs—
the loins,12 the bones—and then embroiders them. It is interesting to note
that only here the verb has God as its subject. From this metaphor, the idea
emerges of the care God gives to each particular human being—although one
could also think of a mass production line—attributing absolute value to the
individual characteristics of everybody (see the many colors of the woven tex-
tile suggested in v. 15). Being Creator, God “knows” (vv. 14–16) his creature
even before his or her first moments of life (Isa 44:2, 24; 49:1, 5; Jer 1:5). As a
consequence, to be conceived, to be begotten in the mother’s womb, means to
be known by God even before one can know him. This original experience, of
which we have no memory, is nevertheless written in our genes, and we need
to return to it at painful moments that seem to question the original goodness
of human life or, less dramatically, during the different seasons of life. There-
fore, our life consists of a part that is invisible to us and very short, but it is
nonetheless a fact that the psalmist chooses to describe. Its main characteristic
is the provident and creative care of God. The other part of our life, which is
accessible to us, is longer and often painful, as described in our second exam-
ple, Ps 22.

2.2. Psalm 22:10–11: The Birth, Initiation to Trust

We here discuss only a few lines of Ps 22, taken from its first part (22:1–12),
which opens (vv. 2–3) and finishes (vv. 11b–12a) by repeating the invoca-
tion to God, “my God” (‫)אלי‬, and the root ‫“ רחק‬to be far” (vv. 2, 12). In
this prayer, the psalmist, who feels himself abandoned by God and excom-
municated by the community, tries to reestablish contact with the Lord by
recovering the original experience of confidence described in the previous
example. In order to overcome the present situation, in which God seems to
be far from the psalmist and insensitive to his cry (22:2–3), the psalmist tries
first to reappropriate the collective confidence experienced by the ancestors
during the exodus (22:5–6).13 At that time, the ancestors had faith in God,
appealed to him, and were saved (22:5–6). The psalmist does not speak of
“my father”; instead, he remembers “my mother” (vv. 10–11).14 Mentioning

12. According to biblical anthropology, the loins are connected with the affections and
the passions and are often joined to the heart (Ps 7:10; 26:2; 73:21).
13. Almost all of the fifty-one references to “our ancestors” point to the patriarchs
and matriarchs as well as to the exodus generation, with particular emphasis on the land’s
promise and on the alliance (e.g., Deut 5:23; 6:23; 26:3, 7, 15; Num 36:3–4).
14. Grohmann, Fruchtbarkeit und Geburt, 52–69.
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 169

“our ancestors,” the psalmist roots his plea in the community and in the his-
tory of the people of Israel. But his attempt seems to be unsuccessful because
he is considered a “worm,” not a human being (22:7–9). In order to regain
a standard of confidence even more primordial than that of his people, the
psalmist moves from God as Savior to God as mother.

You are the one who brought me out15 from the womb
and made me feel trust16 on my mother’s breast.
On you was I cast from my birth,17
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

The relationship between the psalmist and his God is rooted not only in the
history of the ancestors, in a distant time, but also in what God did when the
psalmist was born.18 In verses 10–11, God is the subject of four verbs that all
relate to the mother and her child. As stated in note 15 above, the word ‫ גחי‬is
a hapax legomenon, a term only used once; it may refer to the waters coming
from the womb during childbirth. The emphatic repetition of the personal
pronoun “you” (‫ )אתה‬at the beginning of verse 10 and at the end of verse
11 is unnecessary from a grammatical point of view; it seems to assign to
God a parental function even more radical than a human one, which is at the
same time both paternal and motherly.19 This idea is suggested in verse 11,
which opens with the syntagma “on you” (‫ )עליך‬and closes with the psalm-
ist’s profession of faith: “you are my God” (‫)אלי אתה‬. The confidence that
the newborn child learns in its mother’s arms is paralleled in this text with
the experience of the ancestors during the exodus. The same verb, ‫בטח‬, “to
trust,” is repeated in verses 5–6, 11. God is therefore the main character of the
psalmist’s begetting because he saved Israel’s ancestors from death in the past
and then was the actor of the psalmist’s own childbirth. After having been able

15. The word ‫ גחי‬is a hapax legomenon and can derive either from the root ‫גחה‬, “draw
forth,” or from ‫גיח‬, “burst forth, bring forth.” The few references of the second root (Judg
20:33; 2 Sam 2:24; Job 38:8; 40:23; Ezek 32:2; Mic 4:10) seem to refer to the flow of waters,
sometimes even violent, thus evoking childbirth.
16. The hiphil participle of the root ‫ בטח‬may have an ingressive meaning in the cur-
rent context.
17. Literally the line can be translated: “On you was I cast from the womb.”
18. To deepen this point, I refer to Alessandro Cavicchia, Le sorti e le vesti: La “Scrit-
tura” alle radici del messianismo giovanneo tra re-interpretazione e adempimento: Sal 22
(21) a Qumran e in Giovanni (Tesi Gregoriana: Serie Teologia 81; Rome: Editrice Pontificia
Università Gregoriana, 2010).
19. Of course not all scholars agree with this interpretation; Alonso-Schökel and Vignolo,
for example, think that in this text God is described not as a mother but as a midwife.
170 Donatella Scaiola

to recuperate the original experience of confidence, the psalmist feels himself

inwardly sustained by the relationship with God, which allows him to face and
to overcome the painful situation he is living in.

2.3. Psalm 131:1–2: Weaning

The phase after pregnancy in the womb and childbirth is weaning, described
in Ps 131:1–2. Here, the child is no longer entirely dependent on the mother
and on her breast, but able to choose her as interlocutor.

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up and my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters or things too marvelous for me.
I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Psalm 131 uses the metaphor of a person who has completed the way of inner
unification. This journey not only is theoretical but also involves the whole
body. The starting point is the heart, which thinks, since in biblical anthropol-
ogy the heart is like the mind in modern terms. Then it is the moment for the
eyes, by which a person evaluates reality. The eyes are connected with desire.
The next step is related to the choices, the way of life; and the last step, the
center of everything, is desire.20 In verse 2, the psalmist uses the metaphor of
a baby that after completing the weaning phase, at approximately three years
of age, rests in his mother’s arms. The child is held by his mother not because
of a necessity, but because he finds in the mother a kind of stillness. The baby
has become quite independent, but looks for peace, care, and calm and finds
all these in the mother. God is compared with the mother, who has directed
the search and the way of the psalmist’s inner unification.

2.4. Psalm 71:5–9, 17–18: Retrospection of Life During Old Age

Psalm 71 belongs to a group of texts (Pss 70–72) in which Pss 70–71 form a
single anthological composition.21 To confirm this hypothesis, we notice the

20. This translation of the word ‫ נפשׁ‬seems more appropriate than “soul.” The first
meaning of the term is concrete: “breath, throat, jaws.” Moreover, the term often refers to
the whole person, considered as a living, breathing being; the phrase “my ‫ ”נפשׁ‬then simply
means “I.” Additionally, the term can be metaphorically used in the sense of “eagerness,
lust.” In some cases it can be translated by “desire.” See Claus Westermann, “‫ נֶ ֶפׁש‬naéfaeš
anima,” TLOT 2:743–59; Horst Seebass, “‫ נֶ ֶפׁש‬nefeš,” TDOT 9:497–519.
21. Jean-Marie Auwers, La composition littéraire du Psautier: Un état de la question
(Paris: Gabalda, 2000), 103, 136.
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 171

presence of a refrain that is repeated three times, with slight variations: “Let
them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned
back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!” (70:3; 71:13, 24b).
The originality of Ps 71 consists in giving voice to an elderly person.
You, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from birth,
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb;
my praise is continually of you. …
Do not cast me off in the time of old age,
do not forsake me when my strength is spent. …
From my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not abandon me,
until I have declared your might,
to all who are to come. (Ps 71:5–9, 17–18)

In these verses we can hear an echo of Ps 22, where, as we have seen, the
reminder of birth was the point of departure. In Ps 71, instead, memory
becomes a complete rereading of life, departing from a perspective acquired
during old age. Ps 71 is less anguished when compared to Ps 22, but it is inter-
esting because it is the only example of a prayer of an aged person in the Psal-
ter. The psalmist, who has arrived at the end of his life, can witness that God
has been his lifelong shelter. God has been the basic reference point, which is
even more important than the original relationship with his parents.

2.5. Conclusion

The texts considered here have given us the opportunity to outline a route
through the themes of generation, birth, and growth in which God is repre-
sented by means of maternal or at least generative metaphors. In this human
and spiritual way, God as mother favors the progressive emancipation of the
child without binding it in a narcissistic and fusing way, but on the contrary
encouraging human freedom and autonomy (Ps 131:1–2). This route does not
consist in being thrown into a vacuum; instead, it is rooted in an original
experience of which we have no real awareness, but the experience of being
known by God even before we are generated in the mother’s womb is a real
one. This experience is the foundation of the psalmist’s trust; it gives rise to
prayer and remains effective even if the parents were to forsake their creature
(Ps 27:10). The memory of birth and the care connected to it can offer support
for the entirety of one’s life, as witnessed by the elderly psalmist in Ps 71.
172 Donatella Scaiola

3. The Mother City: “All of Them Are Born There”

The second part of this essay deals with a metaphor that differs from the previ-
ous one but is nevertheless related to it. The discourse shifts from the personal
to the universal experience of generation, which is connected to the “metrop-
olis,” the mother city of all people. This symbol is common both in the Psalter
and in the Old Testament22 as a whole. In this second part, only one example
will be considered, Ps 87, which is taken as an original and unusual example
of this symbol. Unfortunately, the psalm contains many textual problems and
is therefore difficult to understand.

3.1. Text23 and Structure

1 A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.
His foundation24 in the holy mountains.25
2 The Lord loveth26 the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

22. See, e.g., Isa 49:22; 51:18; 54:1; and Christl M. Maier, Daughter Zion, Mother Zion:
Gender, Space, and the Sacred in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008).
23. This is the KJV translation, slightly modified. I also add some textual notes that I
consider relevant for the topic of this essay. Moreover, to deepen the interpretation of the
psalm, I refer to some articles: Gianni Barbiero, “‘Di Sion si dirà ognuno è stato generato in
essa’: Studio esemplare del Sal 87,” in Biblical Exegesis in Progress: Old and New Testament
Essays (ed. Jean-Noël Aletti and Jean-Louis Ska; AnBib 176; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Insti-
tute, 2009), 209–64; Stanislaw Bazyliński, “Psalm 87: Motivation for Pilgrimage,” in Nova
et Vetera: Miscellanea in onore di padre Tiziano Lorenzin (ed. Luciano Fanin; Studi religiosi;
Padova: Edizioni Messaggero, 2011), 71–90; Thijs Booij, “Some Observations on Psalm
LXXXVII,” VT 37 (1987): 16–25; John A. Emerton, “The Problem of Psalm LXXXVII,” VT
50 (2000): 183–99.
24. The Hebrew word ‫ יסודתו‬is a hapax legomenon; it probably means “foundation”
either as an act of founding or as the building structure. It is a feminine word with a third-
person masculine singular suffix. In order to explain the apparent contradiction, some
authors change the masculine suffix into a feminine one and thus link the word to the city.
The mt is maintained here and, as many other scholars argue, is considered as referring to
God.
25. The term is plural and can be explained as plural of excellence; see Gianfranco
Ravasi, Il Libro dei Salmi: Commento e attualizzazione (Lettura pastorale della Bibbia 14;
Bologna: EDB, 1983), 2:794. The psalmist may also refer to the two hills on which Jerusa-
lem is built, i.e., Mount Zion and the Mishneh.
26. All italicized verbs are participles in the MT. While this does not come through in
the translation, it is significant for the structure of the psalm.
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 173

3 Glorious things are spoken27 of thee,28 O city of God. Selāh.

4 “I will make mention29 of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me:
behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.”
5 And of Zion30 it shall be said, “This and that man31 was born in her”:
and “the Highest himself shall establish her.”
6 The Lord shall count,32 when he writeth up33 the people,
“This man was born there.” Selāh

7 As well the singers as the players on instruments34 shall be there:

“All my springs are in thee.”

As indicated above, the psalm can be divided into three strophes: verses 1–3,
4–6, and 7.35 The word ‫( סלה‬sēlâ) at the end of verses 3 and 6 probably means

27. The Hebrew verb is a participle pual. It may be understood as an impersonal form
and therefore is maintained here, even if many scholars suggested that it should be changed
into piel. See Paul Joüon and Takamitsu Muraoka, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (2nd ed.;
SubBi 27; Rome: Gregorian and Biblical Press, 2009), §128b.
28. The MT reads ‫בך‬, which can have a locative meaning and thus been translated
“(spoken) in you,” as John Goldingay suggests, Psalms (Baker Commentary on the Old
Testament Wisdom and Psalms; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 2:635: “Honorable
things are spoken in you, city of God.” Because the LXX translated περὶ σοῦ, “about you,” I
suggest that the preposition refers to the theme of the discourse. Other biblical examples
are 1 Sam 19:3–4; Ps 119:46.
29. Some scholars, e.g., Barbiero (“Di Sion si dirà,” 4) translate in this way. However,
the hiphil of ‫ זכר‬means “to register,” as is suggested by Franciscus Zorell, Lexicon Hebrai-
cum Veteris Testamenti (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1984), 209.
30. The LXX (followed by the Vulgate) translates “mother Zion”: μήτηρ Σιων ἐρεῖ
ἄνθρωπος, “A man will say: ‘Zion is mother.’” See Christl M. Maier, “‘Zion wird man Mutter
nennen’: Die Zionstradition in Psalm 87 und ihre Rezeption in der Septuaginta,” ZAW 118
(2006): 582–96, 592–97.
31. The rather literal Hebrew phrase means “each one”; cf. Exod 36:4; Lev 15:2; Esth 1:8.
32. The verb ‫ ספר‬means “to count, to register, to list.”
33. Some ancient versions (LXX, Targum, Theodotion) and many scholars change the
Hebrew infinitive with preposition ‫“ בכתוב‬while writing” or “in writing” into a noun with
preposition: ‫“ בכתב‬in the book.” I prefer to maintain the MT.
34. At the beginning of the verse there are two participles that are sometimes trans-
lated as nouns, e.g., KJV and, among other scholars, David Kimchi, Commento ai Salmi
(ed. Luigi Cattani; Tradizione d’Israele 6; Rome: Città Nuova, 1995), 2:394: “the singers
and the flute players.” For a detailed discussion, see Booij, “Some Observations,” 21–22;
Emerton, “The Problem,” 186. With other scholars (Barbiero, “Di Sion si dirà,” 220–221) I
read the preposition ‫ כ‬in a temporal sense: “They sing while dancing.”
35. As a matter of course, many other divisions have been proposed depending on
the translation and interpretation of the Hebrew text, which is so difficult that some schol-
174 Donatella Scaiola

“pause”; even if some interpreters disagree with this structuring, I argue that
this repetition could confirm the division proposed.
The first and the third strophe present some similarities: both of them
use participle verb forms and speak about Zion in the third person (vv. 3, 7).
Moreover, in both of them the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, is found (vv. 2.6).
In comparison, in the middle strophe, Zion is referred to indirectly (v. 5), the
verb “to give birth” is repeated three times, and there are no participle forms.
In verses 4 and 6, the same phrase “this man was born there” appears, and in
both cases YHWH is the subject.
The first strophe focuses on the relationship between YHWH and Zion,
whereas the second strophe presents three characters: YHWH, Zion, and for-
eign (enemy) nations. The third strophe has again two subjects, Zion and the
people.

3.2. Motherhood without Boundaries

3.2.1. YHWH and Zion (First Strophe, vv. 1–3)

Psalm 87 refers to some texts of the Old Testament in which Jerusalem is

compared to a woman, a mother, or a wife. The particular condition of Jeru-
salem related to other “dwellings of Jacob” does not depend on her merits, but
is due to God’s love for her (v. 2). As a confirmation of this relation, in verse
3 the expression “city of God” is found. In verse 2, the psalmist refers to the
city by means of a synecdoche, “Zion’s gates,” which indicates several aspects.
Ancient cities were commonly surrounded by walls; in this way the cities were
made more secure, protected from external enemies. Only through the gates
was it possible to enter the city. These gates were closed in the evening in order
to protect the citizens living inside, and were opened in the morning so that
people could go to work in the fields located outside the city walls.
Because the gate was the weakest point of the city, there was often an open
space at its inner side in which defense systems could be built in case of war. In
times of peace, however, this open space was generally used as a marketplace,
a space for conversation or meeting (Ps 69:13; 127:5) and also as a place where
public trials were held (Deut 25:7; Prov 22:22; 31:23).

The free space that opened in front of the gate between the city’s walls com-
prised the center of public life. Here, judicial issues were discussed and legal

ars even consider it incomprehensible. Other factors that influence the structuring of the
psalm are the determination of the Sitz im Leben and the significance scholars assign to
structural clues.
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 175

decisions made (cf. Ruth 4:1–11; 2 Sam 15:2; Job 31:21). Being in charge of
the gate meant to be in charge of the whole city; therefore, the gates of Zion
are mentioned pars pro toto for the whole city of God.36

Finally, the expression “Zion’s gates” could also refer to the temple (Ps 24:7, 9;
118:19–20), that is, to the religious experience of the city.

3.2.2. YHWH, Zion, and the Nations (Second Strophe, vv. 4–6)

The idea of the closed space of the city resemble a womb that, on the one hand,
protects and takes care of the people who are inside the gates and, on the
other hand, keeps out people who are outside. This idea is found in different
cultures and describes the motherly link between the city and her residents.
The innovation of Ps 87 is, however, to describe Zion as an open city, whose
motherhood reaches beyond common experience; in fact, it extends even to
people traditionally considered enemies.37
There is a relationship between the first two strophes of the Psalm. In
verses 1–3, the verb “to love” is used to describe the marriage between the
city-woman Jerusalem and God (cf. Deut 21:15–17). In the second strophe,
however, as Gianni Barbiero rightly says, “the text leads from the metaphor of
the spouse (vv. 1–3) to the mother metaphor, through which the act of repro-
duction is emphasized.38
Jerusalem is compared to a mother in other texts like Isa 54:1–10 and
66:7–14. In Ps 87, the metaphor refers to Zion, which is considered the

36. Translated to English from Manfred Lurker, Wörterbuch biblischer Bilder und Sym-
bole (2nd ed.; Munich: Kösel, 1978), 327.
37. This interpretation is proposed by some scholars, among them Gianfranco Ravasi,
“A Sion tutti sono nati! L’universalismo del salmo 87,” Parola Spirito e Vita 16 (1979):
53–63; and Erich Zenger, “Zion, als Mutter der Völker in Psalm 87,” in Norbert Lohfink
and Erich Zenger, Der Gott Israels und die Völker: Untersuchungen zum Jesajabuch und zu
den Psalmen (SBS 154; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1994), 117–50. Other exegetes,
however, disagree and argue that Ps 87 only refers to Jews in the Diaspora who probably
lived in the countries mentioned in vv. 4–5; see, e.g., Bernard Duhm, Die Psalmen erklärt
(KHC 14; Freiburg im Breisgau: Mohr Siebeck, 1899), 218–19. A third group of scholars
suggests that the psalm refers to proselytes who lived in these countries (Rudolf Kittel, Die
Psalmen [4th ed.; KAT 13; Leipzig: Deichert, 1922], 289), or to Jews and proselytes in the
Diaspora (Hermann Gunkel, Die Psalmen übersetzt und erklärt [4th ed.; HKAT 2/2.; Göt-
tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1926], 379–80). Another suggestion is that of Alfons
Deissler, Die Psalmen (Die Welt der Bibel; Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1964), 338–39, for whom
the psalm describes the eschatological conversion of the nations.
38. Barbiero, “Di Sion si dirà,” 229.
176 Donatella Scaiola

mother not only of the sons of Israel but also of the nations.39 They are
included among the city’s sons not because of a “natural” birth, but through
divine election. The subject of the verbs is, in fact, YHWH, who guarantees
citizenship in his city to people who come from many nations by adding them
to the list of citizens in Jerusalem’s register office. Rahab40 (to the west) and
Babylon (to the east), on the one hand, remind us of the great empires with
whom Israel had to deal with throughout her history, from the exodus to the
exile, which is often described as a second exodus by the prophets. Philistia
and Tyre (to the north), on the other hand, call to mind closer enemies, that
is, neighboring states, whereas Ethiopia (Cush, to the south) hints at a remote
place. This list is incomplete but intends to refer to the entire world with Jeru-
salem at the center (see Ezek 5:5). The favored relationship between God and
his city, expressed by the election of Jerusalem, does not oppose her to the
world, but means that Jerusalem receives a vocation. She is indeed called to
become the mother of other people, thus building a bridge between YHWH
and the nations, as it is described in the psalm’s central strophe (vv. 4–6): “The
people in v. 4 know … YHWH, because Zion has generated them with this
knowledge; this is Zion’s privileged role as revelator of the true God, which is
praised in the oracle.”41
Through this list the text not only receives a universalistic tone but also
expresses a prophecy, even a utopia. As it speaks of nations traditionally con-
sidered enemies, it is noteworthy that God himself, in the center of the psalm,
declares them to be Zion’s children. In the first strophe Zion is said to be a city-
bride; in the middle strophe, the city is described as mother of the nations.42
Since these nations are recorded in the city’s register, the expression “this man
was born there” could, in fact, be the quotation of a juridical formula43 by
which a person was recognized as a legal citizen of a place.44

39. I emphasize the novelty of this idea, as other scholars do: “The idea that Zion is
the mother of the nations is unheeded in the rest of the Hebrew Bible because it disregards
all boundaries between Israel and the nations and denies any prerequisites for joining with
Israel in its faith in YHWH” (Christl M. Maier, “Psalm 87 as a Reappraisal of the Zion Tra-
dition and Its Reception in Galatians 4:26,” CBQ 69 [2007]: 473–86, 480–81).
40. Rahab is the name of a sea monster (e.g., Job 9:13; Ps 89:11; Isa 51:9). It often refers
to Egypt (see Isa 30:7).
41. See Marina Mannati, Psaumes 73 à 106 (vol. 3 of Les Psaumes; Cahiers de la Pierre-
qui-Vive; Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1967), 140.
42. For a more thorough discussion, see Odil Steck, “Zion als Gelände und Gestalt:
Überlegungen zur Wahrnehmung Jerusalems als Stadt und Frau im Alten Testament,” ZTK
86 (1989): 261–81.
43. The symbolism may be strengthened by comparing the psalm with some extrabib-
lical texts and traditions. For example, Barbiero calls attention to the Assyrian verb, manū,
 Feminine Symbols and Metaphors in the Psalter 177

3.2.3. Zion and the Nations (Third Strophe, v. 7)

Verse 7 describes the joyful reaction of the nations who are signed up in
Jerusalem’s register. Although the end of the psalm poses some textual prob-
lems, it seems to be connected with its beginning, especially with verse 1b,
where the mountains of God are mentioned. Some scholars have called atten-
tion to a possible mythical-cosmological reference at the beginning of the
psalm that is taken up at its end: the mountains in verse 1b may refer to the
primeval hill as the place where the Creator defeated the chaos, a scene that
appears in some extrabiblical creation myths. It is possible that some later
biblical traditions inserted this myth after purifying it from what was consid-
ered unacceptable for Hebrew orthodoxy. Such traditions can be recognized
in Old Testament texts that took from the Canaanites the idea that the place
of Zion was connected to the world’s navel. Following this tradition, it is
said that Solomon’s temple was built on a stone that is right at the world’s
center, the cosmic mountain, the foundation rock of creation, the end of the
umbilical cord that connects the three parts of the universe: sky, earth, and
underworld. Later, this place was connected to the cosmic tree, the Garden
of Eden,45 and, finally, in the New Testament, identified with heavenly Jeru-
salem (Rev 22:1–2).46
The relationship between Ps 87 and these traditions, in order to be con-
firmed (or denied), needs to be explored in more detail than it is possible to
do here. I only suggest that a link is possible. More convincing, however, is the
idea that the springs mentioned in verse 7 refers to verses 3–4 of the psalm.
The springs are an obvious symbol of life and thus related to creation (Gen
2:10-14), to the holy city (Ps 46:5), and to the temple (Ezek 47:1–12).

“to count”; it may also mean “to consider a person, a place, an object, belonging to a par-
ticular class, region or place.” Being attested in many inscriptions, it basically means “to be
assimilated (or: to be part?) to Assyrian territory.” In the referred context it was considered
an honor to be Assyrian, even if the conquered nations had to pay taxes and duties. Follow-
ing this interpretation, Barbiero translates the Hebrew verb ‫ ספר‬in v. 6 as “to count”; see
Barbiero, “Di Sion si dirà,” 240.
44. The expression “indicates the act of registration of an individual (here, as an anal-
ogy, a collective is meant, namely, peoples) who is then formally considered as ‘native’ of
the implied place.” See Angelo Lancellotti, I Salmi: Versione—introduzione—note (Nuovis-
sima versione della Bibbia dai testi originali 18/C; Rome: Paoline, 1984), 307.
45. E.g., in Sir 24.
46. Samuel Terrien, “The Omphalos Myth and the Hebrew Religion,” VT 20 (1970):
314–38, 317. The author offers a large bibliography on the issue and also refers to the study
of Brevard Childs, Myth and Reality in the Old Testament (SBT 27; London: SCM, 1960),
183–93.
178 Donatella Scaiola

3.3. Conclusion

The dominating symbolism of Ps 87 is motherly, which, compared to other

Old Testament texts, is elaborated in an unusual way. There is also coherence
between the metaphors used in the different parts of the psalm, especially
between the idea of founding a city and fortifying it (cf. Ps 24:2). The latter
concept is connected with the idea of fertility, as Luciano Manicardi argues: “If
one talks about fortifying a city, or of securing one’s own future, respectively,
this necessarily implies the idea of fecundity.”47
The universal motherhood of Zion is, ultimately, accomplished by God’s
performative declaration; this act underlines the idea that the inclusion of the
nations in the mother-city does not require an application but is, on the con-
trary, an explicit fruit of God’s grace.

4. Final Conclusion

Without repeating what has been said in this essay, I hope to have demon-
strated the validity of my working hypothesis, namely, that in the Psalter femi-
nine symbolism is associated essentially with a positive reality. Due to matters
of space, this analysis cannot be exhaustive, and some important metaphors
such as the bride or childbirth (cf. Ps 45; 128:3) are not considered and must
be left to other scholars. In my view, the Psalter makes an important and origi-
nal contribution to a gender-sensitive reading and also offers some interesting
aspects that differ from what is found in other wisdom books of the Old Testa-
ment (Proverbs, Qoheleth, Job, and Sirach).

Translated from Italian by Donatella Scaiola and Christl M. Maier

47. Luciano Manicardi, “Sion, la ‘città di Dio’ (Sal 87),” Parola Spirito e Vita 50 (2004):
83–102, here 100.
 On Gendering Laments:
A Gender-Oriented Reading of the
Old Testament Psalms of Lament
Ulrike Bail

1. Living the Psalms

Psalm 2: Punish My Abusers1

God of hope and all blessings,

I need your help and assurance.

My tormentors have walked free,

While I have been racked with pain.

Where is my freedom?
Where is their punishment?

I have worked with much difficulty,

Fear, doubt, and trepidation to recover.

Where is their punishment? Why do they walk free?

You speak of justice. Where is your wrath upon them?

This psalm comes from a collection of psalm prayers written by a survivor of

sexual abuse. By updating her reading of the Old Testament Psalms, she found

1. Excerpt from a newly versified psalm of lament from a woman who has survived
sexual abuse. The numbering of the psalm follows her collection of psalms. This psalm is
published in James Leehan, Defiant Hope: Spirituality for Survivors of Family Abuse (Lou-
isville: Westminster John Knox, 1993), 168–69. See also the prayers of lament by Carola
Moosbach, Gottesflamme Du Schöne: Lob- und Klagegebete (Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 1997);
Catherin J. Foote, Survivor Prayers: Talking with God about Childhood Sexual Abuse (Lou-
isville: Westminster John Knox, 1994).

-179-
180 Ulrike Bail

her experience reflected in them and wrote new psalms of her own to express
and process her trauma. The supplicant has found a speech pattern in the
tradition of the Old Testament psalms of lament that sustains her words and
allows her to break out of her silence.
Throughout the ages, women have read the Psalms and “have translated
them for themselves, so that the thoughts and images fit their lives.”2 Living
the Psalms is the English translation of a book that was published in 2002 and
included new psalms of women from around the world. Living the Psalms
expresses, in the words of Ps 109, “but I—I am Prayer” (‫)ואני תפלה‬. It is the
moment of praying; existence is wholly word. The entirety of women’s lives,
their physical and mental wounds, finds space in the textual realm of the
psalms of lament. Everything has its place, as expressed in the heading of Ps
102: “A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before YHWH.”3 One
may express everything in the psalm, either softly or loudly.
My thesis is that what women around the world have always done, which is
to express their life situations through the Psalms, can already be found in the
Old Testament Psalms. We can read the psalms of lament as women’s voices.

2. “And I”: The Open Speech of the Psalms of Lament

The individual psalms of lament are prayers of a literary “I”: ‫ואני‬/“and I.” The
“I” is not grammatically differentiated according to gender.4 However, the lis-
tener immediately identifies the gender of the person in the actual act of artic-
ulating the Psalms orally. The gender remains open in written text, and the
first-person singular personal pronoun found there may therefore be either
masculine or feminine.

2. Bärbel Fünfsinn und Carola Kienel, eds., Psalmen leben: Frauen aus allen Konti-
nenten lesen biblische Psalmen neu (Hamburg: EB, 2002), 11. The authors write that women
have “done the work of translation for themselves, so that the thoughts and images fit their
lives.” See also Klara Butting, “‘Die Töchter Judas frohlocken’ (Ps 48:12): Frauen beten
Psalmen,” BK 56 (2001): 35–39.
3. [Translator’s note: In her original German essay, Ulrike Bail quoted biblical verses
from the Bibel in gerechter Sprache (Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 2011). For this English transla-
tion, the translator has relied on the New Revised Standard Version to the degree that a
given translation matched the meaning of Bail’s text. Where this was not the case, the NRSV
translation was modified in accordance with the verse as given in Bail’s original article.]
4. Ilse Müllner, “Klagend laut werden: Frauenstimmen im Alten Testament,” in
Schweigen wäre gotteslästerlich: Die heilende Kraft der Klage (ed. Georg Steins; Würzburg:
Echter, 2000), 69–85, 81–82. See also Dörte Bester, Körperbilder in den Psalmen: Studien zu
Psalm 22 und verwandten Texten (FAT 2/24; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 98.
 On Gendering Laments 181

In connection with this point, it is interesting that even the body is not
sexually differentiated in the Psalms. Supplicants express their own situations
and their own emotional states through corporeal images. The reader cannot
infer a female or male person on the basis of body parts mentioned in a par-
ticular text. Emotional, physical, and social dimensions are intertwined in the
Psalms, and all aspects of human life, including fear, desire, and pleasure, are
expressed by means of a body-oriented language and corporeal images.5 The
Psalms linguistically condense peoples’ experiences of violence, especially
those experiences that destroy a person’s social, psychological, and physical
integrity and identity.
The Psalms do not describe traumatic situations concretely, as in a crimi-
nological or medical diagnosis. Nor does the language of the Psalms claim
to depict reality photographically or in detail, but rather it expresses the full
extent of internal and external distress. They do so through certain metaphors
and structures of speech that lend voice to the pain a victim experiences as
speechless, making processing and communication possible.
Dorothea Erbele-Küster’s reception-aesthetics study of the Psalms reaches
the conclusion that the so-called gaps or places of indeterminacy in descrip-
tions of distress are deliberately kept open so as to provide a space for all
recipients and their respective experiences of distress.6 This openness can be
understood as an offer of substantiation: prayer transforms the open language
of the Psalms into words that express quite concretely the supplicant’s situa-
tion. Based on the literary “I,” the Psalms are gender neutral; therefore, both
men and women can equally borrow the words as if they were their own,
expressing themselves and recovering through them. Only when the Psalms
are read does their literary subject become gendered.
For this reason, the reconstruction of a possible female author or first
female supplicant of the Psalms becomes uninteresting; rather, the female
reader becomes their hermeneutical key.7 We cannot date the Psalms with

5. Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher, “Body Images in the Psalms,” JSOT 28, no. 3 (2004):
301–26; Bester, Körperbilder; Christl M. Maier, “Body Imagery in Psalm 139 and its Sig-
nificance for a Biblical Anthropology,” lectio difficilior 2 (2001): http://www.lectio.unibe.
ch/01_2/m.htm; Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher, “Emotion und Kommunikation,” in Biblische
Anthropologie: Neue Einsichten aus dem Alten Testament (ed. Christian Frevel; Freiburg:
Herder, 2010), 278–89; Gillmayr-Bucher, “Rauchende Nase, bebendes Herz: Gefühle zur
Sprache bringen,” BK 67 (2012): 21–25.
6. Dorothea Erbele-Küster, Beten als Akt des Lesens: Eine Rezeptionsästhetik der
Psalmen (WMANT 87; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2001), 142.
7. See also Ulrike Bail, Gegen das Schweigen klagen: Eine intertextuelle Studie zu den
Klagepsalmen Ps 6 und Ps 55 und der Erzählung von der Vergewaltigung Tamars (Gütersloh:
Gütersloher, 1998), esp. 31–73; Erbele-Küster, Beten, 42.
182 Ulrike Bail

certainty, and their descriptive language does not depict a single situation.
Experience connects to text in complex ways, which prohibits reduction to a
single situation that would be historically determinable. It is a question of the
voice in the text that corresponds to the reader’s voice as she prays a psalm of
lament and that is audible as her own. The concept of voice in the text allows
for the “gendering” of “laments.”

3. The Concept of Voice in the Text

In 1993, Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes published On

Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible,8 in which they
present a new concept of authorship. They no longer search for historical
authors, but rather for gender-specific voices that may be heard on the textual
level, that is, “voices within a text.” They define voice as the sum of the speech
acts that the text attributes to a fictitious person, the narrator. They refer to the
women’s voices they find in the primarily male discourse of the biblical books
as “F voice,” that is, as “female voice.” Likewise, they label male-dominated
voices “M voices” (“masculine/male voices”). Brenner and van Dijk-Hemmes
do not attempt to identify an author as a historical person, but rather they
search for the voice that holds textual authority.
They assume that biblical texts were written exclusively, or almost exclu-
sively, by men and for men. Texts by women are, if anything, embedded in
them, and male editorial activities have shaped and framed them.9 Since pri-
marily men have put women’s oral traditions into writing because men domi-
nate the field of literature, female voices, although often present, are hidden
as traces. Whether these traces can be detected depends on the reader and his
or her interest in screening biblical texts for women’s voices. Texts and read-
ers are never gender neutral, and texts often tell a different story, depending
on whether the reader understands the textual voice as a male voice or as a
female voice. We may therefore understand biblical texts as “dual gendered,”10
containing two possible parallel readings. In a culture dominated by andro-
centrism, women themselves speak with a doubled voice. They speak with the
voice of the dominant discourses, which practically drown out and override
their own voices, and simultaneously with the voice of repressed, silent dis-
courses. In their search for F voices, Brenner and van Dijk-Hemmes highlight
the silent voices, the “muted voices,” which especially in the psalms of lament

8. Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female

and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden: Brill, 1993).
9. Ibid., 2–3.
10. Ibid., 9.
 On Gendering Laments 183

the reader cannot ignore. However, I want to emphasize that the voices under
discussion are not abstract, inaudible, and disembodied. Rather, to pray the
Psalms means to pray with the body.

4. Psalms as Corporeal Prayers and Imagining Female Bodies

The Old Testament understands the human being corporeally. It is not that
a person has a body; rather, the human is the body. The physical dimension
is interwoven with intellect, emotions, identity, and sociality; indeed, it is
inseparable from moral and social dimensions. Thus devotion to God—that
is, prayer—is expressed in certain bodily gestures. For example, a basalt stele
from the thirteenth century BCE portrays outstretched, praying hands (see
fig. 1)11 positioned as described in Ps 28:2: “Hear the voice of my supplica-
tion, as I cry to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward the sanctuary of
your heart.” Outstretched hands want to reach someone; they want to reduce
distance and create a relationship. The inner yearning finds expression in a
physical gesture.12
The petitioners also use body language to express
themselves. One body part often stands for the whole
person. Body parts that are clearly sex-specific, such
as the womb, breasts, or beards, are found only in gen-
eral statements.13 For example, Ps 22:10 reads: “Yet it
was you who took me from the womb.” Birth in the
Old Testament is generally associated with God and
does not refer to the sex of the supplicant.14
This gender-specific vagueness regarding cor-
poreal images allows readers to discover their own
gendered bodies in the Psalms. Women do not have
to ignore male body characteristics in order to read
for their own bodies. The “I” of the Psalms is open
to the visualization of someone with a female body.
By repeating the Psalms, a woman confirms her own

11. From the Late Bronze Age stelae sanctuary of Hazor. Othmar Keel, The Symbol-
ism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (trans.
Timothy J. Hallett; Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 321, fig. 431; reproduced by
courtesy of Bible + Orient Museum Fribourg Switzerland.
12. Kneeling before God is also mentioned in Ps 29:2b; 95:6; 96:9a; 138:2.
13. See Ps 22:10, “On you I was cast from the womb.”
14. For metaphors of fertility and birth see Marianne Grohmann, Fruchtbarkeit und
Geburt in den Psalmen (FAT 53; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007).
184 Ulrike Bail

body, which becomes the yardstick of her life. The supplicant represents her
emotions as a physical experience.15 This is evident in Ps 102:1–8.

A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before YHWH.

Hear my prayer, YHWH, let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me on the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily on the day when I call.
For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
I am too wasted to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

Even in the title, the emotional distress of the woman praying16 is identified
through a weighed-down posture and a weak physical condition. Her stooped
posture cannot be separated from either her psychological condition or from
social relations. Many translations neglect this and translate only the inner
feeling of despair. Psalm 102 begins with YHWH, the name of God, whom
the woman implores as she prays. In the middle of her entreaty, she requests
that God no longer hide his face. The granting of the divine countenance
guarantees success in life,17 while God’s turning away and becoming distant
is associated with distress. The face is the part of the body that contains all
that is necessary for communication, including eyes, ears, and the mouth.18
A movement on the part of God can diminish the distance between God and
the supplicant.
Verses 4b–6 describe the infirmity of the body. The bones, the body’s scaf-
folding and powerhouse, smolder; the heart, the body’s emotional and intel-
lectual center, withers, and the bones protrude from under the skin, visually
signifying vulnerability. These corporeal images do not provide a medical
diagnosis, however, even if a reader can see her own illness mirrored in them.
Rather, these are metaphors that express the multicausal web of emergencies
that led the supplicant to lose her momentum in life. Even the life-sustaining
rhythm of eating, drinking, and sleeping has been disrupted (vv. 5, 10).

15. Gillmayr-Bucher, “Emotion,” 279–90.

16. Because I wish to demonstrate that it is possible to read the psalms of lament as
prayers by women, I will henceforth speak only of a female supplicant, not a male one.
17. See Ps 31:17; 67:2; 80:4, 8, 20; Num 6:24–26.
18. This is indicated by Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (trans.
Margaret Kohl; London: SCM, 1974), 74.
 On Gendering Laments 185

The supplicant is socially isolated, as expressed by the images of birds.

The desert bird and the owl were considered unclean animals, from which
one kept one’s distance. The dryness of the desert, its life-threatening aridity,
corresponds to the withering heart in verse 5. Even in other psalms, dryness
is associated with corporeal images of desperate longing, such as in Ps 63:2:
“O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints
for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
These passages, which express a supplicant’s plight through corporeal
images, are often positioned directly next to verses that reflect her social isola-
tion. The social sphere is interwoven with corporeal images; there is a strong
conjunction between physical and social integrity. In Ps 102, as well, a so-
called enemy lament follows immediately on corporeal images in verse 9: “All
day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.”
This passage does not use corporeal language to symbolize the enemy;
however, the basic characterization here of the so-called enemy is also found
in several other texts and represents the social sphere as experienced nega-
tively. Corporeal images related to communication in particular symbolize
a social sphere perverted through violence. The enemies’ mouths, their lips,
their tongues and teeth, are all employed to describe behavior that destroys
the community.
The power of language shaped by violence is intertwined with power over
life and the body. Language constructs a reality in which violence and oppres-
sion appear as an exclusive and legitimated reality.19 It is precisely the lan-
guage that in our present understanding is connected more to the spirit than
to the body, which is here understood physically, in that the physical organs
of speech symbolize language and are described as “weapons.” This kind of
representation makes almost palpable the physical effect of language; it dem-
onstrates that language always has a physical effect.
When German youth today hurl the insult “you victim” at someone, this
is not just a word. This swear word strikes and affects the whole person. The
tongue becomes a weapon that throws the other to the ground—without
mercy. Through the aggressive form of address of “you victim,” the person
who has been or will be the victim of violence is portrayed as despicable. A
victim is not deserving of pity. Never! In the language of the Old Testament:
“There they are, bellowing with their mouths, with sharp swords on their
lips” (Ps 59:8).
In addition to “victim,” I have observed that the words “gay” and “girl”
are used as swear words among adolescents, who use deviations from the

19. Bail, Gegen das Schweigen klagen, esp. 31–73.

186 Ulrike Bail

male-dominated heterosexual norm to humiliate others. Against this back-

ground, the Psalms with their gender-neutral language are quite interesting,
because they reveal exactly these relationships and counter them. On the
one hand, they make the power of corporeal language visible and audible,
unmasking in an intense way the connection between language, power, vio-
lence, and the body. Violence that has been experienced can be expressed;
the supplicants find words to share their experiences. On the other hand,
perpetrators, when they read the corporeal images of the victims, change
their perspective in that they become aware of the effects violence has, what
corporeal experiences the victims have, what happened to them, and what
they want.
The body-centered language of the Psalms may signify for readers that
they find access to their feelings through their body and experience the body
as an organ of knowledge. Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher explains that the corpo-
real language of the Psalms does not allow for a distanced reading; indeed,
readers are forced to add their own corporeal experiences.20 Self-knowledge
and knowledge of others is bound to a conscious awareness of one’s own body.
Through the reading of the Psalms and thus by entering into their textual
space, the Psalms allow one to encounter one’s own body, a needy body, a
person full of yearning, an “I” with injuries and scars, with the longing for dig-
nity and security. The possible imagining of a woman’s body enables a suppli-
cant to position her own body in the space of prayer. Her body then becomes
safe, as it says in Ps 16:8–9:

I keep Adonai always before me;

because God is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.

5. A Psalm of Tamar? The Titles of the Psalms

With the intention of understanding the Psalms as the confirmation, strength-

ening, and empowering of women, Marchienne Vroon Rienstra wrote the
liturgically oriented Swallow’s Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms.21 Begin-
ning with the Hebrew text, she paraphrased the Psalms. She is concerned less

20. Gillmayr-Bucher, “Body Images,” 325.

21. Marchienne Vroon Rienstra, Swallow’s Nest: A Feminine Reading of the Psalms
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992). Rienstra wrote this book in the form of a prayer book.
Each day features morning, midday, and evening prayers, which cover four weeks. In addi-
tion to the Psalms, there are also traditional Bible readings and prayers.
 On Gendering Laments 187

about scholarly discourse as with the liturgical and spiritual reading of the
Psalter. It is her aim to encourage readers to read the Psalms as prayers of
individual women in various contexts around the world. Rienstra ascribes to
the Psalms certain situations that do or can characterize the biographies of
women, by which she means concrete, specific political and social contexts,
as well as general experiences. To illustrate this, she provides the Psalms with
new headings, for example, Ps 6: “This might be the prayer of a woman who
was raped.”22 Just as with Ps 6, Rienstra puts all of her headings in the subjunc-
tive mood, to indicate that the correlations to female-specific situations given
in the heading are not the only ones possible, but are conceivable.
By giving the Psalms headings, Rienstra proceeds not unlike the early
(inner-biblical) exegetes, who correlated many Psalms with the biography of
David and recorded this correlation in the heading, “A Psalm of David.”23 But
this information cannot be understood historically. The authors mentioned
in the titles, such as David, sons of Korah, Asaph, Solomon, Ethan, or Moses,
are literary and fictional. By this means, the psalm headings substantiate the
Psalms as the voices of the named men and associate them with their biog-
raphies as narrated in the Old Testament. About half of the 150 psalms name
David in their headings. This note is not intended as an author’s statement,
but as a link to David’s biography, in which the situations that move people to
invoke God are evident. In the biblical tradition, David is considered the ideal
supplicant of the Psalms, not as the bellicose and victorious king, but rather as
one persecuted, full of doubt and repentance, who prays and hopes that God
will listen and draw close. That David’s authorship is a literary one makes it
possible to hear the Psalms not only as his voice but also as the prayers of both
male and female individuals in quite different circumstances. By means of the
same concept of the voice described in this essay, the psalms of lament can be
read as gender-specific.
The biblical psalm headings were added secondarily to the Psalms. Thus,
for example, Ps 51 is interwoven through its heading with the story of David
and Bathsheba, and represents the voice of David (see 2 Sam 12). It reads: “For
the musical performance. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came
to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba” (Ps 51:1). David thus becomes the
author of the psalm—not the historical but rather the fictional author—in the
sense that David becomes the sustaining voice at the textual level. The words

22. Rienstra, Swallow’s Nest, 44.

23. For details, see Bail, Gegen das Schweigen klagen, 83–86. See also Bail, “The Psalms:
Who Is Speaking May Be All That Matters,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compen-
dium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise
Schottroff und Marie-Theres Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 180–91.
188 Ulrike Bail

conveyed by Ps 51 are his words. David would therefore correspond to the

“voice” in the text, according to Brenner and van Dijk-Hemmes. Based on the
literary authorship of David, one would conclude that Ps 51 represents a male
voice on the literary level, described as an M voice. But it is a fictional voice
that can be present only on the literary level. Solely by means of the literary
correlation of the Psalms with the biography of David can the psalm be heard
as the voice of David. Precisely because it is possible to link psalm texts with
other texts, however, we can use the psalms of lament as an opportunity to
read the voices of women.
The psalm headings guide us to read and understand each psalm in
a certain way. These added titles determine the reception of the psalms
through a particular historical, sociocultural, and theological point of view.
They stipulate one manner by which one should read the psalms apart from
the variety of ways the psalms could be received. By providing each psalm
with an interpretive title, the authors of these headings “annotated” the result
of their reading.
The “I” of the psalm is substantiated by the naming of a subject that allows
for correlation with other inner-biblical Old Testament texts. The combina-
tion of a poetic psalm text and a narrative-biographical (con)text via the
psalm headings create the possibility of reading the psalms through a feminist
lens. We can therefore modify and expand the net of inner-biblical correla-
tions spun through the psalm headings. We can focus the net of references
on the voices of women, from the perspective of women, in the sense of an
intertextual reading. Hence, in addition to the psalms of David, there would
be psalms of Tamar, Dinah, and other biblical women.

6. Intertextual Correlations

The Psalms’ intertextual, literary-contemporizing potential for connection

makes it possible to hear women’s voices in the psalms of lament by link-
ing the Psalms to narrative texts about women. I do not mean linking in the
simple sense of sympathy, empathy, or identification, but rather in the sense of
the literary theory of intertextuality. At this point, I can go into only the most
basic commonalities of these theories.24

24. See the detailed discussion in Bail, Gegen das Schweigen klagen, 98–113. See also
Beth LaNeel Tanner, The Books of Psalms through the Lens of Intertextuality (Studies in
Biblical Literature 26; New York: Peter Lang, 2001); Stefan Alkier, “Intertextualität—
Annäherungen an ein texttheoretisches Paradigma,” in Heiligkeit und Herrschaft: Intertex-
tuelle Studien zu Heiligkeitsvorstellungen und zu Psalm 110 (ed. Dieter Sänger; BThS 55;
Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 2003), 1–26; Nancy R. Bowen, “A Fairy Tale Wedding?
 On Gendering Laments 189

The starting point is a particular understanding of what a text is and how

one establishes its meaning. Intertextuality refers to the relationship of texts to
each other. All literary texts are “woven” out of other literary texts, not in the
conventional sense as traces of other texts’ influence, but rather in the sense
that each text can basically enter into conversation with every other one.
This definition of “text” resists an excessive emphasis on textual boundar-
ies. An overemphasis on this idea makes texts appear as islands, isolated from
all other texts in an endless expanse of ocean, even as prison islands, where
the meaning is fixed once and for all and only one perspective on how to read
dominates. Texts are not islands, however, and the reader is not a castaway
who numbers the psalms and places them into categories without memory or
retrospection. Rather, texts are dialogical; they call to mind other texts already
read and events already experienced. No text exists in isolation; each finds
itself a place in a world of already existing texts. Nor is this place static; rather,
the text is in motion and not fixed by a statement. Texts contain a variety of
meanings in themselves; they are ambiguous and polyphonic, never unequiv-
ocal. New interpretations evoked by correlations occur during every reading
of a text; thus there is not the text, but rather always only different interpreta-
tions of a text.
Intertextuality thus denotes the hermeneutical fact that texts are always
located in interrelation with other texts. While redaction criticism diachronic-
ally analyzes the relationship between texts, an intertextual analysis describes
the interrelationship between texts. In the process, new correlations of a given
text with others that are not yet registered in the given text become possible.
Each concrete reading brings a text into connection with other new texts. It is
impossible to escape intertextuality, argues Danna Nolan Fewell, because texts
talk to each other, mutually echo each other, stumble against each other, fight
with each other; they are voices that are consonant with each other, voices that
are in conflict and in competition with each other.25
The process of reading brings out a text’s meaning. This meaning is deter-
mined in relation to the texts that the given text indicates as correlations,
as well as those texts the reader associates with the given text. These can be
both visible traces and empty spaces, both words and silence. Moreover, the
interpretation can influence the connective interaction of texts, in that the
reader determines not only which texts to compare but also the points of

A Feminist Intertextual Reading of Psalm 45,” in A God So Near: Essays on Old Testament
Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller (ed. Brent A. Strawn and Nancy R. Bowen; Winona
Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2003), 53–71.
25. Donna Nolan Fewell, ed., Reading Between Texts: Intertextuality and the Hebrew
Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 12.
190 Ulrike Bail

comparison. For the psalms of lament, this means that in the process of their
reception, women become subjects of the lament; they can hear their voices
in the psalms of lament.

7. Psalm 55 and the Story of the Rape of Tamar (2 Sam 13)

Second Samuel 13 narrates how Amnon, on the advice of his friend Jonadab,
lures his half sister Tamar into his room with the lie that he is sick. There
he rapes her, although she verbally puts up a fight. The rooms in the story
become increasingly narrow, until Tamar loses the power of control over both
the space and her own body. After the rape, Amnon throws her out into the
street. Thereafter, she lives in the house of her other brother Absalom, silent
and forgotten, after which Absalom says to her, “Has Amnon your brother
been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this
to heart” (v. 20a). The violence takes place behind closed doors, and Tamar
remains trapped behind closed doors. Violence and secrecy go hand in hand.
The last sentence concerning Tamar reads: “So Tamar remained, com-
pletely destroyed, in her brother Absalom’s house” (v. 20b). The Hebrew word
‫ׁשמם‬, which is translated here as “completely destroyed,” is usually translated
as “lonely.”26 This translation, however, makes light of Tamar’s state. The
Hebrew word ‫ ׁשמם‬is frequently used for lands and cities that have been dev-
astated and destroyed. They are considered both uninhabited and uninhabit-
able; they are thus associated with the desert, which cannot sustain life. The
book of Jeremiah clearly states this at one point: “Her cities have become an
object of horror, a land of drought and a desert, a land in which no one lives,
and through which no mortal passes” (Jer 51:43). Instead of “lonely,” the word
“homeless” more clearly describes Tamar’s state.
The house of Absalom offers Tamar no refuge, but acts more like a shelter
for her perpetrators, because no sound penetrates through the walls. The rape
is ostracized from speech, by relegating Tamar’s words to the confines of the
house. By means of the concept of voice, reception aesthetics, and an inter-
textually oriented reading, we can read the psalms of lament as the voice of
the raped Tamar; the “wordless cry of Tamar” can be “filled with texts of the
psalms of lament.”27
The rape of Tamar takes place in a geographically and emotionally inti-
mate space. It is Amnon, her half brother, who rapes her. This topography of

26. The NRSV translates the word as “desolate.”

27. Müllner, “Klagend laut werden,” 83; For greater detail, see Bail, Gegen das Schwei-
gen klagen, 160–78.
 On Gendering Laments 191

affinity is also visible in Ps 55. The perpetrator is addressed directly with the
words “But you—my equal, my companion, my familiar friend” (v. 14). The
psalm designates the abuser as one who was in a relationship of trust with the
supplicant. He abuses the friendly relationship that should for all intents and
purposes exclude violence, and he destroys it with his actions.
Tamar has no verbal language to refer to her trauma—she walks away
screaming, as related in 2 Sam 13:19. She tears her dress and puts her hand on
her head. By means of traditional acts of mourning, she expresses her trau-
matic experience.28 Tamar speaks nonverbally through her body, which she
changes. Her body becomes a symbol for others, conveying to them what hap-
pened. The trauma is inscribed through the socially mediated textures of grief
in the body that can be read by others. After Amnon throws her out into the
public space of the street, Tamar provides by means of her body information
about what has happened. Tamar cannot talk about it. She is not capable of it,
and her brother forbids it. This inability to express herself results in her pref-
erence for physical gestures. “Speech is preceded by corporeal language; the
‘eloquence of the body’ has to stand up for the lack of language.”29 The physical
changes make the loss, trauma, and grief both visible and legible. In phases of
a search for orientation and identity, the body can become the bearer of mean-
ing, materializing possible deficits and concepts of meaning.
The bodies of those in whom sorrow has been inscribed are not sexually
differentiated: both men and women give their grief a physical form in the
same way. Men and women weep openly and thereby give expression to their
pain.30 It is nevertheless striking that, on this point—that is, at the intersec-
tion of body and speech—women, specifically professional wailing women,
are assigned a prominent role. The cultural decoding of physical productions
of mourning resides to a certain degree with them (Jer 9:17–21).
It would have been possible for anyone to read what befell Tamar. Never-
theless, no one counters the following silence, except the story itself, by relat-
ing what happened—and a psalm of lament such as Ps 55, which creates space
for Tamar’s traumatic experience, interweaving the trauma of sexual violence
with the topography of violence in Ps 55.

28. Ulrike Bail, “Hautritzen als Körperinszenierung der Trauer und des Verlustes im
Alten Testament,” in “Dies ist mein Leib:” Leibliches, Leibeigenes und Leibhaftiges bei Gott
und den Menschen (ed. Jürgen Ebach et al.; Jabboq 9; Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 2006), 54–80.
29. Gisela Ecker, “Trauer zeigen: Inszenierung und Sorge um den Anderen,” in Trauer
tragen—Trauer zeigen: Inszenierungen der Geschlechter (ed. Gisela Ecker; Munich: Fink,
1999), 9–25, 17.
30. Rainer Kessler, “Männertränen,” in Gotteserdung: Beiträge zur Hermeneutik und
Exegese der Hebräischen Bibel (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2006), 30–34.
192 Ulrike Bail

In Ps 55, the supplicant’s experience of terror and violence is compared

with a city, the walls of which are occupied by violence, and the center mar-
ketplace of which has been penetrated by violence (vv. 10–12). In Hebrew,
the city has feminine gender and is often personified as a woman.31 The fig-
ures “Daughter Zion,” “Virgin Jerusalem,” and “Whore Babylon” are just a few
examples of the associations between women and cities. These points of con-
tact between the city and “I” in Ps 55 on the one hand and between the city
and women on the other hand suggests that it is possible to imagine a female
subject in Ps 55. Even the verb “surround, circle” (‫ )סבב‬is evidence for this.
In the psalms of lament, this verb articulates the threat of violence, its fright-
ening magnitude, and the impotence of the supplicant (see Ps 17:11). Often
the verb implies extreme terror (see Jer 6:25; Ps 31:14). The meaning of “sur-
rounded antagonistically” is found in bellicose, military contexts, for example,
in the context of the siege and conquest of a city (Jer 4:17; 50:14–15). As the
consequence of a city’s conquest, the word “to be destroyed” (‫ )ׁשמם‬is used
in the Old Testament to denote the strategy of war that leaves only scorched
earth to the opponent (Jer 51:43). Interestingly, this word can also be applied
to women (Isa 54:1; 62:4; Jer 50:12–13; Ezek 23:33). In this case, it is parallel
with “to be unfruitful” or “to be abandoned”; it appears as the opposite of “to
be married.” This word also articulates the state of the raped king’s daughter
Tamar in 2 Sam 13:20: “So Tamar lived, homeless [‫]ׁשמם‬, in her brother Absa-
lom’s house.”
In light of the use of the verb to denote devastated land and ruined cities,
the word, in relation to Tamar, means the destruction of her integrity and
identity through the rape. By means of the topography of violence, an inter-
textual correlation arises between the story of the rape of Tamar and the psalm
of lament.
It becomes clear from the context of the entire psalm that the city is not
only a place but also the object of violence. There is a connection between the
“I” of the psalm, who verbalizes her experience of violence, and the city that
is conquered and occupied (see the keyword connections, “disaster” in vv. 4,
11, and “in the middle” in vv. 5, 11, 12). Both the city and the “I” are objects
of violence to which they are exposed. If one adds the verbs with which the
“I” expresses her experience in verses 4b–6 to the image of the city, the total
domination of the space by violence becomes clear. While in the image of
the city, the pressing movements run horizontally (“surround, not to yield”),
the calamity to which the “I” is exposed moves in a vertical line (“to upset,

31. See also the extensive study by Christl M. Maier, Daughter Zion, Mother Zion:
Gender, Space, and the Sacred in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008).
 On Gendering Laments 193

to be conspicuous, cover”). The topography of violence dominates the space

from which there is no escape. Against this hopeless topography, however, the
psalm creates alternative spaces.
The trust in God sketches a counterdiscourse that empowers the subjec-
tivity and identity of the powerless object of violence. This takes place in the
space of the desert, which is conceived as an alternative space to the city (vv.
7–9). These verses present salvation as an unrealizable possibility; still, they
also reflect a survival strategy, namely, dissociation. Dissociation means that
emotions are split off and the ego separates itself from the body, in order to
create boundary between the ego and an unbearable pain in hopeless situ-
ations of physical and psychological distress. The image of the dove, which
flees into the desert as its refuge, is not integrated by keywords into the rest
of the psalm, but rather it stands alone. The dove-and-desert image is in a
sense dissociated. The imagined flight of the dove into the desert therefore
also performs the function of demonstrating that the ego is not destroyed as
far as its innermost depths. This image helps the ego to withstand the com-
pletely overwhelming experience of violence without losing itself. The power
of new images to speak in a situation of absolute powerlessness and to create
new spaces corresponds to the words “but I will trust in you” at the end of the
psalm. What is only implied in verses 7–9, namely, to find shelter, gains cer-
tainty by the corresponding “but I will trust in you.” God is on the side of the
woman who prays. By claiming God as her advocate against violence, the sup-
plicant ties even God into the daily and nightly experiences of violence against
women. To deny her grievance would be to identify God with the horror and
violence. Her loud and public lament could create a real refuge for the dove,
a place where not only surviving, but also living without danger, is possible,
every day and every night. A grievance filed on behalf of the dove can begin
the process of liberation. Hence, the title of Ps 55 could state, “The lament of a
woman. To speak out against silence.”32

32. Magdalene Frettlöh and Jens Herzer understand this aspect in their own way and
connect it to the crucifixion of Jesus. Magdalene L. Frettlöh, “Der auferweckte Gekreuzigte
und die Überlebenden sexueller Gewalt: Kreuzestheologie genderspezifisch wahr genom-
men,” in Das Kreuz Jesu: Gewalt—Opfer—Sühne (ed. Rudolf Weth; Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener, 2001), 77–104; Jens Herzer, “Freund und Feind: Beobachtungen zum alttes-
tamentlich-frühjüdischen Hintergrund und zum impliziten Handlungsmodell der Gethse-
mane-Perikope Mk 14,32–42,” leqach 1 (2001): 99–127.
194 Ulrike Bail

8. Safe Spaces: Psalms of Lament and Modern Trauma Research

In many places in the psalms of lament, one finds metaphors that represent
rescue and refuge. There is language describing a woven shield (Ps 5:12), a
sheltering shield (7:11), the hand that holds (10:14), rescue (14:6), the waters
of the rest (23:2), refuge and the shade of wings (27:1; 36:8), a safe place
(59:17), the castle and the shadow of the mighty deity (91:1–2).
In more recent works that deal with the treatment of psychological
trauma, the concept of “safe space” plays a significant role. The first step in
coping with trauma is stabilization, communication, and security. The knowl-
edge of an imaginary safe place in oneself that one can visit at any time, inde-
pendent of external events, is crucial. This site forms an intrapsychic retreat
that represents a refuge providing shelter during the processing of a traumatic
experience.33 The imaginative exercises of trauma therapy have at first the
goal of setting good, controlled, regulated images of one’s own making against
unregulated mental images. Through this practice, one gains the experience
of inner comfort and inner support, of absolute safety and security, and the
experience of self-consolation. Imagining such a place is an essential step
on the road to healing.34 By means of an intervening inner image of safety,
wounded people can withdraw inwardly to a safe space in times of stress.
The Old Testament scholar Frank Crüsemann was the first to notice that
the image of a safe space bears a certain analogy to the psalms of lament. I thus
wish to give Crüsemann the floor via a longer quote.

Without straining the analogy, or even wanting to claim a complete identity,

it still seems possible, in any case it is worthwhile to play it through and see
a correlation here. God appears in these Psalms of lament as the safe space
to which the supplicants flee. Here they seek safety and security. … As Ps
31:21 states literally, God can “hide” threatened people “in the hiding of your
countenance,” and grants “my refuge” in the wilderness (Ps 55:8).
By hiding even in the averted face of God, the supplicants can at any
time withdraw to this imagined place of refuge. Even in times when God is
hidden or absent, they induce His aid by at first imagining Him and assum-
ing the presence of the Absent One by addressing and talking to Him. God
as safe space—this image makes it possible to lament His turning away, to
remember positive experiences, but also to articulate all reproaches against

33. Luise Reddemann, Imagination als heilsame Kraft (Stuttgart: Klett Cotta, 2007).
See also http://www.luise-reddemann.info/.
34. See also the introduction to trauma research authored by Ruth Poser and the pos-
sibilities of using this for biblical interpretation. Ruth Poser, Das Ezechielbuch als Traum-
aliteratur (VTSup 154; Leiden: Brill, 2012), 57–119.
 On Gendering Laments 195

and fears of one’s enemies, and indict them for their power, violence, and
evil, to permit all feelings of guilt and failure; even an indictment against
God is possible and permitted. … God stands in the center as experience
and hope of a safe place offering protection, whether near or far, present or
future, a place that makes it possible to express every confidence, previously
and remembered, still available and resilient, hoped-for and in the future.35

The Psalms do not begin like a therapy session with the image of a safe space.
This often opens up only in the course of speaking. Safe spaces can be found
throughout the Psalms; they grant a pause, a self-rescue, so that one may then
go further and voice all of one’s injuries and pain, without repressing or leav-
ing anything out. The textual space of the psalm itself can become a safe space.
As borrowed words, the words of the Psalms offer the possibility of “express-
ing feelings, while simultaneously leaving them inviolate.”36 It is borrowed
words as well as one’s very own words that are articulated in the language of
the Psalms. In situations of utter powerlessness, it is important to know which
words one may borrow—especially when one’s own words fail and one’s own
throat is unable to articulate anything.
At the same time, the psalms of lament can connect the reader with
other people, women and men, who have for millennia had similar experi-
ences. Thus the textual space of the psalm turns into a safe and a protected
space. This space can also become a wide realm, making freedom of move-
ment and speech possible: “Thus, the lament itself becomes the source of
their liberation”37—especially and precisely for women who have survived the
experience of violence.

Translated from German by Carrie Dohe

35. Frank Crüsemann, “Der Gewalt nicht glauben: Hiobbuch und Klagepsalmen—
zwei Modelle theologischer Verarbeitung traumatischer Gewalterfahrungen,” in Dem Tod
nicht glauben: Sozialgeschichte der Bibel: Festschrift Luise Schottroff zum 70. Geburtstag (ed.
Frank Crüsemann et al.; Gütersloh: Gütersloher, 2004), 251–68, 265 (cursive in original).
See also Renate Jost, “Trauma, Heilung und die Bibel,” in Dem Tod nicht glauben, 269–92;
esp. 280–81.
36. Crüsemann, “Der Gewalt nicht glauben,” 9.
37. Konrad Raiser, “Klage als Befreiung,” Einwürfe 5 (1988): 13–27.
 Lamentations and Gender
in Biblical Cultural Context
Nancy C. Lee

1. Introduction to Lamentations1

The book of Lamentations is one of the Megilloth (five scrolls) in the Hebrew
Bible/Tanak read at annual Jewish festivals, in this case to commemorate the
destruction of Jerusalem several times in history. It shares with the books of
Ruth, Esther, and the Song of Songs (books also in the Megilloth) the inclusion
of women’s stories, voices, and perspectives. Lamentations is often regarded as
composed by one or more eyewitnesses of the siege and destruction of Jerusa-
lem by the Babylonians around 587 BCE and the exile of most of the Judean
population. Christian Bibles place Lamentations just after the book of Jer-
emiah, following the Jewish tradition’s attribution.2 Four Hebrew manuscripts
of Lamentations were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.3

1. Biblical translations are the author’s unless otherwise indicated.

2. Reflected by the superscription added to Lamentations in the Septuagint: “And it
came to pass, after Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem made desolate, Jeremias sat
weeping and lamented this lamentation over Jerusalem” (Lam 1:1 lxx).
3. Besides a Qumran version of Lamentations (4QLam), there was also discovered
a lament text from Qumran close to Lamentations. While many scholars suggest that the
latter, 4Q179 (or 4Q Apocryphal Lamentations), was influenced by the biblical text, Tal
Ilan suggests it was an “alternative version” of Lamentations before the MT was standard-
ized: it contains more female references to more real women in the context, and more
sympathetic renderings of the persona Jerusalem. “4Q179 is more female gendered than
the masoretic text, and the masoretic text is more female gendered than 4QLam. This may
point to the unstable character of the Lamentations texts during the Second Temple period
regarding gender images”; see Ilan, “Gender and Lamentations: 4Q179 and the Canoniza-
tion of the Book of Lamentations,” lectio difficilior 2 (2008): http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/
08_2/Tal_Ilan_Gender_of_Lamentations.html.

-197-
198 Nancy C. Lee

In comparison to many other biblical books, Lamentations has been

rather neglected in the history of interpretation. This neglect may be due
in part to the severance, in the Enlightenment period and afterward, of the
traditional association with Jeremiah from the book, as well as the associa-
tion of lament in the book with women, perhaps deemed less important by
male interpreters, who dominated the field of biblical studies. Thus matters of
gender have had an impact on how the book has been regarded in the canon.
A watershed study, however, was by Hedwig Jahnow (1923).4 Though her
work was overlooked for some time, she greatly enlarged the perspective on
Lamentations, drawing on findings from anthropology and oral poetry, to
show how dirges for the individual and the community across cultures share
common features and help shed light on biblical texts and practice.5 Prior
to formal feminist criticism, Jahnow emphasized women in traditional cul-
tures have played an important role worldwide in composing and performing
laments in contexts of mourning. She suggested these customs shaped the
book of Lamentations. While women were not given credit for composing
any of Lamentations, recent studies have examined how the mourning con-
text and echoes of the practice of women’s laments might be embedded in the
text.6 Yet the possibility of a female poet composing any part of Lamentations
has been largely neglected by scholars.7 The greater trend has been to focus
on the female voice of personified Jerusalem or Daughter Zion in the book,8
implicitly regarded by many commentators as constructed by a male poet.

4. Hedwig Jahnow, Das hebräische Leichenlied im Rahmen der Völkerdichtung (BZAW

36; Giessen: Töpelmann, 1923).
5. Women sang dirges in ancient Israel (Jer 9:17–22; 2 Chr 35:25; Ezek 32:16), in the
ancient Near East, and in many cultures worldwide, though men were not excluded from
the practice (e.g., David’s lament in 2 Sam 1:17–27).
6. See esp. Xuan Huong Thi Pham, Mourning in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew
Bible (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1999). Archaeological and biblical evidence suggests
women performed music and various genres in Israelite culture; see Carol Meyers, “Of
Drums and Damsels,” BA 54, no 1 (1991): 16–27; S. D. Goitein, “Women as Creators of
Biblical Genres” (trans. Michael Carasik) Prooftexts 8 (1988): 1–33, 1–5.
7. Exceptions to this include Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien Van Dijk-Hemmes, On
Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden: Brill, 1993), 83–90;
Nancy C. Lee, The Singers of Lamentations: Cities under Siege, From Ur to Jerusalem to
Sarajevo (BibIntS 60; Leiden: Brill, 2002), 12–37; and Mayer I. Gruber, “Women’s Voices
in the Book of Micah,” lectio difficilior 1 (2007): http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/07_1/mayer
_gruber_womens_voices.htm.
8. E.g., F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, O Daughter Zion: A Study of the City-Lament
Genre in the Hebrew Bible (BibOr 44; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1993); Kathleen M.
O’Connor, “Lamentations,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary (ed. Carol A. Newsom et al.;
3rd ed.; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2012), 278–82; Carleen R. Mandolfo, Daughter
 Lamentations and Gender 199

Recent studies do not try to identify “the author” of Lamentations.

Instead, some explain that the multiple voices in the book, including the voice
of “Daughter Zion,” are personae created by a single (usually assumed male)
poet9 who authored most of the work. Other scholars understand the mul-
tiple voices as those of real persons/singers in the context with different per-
spectives, including possibly a woman, whose creative expressions from their
experiences were collected by an editor or scribe.
This author follows the latter, using an oral poetic approach. Whether
chanted or sung, the lyrics are illuminated by comparing lament genres across
cultures and understanding their forms and functions in different parts of the
Bible. It is an approach that recognizes the sophisticated oral poetic processes
of persons in community engaging their historical-political situations. Yet this
approach affirms the work of feminist/womanist and other critics today who
aim both to discern misogynous elements in the biblical texts and to recog-
nize women’s roles and voices in the Bible, in this case especially as lamenters
and prophets. It takes seriously the possibility of women’s actual contributions
in composing biblical texts, no less than men, even in an androcentric culture.
Whether the book of Lamentations only includes a female persona con-
structed by a male poet, or also reflects a woman singer in her own right, the
female voice certainly goes beyond women’s traditional mourning expressions
to lead a dialogical debate about God’s punishing and violent role in the con-
text. Does Lamentations significantly expand a female voice and perspective
often missing in the biblical canon? Or does “the [male] poet” of Lamenta-
tions simply construct and control the speaking of a fictive female persona
of the city, as some male prophets do? These are questions pertinent to the
interpretation of Lamentations.10
In Lamentations the voices use two lament genres to express their grief
with what has happened: the communal dirge (Lam 1, 2, and 4) and the
lament prayer to God (in Lam 1, 2, 3, and 5).11 The communal dirge, modi-
fied from funeral song for an individual’s death (Heb. ‫)קינה‬, in the Bible is

Zion Talks Back to the Prophets (SemeiaSt 58; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007);
Christl M. Maier, Daughter Zion, Mother Zion: Gender, Space, and the Sacred in Ancient
Israel (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008).
9. William Lanahan, “The Speaking Voice in the Book of Lamentations,” JBL 93
(1974): 41–49, 41.
10. For a focus on Zion’s voice see Maria Häusl, “Lamentations: Zion’s Cry in Afflic-
tion,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the
Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff and Marie-Theres Wacker;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 334–44.
11. There are a few examples of women identified as praying laments to God in the
Hebrew Bible (e.g., Hannah in 1 Sam 1:15–16).
200 Nancy C. Lee

often uttered by prophets to warn a community that both disloyalty to God

and social injustice shall lead to its social collapse, the “death” of the nation.
Communal dirge was used by poets in Mesopotamia and in many cultures
worldwide.12 Lament prayers to the deity are often associated with this. Both
of these plaintive genres regularly contain a “description of distress” and can
be concerned about injustice. Yet the dirge signals the futilities of destruction
and death, whereas the lament prayer, with its plea, raises hope—albeit dim in
Lamentations—wherein God might intervene. Lament prayer also allows for
confession to God, but not always, so may instead protest and defend inno-
cence; this too is found in Lamentations.
Literary acrostics structure the chapters of Lamentations, using the
twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Commentators suggest the acros-
tic puts order on chaos, and conveys all possible suffering—or guilt—from
“a to z” (‫ א‬to ‫)ת‬. Nearly all the other acrostics in the Bible (in ten psalms)
promote the idea of retributive justice, that people reap from God what they
sow, and defend God as a righteous judge (‫)צדיק‬. Such psalms espouse that
the righteous are rewarded by God, the wicked are punished—a theologi-
cal “order” hammered home by every letter (and line) of their acrostic form.
Lamentations 1 follows this reasoning, using the alphabetic order. But Lam
2–4 present some dissident singers who rebel at the explanation of retributive
justice in their complaining against God about the suffering and punishment
of the innocent. Indeed, they invert letters of the alphabet, but to what end we
shall see below.
Woven through the acrostic structure are techniques of poetic artistry.
These include a ‫“( קינה‬lament”) rhythm, parallelism, chiasm, inclusio, rep-
etition, and—as in the prophets—striking examples of double meaning and
wordplay. Additionally, the first (likely male) voice personifies Jerusalem as
a woman in a way typical of the prophets. However, is it also possible that a
woman, from her experience, social role, and through her voice preserved in
the text, spoke on behalf of the city? Some have suggested a woman skilled in
dirge composing/singing in Israel is heard in Lamentations. This is certainly
plausible, as women’s laments across cultures have been a vehicle for dissident
sociopolitical expression. And there have been historic instances in cultures
where men in power have tried to curtail women’s laments.13 Yet most bib-

12. See Dobbs-Allsopp, Weep, O Daughter Zion. The rabbis titled the book of Lamen­
tations ‫“( קינות‬dirges”) and used the term for communal lament psalms. Recognition of
this genre in the canon is reflected in the later titles—θρήνοι by the Septuagint and Threni
by the Vulgate.
13. See discussion in Nancy C. Lee, Lyrics of Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 31–34; e.g., in classical Greece and possibly in early Chris-
 Lamentations and Gender 201

lical commentators give the male prophets credit for adapting the women’s
dirge genre for their own oracles (e.g., Amos, Isaiah). In fact, in Lamentations
the woman’s voice is expressed primarily through the other lament form—
the prayer. The instance of lament prayer as strong protest by women is not
clearly evident elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. Yet, with all social structures
collapsing in this sixth-century crisis, a woman may have assumed such an
exceptional speaking role.

2. Multiple Singers Express Their Sorrows:

The Book of Lamentations

Let us now move to the text of Lamentations. Most commentators identify

two key speakers in Lam 1–2; the first utilizes communal dirge speech pri-
marily, like a male prophet; the second, like a woman concerned for the city’s
suffering, utilizes first-person lament prayer speech (1:9c, 11c–15b, 16–22;
2:20–22).

2.1. Lamentations 1: Singers Portray the Famous City’s Downfall

As the book opens, the first lead voice expresses a communal dirge for the
devastation of Jerusalem.14

How lonely sits the city

that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations! (Lam 1:1 NRSV)

The first speaker portrays Jerusalem with similes and metaphors: like a widow
weeping, a princess who has become a vassal, an abandoned promiscuous

tianity; thus Gail Holst-Warhaft, “Mourning in a Man’s World: the Epitaphios Logos and
the Banning of Laments in Fifth-Century Athens,” in Dangerous Voices: Women’s Laments
and Greek Literature (London: Routledge, 1992), 4–6; and in early developing Islam, Suad
Joseph and Afsaneh Najmabadi, eds., Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (Leiden:
Brill, 2003), 118–22; Leor Halevi, Muhammad’s Grave (New York: Columbia University
Press, 2007), 114–42.
14. As Jeremiah is the major prophet in this context, it is legitimate to ask whether
Lamentations preserves some utterances of the figure of Jeremiah here, as one voice among
many. The first voice in Lamentations is consistent with and suggestive of Jeremiah’s voice,
in that the individual artistry is strikingly parallel to the poetry of Jeremiah’s voice in the
book of Jeremiah, in terms of precise use of genre, phraseology, particular themes, and
poetic techniques; Lee, Singers of Lamentations, 47–162.
202 Nancy C. Lee

woman, a grieving mother, a despised sinful woman,15 a rape victim, a virgin

trodden like grapes, and a woman ritually unclean due to her being violated
or bloodied from injury. In her fall from power and honor, Jerusalem suffers
and is abused, but the first speaker explains this by saying, “YHWH has made
her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions” (v. 5) because “Jerusalem
sinned grievously” (v. 8). With these characterizations, the first speaker is
both judgmental and more sympathetic regarding Jerusalem’s situation than
some (male) prophetic rhetoric in this context (cf. Ezek 23). The speaker does
not portray Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife to YHWH, though this is implicit
given the larger context. Nor is God explicitly referred to as Jerusalem’s hus-
band, though in other biblical texts this is a common metaphor (Hos 1–3; Jer
3:1–3). Needless to say, feminist/womanist and other interpreters are troubled
by the graphic description of abuse and punishment of women.
Besides personifying the city and country as female, the first speaker also
sympathetically describes “real” women and girls suffering in the destruction
as victims of war:16 young girls grieve (1:4), children have gone away (1:5),
elders and young girls mourn (2:10), infants cry to their mothers and die on
their breasts (2:11, 19), young women of the city suffer (3:51), as do precious
and thirsty children (4:2, 4), and most horrendously, mothers cannibalize
children (4:10). Yet the speaker also describes the suffering of “all the people”
in 1:11 and the fate of boys and men (e.g., priests in 1:4; princes in 1:6; rulers
in 2:2; warriors in 2:3), and many times refers to the city’s enemies.
The first speaker’s dirge (with a rather detached tone) is interrupted in
Lam 1:9c by the second voice, uttering an anguished lament (with typical ele-
ments of the address of the deity, a plea, and description of distress): “YHWH,
look at my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!”
Because of the juxtaposition of this plea to the description of personified
Jerusalem in the nine verses prior, the book aims to have the reader under-
stand that this lament is uttered by the female persona of Jerusalem. However,
if we are to treat the voices in the book on an equal footing within their con-
text, then it is also reasonable to regard the first voice as a prophet uttering a
dirge for the personified city, and the second as a singer lamenting on behalf of
the personified city. While the gender of neither voice is explicitly given, the
larger context suggests the likelihood that the first voice is male as a typical

15. In Lam 1:8, Jerusalem has become a ‫( נִ ָידה‬though NRSV has “mockery,” the word-
play means also an outcast because of sin), but the similar-sounding ‫נִ ָּדה‬, “impure one”
(1:17), implies here rape and violation of the sanctuary (cf. 1:7, 10); contra those who read
here a menstruant, also not a cause of guilt in the Bible, see Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16
(AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991), 38, 744–46, 948–53.
16. O’Connor, “Lamentations,” 190.
 Lamentations and Gender 203

prophet, and the second voice is female, typical of a lamenter needing comfort
in a mourning context. Her plea about the enemy is answered then by the first
singer, and so a call-and-response pattern begins unfolding between them.

Enemies have stretched out their hands over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations invade her sanctuary;
those whom you forbade to enter your congregation. (1:10 NRSV)

It is apparent that the first voice’s lyrics refer primarily to the city persona, yet
most commentators hear a double meaning in these lines, of the enemy’s rape
of a woman in this war context. While the first voice goes on to describe the
people’s suffering from hunger, the second voice interjects again.

Look, O Lord, and see how worthless I have become.

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. (1:11c–12 NRSV)

Thus far, both speakers are in agreement with prophetic theology, that Jeru-
salem’s demise is God’s punishment for the people’s sin. However, in the fol-
lowing ten verses of lyric, the woman’s voice expresses an expanded accusation
against God for how he has treated her and the inhabitants of the city. The first
speaker responds with an affirmation that YHWH has done this (v. 15c). Yet
she goes on,

For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears;

for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my courage;
my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed. (1:16 NRSV)

Her grief is not just as a city persona but also as a real woman mourning in
anguish as a mother for her dying children.17 The lyrics weave together these
female sufferings.18
In verse 17, the first voice says YHWH has “commanded” against the
people, bringing on their foes to Jerusalem’s detriment. Yet the female voice

17. On this theme, see Tod Linafelt, Surviving Lamentations: Catastrophe, Lament
and Protest in the Afterlife of a Biblical Book (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000),
50–58; on female metaphors for Zion and Jerusalem throughout the Bible, including as
mother, and in Lamentations, see Maier, Daughter Zion, Mother Zion, 141–60, 198–217.
18. One is reminded of two layers of suffering in the book of Jeremiah, the imminent
suffering of Jerusalem the prophet warns about, and his own suffering in the context.
204 Nancy C. Lee

says something about YHWH’s “proclaiming” in Lam 1:18a: “Innocent [“righ-

teous,” ‫ ]צדיק‬is YHWH, but I rebel against his speech!” The translation of her
emphatic statement may not be a straightforward matter in this context when
her possible tone is considered. The traditional translation is “YHWH is in
the right, for I have rebelled against his word,”19 and is thus a confession. Yet
this misses the irony of how this speaker employs the phrase for this context.20
The term usually carries a legal connotation and is used as a “declaration of
acquittal” to proclaim someone’s innocence. William Holladay convincingly
argues that when Jeremiah uses the formula in his personal lament in Jer 12:1,
he twists its meaning into “bitter sarcasm” toward YHWH.

Thou art innocent [‫]צדיק‬, YHWH,

whenever I lodge a complaint with thee;
yet I would pass judgment upon thee. (Jer 12:1)21

Most of the translations and commentators soften this abrasive line. Indeed,
the Hebrew of the statement could be translated: “You are innocent, YHWH,
but I will lodge a complaint with you; indeed! I would assert justice with you!”
The woman speaker’s tone is likely congruent with Jeremiah’s basic com-
plaint. In the remainder of Lam 1 and 2—and the first speaker will soon join
her complaint—the woman’s voice is a “rebellion” that is theological—against
the nature of YHWH’s excessive punishment. She continues speaking by turn-
ing away from an unresponsive YHWH, and again beseeches those around her
(cf. v. 12): “Hear, now! all [you] peoples, and see my pain. My young women
and my young men have gone into captivity” (1:18b). After more speech in
verse 19 about how her lovers (a metaphor for political allies) have failed her,
Jerusalem turns to YHWH one last time in Lam 1 with yet another lament.
She intensifies the poetic expression of her suffering and further emphasizes
her “rebelling” by the use of the double root of the verb in Hebrew.

Look! YHWH, how distressed I am! My insides churn.

My heart is in tumult within me. Indeed! I certainly rebel. (1:20)

19. Most commentators follow the traditional reading, while a few also hear a protest
in the statement: Theophile J. Meek, “The Book of Lamentations,” in The Interpreter’s Bible
(New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1956), 6:3–38, 14; S. Paul Re’emi, God’s People in Crisis:
A Commentary on the Books of Amos and Lamentations (ITC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1984), 89–90.
20. On Jeremiah’s use of the formula, see William Holladay, “Style, Irony, and Authen-
ticity in Jeremiah,” JBL 81 (1962): 44–54, 49–50.
21. Ibid., 49–50.
 Lamentations and Gender 205

Her increasing defiance after previous weeping bursts forth with the reason
for her outcry: “because in the street the sword bereaves, in the house—
death!” (1:20c).
Her not keeping silent before YHWH is likely also considered “rebel-
lious” because in the larger context YHWH had ordered Jeremiah and the
people to no longer lament to him (Jer 7:16; 11:14; 14:11; 15:1). Indeed, God
called instead for the mourning women to raise dirges of death in Jer 9. Yet
here the woman’s voice (ingeniously speaking as Jerusalem) is ignoring that
decree. The people’s laments to God will not be stopped. Also, to speak out to
YHWH about the horrors is implicitly to call God’s actions into question, of
punishing with violence. To lament is also to express their need for the absent
“comforter” to intervene, YHWH, who is presently withholding comfort or
rescue.
The woman’s voice closes Lam 1—the longest of her speeches. While it
does include her confession, at the end she sets God apart from the enemies,
not with praise of God or remembrance of former rescue, but with an implicit,
ironic, motivating reminder, that you, YHWH, ought to be different from the
enemies, and she calls for their punishment.

They hear how I groan:22 “there is no one comforting me.”

All my enemies hear of my trouble;
they rejoice that you have done it. (1:21ab)

2.2. Lamentations 2: The Woman’s Lament Draws Out The Detached

Male Singer’s Emotions over War’s Devastation

The first voice of Lam 1 also opens Lam 2. His rhetoric has shifted, however, to
join more fully the aims of the woman’s voice. He now adds to the accusation
of God with another long litany of God’s destroying actions against the city
(2:1–17), caused by divine anger, causing the collapse of all the city structures
of Jerusalem. In all this, the poet emphasizes how “God has become like an
enemy” (v. 5). In verses 9 and 10 he subtly shifts the focus from the collapse
of city structures to the collapse of human beings’ bodies to the ground in
mourning. Neither his voice, nor the woman’s previously, have offered any
positive expressions about YHWH in the context, which would have been
typical in lament prayer.
By verse 11, the poet’s demeanor shifts considerably when he himself col-
lapses into weeping and lament for all the suffering he sees, especially the

22. Following MT.

206 Nancy C. Lee

fainting of infants in the city streets. In this pivotal verse, the phrase, “daugh-
ter of my people” (‫ )בת־עמי‬appears for the first time in the book.23

My eyes are poured out with weeping;

my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. (2:11 NRSV)

Most commentators simply read “daughter of my people” as another appel-

lative for the personification of Jerusalem or Daughter Zion. They implicitly
agree with modern renderings, such as in the NRSV above, that the previous
word, “destruction,” is in construct with “daughter of my people.” However,
this phrase can be translated just as accurately, without disturbing the Hebrew
syntax, as “My eyes are poured out with weeping; … because of the destruc-
tion, daughter of my people.” That is, the language allows for the possibility that
the male poet makes a comment about his weeping and mourning to a real
woman in the context—whom he calls “daughter of my people.”24 Such a com-
munal setting at least of a small group of survivors would be expected in the
context, and such voices in dialogue are everywhere evident. This “daughter’s”
identity and role are not made clear, but commentators have noted that wher-
ever this phrase appears in the Bible (in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations),
it always appears in proximity to weeping and mourning.25 Once again, the
question is raised, does the book only personify and make female Jerusalem
speak? Or is there the possibility of a real woman participating in the situa-
tion, as the first speaker is? And is “daughter of my people” a reference to the
woman who spoke in Lam 2, for herself and for the city of Jerusalem?
Meanwhile, the male voice continues, graphically describing the suffering
of babies with their mothers (v. 12), and then addresses the female figure in
verse 13. Again, are the references only to the personified city, or to a woman
suffering as he is, or to a mother who needs comforting? Perhaps over time, all
these are alluded to by the inclusive nature of the lyric. He says,

23. “Daughter of my people” appears only fifteen times in the Hebrew Bible, most often
in Jeremiah, once in First Isaiah, and five times in Lamentations (2:11; 3:48; 4:3, 6, 10).
24. The occurrence of the phrase in the context of Isa 22:4 may have had a similar
purpose (where Isaiah expresses his weeping for the destruction of the land), and in most
other cases. Importantly, the plural of the phrase with “your people”—“daughters of your
people”—is used by the prophet Ezekiel to critique female prophets in his context.
25. Joseph Henderson, “Who Weeps in Jer VIII 23 (IX 1)? Identifying the Dramatic
Speakers in the Poetry of Jeremiah,” VT 52 (2002): 196–206; Lee, Singers of Lamentations,
63–64; Lee, “Prophetic ‘Bat-‘Ammî’ Answers God and Jeremiah,” lectio difficilior 2 (2009):
http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/09_2/lee.html.
 Lamentations and Gender 207

How can I strengthen you? To what can I compare you,

daughter of Jerusalem/Daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you,26 that I may comfort you,
virgin daughter of Zion/virgin Daughter Zion?
For as great as the sea is your crashing; Who can heal you?” (Lam 2:13)

The male voice tries to comfort her, further describing the city’s suffering (vv.
14–17), yet in these verses, he reverses the normal letter order of the acrostic
(v. 16), by uttering a line that begins with ‫ פ‬instead of ‫ע‬.27 The ‫ פ‬line describes
her enemies; the ‫ ע‬line describes YHWH’s carrying out his verbal threat
against her to destroy her. The poet here echoes her earlier complaint about
YHWH’s speech in Lam 1:18. It is thus now with Lam 2:18 that he makes a
dramatic and urgent call to the woman to mourn again; when she did so pre-
viously, she followed with vociferous lament prayer to YHWH, as will ensue
also here.

O Wall of Daughter Zion!

Let tears run down like a torrent, day and night;
Do not let yourself grow numb; do not let your eyes cease. (Lam 2:18)

Note the peculiar reference to the person or persona as “wall” and the subse-
quent appeal to “cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches” (v. 19).
The primary and growing complaint of these dissident lamenters is their
witnessing the suffering of innocent children (an inversion of justice), who
are victimized by the “retributive justice” noted earlier. Indeed, the lead dis-
sident in this development in the book is the woman lamenting for her chil-
dren. Now, in the acrostic in Lam 2, the usual order of two letters of the
alphabet is reversed by the first poet (‫ ע‬and ‫פ‬, just preceding the ‫ צ‬letter).
The ‫ צ‬letter in the acrostic psalms noted earlier often begins a familiar line
that YHWH is “righteous” (‫)צדיק‬, and this is precisely the statement (with
that word) the woman’s voice had uttered in that line of Lam 1:18, “righteous
[‫ ]צדיק‬is YHWH,” which was interpreted as ironic. Here in Lam 2:18, how-
ever, the first poet reverses these expected letters, thus calling attention to the
use of the next ‫ צ‬line for something else entirely—not God’s righteous quali-
ties (‫—)צדיק‬rather he appeals to the woman to “cry out” (‫ )צעק‬in lament
(2:18), thus sympathetically joining her rhetorical effort.28 Importantly, the

26. lxx has “who will save you or comfort you?”

27. Epigraphic evidence shows that the Hebrew alphabet was sometimes written with
varying letter orders in earlier periods, but this explanation for the inversions in Lamenta-
tions is unlikely, since the standard alphabetic order had been established.
28. The reversal of the acrostic order in Lam 2 by the first poet is maintained by him
208 Nancy C. Lee

only other instance of an acrostic in the Hebrew Bible with these inverted let-
ters is in the lament comprising Pss 9–10.
So the woman laments with great distress about the loss of the children
she bore and nursed, and people killed and lying in the streets, and says
directly to God, “on the day of your anger you have killed them, slaughter-
ing without mercy”; she concludes her lament here with the final line in 2:22:
“those whom I bore and reared my enemy has destroyed.” It appears that the
acrostic structure, and the rupture of that order, is part of the very rhetori-
cal and theological purpose of these struggling lyricists, as they push back
against a heavy-handed and simplistic explanation of divine-retributive cor-
porate punishment that means the suffering and deaths of innocent children.
Lamen­tations thus engages theodicy, the question of God’s (in)justice, but the
real impact of the rhetoric is embedded in the details, pathos, and artistry of
the voices of real people. It should be apparent by now that the woman’s voice
in Lamentations goes well beyond women’s traditional mourning. In all this,
the female voice transcends accepted gender roles.
As numerous commentators have highlighted, women in the biblical
culture typically sang victory songs for and in praise of Israelite warriors,
favored by God, when they returned from battle. Women prophets composed
a variation of the victory song, praising God for the rescue (as Miriam and
Deborah).29
Yet in the book of Lamentations, the Judean warriors were defeated by
the enemy. No doubt the hope was that the Judeans would be victorious, per-
haps with the aid of an expected ally like Egypt against the Babylonians, in
which case a woman or women would have risen to dance and sing a vic-
tory song in praise of Jerusalem’s warriors and of God, who brought them
victory.30 Instead, what we have here in Lamentations is entirely the opposite
outcome—not just a military defeat but also complete annihilation—and this
for God’s chosen city of David, Zion, where the temple of God’s abode stood,
which many thought could never be violated.
The woman singing on behalf of the city and the people in Lamenta-
tions—instead of singing praise to God for bringing them victory, rescue,
salvation—must sing devastating, earthshaking news. She laments with dis-
appointed anguish and complains against God for failing them, for acting
instead as their enemy. Would anyone be allowed to sing this way in the official

again in Lam 3 still in dialogue with the woman, whose voice returns in chapter four with
a rejoinder to complete the acrostic reversal (v. 17).
29. Goitein, “Women as Creators,” 5–7; Brenner and Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gender-
ing Texts, 32–43.
30. Women announce victory in song in Ps 68:12; Goitein, “Women as Creators,” 6.
 Lamentations and Gender 209

temple liturgy of Israel?31 For these lyrics convey a theological crisis greater
than any other in ancient Israel, when most (male) leaders had failed and all
patriarchal social institutions in Jerusalem had collapsed. For all this she com-
plains bitterly. Her tone is in the spirit of Moses’ complaints (Num 11), and of
Miriam’s complaints (Num 12). Such laments are still an expression of faith.
They are used regularly by prophets in the Bible. Therefore, it is reasonable to
raise the question as to whether this distinctive female voice in Lamentations
might be a female prophet. Is she a personification or a person? Either way,
it is a singular development in the lyrical tradition of Israel and suggests why
“her” songs, their songs, were preserved as Scripture.32

2.3. Lamentations 3: A Male Warrior Responds! Lamenting His Mis-

treatment by God Who Is Like an Enemy, Yet Still Trusting in YHWH

This rhetorical, theological battle grows in Lam 3:1, when a new voice is heard,
a man (‫גבר‬, suggestive of a warrior) who has seen and experienced defeat and
much suffering. His personal description of distress continues and expands
the vociferous complaints of the previous two speakers with a lengthy litany
of what God has done against him (3:1–18). His soliloquy, however, is inter-
rupted by his own turn to lament directly to God in prayer (3:19–20) and by
a turn of his thoughts away from his complaints. He remembers God’s acts of
covenantal love; he says they have not ended, that divine mercies have not dis-
appeared. The speaker casts his lot with God and therefore finds a quiet place
of hope. This is the first instance of a voice in the book remembering God’s
positive attributes, typical of the Psalms.
The warrior’s pause elicits a new voice in response beginning in verse 25.
Sounding much like Job’s friends, this voice defends God’s ways and calls on
the warrior to stop such severe complaints and instead to confess in silence.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth,
to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it. (3:26–28 NRSV)

This second, new voice, apparently after listening to what has come before,
objects to those who have been loudly complaining against God, and explains
that the suffering is a punishment for sin, defends God, and says, “Let us lift

31. Perhaps the attribution of all of Lamentations to Jeremiah made it possible for her
voice to be included in the canon.
32. See Lee, Singers of Lamentations, 67–73.
210 Nancy C. Lee

up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven” in confessional prayer

(v. 41).
Unsurprisingly, this statement elicits a reaction from the first speakers!
Probably it is the woman who angrily responds, directing a prayer to God in
verses 42–44 after hearing the above, but with another lament to God.

We have transgressed and rebelled—you have not forgiven!

You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have killed, you have not pitied.
You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through!
(3:42–44)

2.4. Lamentations 4: First Voice Returns to Describe People’s Suf-

fering Caused by Corrupt Religious Leaders

In Lam 4, it appears that the first voice that opened the book returns, and
continues with another communal dirge, further describing in graphic detail
the devastation that has unfolded against the city’s inhabitants. He especially
describes the suffering and deaths of children, the downfall of the upper
classes of the population, and the guilt and exile of priests and false prophets.
The woman’s individual voice is not expressed at all, but may be the source of
the brief communal lament in verses 17–20. A direct address by the first voice
to personified Zion in the last verse (4:22) simply states, “your” punishment is
complete, and he (God) will not prolong your exile; thus this chapter closes.

2.5. Lamentations 5: A Final Voice with Female Perspectives

Expresses the People’s Lament to an Absent God

The book of Lamentations closes in chapter 5 with a communal lament to

God that suggests a time after the frenzied catastrophe, when those remaining
in the land attempt to carry on and survive war’s deprivations. This lament
(using not “I” language, but “we” language) appeals to God, expressing the
voice of the people who still suffer.
As both primary poetic voices in Lam 1–2 spoke of men and women
suffering in the community, so too do the voices of Lam 5 speak of the suffer-
ing of men and women, including giving attention to orphans and widows
(vv. 2–3). The concern about securing water in verse 4 may suggest a wom-
an’s point of view, since women typically collected water for a household.
Twice the collective voice mentions the difficulty of “getting bread” (vv. 6,
9), a responsibility usually held by women, and speaks of how their skin is
“black as an oven from the scorching heat of famine” (v. 10). There is refer-
 Lamentations and Gender 211

ence to how women and virgins are raped (v. 11); “young men are compelled
to grind” with the millstone (v. 13), an ironic reversal, since this was normally
an occupation of women and slaves.33 In verses 12–14 the collective voice
refers to princes, elders, young men, boys, and old men, and says, “young men
have left their music” (v. 14b). Immediately following this, verse 15a renders
a gender-matched parallelism, saying, “the joy of our hearts has ceased; our
dancing has been turned to mourning,” activities often ascribed to women.
Though this communal lament affirms God’s enduring reign (v. 19), it
also presents the voice of one who has witnessed the demise of Zion, and
with it the end of the ideology of Zion’s inviolability; this is not a lament of
the Judean remnant in Babylonian exile who would receive words of consola-
tion and future restoration of Zion from Second Isaiah. These are the ones left
behind, who feel utterly abandoned. There may be a sardonic tone to their
affirmation of God’s sovereignty,34 for the poet ironically contrasts YHWH’s
everlasting reign with YHWH’s perpetual forgetting of the people.

Why have you forgotten us completely?

Why have you forsaken us these many days?
Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored;
renew our days as of old—unless you have utterly rejected us,
and are angry with us beyond measure. (5:20–22 NRSV)

These verses and the book as a whole leave the people in anguished doubt and
with unanswered questions about whether God will continue in relationship
with them. In spite of all the laments, and this final plea, God never speaks or
answers their lament in the book of Lamentations.35

33. See Exod 11:5; Judg 9:53; 2 Sam 11:21; Isa 47:2.
34. Maier, Daughter Zion, 158, interprets that the community’s affirmation of YHWH’s
enthronement forever suggests that they are still holding on to the preexilic ideology of
Zion.
35. A number of scholars have explored the ways in which the poetry of prophetic
voices in Second Isaiah renders God answering some of the precise laments of the female
voice in the book of Lamentations; thus Norman Gottwald, “Social Class and Ideology
in Isaiah 40–55: An Eagletonian Reading,” Semeia 59 (1992): 43–57; Carol A. Newsom,
“Response to Norman Gottwald, ‘Social Class and Ideology in Isaiah 40–55: An Eagleton-
ian Reading,’” Semeia 59 (1992): 73–78; Patricia Tull, Remember the Former Things: The
Recollection of Previous Texts in Second Isaiah (SBLDS 161; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997);
Maier, Daughter Zion, 161–210.
212 Nancy C. Lee

3. Distinctive Contributions and Themes

from the Female Voice in Lamentations

In summary, contrary to the male-dominant attribution of all of Lamentations

to Jeremiah, the text of Lamentations reveals a strong female voice, taking
the important lead in expressing complaint about God’s violent punishing, in
which she is joined in partnership by the male voice in Lam 1–2. Her voice
contributes the following elements, which are also key themes in the book:
(1) she utters confession but also a severe and large amount of complaint lan-
guage against God unprecedented in the Bible, matched only by the complaint
poetry of Jeremiah and Job; (2) she does not herself construct Jerusalem (and
judge her) as the metaphors of male prophets do, yet she sometimes, but not
always, speaks as the city persona who admits sin and suffers; (3) she uses the
accusation element of the lament prayer and dirge genres, often performed by
women, to complain against God; (4) she speaks on behalf of the city to God,
and to the people, perhaps functioning as a prophetic “sentinel”36 (e.g., “wall”
of Zion), both in empathetic identification with and in criticism of its leaders
and people; (5) she speaks both as a mother who has lost children herself and
as the persona of the city as a mother losing her children; (6) she influences
the more detached first male voice to join her in mourning, and perhaps influ-
ences the male warrior to offer his own lament; thus she facilitates the grief
process for the community; (7) she ignores the didactic voice of Lam 3, who
seeks to silence laments, with her further lament and challenge to God; (8) she
persists in challenging the theology and ideology of divine-retributive justice,
which causes the suffering of innocent children, and thus is a forerunner to
the debate in the book of Job; and finally (9) her laments are addressed by
prophetic voices in Second Isaiah’s oracles.

4. Perspectives on Lamentations and Women in the Bible

Interpretive work on the book of Lamentations suggests the following ques-

tions, which are of ongoing consideration: (1) Is it possible to retrieve a real

36. “Sentinel” from the Hebrew root ‫“( צפה‬to watch” for the city or country). This is
an often overlooked metaphor for prophets. The prophets as sentinels are depicted as those
chosen and designated to watch and listen and announce an alarm, or news to the city or
people that they hear from God (prophets are referred to as sentinels in Hos 9:8; Mic 7:4,
7; Jer 6:17; Hab 2:1; Ezek 3:17; 33:1–6; Isa 21:6; 52:8). Sometimes the prophet’s words as
sentinel are spoken as the city’s voice, perhaps since the sentinel was stationed as a regular
part of the city’s structure, posted on the wall or watchtower of the city, as a watchman for
a runner or chariot bringing important news.
 Lamentations and Gender 213

woman composer’s work and voice in the book of Lamentations, or is the

woman’s voice simply a constructed persona of a presumed male poet, or of
male redaction? (2) Apart from later canonization processes, is it possible
that men sympathetic to women in ancient Israel, who were in control of
the redaction of Lamentations, included a woman’s voice without recasting
it in strictly male terms? (3) Or is the female voice in Lamentations “double-
voiced”?37 (4) How does the personifying of Jerusalem/Zion serve women’s
interests, and how does it hurt women’s interests? How does it serve or hurt
everyone’s interests for a common good? (5) Looking beyond the personifica-
tion of Jerusalem only in prophetic books, can we find “real” women’s voices
represented, as singers, or especially unnamed women prophets there? What
about their lyric style might identify them as such?

37. Speaking according to dominant male culture, and at the same time as a marginal
voice in the context; see Brenner and Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts, 27, following
Elaine Showalter’s model.
 Shulammite:
The Woman “at Peace” in the Song of Songs
Gianni Barbiero

1. Introduction

The woman is surely the protagonist of the Song of Songs.1 This is the simple
fact that meets the eye even on a superficial reading of the poem. Not only
does her voice characterize the prologue and the epilogue of the book, but she
is also the speaker in most of the verses of the Song.2 These two details convey
the unusual nature of this work within the broad sweep of the Old Testament.
If there is a book in which the “depatriarchalization” of the word of God, so
desired by feminist exegesis, has a place,3 it is precisely the Song of Songs.4
The father is never spoken of in the Song. While the usual term in the
Hebrew Bible to indicate the family is “the house of the father,” the Song
speaks rather of “the house of my mother” (3:5; 8:2). Even the brothers are
placed in a strongly negative light, as representatives of the patriarchal family
from which the Song clearly distances itself (see 1:6; 8:8–9).5

1. Here I acknowledge three women who have inspired and corrected this contribu-
tion with female intelligence: Silvia Ahn (Seoul), Emanuela Zurli (Rome), and Irmtraud
Fischer (Graz). Aknowledgment is also due to the English translator of the text, Michael
Tait, and to the revisor, Gerard Sloyan.
2. According to my count, the woman utters 61.5 verses out of a total of 117, while those
uttered by the man are 38.5. (The others are uttered by the “chorus” or by the author himself.)
3. See Phyllis Trible, “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation,” JAAR 41 (1973):
30–48; repr. in The Jewish Woman: New Perspectives (ed. Elizabeth Koltun; New York:
Schocken, 1976), 217–40.
4. Not for nothing have a good two volumes of the Feminist Companion been devoted
to feminist exegesis of the Song of Songs; see Athalya Brenner, ed., A Feminist Companion
to the Song of Songs (FCB 1; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1993); Athalya Brenner and
Carol R. Fontaine, eds., The Song of Songs (FCB 2/6; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000).
5. The father is never spoken of in the poem. His absence is a significant argumentum

-215-
216 Gianni Barbiero

To speak of the woman of the Song is simply to speak of the Song itself:
it is the voice of the woman.6 The female figure that it presents is complex,
at times apparently contradictory.7 But the different aspects are unified in a
profoundly coherent image.

2. In His Eyes I Have Found Peace

The woman of the Song is called “Shulammite” (see 7:1). The etymology and
the meaning of the name are debated: at any rate, the link with ‫שׁלום‬, “peace,”
seems certain. The term appears strange in the context, which speaks instead
of war: the same verse makes allusion to the “dance of the two camps.” The
juxtaposition “war/peace” returns in 8:10, when the woman, in reply to the
brothers who want to erect a wall and battlements to defend her chastity,
retorts with irritation: “I am a wall and my breasts are like towers: but, in his
eyes, I have become like one who has found peace.”8
The maiden of the Song is a woman with self-consciousness, one who
does not wish to be held in tutelage, who knows how to defend herself (“I am
a wall”). At the same time, she declares that she has yielded in the face of love’s
assault, finding there her peace.9 She has found that peace not by resisting
but by laying down her arms. Her “defense” was in relation to that which was
not love. Once she recognized that what was coming to face her was love, the
woman ceased her struggle and declared her surrender. This is just what the

a silentio: it finds a parallel in the New Testament, where, among the members of the new
family that Christ promises to his followers are brothers and sisters, mother and children,
but not father (see Mark 10:30). On the condition of women in the patriarchal society of
the OT, see Irmtraud Fischer, “Donne nell’Antico Testamento,” in Donne e Bibbia: Storia
ed esegesi (ed. Adriana Valerio; La Bibbia nella Storia 21; Bologna: Dehoniane, 2006),
161–64.
6. I do not wish to enter into the debate as to whether the author was a woman. This is
secondary; see in this respect J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs (OTL; Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 2005), 65: “The sex of the author cannot be deduced from the poem.”
7. So that Garbini, for example, detects three different types of woman in the poem:
the married woman, the free woman (in the sense of “free love”), the prostitute; see Giovani
Garbini, Cantico dei cantici (Biblica 2; Brescia: Paideia, 1992), 308–13. In my opinion, it is
more a question of different aspects of the one figure.
8. [Translator’s note: In the Italian original Gianni Barbiero translated the verses of the
Song himself. The English translation reproduces his translation in English.]
9. The author plays on the two possible meanings of ‫מוצאת‬: qal participle of ‫מצא‬,
“find,” and hiphil participle of ‫יצא‬, “make go out.” The meaning in this latter case is under-
stood in the light of Deut 20:10–11 as a surrender, a “seeking peace.”
 Shulammite 217

woman expresses in the parallel passage, 2:4: “His banner over me is love.”10
The woman yields not to force but to love.
The expression “in his [the beloved man’s] eyes” is significant. It says that
the woman finds peace not in herself but in her man: she is made for him. The
woman realizes herself only in the loving relation with her partner.
The ensuing waṣ f, 7:2–11, is built up ideally on the contrasting word pair
“peace/war,” which was introduced in 7:1.11 To the semantic field of “peace”
belong the “rounded,” welcoming, parts of the female body (hips, navel, belly,
breasts, vv. 2–4), while those that are straight (neck, nose, head, vv. 5–6) evoke
the warlike, defensive aspect of her personality.12
In fact, the woman is not simply the object of the man’s attempts; she too
attacks with the might of a host drawn up for battle (6:4, 10). The lexeme ‫דגל‬,
“banner of war,” which in 2:4 describes the man’s attack, is employed in 6:4,
10, to describe that of the woman. The man feels threatened by her glances to
the point of requesting her to turn them away from him (6:5), but he too, in
the end, declares himself conquered, climbing up on to the war chariots of his
assailant (“My desire has carried me on to the chariots of my noble people,”
6:12).13
It is clear, then, that the strength that the woman possesses is not her own
but that of love, which she personifies. It is the same invincible strength—
since love is as strong as and stronger than death (8:6–7)—that her beloved
represents for her. A strange war indeed, which is won by losing! A strange
peace, which is attained by means of war! To attain peace, one must allow one-
self to be overwhelmed, be turned upside down by the force of love.14
The strength of the woman of the Song is paradoxical precisely because it
is unarmed and weak. Immediately before 6:4–12, we come across the noctur-
nal encounter with the watchmen: “They struck me, they wounded me, they
took away my mantle, the watchmen of the walls” (5:7). The two “forces” are

10. The term ‫ דגל‬certainly does not indicate the sign of an inn. In the Song, it always
has the sense of “banner of war” (see 5:10; 6:4; 6:10). Moreover, in 2:4, it is found not over
the “banqueting chamber” but “over me” (‫)עלי‬. The image is that of a city that has been
conquered, over which the victor raises his banner.
11. The same can also be said of the preceding waṣ f, 6:4–12, characterized by the pro-
grammatic phrase: “You are fair as Tirzah, my friend, lovely as Jerusalem, terrible as a host
drawn up for battle” (6:4; cf. 6:10). See Gianni Barbiero, “Die ‘Wagen meines edlen Volkes’
(Hld 6,12): Eine strukturelle Analyse,” Bib 78 (1997): 174–89.
12. For this reading of the waṣ f in 7:2–6, see Mary Timothea Elliott, The Literary Unity
of the Canticle (EHS; Frankfurt am Main/Bern: Lang, 1989), 165–66.
13. For an interpretation of this crux interpretum, I refer to Gianni Barbiero, Song of
Songs: A Close Reading (trans. Michael Tait; VTSup 144; Leiden: Brill, 2011), 355–61.
14. The brothers also want their sister’s peace, but without love.
218 Gianni Barbiero

thus laid side by side: on the one hand, the brute force of arms and violence
and, on the other, the unarmed force of love, which seems to succumb to vio-
lence but which, in the end, is the victor.

3. How Fair You Are, My Friend!

The feminine ideal set down at the conclusion of the book of Proverbs is that
of an efficient housewife (see Prov 31:10–31). As for beauty, the sage warns:
“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is
to be praised” (Prov 31:30).15
By contrast, it is beauty above all that the Song praises in the woman.
The two most recurrent lexemes are ‫( נאוה‬1:5, 10; 2:14; 4:3; 6:4) and ‫יפה‬
(1:8, 15[2×]; 2:10, 13; 4:1[2×], 7, 10; 5:9; 6:1, 4, 10; 7:7), which refer almost
exclusively to her.16 The first time the vocabulary of beauty appears, it is she
who speaks: “I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem” (1:5). It is a
beauty contest that is here being announced. The woman of the Song is being
confronted with the artificial charm of the city girls and declares, by contrast,
her fresh and authentic beauty: rough as the black tents of the desert nomads,
but nonetheless worthy of the refined curtains that adorn the palace of Solo-
mon. She is not being presumptuous.
On four occasions, in fact, her beauty is acknowledged by the chorus.
Three times with the refrain: “You, O fairest among women” (1:8; 5:9; 6:1),
which, on the one hand, confirms the estimation of herself that she gives in 1:6
and, on the other hand, suggests that beauty is a female prerogative: the man
is characterized in other ways. The chorus that utters this phrase in 5:9 and
6:1 is that of the daughters of Jerusalem, the very same who in 1:6 had been
presented as her rivals. In 1:8, it is probably the shepherds, that is, the com-
panions of the beloved man, who are praising the “shepherdess.” The fourth
time, the chorus is that of the “daughters, queens, and concubines” who make
up the harem of Solomon: “Who is this, who looks down like the dawn, fair

15. It has to be said, however, that Prov 5:19 carries a different tone: here the beauty
of the bride is praised by the words “loving deer, attractive gazelle [‫]חן‬.” On the role of the
woman in the book of Proverbs, see Fischer, “Donne nell’Antico Testamento,” 177–78; and
the essay of Christl M. Maier in this volume.
16. It is only in 1:16 that, in conformity with that reciprocity that characterises the
Song, the woman replies to the compliment of her man (1:15) in the same tone; thus the
Song also recognizes male beauty. But the emphasis is undoubtedly placed on that of the
woman. On beauty in the Old Testament, see Claudia Rakel, Judit—über Schönheit, Macht
und Widerstand im Krieg: Eine feministisch-intertextuelle Lektüre (BZAW 334; Berlin: de
Gruyter, 2003), 202–28.
 Shulammite 219

as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as a host drawn up for battle?” (6:10).
The comparison with the cosmic phenomena raises the beloved woman above
all other women, although they, like the queens, are on the highest rung of the
social scale. She is being carried up to a superhuman, heavenly level. Perhaps
in no other place in the Song is there such a clear perception of the quasi-
divine character of the woman.17 Moreover, it is significant that the likeness
with God is seen from the point of view of beauty.
In every other instance the woman’s beauty is sung of by the man. Each
waṣf begins and ends with the praise of female attractiveness: “How fair you
are, my friend, how fair!” (4:1; cf. 1:15). The repetition expresses the stammer-
ing of one who has been overwhelmed by an apparition that renders him inca-
pable of saying anything else; he knows only how to repeat the same words.
“You are as fair as Tirzah, my friend, lovely as Jerusalem” (6:4). The term
of comparison associates the woman with the history and geography of Israel
according to a procedure typical of the Song. In his beloved, the man enjoys
the promised land, the beauty and bounty that are God’s gift to his people. In
particular, in the Psalms Jerusalem is said to be the “perfection of beauty” (Ps
50:2; cf. 48:3).
Each time, having contemplated the body of the woman, the conclusion
of her beloved is similar: “You are all fair, my friend, in you there is no blem-
ish” (4:7); “How fair you are, how sweet, O love, in [your] pleasures” (7:7).
Here, with the term “sweet” (‫)נעם‬, the enjoyable is added to the aesthetic
dimension of love.
Elsewhere, there are particular aspects of feminine attractiveness that the
beloved man praises: “Your cheeks are beautiful between ear pendants, your
neck circled by pearls” (1:10); “Your voice is sweet and your face lovely” (2:14);
“Your speech is beautiful” (4:3); “How fair are your feet in their sandals” (7:2).
It is not only the external aspect of the woman that he admires but also her
interior, revealed by her discourses, as evidenced also by the particular impor-
tance given to the eyes, arguably the most spiritual part of the person (see
1:15; 4:1; 6:5; 7:5).
The expression in 2:10, 13, is worth pointing out: “Rise up, my friend, my
fair one, and go.” To the affirmation of the beauty of his woman, the beloved
man adds the detail that this beauty belongs to him, it is his (“my fair one!”),
thus anticipating what the woman will affirm a little further on in the refrain
of mutual belonging (see 2:16). This declaration precedes the request to leave
the family nest and dare the adventure of love. The woman needs someone to

17. Hans-Peter Müller, “Begriffe menschlicher Theomorphie: Zu einigen cruces inter-

pretum in Hld 6,10,” ZAH 1 (1988): 112–21.
220 Gianni Barbiero

tell her that she is beautiful, desirable, and desired so as to be able to break the
shell that holds her shut in “behind the wall” (2:9).
According to the Genesis account, God made the woman so as to be “a
helper, as his partner” (‫עזר כנגדו‬, Gen 2:18, 20), his mirror.18 In the woman,
the man is reflected so that he knows who he really is. It could be said that the
Song sees the matter from the woman’s point of view, namely, that the man
now is the mirror for her, the one who tells her about her true identity. The
woman needs the man in order to perceive her own beauty.

4. Well of Living Water

The counterbalancing of “peasant woman/shepherdess” and “daughters of

Jerusalem,” which is introduced in 1:5–8, should be related to a leitmotif of
the Song: the “nature/city” opposition.19 Corresponding to a widespread
tendency in the Hellenistic period (one thinks of bucolic poetry),20 the ideal
place for love, according to the Song, is unspoiled nature. Here are the forces
of life, not in the city, whose walls of stone are dead.
Beyond the particular historical moment, in this return to nature the
Song stresses some fundamental aspects of love and in particular of the female
figure. When Adam calls his wife “Eve,” he explains this name as “mother of
all living” (Gen 3:20), that is, he establishes a fundamental link between the
woman and life. The emphasis on nature is explained in this light.
In 2:7, there appears for the first time the refrain of the awakening, which
will then be repeated in 3:5 and 8:4, with slight variations: “I charge you,
daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the wild deer: do not rouse, do

18. For a reading of Gen 2 that respects the reciprocity of the genders, see Irmtraud
Fischer, “Egalitär entworfen—hierarchisch gelebt: Zur Problematik des Geschlechterver-
hältnisses und einer genderfairen Anthropologie im Alten Testament,” in Der Mensch im
alten Israel: Neue Forschungen zur alttestamentlichen Anthropologie (ed. Bernd Janowski
and Kathrin Liess; HBS 59; Freiburg: Herder, 2005), 265–98, 269–70; Mercedes Navarro
Puerto, “Divine Image and Likeness: Women and Men in Genesis 1–3 as an Open System
in the Context of Genesis 1–11,” in Torah (ed. Irmtraud Fischer et al.; The Bible and
Women: An Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural History 1.1; Atlanta: Society of Bibli-
cal Literature, 2011), 193–249, 218–21.
19. On this contrast, see Hans-Josef Heinevetter, “Komm nun, mein Liebster, Dein
Garten ruft Dich!” Das Hohelied als programmatische Komposition (BBB 69; Frankfurt:
Athenäum, 1988), 179–90.
20. Together with a growing critical consent, I place the Song in the Hellenistic period,
primarily on linguistic criteria, but also on grounds of cultural homogeneity; see, to this
effect, Ludwig Schwienhorst-Schönberger, “Das Hohelied,” in Einleitung in das Alte Testa-
ment (ed. Erich Zenger et al.; 8th ed.; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2012), 474–83.
 Shulammite 221

not waken love until it wishes.” In 1:5, the “daughters of Jerusalem” were con-
trasted with the peasant woman burned by the sun; now they are counter-
posed to the wild animals, which are the personification of the forces of life.
In these animals, it is Love itself called to witness to the oath, which in 8:6 will
be called “flame of Yah.” Love comes from there, from the uncontaminated
kingdom of nature, not from society. It is not society’s business, therefore, to
dictate any laws to love. In the case in point, it is not its role to say when love
must cease.21
The “nature/city” opposition explains the juxtaposition of the two songs
placed at the beginning and the end of the body of the poem, 2:8–17 + 3:1–5;
and 7:12–14 + 8:1–4,22 respectively, with the effect of inclusion. In 2:8–17, it
is the beloved man who calls on the woman to leave her home and go out into
the countryside in blossom (2:10, 13); in 7:12–14, the parts are reversed and
it is she who invites him to go out: “Come, my beloved, let us go out into the
country” (7:12). The “country” is first and foremost the environment of love:
“There I will give you my love” (7:13). The woman of the Song does not dwell
in the city, but “in the gardens” (8:13), and the place of love is “under the apple
tree” (8:5). The bed to which the woman invites her beloved is a bed in fresh
grass, its ceiling made up of high trees of cedar and cypress (1:16–17) and its
sides henna bushes and flowering vines (7:12–13).23
But nature is not merely the environment of love; it is also a metaphor
for the bodies of the two lovers, which flower like the vines and the pome-
granates: “Our vineyards are in flower” (2:15). In particular, the vegetative
metaphor refers to the body of the woman: “We shall see whether the vine has
budded, whether the buds have opened, whether the pomegranate trees are
in flower” (7:13; cf. 6:11). The vine and the pomegranate are symbols of the
female body, as are the garden and the vineyard in accordance with the primi-
tive identification of the woman with the earth.

21. We understand “to rouse love” not as rousing a love that did not exist before
(according to 2:6, the two lovers were united in an embrace), but as “rousing” the lovers
from that sleep of love, of which 7:10 MT speaks. The expression is practically equivalent
to “disturbing” love. See Brian P. Gault, “A ‘Do Not Disturb’ Sign? Reexamination of the
Adjuration Refrain in Song of Songs,” JSOT 36 (2011): 93–104.
22. It is my conviction that the Song is not an anthology of love songs but a poetic
unity cleverly structured into a prologue (1:2–2:7), an epilogue (8:5–14), and two main
sections: 2:7–5:1 and 5:2–8:4, in which the voices of the woman, the man, and the chorus
alternate (see Barbiero, Song of Songs, 17–24).
23. I translate the term ‫ כפרים‬in 7:12 with “henna bushes.” It can indicate “villages”
only with difficulty. In the villages, the two lovers would not be any more alone than in the
city from which they wish to escape.
222 Gianni Barbiero

This background explains the use of vegetable and animal metaphors in

the description of the woman’s body by contrast with that of the man, who
is compared to a statue of ivory and gold (see 5:10–16): “Your eyes are doves
behind your veil. Your hair, like a flock of goats gamboling down from the
mountains of Gilead. Your teeth, like a flock of ewes coming out of their bath,
ready for the shearing, all of them the mothers of twins; none has lost her
young” (4:1–3). As Keel explains, it is not solely or primarily the external form
of the metaphors that counts but, so to speak, the soul of the things.24 In his
woman, the man experiences the living forces of nature, namely of the animals
and the plants. In particular, the woman personifies the rich land of Israel, the
gift that God has made to his people. This is a gift the bounty of which it would
be a sin to doubt (see Num 13:25–33).
It is in such a context that we should place the description of the “garden”
in 4:12–16. The veiled allusion is to the woman’s womb. The “shoots” (v. 13)
refer to the pubic hair, and the words “stopped fountain, sealed spring” (v.
12) allude to the virginity of the “sister bride,” as the parallel of Prov 5:15–18
confirms. The water metaphor returns in verse 15: “Spring of the gardens, well
of living water, springing up from Lebanon.” Water is an image of life, by con-
trast with the desert, the image of death: without water, life is impossible. Per-
haps there is also an allusion to the maternal liquid in which the fetus swims.
The link with life is underlined by the adjective “living” (‫)חיים‬. It cannot but
remind one of the “well of living water” of Jer 2:13 and 17:13. This is not a case
of trivialization of a religious concept25—far from it. The woman is associ-
ated with God himself, the fountain of life, to whom, moreover, the phrase
“springing up from Lebanon” alludes. Behind the metaphor of Lebanon, with
its perennial snows, it is legitimate to catch a glimpse of the fountain of all life
(cf. Jer 18:14), from which even human maternity draws its origin.

5. My Very Own Vineyard I Have Not Kept

The attitude of the brothers, who are preoccupied with protecting the virginity
of their little sister at all costs (8:9), finds its correspondence in the prologue

24. Othmar Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben: Zur Metaphorik des Hohen Liedes (SBS
114/115; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1984), 27–30; Keel, The Song of Songs: A Conti-
nental Commentary (trans. Frederick J. Gaiser; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 139–47.
25. Against those who speak of the “mockery” and “iconoclasm” in the use the Song
makes of religious language to speak of erotic love, see André LaCocque, Romance, She
Wrote: A Hermeneutical Essay on Song of Songs (Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press Interna-
tional, 1998), passim, e.g., 128; Enrica Salvaneschi, Cantico dei cantici Interpretatio ludica
(Genova: Il Melangolo, 1982), 54.
 Shulammite 223

(1:6). They have probably noticed that she has taken a fancy to some young
man and have taken it upon themselves to divert her from such fantasies: “My
mother’s sons were angry with me; they put me in charge of the vineyards.”
The keeping of the vineyards must have been an onerous task, designed to
keep her from unsuitable companions.
The vineyard, however, is also a metaphor for the woman, whether
because of the woman-earth equation or because the vines produce wine, a
metaphor for love (see 1:2; 4:10; 7:10). Thus “to watch over the vineyards”
comes to mean “to guard chastity.” Such a meaning is clearly understood in
8:11–12, where “keepers of the vineyard” are mentioned.
In this sense we should understand 1:6: “My very own vineyard I have
not kept!” The passage from the concrete to the figurative sense is expressed
in the words: “My vineyard.” The woman adds (literally): “that which is mine.”
The specification is superfluous, but it has the sense of a sorrowful protest: it
is mine and not theirs. It is my business to make decisions about my body and
no one else’s.
Norbert Lohfink has seen the song of a prostitute in these words.26 In my
opinion, they agree rather with the character of the woman of the Song, which
is profoundly moral and not moralistic. Among other things, these words cor-
respond to the statement of 8:10: “In his eyes I have become like one who has
found peace.” That peace is found not by remaining shut up in the house, by
suffocating the voice of love, but by welcoming it; it is the voice of God. The
woman of the Song knows well the value of chastity (see 7:14). But this cannot
be an external imposition, which obeys laws that are foreign to love: it must be
a decision of the woman herself (“my vineyard, my very own,” 1:6; 8:12). Here
one grasps the modernity of the image of the woman put forward by the Song.
One might say that the heroine of this book is a forerunner of the movement
for women’s liberation without being, on this account, outside the Old Testa-
ment’s vision of the family. It is enough to think, for example, of the figure of
Ruth, who slips under Boaz’s cover by night and for this reason is accounted
blessed (Ruth 3:1–15).
The poetic drama then associates the guardian of the vineyards with the
figure of the shepherdess who at high noon goes in search of her beloved:
“Tell me, O love of my soul, where do you pasture your flock, where do you
rest it at noon, so that I may not look like a prostitute behind the flocks of
your companions” (1:7). The term ‫עטיה‬, literally “veiled,” recalls Tamar, the
daughter-in-law of Judah, who had put on the prostitutes’ veil to seduce him

26. Norbert Lohfink, “Review of Roland E. Murphy, The Wisdom Literature (FOTL
13),” TP 58 (1983): 239–41, here 240.
224 Gianni Barbiero

and have a son with him (see Gen 38:15–16). The Genesis author does not
condemn as immoral the behavior of Tamar but rather that of Judah the patri-
arch, his respectability notwithstanding. Returning to the text of the Song, it
has the woman ashamed; she does not wish to go around asking people the
whereabouts of her man lest she seem up to no good.
The reply of the chorus is surprising: “If you do not know, O most beau-
tiful among women, go out in the tracks of the flock, and pasture your little
goats beside the tents of the shepherds” (1:8). The tents of the shepherds were
precisely where she did not wish to go, in order to avoid people’s chatter. The
chorus urges the young woman not to worry about this but to confront it by
following the voice of love. The little goats, like the gazelles and the wild deer,
are the personification of love, which the woman is called to follow, without
worrying that people will mistake her for a prostitute (1:7). In fact, in 3:1–5
and 5:6–8, the shepherdess will go out at night through the town’s streets and
squares in search of her beloved, running into the watchmen, who will take
her for a prostitute and treat her as such. But she will find her beloved.
The advice of the chorus, “Go out” (‫)צאי־לך‬, brings this passage close to
the “Go!” (‫ )לכי־לך‬of 2:10, 13. It is a reminder of the exodus dimension of
love that echoes the vision of Gen 2:24: “Therefore a man leaves his father and
his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they two become one flesh.” To leave
the nuclear family in order to form a new family is a traumatic change that
can be compared to the leaving of the mother’s womb; it is the adventure of
birth to life, and it is rendered possible by love. The verbs “go out” and “go”
are the same that characterize the adventures of Abraham and Moses. In par-
ticular, the reference to the “Go forth” (‫ )לך־לך‬of Gen 12:1 is unmistakable.
To the voice of God, which calls one to leave one’s own land to go toward an
unknown country, is added the voice of love which, as Song 8:6 explains, is
none other than the voice of God.
In Gen 2:24, the subject of the verb is the man (as it will be in Gen 12:1). In
the Song, it is the woman who is to abandon her home, as if the author wished
to rewrite the story of the garden of Eden from a feminine point of view.27

6. My Beloved Is Mine and I Am His

Three times there resounds the refrain of mutual belonging. The first is in
2:16, at the end of the first song of the woman (2:8–17): “My beloved is mine
and I am his: he grazes among the lotus flowers.”28 Here, it follows the request

27. See Karl Barth, Die kirchliche Dogmatik (Vol. 3.2; Zürich: EVZ, 1948), 355.
28. We thus translate the Hebrew ‫ׁשוׁשנה‬, by analogy with the Egyptian sšn; see also
 Shulammite 225

to catch the “foxes” that could spoil “our vineyards in blossom” (v. 15). What is
forbidden to the foxes is granted to the beloved: the young deer grazes among
the lotus flowers that grow on the body of the woman, while the foxes would
ruin her “vineyard.” The reason for the difference is expressed by the refrain of
mutual belonging: “I am his.” And therefore my vineyard is also his; he is not
committing theft, unlike the foxes. The belonging of the woman to the man is,
then, balanced by his belonging to her: “My beloved is mine.”
At the basis of this affirmation stands the narrative of Gen 2. When God
brings the woman to Adam,29 Adam exclaims exultantly: “Now at last: this is
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Therefore she shall be called woman
[‫]אׁשה‬, because she was taken from man [‫( ”]איׁש‬Gen 2:23). “Bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh” expresses the concept that is expressed in the Song by
the formula: “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” By contrast with the account
of the garden of Eden in Genesis, the phrase is now uttered by the woman, as
is usual in the Song.
Mary Elliott speaks of a “mirroring dynamic,” in which the affirmations
made of one of the lovers are then referred to the other.30 Thus it is explained
that the lotus flowers found in her breast and in her womb (2:16; 4:5; 7:3) are
also on his lips (5:13). The myrrh that runs from her hands (5:5) likewise flows
from his lips (5:13). If he is enchanted, speechless before her beauty, (1:15;
4:1), she experiences the same wonder before him (1:16). The lovers have sib-
ling bodies. Not for nothing will he call the woman “my sister, my bride” (4:9,
10, 12; 5:1, 2). In exchange, she proposes the desire that her beloved will be
“like a brother to me, suckled at the breast of my mother” (8:1). In effect, the
formula of Gen 2:23 is a formula of complete consanguinity.
Perhaps the mirroring dynamic is nowhere more evident than in the
description of the eyes. His eyes are compared to doves (5:12), as are hers
(1:15; 4:1), but the description of 5:12 is more extensive: “His eyes like doves
… , placed on a full bath.” To this image corresponds that of her eyes in 7:5:
“Your eyes pools of Heshbon at the gate of Bath-Rabbim.” A comparison
between the two images yields his eyes (doves) as reflected in hers (pools); the
likeness is the “mirror” of Gen 2.

Keel, Deine Blicke sind Tauben, 63–78; S. F. Grober, “The Hospitable Lotus: A Cluster of
Metaphors: An Inquiry into the Problem of Textual Unity in the Song of Songs,” Semitics
9 (1984): 86–112.
29. For a nonmasculinist reading of the creation of woman from “man,” see Walter
Vogels, “ ‘It Is Not Good That the ‘Mensch’ Should Be Alone; I Will Make Him/Her a
Helper Fit for Him/Her’ (Gen 2,18),” EgT 9 (1978): 9–35.
30. Elliott, Literary Unity of the Canticle, 246–51.
226 Gianni Barbiero

To make it clear that the two lovers are on the same plane and there is no
superiority of one over the other—since true love does not tolerate inequali-
ties!—the second time the refrain of mutual belonging is sounded the order is
inverted: “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (6:3). Here, too, the for-
mula fits into the context coherently. The woman had lost her beloved and had
sought him in distress through the streets of the city, involving the daughters
of Jerusalem in her search (5:6–8). In response to their inquiry she describes
at length his face and figure, which prove to be of the same precious materials
as her own (5:10–16). This makes her certain that her beloved can only have
retired into his garden, that is, to her (6:2).
The mutual belonging of the lovers is again expressed at the end of the
first part of the Song, at the conclusion of 4:8–5:1. The beloved ends his song
with praise of the “garden”: “Garden enclosed, my sister, my bride!” (4:12)—
praise of her continence but also an implicit request for an opening of what is
closed. The woman understands and comes to meet the request of her spouse,
bidding first the winds to blow, spreading the perfumes of the garden: “Make
my garden breathe: let its balms spread” (4:16a). Then comes the consent:
“Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its delicious fruits” (4:16b).
What was “my garden” now becomes “his garden,” the garden of her beloved.
It belongs no more to the bride but to her beloved; she has given it to him. He
understands and exclaims with joy: “I have come into my garden, my sister,
my bride” (5:1).
We have spoken of the woman’s bodily continence. It is signified explicitly
in the expression “garden enclosed … sealed spring” (4:12). But the closing
is not an end in itself; it is aligned to the gift. The garden is closed so as to be
opened to the beloved. And the opening occurs from the inside. The latch on
the door is firmly in the woman’s hands. It is she who has to open it each time!
Love cannot be other than a free gift freely bestowed.
The theme of the latch recurs in the following song, in which, in the face
of her hesitations, the beloved man tries to open the door with his hands,
seeking to release the latch; but he does not succeed (5:2–4). The gate to her
room cannot be opened from the outside. It is the beloved woman who must
rise and open it (5:5–6). Now the meeting can take place. But it is too late!
The man is tired of waiting and has fled. In the idyll of the Song, suffering and
misunderstanding creep in as in every concrete story of love.31

31. For this reading of the episode, see Keel, The Song of Songs, 192–94. The author
thinks of the experience, frequent among married couples, of the lack of coincidence in
the inclination to make love (“Phasenverschiebung der Gefühle”). See also Peter Chave,
“Toward a Not Too Rosy Picture of the Song of Songs,” Feminist Theology 18 (1998): 41–53.
 Shulammite 227

The third time in which the refrain of mutual belonging resounds is 7:11:
“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me [‫]עלי תׁשוקתו‬.” With these words,
the woman refers to what the man had expressed in 7:9–10: “I said to myself:
I will climb [‫ ]אעלה‬up the palm.” The preposition ‫ על‬takes up again the verb
‫ אעלה‬exactly. By saying “I am my beloved’s,” she expresses her assent to his
desire, in the same way as, in 5:1, she had made of “my” garden “his” garden.
The term used to express “desire” is not accidental, but refers to Gen
3:16.32 After the fall, God expresses its consequences for the woman thus: “I
will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing: in pain shall you bring forth
children. Your desire [‫ ]תׁשוקתך‬shall be for your husband, but he shall be your
master.” Here, sexual desire is seen as the origin of the submission of woman
with regard to man, but this does not correspond to the original plan of God;
it is made by the Genesis author to be the fruit of sin, which has damaged the
relation between the sexes.33
The text of the Song deliberately brings the male-female relation back to
the way it was before the fall, when desire was something positive that did not
lead to the subjugation of woman. Keel rightly speaks of “lifting the curse”34
and Trible of “love redeemed.”35

7. Who Is This Who Rises from the Desert?

Following the descriptions of nature in 2:8–17 and 7:12–14 are depictions of

love in the town (3:1–5 and 8:1–4, respectively). The contrast is deliberate:
both times the town is presented as potentially hostile to love. The refrain of
awakening that concludes the two passages (3:5 and 8:4) has the sense of a
bitter protest against the inappropriate interference of town society in the love
of the two young people.
In 3:1–5, the town is characterized by the “watchmen” (v. 3). The woman
turns to them to obtain information in her nocturnal search: “Have you seen
the love of my soul?” As expected, her question receives no reply. What do the
watchmen know about love? In the other nocturnal search, in 5:6–7, they end
up by striking and stripping the girl, taking her for a prostitute. Indeed, a girl
who walks the streets at night seeking information about her loved one from
passersby does not fall within the parameters of the normal behavior of social

32. The term ‫ תשׁוקה‬appears again in Biblical Hebrew only in Gen 4:7, in a negative
sense as in 3:16.
33. See Fischer, “Donne nell’Antico Testamento,” 271.
34. Keel, The Song of Songs, 251–52.
35. Phyllis Trible, “Love’s Lyric Redeemed,” in Brenner, A Feminist Companion to the
Song of Songs, 100–120.
228 Gianni Barbiero

respectability. In Prov 7:6–27, the foreign woman from whom the sage seeks
to keep his distance is painted along these lines as well.
The woman of the Song is not exemplary in her observance of the town
rules. Love has about it something of the anarchic, which upsets not only
the life of the individual but also the life of society. In his description of the
woman’s body, besides the beautiful, Apollonian character, the man sketches
its vital, Dionysian aspect present, for example, in his description of her
hair: “Your hair like a flock of goats gamboling down from the mountains of
Gilead.” Luxuriant hair is a sign of strength, as recalled by Samson (see Judg
16:17, 22) and the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:2). In Ps 68:22, the enemy of God
has a “shaggy” head, as a sign of his rebellion; “shaggy” too is the goat of Gen
37:21, as well as the demon of Lev 17:7 and Isa 13:21.36 In Greek mythology,
one thinks of the god Pan and the satyrs who accompanied him. The compari-
son of the goats, which are black and descend in disorderly fashion leaping
down the slope of the mountain, underlines this aspect, in contrast with the
orderly procession of the white ewes coming out of the cleansing bath.
In the vision of the Song, love comes from the fields (2:7; 3:5), from the
mountains (2:8; 4:8), from the desert (3:1; 8:5)—in a word, from untamed
nature. But it does not remain there. Contrary to the movement of the going
out of love is that of “coming in.” Here, too, the woman is the protagonist.
She is the one who in 3:4 introduces her man into the family: “I held him
tight and would not let him go until I had brought him into the house of my
mother, into the chamber of her who conceived me.” The image returns in 8:2,
presented as a dream, a desire: “I would lead you, I would bring you into the
house of my mother.”
The “house of the mother” is not only the building but also the family. If,
in 3:4 and 8:2, it is her mother who is mentioned, in two other places it is his
mother who is spoken of. In 8:5, in the immediate context of 8:2, the place
of love is described thus: “Under the apple tree I awakened you, there your
mother travailed, there she travailed and gave you to the light.” The bride is
superimposed on the mother, takes the role in the man’s life, which was that
of his mother, generating her spouse for new life.37 The expression “under
the apple tree” is not to be taken literally. The allusion is rather to the normal
room of a house in the town, where the man was conceived and brought to the
light. Love transforms walls of stone into a tree full of life.

36. See Keel, Song of Songs, 141.

37. Daniel Lys, Le plus beau chant de la création: Commentaire du Cantique des can-
tiques (LD 51; Paris: Cerf, 1968), 284: “Finally, I aroused you to a new birth, the one of love.”
See also Elliott, Literary Unity of the Canticle, 193.
 Shulammite 229

The second mention of his mother is in 3:11: “Go out, O daughters of

Zion, and behold King Solomon and the crown with which his mother has
crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day of the joy of his heart.” The
mother has to be present at the nuptial feast. It is she who crowns her son, as
if passing the witness of the female role to the bride. Besides the mother the
“daughters of Zion” are also present, viewed now in a highly positive light as
the society that welcomes and legitimizes sexual love. In the same song, there
is mention of the armed escort that accompanies the litter of the bride (3:7–8).
Society that elsewhere comes under the scourge of disapproval is here recog-
nized as playing an essential role.
In 3:6, the refrain “Who is this who rises from the desert?” appears for
the first time (see again 6:10 and 8:5). The answer to the question is given in
verse 10, when, in the description of Solomon’s litter, it is said that its inte-
rior is “adorned with the love of the daughters of Jerusalem.” Thus we have a
metonymy to indicate the bride, who, in her turn, symbolizes the love of the
daughters of Jerusalem.38
The desert, the place of origin of the “litter,” has in fact its own dangers
(3:8), from which the sixty valiant men-at-arms have to defend the litter.
Thus in 4:8 the man urges his woman to come away from the “desert”: “With
me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon come. Look from the
summit of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lairs of the
lions, from the mountains of the panthers!” Like the desert, the mountains are
the habitat of wild animals, of the savage forces of life that also have a destruc-
tive character and must be educated to come into contact with the “town” or
the “city.” The journey of love, therefore, goes from the desert to the garden.
Its itinerary is sketched in 4:8–5:1; the garden, described in the concluding
passage (4:12–5:1), is at the same time a metaphor for the woman and a place
of love.39
The appellation “bride” characterizes the whole of the poem in 4:8–5:1,
where it resounds a good six times (4:8, 9, 10, 11, 12; 5:1). One cannot say that
the Song is proposing a love without a home or laws.40 On the other hand, it is
curious that the use of the term “bride” is restricted to the passage in question.

38. In this respect, see Elliott, Literary Unity of the Canticle, 88; Gianni Barbiero,
“Die Liebe der Töchter Jerusalems: Hld 3,10b MT im Kontext vom 3,6–11,” BZ 39 (1995):
96–104.
39. On the significance of the garden in the Song, see Heinevetter, “Komm nun, mein
Liebster,” 179–90; Francis Landy, Paradoxes of Paradise: Identity and Difference in the Song
of Songs (BLS 7; Sheffield: Almond, 1983), 189–210.
40. Contra, among others, André LaCocque, Romance, She Wrote, 8: “The entire Song
strums the chord of ‘free love,’ neither recognized nor institutionalized.”
230 Gianni Barbiero

The usual title with which the man addresses his woman is ‫רעיתי‬, a term that
indicates a relation of friendship, one that has not been ratified by an institu-
tional contract. That can be explained, perhaps, by the progressive maturing
of love, but it is possible, also, that the author does not see that opposition
between the two terms that has become established in Western society. The
“bride” does not cease to be “friend.” The bond that unites the spouses is not
primarily an institutional one: it is, in fact, love.
The journey toward the city is presented again in the epilogue (8:5–14),
which begins with the desert (8:5) and ends with the garden (8:13: “You who
dwell in the gardens”). As if welcoming the invitation of 4:8 (“With me from
Lebanon”), the woman is no longer alone in this journey: she is “leaning on
her beloved” (8:5). In dialogue with her is the chorus of the daughters of Jeru-
salem, evoked in the previous verse in a decidedly negative light. Apparently,
they have accepted the woman’s rebuke, and, from an attitude hostile to love,
they have been converted to one that is respectful and welcoming, like that
described in the parallel passage, 3:6–11. Thus the woman proceeds toward
the city, bearing there the critical demands of love.
Criticism is introduced in 8:7: “If a man were to give all the wealth of his
house in exchange for love, scorn is all he would obtain.” The woman estab-
lishes the primacy of love over commerce, a primacy important to affirm in
the world of the Song (and not only there!), in which marriages of conve-
nience were the custom. This is spoken of again in 8:11–12, where there is
criticism of the harem of Solomon, to whom every keeper of the “vineyard”
must bring “a thousand shekels of silver.” Solomon, here, is the representative
of the kind of society the woman of the Song, in agreement with the statement
in 8:7b, holds in contempt because it thinks it possible to buy love with money.
Song 6:8 also speaks of Solomon’s harem: “Sixty are the queens, eighty the
concubines, and maidens without number.” Against the multiplicity of women
in the harem, the beloved man counterposes the uniqueness of his woman:
“Unique is my dove, my perfect one, the only one of her mother, the darling
of the one who conceived her” (6:9). This is a clear protest against polygamy,
a practice that must have been widespread in the society of the time and one
the author holds to be incompatible with the dignity of women.
Speaking of Deut 6:4–5, Lohfink stresses the profound analogy between
monolatry and monogamy.41 Just as the God of Israel is one (Deut 6:4), so the
woman of the Song is one (6:9). Just as the God of Israel is jealous (Exod 34:14;
Deut 4:24; 5:9), so is the beloved woman because love is jealous (cf. 8:6): it

41. See Norbert Lohfink and Jan Bergman, “‫’ ֶא ָחד‬echādh,” TDOT 1:193–201, here
196–97.
 Shulammite 231

tolerates no rivals. While the “many” remain on the earth, the “one” is aligned
with the heavenly phenomena; its place is heaven, the place of God (6:10).

8. Set Me as a Seal upon Your Heart

The “seal” is spoken of twice in the Song. The first occasion is in 4:12. In the
expression “sealed spring,” we have seen an image of the chastity of the bride.
The term appears for the second time in 8:6: “Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.” In 4:12, the seal witnessed to the fact that the “gate”
had not been opened. Now that the union has been consummated, it con-
firms the indissolubility of that union. Nothing can put asunder the two lovers
united in their embrace.42
The statements that follow have to be understood as an explanation of the
indissolubility of the union: they are, in fact, connected by means of the causal
particle ‫כי‬: “because love is strong as death, jealousy relentless as the grave.”
Mention of jealousy allows us to understand that the union is threatened by
promiscuity, something that goes against the very nature of love.43 From a
psychological point of view, women are strictly monogamous in love.44 This
is confirmed strongly here at the climax of the poem, not in the name of any
institution but of love itself. Love has laws that are no less demanding than
human laws.
The other statement in the phrase is also to be understood in this light.
Love is “strong as death,” because it is just as demanding and relentless; it seeks
everything, it demands the surrender of life on behalf of one’s beloved. But
love is also stronger than death, as is affirmed in verse 7: “The great waters—
that is, those of death45—cannot quench love.” Death is another “rival” that
threatens to snatch the woman from her man, but it will not succeed in doing
so. What follows explains why: “Its darts are darts of fire, a flame of Yah.” Since
love is a flame of YHWH, death is powerless against it. The man of the Old

42. This is alluded to by the expressions “on your heart,” “on your arm,” both of which
take up the description of the embrace in 8:3.
43. Cf., in the same sense, Mal 2:14–16.
44. See Günter Krinetzki, Kommentar zum Hohenlied: Bildsprache und theologische
Botschaft (BET 16; Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1981), 185. It is interesting to note that the
Old Testament legislation speaks only of a man’s jelaousy (see Num 5:11–31). A woman
was to have only one man, while a man could have as many women as he wished. In reality,
however, female jealousy is also well known in the Old Testament (see Gen 16:1–5).
45. See Herbert G. May, “Some Cosmic Connotations of Mayim Rabbîm ‘Many
Waters,’” JBL 74 (1955): 9–21.
232 Gianni Barbiero

Testament knows that nothing and no one can separate him from his God (cf.
Isa 43:2–3; Ps 16:9–11).
This affirmation seems to be contradicted by the conclusion of the poem,
8:14:46 “Flee, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag, on the mountains
of balms.” The beginning and end of the epilogue are linked by means of an
inclusion. In both, the theme is the relation of the woman with her man while
the two central compositions, 8:8–10 and 8:11–12, concern the woman’s rela-
tion with society. In fact, the man seems to refer to society in verse 13: “My
companions are attentive to your voice.” After the woman has spoken to the
“companions,” she addresses the last word to her beloved (“Let me hear it”).
The word is that recorded above: “Flee!” It is an important word, for it
concludes not only the epilogue of the Song but also the whole poem. To think
that, as is often the case,47 we have here a displaced text that has been added
subsequently to the poem is a convenient escape technique. Moreover, the
explanation according to which “flee” would be another way of saying “come”
does not agree with the meaning of the word ‫ברח‬, which indicates taking
one’s distance from a definite place or person. Furthermore, verses 5–6 of the
same chapter have represented the two lovers in a close embrace; the request
to approach, therefore, would not make sense.
In my opinion, it is precisely the structural relationship of verses 13–14
with verses 5–6, the beginning and end of the epilogue, which explains the
verb “flee” in verse 14. It stands, that is, in antithesis to the request of verse 6:
“Set me as a seal upon your heart.” If verse 6 shows the need for the union,
an indissoluble union of the two lovers, verse 14 points to the antithetical
need for having one’s own space. Verse 6 speaks of a “jealousy” that has some-
thing positive about it but also has negative implications because it can lead
to possessiveness. The union of the two lovers must not become a fusion that
annihilates the individuality of each partner. It is only insofar as one is really
oneself that one can make a free gift of oneself; otherwise, love is subjuga-
tion, the annihilation of the other. Love has need not only of union but also
of distance, and it is this that the woman seeks with the verb “flee.” In verse
4, the woman requested the daughters of Jerusalem not to rouse Love “before

46. In my opinion, 8:5–14 constitutes a firmly structured literary unit, which makes up
the poem’s epilogue. See Gianni Barbiero, “ ‘Leg mich wie ein Siegel—Fliehe, mein Gelieb-
ter’: Die Spannung in der Liebesbeziehung nach dem Epilog des Hohenliedes,” in Studien
zu alttestamentlichen Texten (SBAB 34; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2002), 185–98;
Barbiero, “L’amore, ‘fiamma di Jah’: Una lettura contestuale di Ct 8,5–7.13–14,” in Corpo
e religione (ed. Gaspare Mura and Roberto Cipriani; Rome: Città Nuova, 2009), 443–57.
47. For all these, the verdict of Landy (Paradoxes of Paradise, 133) holds good: “Fol-
lowing the credo (= 8:6), the Song has nothing more to say.”
 Shulammite 233

it wishes.” Now, in verse 14, is the moment in which Love itself decides to
“awaken,” to loosen the embrace.
This distancing, however, is not aimed at a rupture in the relation but at its
deepening. The direction of flight is the “mountains of balms,” which we know
to be a metaphor of the female body.
Union, then, but, at the same time, otherness. Ultimately, it is this that
allows dialogue. The alternation—the collision, even—between the voices
reflects the dialectic of the human being. Dialogue is a characteristic of the
Song, which confers a profoundly “personal”48 character on the poem.
In theological terms, one could speak of the “immanence” and “transcen-
dence” of the relationship of love. Love unites the man to the woman so that
they become “one flesh” (Gen 2:24). But even when the two regain their origi-
nal unity, when their two bodies beat in unison, the lovers are still conscious
of being two.49 Each remains his or herself, with his or her own mystery.
Human love is shown to be the most adequate metaphor for God, a God
who is not solitary but, according to Christian faith, a trinity of persons in
union for all eternity without ever being “confused.” Moreover, in the Old Tes-
tament, the prophets had glimpsed the theological dimension of human love:
the love story of Hosea became the symbol of the relationship between God
and his people. It is no surprise that first Israel—and later the church—were
able to read in the Song the story of their own relationship with God.

Translated from Italian by Michael Tait

48. On the dialogic character of the Song, see Jean-Pierre Sonnet, “Le Cantique, entre
érotique et mystique: sanctuaire de la parole échangée,” NRTh 119 (1997): 481–502.
49. Armand Abécassis, “Espaces de lecture du Cantique des Cantiques en contexte
juif,” in Les nouvelles voies de l’exégèse, en lisant le Cantique des Cantiques: XIX congrès de
l’ACFEB, Toulouse 2001 (ed. J. D. Jacques Nieuviarts and Pierre Debergé; LD 190; Paris:
Cerf, 2002), 185–96, 190: “The other, who builds up and partcipates in this union, remains
other, he is never reached at the point where he finds himself, he remains, so to speak,
foreign to all knowledge of himself, to all power over him, to all manipulation. He remains,
we can say, transcendent, that is, outside and above, since he provokes the responsibility
with regard to himself.”
 Part 4
Ambivalent Role Models:
Women in Narrative Texts
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim
Their Lives and Memories
Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

1. Introduction

Augustine of Hippo, considering the value of time, says in Confessions: “The

present considering the past is the memory” (11.20.26).1 Memory, then,
evokes what has been lived, loved, suffered, and enjoyed and brings these
things to enrich, illuminate, and direct the present.
The book of Ruth is, for many reasons, a book about memory. Most likely
written during the postexilic period, this short story of only four chapters
evokes a distant time in Israelite history—the conflictive and convulsive time
of the judges; it relates a story both about women shaken by strokes of fate that
they must survive and about King David’s family.
The force with which the protagonists, Ruth and Naomi, both foreigners
and widows, vindicate the reality of women, foreigners, and the substance of
the Torah converts the book into a tool that honors their lives and memories
and avoids “losing everything like a bubble in the wind.”2

2. Memory of the Feminine World in the Bible

If choosing the title of a book, like that of a business or a movie, helps its
author organize its content, center its purpose, and communicate quickly with
its reader, a good title also helps the recipients to direct their expectations, to
reject the offer, and even to worry or be curious. So what, then, does the title
of this book tell us?

1. Saint Augustine, Confessions (trans. Henry Chadwick; New York: Oxford University
Press, 1991), 235.
2. Antonio Machado, “Desgarrada la nube,” in Soledades (ed. Antonio Machado;
Buenos Aires: Tecnibook Ediciones, 2011), 46.

-237-
238 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

In the first place, the book is called “Ruth,” the name of a woman. Together
with Esther and Judith, it is one of the three books in the Septuagint named
after a woman. From the oldest canonical lists,3 the book is known by this
name—“Ruth”—a name that appears for the first time in Ruth 1:4, and is
repeated nine times in the book before disappearing from the Bible. The name
is never again used to refer to a woman. The title is not, however, trying to
identify its author, and in fact Jewish tradition attributes the book to Samuel.
The title also does not identify the main character, Naomi, even though it is
she who appears most, and is related to all of the people in the story.4 The title
does, however, suggest the possibility that a female author wrote the book5
and offers possible female role models to women. This idea, then, allows for
possible deep transformations in both the feminine world and in the societies
in which women live.
In this sense, the title could be considered pro-vocative, that is, evocative
of the feminine world in the Bible that often seems trapped in books authored
by men and whose setting is reduced to the domestic environment. And if
the Bible—like any other piece of literature from the ancient Near East—
expresses the identity of a character, his or her place in the story, and his or her
relationship with the community through the choice of a name, then choosing
a character as the title of a book would expressly highlight this person’s story,
world, voice, pronouncements, and denouncements. And “the house of Israel
is built on people; maintained by names full of stories, or better, stories full
of meaningful names.”6 In this sense, we affirm that the title of the book is a
move to avoid the warning of Louise Otto-Peters, a pioneer of the fight for
women’s rights in the mid-nineteenth century: “The history of all times, and
of today especially, teaches that … women will be forgotten if they forget to
think about themselves.”7

3. According to Vílchez, the oldest witness is the Babylonian Talmud, which in Baba
Batra 14b names the book and places it at the head of the Writings. See José Vílchez Líndez,
Rut y Ester (Nueva Biblia Española. Narrations 2; Estella: Verbo Divino, 1998), 25.
4. About the pertinence of naming this book for Naomi, see Zefira Gitay, “Ruth and
the Women of Bethlehem,” in Ruth and Esther (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 2/3; Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic, 1999), 178–90, 186.
5. Irmtraud Fischer, Women Who Wrestled with God: Biblical Stories of Israel’s Begin-
nings (trans. Linda M. Maloney; Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2005), 129.
6. Mercedes Navarro Puerto, Los libros de Josué, Jueces y Rut (Guía Espiritual del Anti-
guo Testamento; Barcelona/Madrid: Ciudad Nueva, 1995), 137. For a striking example, see
the genealogies in 1 Chr 1–9 analyzed by Sara Japhet in this volume.
7. Louise Otto-Peters, “Die Frauen Zeitung,” in Heroinas (Madrid: Mueso-Thyssen-
Bornemisza/Fundación Caja Madrid, 2011), 59. For the English citation, see http://www.
womeninworldhistory.com/wisdom.html.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 239

2.1. The Meaning of the Protagonist’s Name

In biblical literature, marked by a definite male slant, the attention to detail

with feminine names can give us a lot of information about the character her-
self.8 For some time it was thought that the name Ruth came from the root
‫רע‬, “close friend” (in the book, “friend, companion”). Since Hans Bruppacher
published his work, however, authors have accepted that the origin of the
name must be related to ‫רוה‬, “to give water to, to satisfy.” Ruth, then, would
have to mean “the one who alleviates, or comforts.”9 Perhaps the book evokes,
in the first place, the people who care for others, watch over them, and knit
webs of solidarity to help them. The choice of the two protagonists’ names
is thus truly paradigmatic. We must keep in mind the fact that the one who
alleviates or comforts (Ruth) sees her name fully realized when her mother-
in-law Naomi (she who pleases, helps) fully reclaims her life at the end of the
story. In 1:20 she asks the women of Bethlehem to call her Mara (“bitter”) like
the waters the Israelites could not drink in the desert (Exod 15:23). And thus,
as she herself will remind us in the life of Naomi, Dolores Aleixandre says:
“Now in my old age I have managed to understand that I received my name at
birth from an unfulfilled promise. Now it has become reality and I see how the
Lord has driven our lives toward understanding the meanings of our names.”10
The relationship between these two women is established at the begin-
ning of the story through the male characters. Naomi is Elimelech’s wife and
the mother of Mahlon and Chilion; Ruth is one son’s wife, but we do not know
which one until the end of the story (Ruth 4:9). It is only the disappearance
of the men that allows for a direct relationship between the two women: the
text says that Ruth is Naomi’s daughter-in-law (Ruth 1:6),11 and her daughter
(Ruth 1:11), and also that Naomi is Ruth’s mother-in-law (Ruth 1:14). It is in
this relationship that the two women will be seen by everyone, through to the
last scene in the story. Of course, it is the quality of their relationship that is
going to allow them both to fulfill their names, as Dolores Aleixandre says.
The meaning of this relationship is established at Ruth’s decision to “cling,”
‫דבק‬, to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:14). Her independence in deciding about

8. Karla G. Bohmbach, “Names and Naming in the Biblical World,” in Women in

Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible (ed. Carol L.
Meyers; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 33–39, here 33.
9. Ernst A. Knauf, “Ruth la moabite,” VT 44 (1994): 547–48, 547.
10. Dolores Aleixandre, “Buscadoras de un nombre: memoria de Naomi,” Reseña
Bíblica 71 (2011): 4–10, here 7.
11. At the beginning, the story mentions two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. For
my purposes, however, I am only going to consider Ruth.
240 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

her own family, law, and religion is going to create a guideline for women’s
mobility from the traditional feminine space (what happens “behind closed
doors; the family-domestic world,” untimely and uncreative …) to the public
sphere dominated by men. The verb ‫דבק‬, which we translate as “to cling to,”
or “to follow to the point of giving everything for another,” is not an infre-
quently used term in Hebrew. It tends to be used to describe devotion to God
(Deut 4:4) as well as a firm loyalty and depth, even erotic, that distinguishes
relationships between people. It is used, thus, to refer to marriage (Gen 2:24;
34:3; Josh 23:12; 1 Kgs 11:2), loyalty to the king (2 Sam 20:2), and friendship
(Prov 18:24). This verb then defines a personal link that requires a sacrifice of
one’s own self in order to unite with another. It appears another three times in
the book (Ruth 2:8, 21, 23), always to refer to the relationship that Ruth must
establish with Boaz’s employees. That is, the use of the verb reveals a transition
in Ruth’s affection. She begins her story clinging to her mother-in-law and
ends clinging to Boaz, who will restore the life and memory of both women.
The radical nature of Ruth’s obligation to Naomi is explained immedi-
ately after Orpah, her sister-in-law, has decided to follow her mother-in-law’s
advice. This radicalism is made palpable in her entreaty “do not press me to
leave you and to turn back from following you” (1:16) because the verb ‫עזב‬,
“to leave,” is the same used in Gen 2:24 to refer to how the man leaves his
mother after finding his wife, thus reinforcing the depth of the commitment
that Ruth wants to make to Naomi.
The content of this promise is explained in the words that mark the new
relationship: “where you go I will go; where you lodge I will lodge; your people
shall be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). These words are heard
immediately after Ruth has rejected Naomi’s suggestion that she return “to her
mother’s house” (Ruth 1:8). This detail tells us that Ruth has decided autono-
mously about the law, because Naomi suggests that her daughters-in-law do
what she herself plans: to return to her place of birth, as established by law
(Gen 38:11). Judah suggests this to his daughter-in-law Tamar, and Lev 22:13
advises the same in the case of the priest’s daughter. Not only this, but in the
context of the verse (1:9), Ruth also decides to reject a new marriage.
On the other hand, the expression “return to your mother’s house” is actu-
ally so strange that some versions written after the Masoretic text12 change it.
The phrase only appears three times in the Old Testament (Gen 24:28; Song
3:4; 8:2) and in all cases refers to stories about women who make their own

12. Carol L. Meyers, “Returning Home: Ruth 1:8 and the Gendering of the Book of
Ruth,” in A Feminist Companion to Ruth (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 3; Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic, 1993), 85–114, here 92.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 241

decisions about their future and who also influence other people—stories that
take place in the family environment and that show the intelligence and per-
spicacity of their protagonists.13
The reference to “your mother’s house” has also been studied as an indica-
tor of a female author who vindicates the “mother’s house” (noting the partici-
pation of women therein) as opposed to the “father’s house” as a patriarchal
unit, the nucleus of a family’s economic activity, and a reference to property.
All of this shows the family structure not in the light of power hierarchy, but
rather in the light of gender and thus as a unit both productive and repro-
ductive. Additionally, it vindicates the memory of the family that the woman
abandoned as a consequence of being married.14
Last, Ruth demonstrates the solidity of her promise by turning her back
on her own gods and “clinging” to Naomi’s God. Given that she had met the
Israelites in Moab, the knowledge that Ruth could have of the God of Israel
would not have been received in the public sphere (through a community).
Ruth has found Israel’s God, to whom she decides “to cling,” in the domestic
sphere and, principally, through contact with her mother-in-law. Their cohab-
itation in Moab allows her to understand what is meant by a life supported
by faith in the God of Israel and its provident action, even in adversity.15 If
the news that reaches Moab (“YHWH has visited his people and given them
food” [Ruth 1:6]) is so believable that it causes her to risk going to Bethle-
hem with her mother-in-law, it is because Naomi’s God reveals himself to be
worthy. Ruth’s decision, then, shows her to be a woman with the capacity for
choice. And her choice is motivated by the affection she has for her mother-
in-law and not for reasons of gender, ethnicity, or religion.16
In what way does Ruth enrich our view of reality? In the first place, Ruth
chooses a commitment to her mother-in-law over her own ethnic and family
group, over a new marriage arranged by her family17 and even over her own
gods. This indicates that Ruth, upon understanding the conflict that has arisen
because of the death of the men, has decided to resolve it not in terms of jus-
tice and law but rather in terms of personal attachment and separation. Ruth

13. Jenni R. Ebeling, Women’s Lives in Biblical Times (New York: T&T Clark, 2010), 28.
14. Ibid., 86.
15. Roberta T. Apfel and Lise Grondahl, “Feminine Plurals,” in Reading Ruth: Contem-
porary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story (ed. Judith A. Kates and Gail Twersky Reimer; New
York: Ballantine, 1996), 55–64, here 59.
16. Navarro Puerto, Los libros de Josué, Jueces y Rut, 138.
17. Ebeling, Women’s Lives in Biblical Times, 82: “Even though mothers could be
involved in marriage negotiations, the language used in the arrangements is male: a woman
is given, taken, sent for, captured or even purchased in the case of a slave wife.”
242 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

has chosen to free her mother-in-law from the isolation and pain that their
situation could cause instead of following what is prescribed by the law. Ruth
has assumed responsibility for her, and this action will cause the personal
links between the two women to strengthen to the point that they will recover
the lives that they carry within their names.
In this way, Ruth has given us keys to use in examining our own inter-
personal relationships. As Roberta T. Apfel and Lise Grondahl note, the verb
‫דבק‬, which does not have pejorative meaning in the Bible, can be understood
today as referring to something unhealthy, capable of eliminating autonomy
and the power of decision; from their psychiatric point of view, however, the
authors observe that the richness of some relationships thus established can
contribute to our condition as people.18
Additionally, by offering a new dimension of reality—the idea that taking
care of another invites the management of interpersonal relationships through
a perspective illuminated by the principle of responsibility19—Ruth reminds
us that we form part of a web of relationships in which some of us depend on
others. This dependence demands both a care for the fabric of social links that
allow for this responsibility and an attention to the abandonment and social
exclusion that can sometimes result. We should be cautious, however, when
dealing with the relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law and avoid
generalizing its value and presenting it as a model for all women.20

2.2. The Women of Bethlehem as Protagonists

After examining the capacity of Ruth’s name to enrich women’s imagination,

let us spend time with a group of women from Bethlehem, an anonymous
chorus whose participation is the key for understanding Ruth and Naomi’s
return to Bethlehem.21 The women of Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19; 4:14) play a cru-
cial role in the story because they provide the setting for the process that will
return life and memory to Naomi and, through “clinging” to her, also to Ruth.

18. Apfel and Grondahl, “Feminine Plurals,” 59–60.

19. Ellen F. Davis, “‘All that You Say, I Will Do’: A Sermon on the Book of Ruth,” in
Scrolls of Love: Ruth and the Song of Songs (ed. Peter S. Hawkins and Lesleigh C. Stahlberg;
New York: Fordham University Press, 2006), 3–8, here 4.
20. Feminist exegesis in the context of Asia provides interesting warnings about this;
see Ana May Say Pa, “Reading Ruth 3:1–5 from an Asian Woman’s Perspective,” in Engag-
ing the Bible in a Gendered World: An Introduction to Feminist Biblical Interpretation in
Honor of Katharine Doob Sakenfeld (ed. Linda Day and Carolyn Pressler; Louisville: West-
minster John Knox, 2006), 47–59, here 49.
21. Rachel Minc, “Le role du choeur feminine dans le livre de Ruth,” BVC 77 (1967):
71–76.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 243

In Ruth 1:19, they are not explicitly cited, but the verb ‫ותאמרנה‬, “the women
said,” is in the feminine plural, which allows us to identify the women of Beth-
lehem as the subject of the sentence; in Ruth 4:17 they are ‫השׁכנות‬, “women
of the neighborhood.”22 Our protagonists have created ties of solidarity and
friendship with these women, especially when, as a consequence of marriage,
they have joined a social group that was different from theirs.23 Their recep-
tion of Ruth and Naomi, who are returning from Moab, shows emotion and
agitation, but also happiness (cf., e.g., the happiness of the women who receive
David in 1 Sam 18:7). The women serve as a mouthpiece for the surprise pro-
voked in Bethlehem when Naomi returns ten years after emigrating to Moab:
widow, without children, with no sign of having prospered economically and
also in the company of a Moabite.
The question “Can this be Naomi?” suggests that the years passed and
suffering caused by the tragedy in Moab have left traces on Naomi’s face.
She arrives, also, without the men who brought her into the public sphere.
Naomi’s answer explains that her new identity is found in the changing of
her name. She who left alive, fecund, and accompanied (Ruth 1:21) returns
“bitter” (Ruth 1:20). It is these women’s words, however, at the end of the story
that rehabilitate Naomi’s life and memory. They do this by “clinging” to Ruth,
who is no longer the Moabite, but rather “your daughter-in-law who loves
you so much,” and who seems to have been forgotten during the arrival (Ruth
1:19–21). The chorus of women thus serves the memory of both. The daugh-
ter-in-law, who arrives “clinging” to Naomi and unacknowledged, returns life
to her. If we understand life to mean the sustenance provided by alimentation
(Lam 1:11, 19), then the Hebrew expression ‫ להשׁיב נפשׁ‬could be translated as
“it will restore your life” or “it will return your vitality” (Ruth 4:15).24
It is worth noting that we can find one of the theological messages of our
book in the voice of the women’s chorus. The book of Ruth teaches that two
things are outside of the control of biblical men: the fecundity of a woman
and of the earth, both signs of God’s action. The women who receive Naomi
“empty” proclaim that she once again experiences life and fecundity thanks
to the fact that Ruth has clung to her and has become “more to you than
seven sons” (Ruth 4:15).25 The action of returning a person to life, an action
of which God is usually the subject, is attributed to Ruth, an instrument of

22. The term only appears here and in Exod 3:22.

23. Carol L. Meyers, “Women of the Neighbourhood,” in Brenner, Ruth and Esther,
110–17, 119.
24. The expression ‫להשׁיב נפשׁ‬, “to restore vitality/life,” also appears in Job 33:30.
25. Keep in mind that “seven” traditionally represents perfection and also the ideal
number of children (1 Sam 2:5; Job 1:2; 42:13; Jer 15:9) and that men were, in general,
244 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

divine providence. Note that God does not appear even once directly com-
municating with protagonists in revelations or religious acts.26 However, the
fecundity of the earth, the other symbol of God’s action, which mobilizes
the return of Ruth and Naomi (announced in Ruth 1:6), is also undertaken
thanks to women when Ruth collects food in Boaz’s fields and brings abun-
dant amounts to her mother-in-law (Ruth 2:1; 3:16).

3. The Memory of the Foreigners

The story of Ruth, a story of poor women who support one another when
their lives and memories are at stake, comes together with biblical litera-
ture as a paradigmatic example of what we know today as the “processes of
empowerment.” According to these processes, individuals or collectives who
have been excluded from the system and denied the capacity of choice speak
and make decisions and acquire in these circumstances the capacities that
they had been denied.
The book begins with the emigration of the family of Elimelech, a Jew
from Bethlehem, to Moab; the marriage of his sons with two women from
the country (Ruth 1:1–4); and the death of all the men. This story is linked
very quickly with another that is similar: the emigration of the women of the
family to their homeland. The narrator places both stories in parallel and tells
them from the Israelite’s perspective to create, from within, a rereading that
can perhaps reaffirm values that were being questioned when the story was
written.27 Thus the reader does not have the impression that the emigration
to Moab was difficult for Elimelech and his people; the text does not suggest
that there is any conflict. However, the continual reference to the daughter-
in-law’s Moabite origin and the silence of the women when she enters the
town with her mother-in-law cause the reader to be suspicious about the
women’s return.
Indeed, from the beginning to the end, the author makes note of the
fact that Ruth belongs to Moab. In fact, the term “Moabite” accompanies the
proper noun six times: three times from the narrator (Ruth 1:22; 2:2, 21), once
from Boaz’s servants (Ruth 2:6) and twice from Boaz himself (Ruth 4:5, 10).

preferred over women. Timothy D. Finlay, The Birth Report Genre in the Hebrew Bible (FAT
12; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005).
26. Katharine D. Sakenfeld, Ruth (IBC; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999), 16:
“Readers are invited to look for the human component in the blessings they receive, and,
like Ruth specially, to live in such a way that their own actions become the channel for
God’s blessings upon those around them.”
27. The postexilic time of Ezra and Nehemiah’s reforms.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 245

The narrator emphasizes this so that the reader never loses sight of the pro-
tagonist’s origin. Not only this, but Ruth also interprets her ethnic condition
as the reason for her exclusion when, in her dialogue with Boaz, the relative
from Bethlehem who accommodates her on his land, she presents herself as
a “foreigner” (Ruth 2:10). In this case, she uses the term ‫נכריה‬, which not
only refers to the “foreigner” (‫ )גר‬to whom Israelite legislation gives certain
rights (Exod 12:48; Lev 19:33; 23:35, 47; Num 9:14; 15:14; Deut 10:18; 24:17;
27:19), but also to the “alien” who does not have any links and who, for this
reason, is part of a lower social order. In fact, Robert Martin-Achard28 and
Paul Humbert29 emphasize the meaning that ‫ נכרי‬has in the family sphere. It
designates the person who is not recognized as a member, the woman who is
not integrated into the clan and is definitively socially disqualified.
The choice of Moab as a homeland for Ruth, the titular woman, is fairly
paradoxical30 if one considers the fact that relations between Moab and Israel
entail a long history of agreements and disagreements in which women play
an important role. Moab, a town with which Israel is linked by kinship (Deut
2:8–9), is disdained for its incestuous origins (Gen 19:30–38), for not accom-
modating Israel upon its return from Egypt, even for seeking to place a curse
on them at the oracles of the prophet Balaam (Num 22–24), and because the
daughters of Moab have corrupted the men of Israel (Num 25). This con-
flictive history has sealed the Moabites’ exclusion from the Israelite assembly
(Deut 23:3–6). Such exclusion is the most serious and irremediable of any
group mentioned in the Torah.31
As in all stories of exclusion, the prejudices that are consolidated through-
out time make a peaceful relationship between the parties impossible. The
author most likely chose the paradigm of exclusion, the Moabites, and in par-
ticular the female Moabites, in order to make the reader think about a new
type of relationship that could be instituted with the excluded people, who are
in our story represented by the Moabites. In other words, the author thinks
not only about the assimilation or conversion of non-Israelites but also about

28. Robert Martin-Achard, “‫ נֵ ָכר‬stranger,” TLOT 2:739–41.

29. Cited by Jack M. Sasson, Ruth: A New Translation with a Philological Commentary
and a Formalist-Folklorist Interpretation (JHNES; Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1979), 51.
30. André LaCocque, “Subverting the Biblical World: Sociology and Politics in the
Book of Ruth,” in Hawkins and Stahlberg, Scrolls of Love, 20–30, 24.
31. In the same chapter it is pointed out: “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is
your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.
The children of the third generation that are born to them may enter the assembly of the
Lord” (Deut 23:7–8).
246 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

the need to energize in Israel a kind of relationship with foreigners based on

values and not prejudices. Nothing in the text suggests a negative view of the
Moabites: we actually see the opposite.32 In fact, for some people, Ruth pres-
ents an inclusive and even universalist image of the people of Israel.33 Now,
in order to discover these values, we have to go to the text itself and see two
elements that provide a key to construct a discourse about “the others,” a dis-
course that, free of prejudices, is capable of seeing others as completely neces-
sary in constructing one’s own identity.
The first element is dialogue. In the book of Ruth, fifty-six of its eighty-six
verses form part of a dialogue. In fact, dialogue is the instrument with which
the plot is structured, giving it a cinematographic agility.34 Additionally, all of
the characters have been created to communicate with each other; the nar-
rator limits himself to presenting them and giving them the chance to speak
and thus additionally suggests the value of the cooperative over the hierarchi-
cal.35 If we keep in mind the agreement from a psychological, scientific, and
philosophical perspective that the construction of identity is the fruit of a dia-
logical process,36 an analysis of the dialogues in which Ruth’s social and per-
sonal identities37 are explained reveals the message the book wants to impart
about the Moabites. I will examine three dialogues that signal key moments in
the story: the reception by the women of Bethlehem (1:19–20), the dialogue
between Ruth and Boaz in the field (2:5–12), and the dialogue at the doors of
the city at the end of the story (4:9–11).
In the first dialogue, the women of Bethlehem completely ignore the
Moabite. This exclusion has perhaps been started by Naomi, who quiets her
after her daughter-in-law decides to “cling to her” (1:14, 17). When Ruth
speaks, Naomi’s silence continues: “When Naomi saw that she was deter-
mined to go with her, she said no more to her” (1:18).
In the second dialogue, Boaz becomes the first person in Bethlehem
to notice Ruth’s presence; upon visiting his field, he sees her. The question
“Whose maiden is this?” (2:5) starts a dialogue with his servant. This dialogue

32. Ruth A. Putnam, “Friendship,” in Kates and Reimer, Reading Ruth, 44–54, here 46.
33. Donn F. Morgan, Between Text and Community: The “Writings” in Canonical Inter-
pretation (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 51.
34. Navarro Puerto, Los libros de Josué, Jueces y Rut, 167.
35. Meyers, “Returning Home,” 92–93.
36. Andrés Escarbajal Frutos and Andrés Escarbajal de Haro, La interculturalidad:
Desafío para la educación (Madrid: Dykinson, 2007), 39.
37. Lupicinio Íñiguez, “Identidad: de lo personal a lo social: Un recorrido conceptual,”
in La constitución social de la subjetividad (ed. Eduardo Crespo; Madrid: Catarata, 2001),
209–25.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 247

places Ruth at the forefront of the narration to present her not only with her
social identity, her Moabite origin, but also with her personal identity, that of
having decided to “cling” to her mother-in-law. It is this identity that is going
to become significant for Boaz, who will publicly praise Ruth’s ‫חסד‬, her good-
ness, her big heart (3:10). Said in another way, the virtue that accompanies
her actions38 renders her worthy of God’s blessing and an exemplary woman.
In the book of Ruth, ‫ חסד‬also appears in 1:8 and 2:20 as a divine attribute
that is revealed in how people act. Thus Naomi asks for God’s ‫ חסד‬for her
daughters-in-law, the same that they have given to her; and she blesses God
because the figure of Boaz as ‫“( גאל‬rescuer”) expresses the ‫ חסד‬of YHWH
over them. Finally, Boaz sees ‫ חסד‬in all of Ruth’s personal history. Addition-
ally, this virtue becomes the key that unites the destinies of Ruth and Boaz,
the “powerful man” (2:11) and the “strong woman” (3:11), since divine ‫ חסד‬is
expressed through the actions of both.
The last dialogue, between the people and the elders at the door of Beth-
lehem, links Ruth with the great matriarchs of Israel, thus tying her closely to
the history of the Israelite people. Different from the Israelite heroines Debo-
rah or Miriam, Ruth becomes a heroic figure for having carried the limits of
goodness further than one would hope for or imagine, thus making goodness
(‫ )חסד‬a rule for relationships with foreigners.39 The excluded minority repre-
sented by Ruth teaches Israel that ‫ חסד‬is the key to empowering foreigners—a
symbol of those who are excluded—in the midst of the people. Additionally,
her autonomy and decision-making power, based in that same attitude, offer
women keys to empowerment.40 Also, Ruth represents anyone who dares to
break down barriers, to fight to go further than what is thought possible.
This paradigm of fighting against exclusion comes back to us when we
consider the reality of those women who, having to confront economic,
political, or gender conditions that excluded them from their people, were
capable of reinventing their future.41 Thinking about migrant women who
go to the first world to look for work in order to be able to survive, many

38. As Joüon notes, Ruth’s first act of ‫ חסד‬is not having abandoned her mother-in-
law; the second, having wanted to give descendants to her father-in-law, preferring to
marry the “rescuer” Boaz over any other young man. Perhaps the reference to the poor
young ones is an allusion to the servants behind whom she gleaned in the fields. Paul
Joüon, Ruth: Commentaire philologique et exégétique (SubBi 9; Roma: Institut Biblique
Pontifical, 1986), 74.
39. Susanne Klingenstein, “Circles of Kinship: Samuel’s Family Romance,” in Kates
and Reimer, Reading Ruth, 199–210, 202.
40. Judith A. Kates, “Women at the Center: Ruth and Shavuot,” in Kates and Reimer,
Reading Ruth, 187–98, 198.
41. Sarojini Nadar, “A South African Indian Womanist Reading of the Character of
248 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

people interpret42 the story of Ruth to reclaim the unimaginable: that they
are accepted—and integrated—especially when dealing with women who are
severely poor or belong to excluded groups.

Ruth, a foreign and excluded woman, was capable of making an offer that
responded to the core problem. Love helps Ruth to rescue identity, commu-
nal spirit, happiness of life, faith, hope and future for Naomi’s people (Ruth
4:11–16). She, the excluded one, gives her life to the reconstruction of a for-
eign people whom she takes as her own. In the alliance that she made with
Naomi, she embraces this people’s destiny which then comes to be her own.
She does this because of friendship and also through the deep solidarity that
unites the poor.43

The title of the book can empower the Moabites, rehabilitate their memory,
and also show the existence of a world outside of Israel where the Jews are
present and YHWH accompanies them. In this sense, Ruth highlights theo-
logical traditions present in the Bible that, far from presenting an exclusive
theology, call attention to the need to recuperate the inclusion of all human
beings in one space.44

4. The Substantial Memory of the Torah

The book of Ruth, whose position in the canon changes depending on

whether we speak of the Hebrew text or the Septuagint, contains a memory
of Torah traditions that convert the familiar past of Israel in a permanent and
interpolating present. It is probably for this reason that it became part of the
small collection of the Megilloth, five books that are read in synagogue liturgy
during the most important holidays of the Jewish calendar. The reading of
Ruth is given during the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot), a holiday of biblical
origin (Exod 34:22; Lev 23:15–21; Num 28:26–31) that is celebrated, in the
first place, at the beginning of the wheat harvest, the same season in which the

Ruth,” in Other Ways of Reading: African Women and the Bible (ed. Musa W. Dube; Atlanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2001), 159–75.
42. Bonnie Honig, “Ruth, the Model Émigrée: Mourning and the Symbolic Politics of
Immigration,” in Brenner, Ruth and Esther, 50–74; Brenner, “Ruth as Foreign Worker and
the Politics of Exogamy,” in Brenner, Ruth and Esther, 158–62; Kwok Pui-lan, Post-Colonial
Imagination and Feminist Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005).
43. Mercedes Lopes, “Alianza por la vida: Una relectura de Rut a partir de las culturas,”
RIBLA 26 (1997): 96–101.
44. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi interprets the book of Ruth in the same way as an answer
to the exclusion of foreign women in Ezra-Nehemiah; see her contribution in this volume.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 249

nucleus of Ruth’s story takes place (Ruth 1:22; 2:23); but since rabbinical times
it also commemorates the gift of the Torah to the sons of Israel (b. Pesaḥ . 68b).

4.1. Celebrating the Gift of the Torah from New Perspectives

At the beginning of her study of Ruth and Shavuot, Judith A. Kates ques-
tions the meaning of reading the book during this holiday.45 The question is
not rhetorical, nor can it be answered today with traditional explanations.46
Tackling this question and looking for new perspectives that add meaning to
a reading of the book as an updated memory of the Torah can be extremely
suggestive. Note that everything said, pointed out, or whispered here will
legitimize the Torah.
Our task, following traditional parameters, must be in the first place to
attend to references to legal precepts in the Torah that, whether explicitly or
implicitly, appear in the text.47 There are already a number of studies deal-
ing with this question, to which I will direct the reader. In recent years, new
studies have developed in another interesting area: the analysis of explicit or
implicit allusions to the narrations of the Torah and its principal characters,
the patriarchs and matriarchs that have built the house of Israel. It is pre-
cisely into these allusions that I propose to delve in order to discover how they
challenge our own story. First, I will examine explicit references, those that
are perfectly recognizable in the text or the tradition that is being reread; I
will continue then with implicit references, that is, the suggestion—subtle and
veiled at times—of themes, figures, or traditions of the Torah.

4.2. The Explicit Rereading of Narrative Torah Texts

The book of Ruth contains two explicit references to narrations of the Torah
in which women are protagonists. They are Ruth 4:11, “May YHWH make the
woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together
built up the house of Israel”; and 4:12, “through the children that YHWH will
give you by this young woman, may your house be like the house of Perez,
whom Tamar bore to Judah.” Both texts are put in the mouths of the people48

45. Kates, “Women at the Center,” 188.

46. Adele Berlin, “Ruth and the Continuity of Israel,” in Kates and Reimer, Reading
Ruth, 255–60, 255.
47. The legal plot of the story explicitly combines two married legal institutions of the
Torah: the levirate law (Deut 25) and the rescue law (Lev 25:23–38). The social legislation
to benefit widows, orphans, and foreigners is implicitly noted (Lev 19:9–10; Deut 24:19).
48. Sakenfeld, Ruth, 76, speculates about a possible female presence in the group.
250 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

and the elders assembled at the doors to the city; both are directed at Boaz as
prayers of blessing on his upcoming marriage.
This blessing includes two petitions. Through reference to Jacob’s wives
(who “built his house”), the first petition asks that in Ruth the fecundity she
carries in her name be visible, a fertility that was hidden during ten years
of marriage to Mahlon in Moab (they did not have children) and that could
now be consummated. Additionally, this petition gives Ruth a foundational
value49 that will manifest itself when she becomes an ancestor of David, the
new dynasty that will unite Israel.50 It is worth noting that this scene harks
back directly to the levirate legislation (Deut 25), but with a notable change: it
is not the male/brother-in-law who builds his brother’s house, but a woman—
Ruth, evoking Leah and Rachel—who fulfills this duty. There is a move from
the legal realm to the family sphere, a step that will be sealed when the neigh-
bors proclaim, “A son has been born to Naomi” (Ruth 4:17). In this way, we
see the difference between the male world, which takes pleasure in Boaz’s luck
in bearing many sons through Ruth, and the female world, which publicly
proclaims how Naomi’s name has finally been fulfilled.51
The second petition completes the first because it compares Ruth to
Tamar, two foreign women who take the reins of their lives with autonomy
and decisiveness. The story’s goal is to emphasize Ruth’s capacity to put her-
self in another’s place and to show how this is the key to a fertile life, capable
of bringing vitality to the lineage she joined.52 The reference to the stories of
the matriarchs appeals, additionally, to the need to overcome certain bibli-
cal stereotypes we continue to use today. Indeed, an inattentive reading of
women’s texts leads us to believe—at times—stories of biblical heroines who
frequently fight over a man. It is true that the story of the two sisters, Leah
and Rachel, presents this trait and underlines how the dependence on a man
generates competition and violence among women. However, it is no less true
that its mention in Ruth’s blessing allows our memory to question the values
that guide our interpersonal relationships.
On the other hand, the use of the body as a weapon against men to claim
rights—a resource that is still used today in relations among the sexes—if
indeed present in Ruth’s story (3:3–4), is destroyed precisely by the words of
Boaz, who approves of the woman not because she offers her body but because
of her goodness and charity (Ruth 3:10). Thus one has to read the story as

49. Note the implicit reference to 2 Sam 7:27.

50. Luis Alonso Schökel, Rut, Tobías, Judit Ester (Los Libros Sagrados 8; Madrid: Cris-
tiandad, 1973), 22.
51. Aleixandre, “Buscadoras de un nombre,” 7.
52. Kates, “Women at the Center,” 196.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 251

“a story of family loyalty along the lines of the old customs and laws”53 that
denounce the recourse to force or power because these corrupt the dynamic
of life inherent in all families. The story of Ruth, who is “outside the law,”
invites us to be givers of a life that is—beyond mere reproduction—capable of
building a history of a family and people without exclusions and with values
learned and imitated from Israel’s God.

4.3. The Memory of Implicit References54

The first implicit reference is found in Ruth 1:1, when we receive news of a fam-
ily’s emigration as a consequence of hunger in their homeland. We have many
biblical testimonies of the Israelite’s custom to emigrate to Egypt in times of
need. In the patriarchal stories, Abraham (Gen 12:10), Isaac (Gen 26:1), and
Jacob (Gen 41:43–57; 42:5; 43:1) emigrate because “there was hunger in the
land.” Abraham and Isaac are forced to lie about their marriages, and Jacob’s
children suffer because they are foreigners. In Ruth’s story, hunger mobilizes
the emigration of the Ephrathites to Moab, but those who emigrate are poor
and seem to start with nothing; they mix with the inhabitants of the country,
become poorer still, and then die. The last of these stories can be told because
the women, taking into their own hands a present with few guarantees of life,
leave to find a future that YHWH seems to guarantee. Different from the trips
of the patriarchs, always centered on men, in which women follow (the men
decide on and determine duration and itinerary), the book of Ruth presents
a trip taken by two women alone. Additionally, they enter a world over which
they have no control, and they resolve difficulties not through lies but rather
through the firm closeness between them. Fortunately, the author enables us
to enter their world and hear their dialogues, a feature that is not offered to us
in the stories of the patriarchs’ migration.
The second reference is found in Ruth 2:11, where Ruth “clings” to her
mother-in-law like a husband to his wife (Gen 2:24). Within the frame of
rereading the Torah, this relationship again confronts us with patterns that
play out in our interpersonal relations and tend to underline equilibrium,
the existence of common worlds. We have seen already how the narration
questions the stereotype of relationships between daughters-in-law and their

53. Alonso Schökel, Rut, Tobías, Judit Ester, 19.

54. This theme has been deeply studied by Irmtraud Fischer, “The Book of Ruth: A
‘Feminist’ Commentary to the Torah?” in Brenner, Ruth and Esther, 24–49. Others, follow-
ing her study and as Judith A. Kates notes, have wanted to move beyond traditional exege-
sis; e.g., Berlin, “Ruth and the Continuity of Israel,” 255–60; and Kates herself, “Women at
the Center,” 187–98.
252 Miren Junkal Guevara Llaguno

mothers-in-law, a piece of imagery usually filled with conflictive stories.55

However, the story also invites us to integrate compromises that, in some way,
challenge the barriers of age, race, nationality, or religion.56 Rebecca Alpert,
for example, explains how reading this book has helped lesbians illuminate
their situation within the Jewish context.57 In fact, due to the strong connota-
tions of the word “cling,” “Ruth will assume (together with the role of daugh-
ter-in-law) another role in the narration, that of ‘husband,’ because she will
be the sustenance of her mother-in-law (Ruth 2:2–3), who, in her way will
assume the role of ‘father,’ making sure that her daughter-in-law finds a good
husband (Ruth 3:1–5).”58
The third implicit reference is also found in Ruth 2:11: “you left your
father and mother and your native land.” The text echoes the stories of Abra-
ham and Rebecca. In Gen 12:1, Abraham receives the order to leave his land
and his father’s house and to go to a land unknown to him, which will be
shown to him; Rebecca, then, also leaves her land and her father’s house (Gen
24:4–9, 58) to go to a land and family that are unknown. Now, as opposed to
Abraham and Rebecca, who immigrated accompanied either by their families
or in order to start a new family, Ruth leaves her family behind with no expec-
tation of having another.59
Echoing 2 Sam 7:27, the fourth reference (Ruth 4:11) suggests a breaking
with the stereotypes, related to the construction of Israel’s identity. Let us not
forget that Israel is a people firmly supported in the mutual compromise of
love and fidelity that they have agreed on with God. Also, “Ruth is incorpo-
rated into this world, and an expression of this is, in the first place, her own
persona, and secondly, the son of her womb.”60 This theme also challenges
us to consider the means by which we affirm our religious identities. Such

55. They can found their relationships on cooperation and not competition; see Julie
Ley C. Chu, “Returning Home: The Inspiration of Rule Differentiation in the Book of Ruth
for Taiwanese Women,” Semeia 78 (1997): 47–53, here 51–52.
56. Apfel and Grondahl, “Feminine Plurals,” 57: “The Ruth-Naomi relationship is
more than just a model of two people relating across culture, age, and status. It is a model
of a mutual, non-judgmental, accepting, caring, devoted relationship between people who
might be expected to quarrel, compete, and find conflict. This type of relationship is found
nowhere else in the Bible, and indeed is rare in the world’s literature.”
57. Rebecca T. Alpert, “Finding out Past: A Lesbian Interpretation of the Book of
Ruth,” in Kates and Reimer, Reading Ruth, 91–96, here 93.
58. Elisa Estévez, “Un alegato a favor del mestizaje: el libro de Ruth,” Reseña Bíblica 40
(2003): 23–31, here 29.
59. Kates, “Women at the Center,” 191.
60. Elisa Estévez, “Función socio-histórico y teológica del libro de Rut,” Miscelánea
Comillas 59 (2001): 685–707, here 700.
 Ruth and Naomi Reclaim Their Lives and Memories 253

religious self-assertion can oscillate between the negation of the other and the
uncritical assimilation of the dominant religion and identity.
Last, in the second genealogy of chapter 4, the expression ‫ואלה תולדות‬
(“these are the descendants,” Ruth 4:18) reminds us of the toledot formulas
present in Genesis (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2). These
toledots structure the book and contribute, together with the family stories,
to presenting the world as a great family and underlining the importance of
sociopolitical questions. Now, of course, all toledot are male centered, and the
author of the book of Ruth incorporates them into the story to include a per-
spective that considers women’s roles in Israel in biblical tradition. Perhaps all
of these reasons are sufficient to respond to the question that Judith A. Kates
posed at the beginning of this section: “Its women characters challenge the
Jewish world to live up to Torah ideals and, in so doing, make manifest to us
what sort of society—what sort of people—the Torah is supposed to create.”61

5. Conclusion

At the beginning of this essay, I noted the capacity of memory to envision

the force and vitality of the past and to neutralize the ease of forgetting. The
trip that we have taken through the book of Ruth legitimizes it, without a
doubt, as a book of memory. This memory visualizes for its readers at all
times the need to open paths toward the empowerment and inclusion of all
those human beings who are still today separated from decision-making cen-
ters and excluded from a worthy social life, here represented by two poor,
widowed, foreign women. This memory emphasizes the force of solidarity, of
clinging to others to travel with them, down a privileged road, where struc-
tures can be built that are capable of generating life, culture, and development.
This memory savors and deepens inheritance and shared tradition, convert-
ing both to a key not only to forming one’s own identity but also to opening
oneself to others. May this reading, contemplation, and memory of the book
of Ruth not only wear out its pages but also show them to be alive and capable
of generating hope.

Translated from Spanish by Anna Deckert

61. Kates and Reimer, Reading Ruth, xix.

 Interpreting Esther:
Categories, Contexts, and Creative Ambiguities
Susan Niditch

1. Introduction to Esther:
Content and Methodological Challenges

The book of Esther might be regarded as a kind of Cinderella tale. The Persian
monarch Ahasuerus (Xerxes) has eliminated his queen Vashti for refusing to
appear at his behest in front of him and his drunken entourage. A beautiful
orphan girl raised by Mordecai, her cousin, a member of the Jewish commu-
nity living in exile, Esther is selected among all the maidens of the kingdom to
become the new queen of Persia. This traditional theme concerning the rise of
Esther is joined by others including the rivalry between the courtiers Haman
and Mordecai, the plot against the king’s life foiled by Mordecai, and the threat
of extermination leveled against Esther’s people, the Jews, a disaster she her-
self is able to prevent by intervening with the king. The rescue is enshrined in
the festival of Purim, established at the end of the narrative.
The style of the book of Esther is densely repetitive, hyperbolic, and at
times comic. The king plans not just to kill the Jews but also to destroy, to
kill, and to cause them to perish (7:4; 8:11). The people who are threatened
do not merely fast, but fast, weep, wail, and wear sackcloth and ashes (4:3).
The bigger-than-life characters are also hyperbolic: The beauty and wisdom of
Esther are incomparable, the villainy of Haman extraordinary, the foolishness
of Ahasuerus undeniable, the goodness of Mordecai exemplary. Qualities of
goodness and evil, wisdom and foolishness are drawn starkly. It is important
to note that all the good and wise characters are Jewish, the evil and foolish
ones are not. Esther is a Persian-period work that portrays Jews in the mar-
ginal position of the conquered. They are under threat and subject to false
accusation even though they are the king’s most loyal subjects. They are able
to survive by the exercise of their own wits. The deity is barely mentioned, if

-255-
256 Susan Niditch

at all (4:14). The book of Esther reinforces a positive view of Jewish identity,
resilience, and self-reliance in the context of foreign domination.1
The book of Esther with its female hero and its themes of tyranny, oppres-
sion, marginalization, and liberation is an especially rich source of feminist
reflection and reception. Purim plays, reenactments of the tale of the Esther,
were the common stock of Purim celebrations at synagogue and Hebrew
school celebrations in my youth. Every little girl wanted to play the part of
Esther, who was viewed as a beautiful, courageous savior queen. In my early
twenties, Esther became to many Jewish women an epitome of the archetypal,
passive woman whose road to success was derived from the controlling men
around her. Her physical, bodily capital seemed central to her career, as did
her skills as an ideal hostess and preparer of food—not, in short, a good role
model for feminists. Of course, both of these culturally laden assumptions
about Esther simplify the biblical character and the spectrum of interpreta-
tions that can be or have been offered.
The study of Esther is complicated by a variety of challenging ambiguities
and questions that have been addressed in various ways by scholars of wom-
en’s studies over the last several decades. How are power and status defined
in gendered terms? Do portrayals of women in literature exist iconically apart
from composers and contexts? Are certain aspects of female portrayal uni-
versal, even biological, in origin, or are all portrayals ultimately cultural con-
structions? Do we seek to understand portrayals of women such as Esther
within their own sociohistorical contexts, however we reconstruct or define
these settings, or as sources for appropriation, interpretation, and investment
with meanings that are relevant to subsequent writers?
My study of Esther begins by offering some heuristic categories in femi-
nist interpretation that help to frame an understanding of the biblical char-
acter and her variegated reception history. Having provided these descriptive
categories for engagement with Esther, I review a number of interpretations
and perceptions of Esther that both reflect and have shaped worldviews in a
range of cultural settings. Certain recurring threads emerge in the interpreta-
tion of Esther that transcend the particular settings of those who receive and

1. For a reading from this perspective, see Klara Butting, “Esther: About Resistance
against Anti-Semitism and Sexism,” in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of
Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature (ed. Luise Schottroff
and Marie-Theres Wacker; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 207–20. Feminist interpreta-
tions in German-speaking scholarship include Marie-Theres Wacker, Ester: Jüdin—Köni-
gin—Retterin (Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2006); and Aurica Nutt and Stephanie
Feder, eds., Esters unbekannte Seiten: Theologische Perspektiven auf ein vergessenes biblisches
Buch: Festschrift für Marie-Theres Wacker (Mainz: Grünewald, 2012).
 Interpreting Esther 257

respond to the fifth-century-BCE work. These interpretations, in turn, relate

in complex and revealing ways to our understanding of the ancient narrative
in its own social context, complicating and enriching the process of exege-
sis. The essay concludes with my own suggestions about the biblical figure of
Esther, an analysis influenced by colleagues in the field of folklore studies; with
a view of Esther as exemplifying women’s backdoor power; with a reflection
on the theme of woman as a civilizing force; and with thoughts on the holiday
of Purim as it relates to themes of liberation, colonialism, and feminism.

2. Categories

The first category is traditionalist acceptance. This method of reading, often

rooted in normative assumptions, approaches biblical portrayals of women
positively and unapologetically as models for contemporary women. Traits of
courage and forbearance are found in traditional roles of wife and mother. The
women are sometimes selected by the deity for special roles, but there is no
shame in taking a back seat to husbands and fathers in the exercise of power.
Those who espouse traditionalist acceptance claim to take the Bible on its
own terms, but often ignore nuances and tensions implicit in the biblical tales
or the larger tradition, for example, Esther’s marriage to an uncircumcised
foreigner, a foolish, narcissistic, self-indulgent man. This marriage, pushed by
Esther’s guardian, her cousin Mordecai, does not seem to trouble the biblical
author of the Hebrew Esther, but poses a problem in the larger Jewish tradi-
tion, as responses in the Greek Esther and rabbinic commentaries indicate.
In contrast to acceptance, a deceptively simple response to biblical por-
trayals of women, is the second category, rejectionism. An eloquent and
exemplary voice in this category is that of Carol P. Christ. Christ notes that
she herself was trained as a scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures and that as a
young adult she sought meaningful life models in the Bible. As her think-
ing developed, however, she came to believe that the Hebrew Bible is not
useful “as a basis for [her] feminist vision.” Rejecting the models provided by
Scripture, Christ discovered the goddess, writing “Not until I said Goddess
did I realize that I had never felt fully included in the fullness of my being as
a woman in masculine or neuterized imagery for divinity.”2 One might argue
that the book of Esther has no reference to God and that its heroine provides
a flesh-and-blood model for female empowerment and noble action. Christ
herself notes that some of her feminist colleagues do “work within biblical

2. Carol P. Christ, The Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess

(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 67.
258 Susan Niditch

traditions to reform or transform them so that they will reflect a feminist

vision of the equality of women.”3 This brings us to the third category of
approaches to women in the Bible, selective appropriation and adaptation.
Between those who uncritically accept the tradition and those who
espouse reasoned rejection are those who find certain aspects of biblical mate-
rial empowering to women but other themes and motifs oppressive and offen-
sive. Aspects accepted or rationalized or adjusted will differ from period to
period and author to author, but all in this category want to find their world-
views in Scripture even while acknowledging that apologies and adaptations
must be made. Examples of selective biblical appropriation are offered in the
many thoughtful works by Phyllis Trible.
Trible, for example, rescues Eve from a long history of Western interpre-
tations of Gen 2–3 that blame woman for death and the loss of paradise. She
points to Eve’s positive qualities as a seeker of wisdom, a bringer of culture
who displays a capacity for leadership rather than passivity and a secondary
status.4 In the same article, Trible suggests that the woman in the Song of
Songs offers a positive model of independence and sensuality. In this way,
Trible as a feminist Christian appropriates the biblical text.
The final category is “structured empathy,” a phrase created by the scholar
of comparative religion Ninian Smart.5 The phrase “structured empathy”
implies the scholar’s desire to understand and identify with the way others
believe—others who lived before us or who live in contemporary cultures dif-
ferent from our own. Such scholars seek to comprehend the way other human
beings, set in social groups, make sense of the world. They approach this
search with openness toward the subjects of study, but with no need to appro-
priate their worldviews. The investment in this sort of study of sacred texts
is thus different from the investment of appropriators. Those who approach
a work such as Esther with structured empathy, however, make no claim of
absolute objectivity. Our selves and our contexts always intrude and influence
our interpretation.

2.1. Acceptance

The nineteenth-century corpus of works by women who interpret Esther is

rich in traditional acceptance. In her 1842 work, Heroines of Sacred History,

3. Ibid., 58.
4. Phyllis Trible, “Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation,” in The Jewish Woman:
New Perspectives (ed. Elizabeth Koltun; New York: Schocken, 1976), 217–40.
5. Ninian Smart, Worldviews: Crosscultural Explorations of Human Beliefs (New York:
Scribner’s, 1983).
 Interpreting Esther 259

Eliza Steele presents Esther as a fine example of “woman’s self-sacrifice and

filial obedience.”6 Steele describes Esther as “a beautiful example of the duty
we owe our guardians and aged relatives.”7 A similar interpretation of Esther’s
initiative and selflessness is found in a mid-twentieth-century assessment by
Edith Deen, a best-selling Christian writer whose popular works have reached
millions of readers. Deen writes that Esther had “the sound judgment, fine
self-control, and the ability to think of others first.”8
These characterizations of Esther reflect some of the same spirit of tradi-
tional acceptance found in the interpretation of evangelical Christian writer
Lisa Ryan. A former Miss California, actress, and TV producer, Ryan is espe-
cially interested in Esther as a model for contemporary young women. Her
book For Such a Time as This, written in the genre of inspirational literature
for young women, treats Esther as a model of the feminine with qualities of
tenderness, compassion, self-sacrifice, and mothering, “a reflection of the
heart of God” that all women should embrace.9 For her, Esther’s beauty is
rooted in her character rather than in superficial makeup and finery. The
king loves her because “she is a breath of fresh air.”10 Such is the beauty she
urges readers to find in themselves. Esther’s obedience is moreover exemplary.
Young women need to follow the advice of wise mentors such as Mordecai.
As a former beauty pageant competitor, Ryan identifies with Esther and, like
the biblical writer, sees no problem in the competition for the king’s affection.
In fact, she describes Esther’s waiting to hear about the king’s response as fol-
lows: “The Queen of Persia is—envelope please …”11 Ryan’s is a full-throated
appropriation as identification.
The thread of acceptance thus includes women commentators from the
nineteenth century, the mid-twentieth century, and contemporary evangelical
culture. Piety, beauty, selflessness, self-control, and quiet courage lead to acts
of heroism. Other interpreters, however, suggest that such a portrayal con-
tributes to a stereotype that reinforces passivity, powerlessness, and superficial
physical qualities.

6. Cited by Joyce Zonana, “Esther, Vashti, and the Duty of Disobedience in Nineteenth
Century Hermeneutics,” in Through a Glass Darkly: Essays in the Religious Imagination (ed.
John C. Hawley; New York: Fordham University Press, 1996), 228–49, here 230.
7. Ibid., 239.
8. Edith Deen, All the Women of the Bible (London: Independent, 1959), 124.
9. Lisa Ryan, For Such a Time as This: Your Identity, Purpose, and Passion (Sisters, Ore.:
Multnomah, 2001), 17.
10. Ibid., 82.
11. Ibid., 103.
260 Susan Niditch

2.2. Rejectionism

The rejectionist position points to the negative effects such views of Esther
have on young women and gender relations. Mary Gendler writes,

What about Esther do I find objectionable? In most ways she sounds like
an ideal woman—beautiful, pious, obedient, courageous. And it is just this
which I find objectionable. Esther is certainly the prototype—and per-
haps even a stereotype—of the ideal Jewish woman—an ideal which I find
restrictive and repressive. … Ahasuerus can be seen not only as an Ultimate
Authority who holds vast power over everyone, but more generally as male,
patriarchal authority in relation to females.12

Esther Fuchs,13 Alice Laffey,14 and Bea Wyler15 share Gendler’s position and
see Esther as contributing to a portrait of woman as passive sex object, able
to succeed only by pleasing men and by conforming to a male-centered view
of women. The rejectionist/substitution position thus finds a place in the
larger field of women and religion, as feminist studies rooted in the women’s
movement of the 1970s and 1980s inform women’s capacity to appropriate
or identify with a character such as Esther. Gendler does suggest, however,
that Vashti provides a better model than Esther for young women in her
defiance of the patriarchal, authoritarian king and his entourage. In this way,
Gendler is able to find some redeeming features in the biblical story and
Jewish tradition, all of which provides a segue to the category of selective
appropriation.

12. Mary Gendler, “The Restoration of Vashti,” in The Jewish Woman (ed. Elizabeth
Koltun; New York: Schocken, 1976), 242, 245.
13. Esther Fuchs, “Status and Role of Female Heroines in the Biblical Narrative,” The
Mankind Quarterly 23 (1983): 149–60.
14. Alice L. Laffey, An Introduction to the Old Testament: A Feminist Approach (Phil-
adelphia: Fortress, 1988), 216–17. Writing from a “womanist” position, South African
scholar Sarojini Nadar suggests that Esth 2 is a “text of terror” and that this passage “col-
ludes in the approval of the rape of women.” See Nadar, “‘Texts of Terror’ Disguised as the
‘Word of God’: The Case of Esther 2:1–18 and the Conspiracy of Rape in the Bible,” Journal
of Constructive Theology 10 (2004): 59–79, 70.
15. Bea Wyler, “Esther: The Incomplete Emancipation of a Queen,” in A Feminist
Companion to Esther, Judith, and Susanna (ed. Athalya Brenner; FCB 7; Sheffield: Sheffield
Academic, 1995), 111–35, 134–35.
 Interpreting Esther 261

2.3. Selective Appropriation and Adaptation

Vashti’s role in the rise of Esther is of particular interest to a range of biblical

appropriators. Lucinda B. Chandler, a contributor to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s
1890s project The Woman’s Bible, embraces the portrayal of Vashti “as a sub-
lime representative of all self-centered women. Rising to the heights of self-
consciousness and of self-respect, she takes her soul into her own keeping, and
though her position both as wife and queen are jeopardized, she is true to the
Divine aspirations of her nature.”16 As Joyce Zonana notes, “liberal feminist
readers in the nineteenth century might find in Esther an empowering story
of women’s emergence from oppression: a story of divine providence that
could amply justify—and represent—the contemporary struggle for women’s
social advancement and emancipation.”17 Esther was also a source of appro-
priation and inspiration to a range of nineteenth-century American abolition-
ists including Maria Stewart, Sojourner Truth, and Angelina Grimké. These
women identified with the biblical heroine as one who risked speaking out,
challenging the legal authority in a situation of oppression. As Susan Zaeske
writes of Grimké, “[She] fuses herself with Esther to create a supplicating yet
radical model of female activism.”18
A revealing modern example of selective appropriation and adaptation
is Diane Wolkstein’s retelling of Esther for young readers aged eight to twelve
years.19 Wolkstein makes Ahasuerus into a jolly paternal figure rather than
a dirty old man. Modern girls can identify with Esther’s story without being
made uncomfortable, as Wolkstein focuses on Esther’s courage, her intelli-
gence, her capacity to adapt to changing circumstances, and her ultimate suc-
cess in saving her people. Esther is desexualized and the whole tale rendered
less violent. In my own view, Wolkstein might have challenged even young
readers to deal with troubling aspects of the biblical portrayal. Perhaps her
version reflects a contemporary postfeminist world.
Acknowledging that Esther’s sexually charged subversiveness was toned
down for young appropriators when she herself was a child, writer and editor
Celina Spiegel notes that as an adult she has come to realize that Esther’s
power and her people’s salvation lie in her sexuality: “It is not merely Esther’s

16. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Revising Committee, The Woman’s Bible (Seattle:
Seattle Coalition on Women and Religion, 1974), 87.
17. Zonana, “Esther,” 230.
18. Susan Zaeske, “Unveiling Esther as a Pragmatic Radical Rhetoric,” Philosophy and
Rhetoric 33 (2000): 193–220, 214.
19. Diane Wolkstein, “Esther’s Story,” in Brenner, A Feminist Companion to Esther,
Judith and Susanna, 198–206.
262 Susan Niditch

beauty, however, but her sexuality to which the Jews owe their salvation—and
this distinction is what is so startling and powerful about the story, even to
modern readers. Esther’s sexuality is presented as the embodiment of Jewish
virtues.”20 Spiegel’s view of Esther is thus evocative both of Trible’s appropria-
tion of the female speaker in the Song of Songs and of the writings of modern
feminists such as Camille Paglia who emphasize the positive power of wom-
en’s expressed sexuality.21

2.4. Structured Empathy

Modern scholars who engage in structured empathy worry less about rele-
vance and appropriation than about understanding Esther in the context of
early Judaism. They employ a diverse range of methodological approaches
and concepts to frame their work. A number of scholars view the character-
ization of Esther in terms of issues relevant to the survival of a persecuted
minority population. Sidnie White (Crawford) points to Esther as an excel-
lent example of the way the weak in a culture manage to achieve “basic sur-
vival.” She writes, “They must adjust to their lack of immediate political and
economic power to learn to work within the system to gain what power they
can.”22 Esther’s strength and wisdom lie in her capacity to adjust to the chang-
ing and insecure fortunes of the marginal, to use anything that enhances her
advantage including beauty, sex appeal, and men’s susceptibility to women’s
emotion.23 In a similar vein, I describe Esther’s “collaboration with tyranny”
as a necessary expedient for the powerless, the author’s view of what it is to be
wise for Jews in the setting of exile and for women in the workaday world of
gender relations as he understands them.24

20. Celina Spiegel, “The World Remade: The Book of Esther,” in Out of the Garden:
Women Writers on the Bible (ed. Christina Büchmann and Celina Spiegel; New York: Faw-
cett Columbine, 1994), 191–203, 202.
21. For an excellent review article that concludes by embracing this theme of wom-
en’s empowerment, see Gail Twersky Reimer, “Eschewing Esther/Embracing Esther: The
Changing Representation of Biblical Heroines,” in Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women
in American Popular Culture (ed. Joyce Antler; Hanover, N.H.: Brandeis University Press,
1998), 207–19.
22. Sidnie Ann White, “Esther: A Feminine Model for Jewish Diaspora,” in Gender
and Difference in Ancient Israel (ed. Peggy L. Day; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 161–77,
166–67. See also Susan Niditch, Underdogs and Tricksters: A Prelude to Biblical Folklore
(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987), 141–45.
23. White, “Esther,” 167–68, 171.
24. The phrase is that of David Daube, Collaboration with Tyranny in Rabbinic Law
(The Riddell Memorial Lectures 1965; London: Oxford University Press, 1965).
 Interpreting Esther 263

Another useful observation is that the tale of Esther is a bildungsroman

of sorts in which the heroine develops and matures.25 Her passive beauty, her
acceptance of guidance under Mordecai and then under the chief eunuch,
her capacity to be molded by men—her helpers in the traditional narrative
pattern of the underdog—characterize the young Esther described as ‫בתולה‬,
an adolescent, a young woman who has reached puberty but who is not yet
fulfilling adult roles.26
At Esth 4:15–16 comes the transformation of Esther’s character, her pas-
sage into adulthood and psychological maturity as she takes responsibility for
the lives of her people and actively takes control of the situation. She orders
Mordecai to instruct all the Jews of Susa to hold a fast on her behalf. She then
holds the banquets,27 cleverly wooing Haman into unsuspecting and hubris-
tic complacency while reminding her husband of her charms, finally climati-
cally revealing her ethnic identity and convincing the king of Haman’s villainy.
The Jews’ fortunes are reversed because of Esther’s intervention. In chapter 8,
Esther has the power to place Mordecai over the house of Haman (8:2), power
to see that Haman’s edict is reversed and that the Jews may defend themselves
(8:8), and in 9:29–32 she is declared to lend her authority through letters to
the celebration of Purim.
Sidnie White thus suggests that Esther’s seeming passivity before the
transformation in chapter 4 is essential to understanding one theme of the
work dealing with maturation, the acceptance of responsibility and moral
autonomy, matters essential to the successful development of men and
women. However, we need to ask further what this mature and active Esther,
successful within the parameters of the narrative, indicates about its creator’s
attitudes to women, about woman as a component of his cultural and sym-
bolic map. How were Esther’s audience of men and women expected to react
to Esther? What messages does the tale reinforce?

25. Niditch, Underdogs, 135, 138; White, “Esther,” 169–72; Linda Day, Esther (AOTC;
Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 6; Zaeske, “Unveiling Esther,” 203; Leila L. Bronner, “Reclaim-
ing Esther: From Sex Object to Sage,” JBQ 26 (1998): 4–10, 5–6. As the title of the article
suggests, Bronner is concerned to appropriate Esther and takes issue with rejectionist posi-
tions. As with a number of the selective appropriators and traditional acceptors discussed
above, Bronner glances over troubling aspects of the narrative that could be interpreted to
suggest that Mordecai furthers his career at court and protects the fortunes of his people by
offering up his ward to serve the king’s pleasure.
26. Peggy L. Day, “From the Child Is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah’s Daugh-
ter,” in Day, Gender and Difference, 58–74, 59–60.
27. On the banquet motif, see Sandra Beth Berg, The Book of Esther: Motifs, Themes,
and Structure (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1979), 31–35; Claudia V. Camp, Wisdom
and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs (Sheffield: Almond, 1985), 133–36.
264 Susan Niditch

Exploring key turning points outlined above, Lillian R. Klein interprets

Esther from the perspective of “shame and honor” as they relate to gender in
the traditional culture of Esther’s world. She writes, “The text allows that, in
threatening situations, social paradigms may be creatively interpreted as long
as the prescribed gender role is publicly observed. Powerless women—and
Jews—can invoke power as long as they maintain required appearances.”28

3. My Reading of Esther

My own approach to Esther under the rubric of structured empathy is strongly

influenced by the field of folklore studies, and begins with comparative studies
offered by colleagues who study the role and portrayal of heroines in tradi-
tional literatures. Emphases are on women who succeed by indirect means,
the theme of women as a civilizing force, and questions concerning gender
and voice.

3.1. Feminism, Folklore, and “Dancing with Chains”

Margaret Beissinger works in the narrative traditions of Romanian and

Roma or gypsy cultures, with special interests in women’s studies, oral lit-
eratures, and epic. Beissinger explores portrayals of various “Penelope” fig-
ures in Balkan tradition, women left behind the lines during the absence of
their husbands or fiancées who are off fighting a long war.29 The ideal is for
the woman to remain faithful, and those who take their lives into their own
hands and choose a new suitor are punished, reinforcing, at least overtly, the
male control over females and the androcentric, patriarchal bent of the domi-
nant culture. She points out, however, that some of the faithful women find
other ways to subvert the system. Influenced by the work of Lillian Doherty,30
Beissinger notes that

feminist criticism of literature frequently takes two forms: critical and uto-
pian. Critical or “closed” feminist readings show how women in literature
reflect gender constraints … the ways in which male power is imposed on

28. Lillian R. Klein, “Honor and Shame in Esther,” in Brenner, A Feminist Companion
to Esther, Judith and Susanna, 149–75, 175.
29. Margaret Beissinger, “Gender and Power in the Balkan Return Song,” Slavic and
East European Journal 45, no. 3 (2001): 403–30.
30. Lillian Doherty, Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey (Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995).
 Interpreting Esther 265

female society. … By contrast, utopian or “open” feminist readings seek

nuances within literature that allow for new affirmations of identity.31

In Doherty’s words the latter approach attempts to “identify openings that

undercut ostensible patterns of meaning.”32
In the field of biblical studies, the work of Esther Fuchs, whose views
on Esther are placed above in the category of rejectionism, might also be
described as critical and closed in orientation. In Fuchs’s view, for example,
although the annunciation scenes in Genesis do centrally feature women
and suggest that the women are privy to divine communication, these scenes
function not to enhance women’s status but to propagandize for the very roles
in society that demean and subjugate women.33 J. Cheryl Exum, author of sev-
eral classic works on biblical women, allows for more openness. As she notes,

Power is the ability to gain compliance with one’s wishes and to achieve
one’s ends. Authority is culturally legitimated power, a power recognized by
society and distributed according to a hierarchical chain of command and
control. The matriarchs do not have authority; they are subordinate to their
husbands. But they are not powerless. … Sarah and Rebecca illustrate how
women can have power in areas not normally accorded them by working
through those in authority.34

The same might be said of Esther. Her relationship with Ahasuerus, her capac-
ity to make herself desirable, her playing on the food-providing, nurturing
roles of woman allow her a backdoor means of achieving her ends.
The second folklorist whose fascinating work is relevant to the charac-
terization of Esther is Margaret Mills, a scholar who has explored Afghan
traditional literature, working in Afghanistan before the wars, with a variety
of local storytellers, male and female. She, like Beissinger, is interested in
the way in which women caught in patriarchal cultures manage “to dance
with chains on.”35 She is also interested in the links between content, genre,
and gender, providing important suggestions as we speculate about the
possibility of women’s voices in biblical narrative. In Afghan culture, “men

31. Beissinger, “Gender and Power,” 404.

32. Doherty, Siren Songs, 40.
33. Esther Fuchs, “The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the
Hebrew Bible,” in Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (ed. Adela Yarbro Collins;
Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985), 117–36.
34. J. Cheryl Exum, Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives
(Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1993), 136–37.
35. So Mills in a lecture at Amherst College, fall 2009.
266 Susan Niditch

tend to tell stories about men, whereas women tell stories about men and
women.”36 She finds it particularly interesting that women tend “not to mas-
culinize” female heroines as she would expect them to if they “envied men’s
social options.”37 “Women,” she notes, however, “readily identify dramatic
potential in the women’s world,”38 with its themes of courtship, marriage,
and kinship. In the case of Esther with its foreign, royal, urbane, and courtly
setting, the woman’s world involves the harem, courtship becomes a matter
of winning favor with the king, and kinship relations are transformed into a
matter of furthering her high-placed cousin’s political aims and her people’s
well-being. Nevertheless, realms of male and female are clearly demarcated,
as are all relationships and social spaces in the hierarchical society pictured
by the author. The queen risks death by appearing at the inner court without
the king’s request (Esth 4:11).
Beissinger and Mills thus explore the ways in which women find means
of survival, self-promotion, creativity, and self-expression within certain
circumscribed and potentially limiting gender boundaries. In this way,
within the context of the social world in which the work was composed and
received, Esther might be viewed as partaking of a female voice that asserts
woman’s significance and power, albeit within the contours of a man’s world.
Contributing to this backdoor self-assertion is the theme of woman as a
civilizing force.

3.2. Woman as a Civilizing Force

Building on themes emphasized by my colleagues, I suggest that the char-

acterization of Esther is informed by the archetype of woman as a civilizing
force.39 Esther is one of a host of wise biblical heroines described in scenes
with powerful male characters. The women change the heroes’ minds so that
the course of events is altered and the women’s situation or the status of those

36. Margaret A. Mills, “Sex Role Reversals, Sex Changes, and Transvestite Disguise
in the Oral Tradition of a Conservative Muslim Community in Afghanistan,” in Women’s
Folklore, Women’s Culture (ed. Rosan A. Jordan and Susan J. Kalčik; Philadelphia: Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania Press, 1985), 187–213, 188.
37. Ibid., 188–89.
38. Margaret A. Mills, “Gender and Verbal Performance Style in Afghanistan,” in
Gender, Genre, and Power in South Asian Expressive Traditions (ed. Arjun Appadurai et al.;
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991), 56–77, 72.
39. Material that follows reprises in part my discussion in “Short Stories: The Book
of Esther and the Theme of Woman as a Civilizing Force,” in Old Testament Interpretation
Past, Present, and Future: Essays in Honor of Gene M. Tucker (ed. James Luther Mays et al.;
Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), 195–209.
 Interpreting Esther 267

whose cause they advocate is improved. Frequently, danger to them or to

those they represent is averted. Even more important for the theme of civiliz-
ing, they tame the men whom they address, powerful men who are not using
their power wisely but who appear foolish, violent, willing to destroy innocent
victims or unable to show mercy.
Esther is in this category, as is Abigail (1 Sam 25), who convinces David in
the bandit period of his career not to take vengeance on her husband’s house-
hold (1 Sam 25:1–13). Also in the category of civilizing force are the woman
of Tekoa hired by David’s general Joab to perform an act of mediation between
David and his estranged son Absalom (2 Sam 14) and the wise woman of Abel
Beth-maacah, who intervenes between her townsmen and Joab concerning
an enemy of David’s state who has taken refuge in her city (2 Sam 20:4–22).
Claudia V. Camp has explicitly or implicitly taken stock of many of the ways
of these wise women.40
The women present themselves in stereotypical biblical feminine roles
that are regarded as positive in the ancient Israelite tradition. They are appeal-
ingly ripe with nonthreatening sexuality or are mother-like. Esther and Abi-
gail are beauties and offer the men food and drink, playing the woman’s role
as provider in the private realm.41 The woman of Tekoa presents herself as a
concerned and suffering mother while the wise woman of Abel Beth-maa-
cah begs Joab not to destroy this ancient town, which is “a mother in Israel.”
Moreover, the women convince with words carefully and cleverly chosen to
enhance the self-esteem of those they address, while they place themselves in
the background even as they speak. A good example in Esther is found at 8:5:
“If it please the king … and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the matter
seems right before the king. …” Esther Fuchs nicely describes Queen Esther’s
language as “placatory” and “ingratiating.”42 Abigail’s interaction with David
at 1 Sam 25:24, 28, the woman of Tekoa’s approach to David at 2 Sam 14:12,
17, and the wise woman’s interaction with Joab at 2 Sam 20:18–19 are simi-
larly diplomatic and ingratiating.43

40. Camp, Wisdom, 42, 85–87, 133–36, 90–96, 120–24, 133–36, 143–45.
41. Ibid., 80–81.
42. Fuchs, “Female Heroines,” 156.
43. Susan Zaeske’s philosophy-of-rhetoric approach leads to similar emphases con-
cerning the characterization of Esther, and Zaeske sees this ingratiating tone and suppli-
catory stance as sources of empowerment (“Unveiling Esther,” 202–3); see also my Folk-
lore and the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 69–70. On the wise women in
2 Samuel and the use of sayings as a diplomatic means of criticism, a way in which the
weaker can approach the stronger, see Claudia V. Camp, “The Wise Women of 2 Samuel: A
Role Model for Women in Early Israel?” CBQ 43 (1981): 21, 23.
268 Susan Niditch

The women succeed by making themselves seem small, dependent, and

unimportant while flattering the men to make them feel as if all power resides
with them. The women’s rhetoric also suggests that the men are fair, good
men of self-discipline who know how to control their power and use it prop-
erly, which is, in fact, precisely not the case for Ahasuerus, David, and Joab.
The Persian king has abused his power in accepting plans to destroy good
and loyal citizens; David later grabs Bathsheba’s sexuality contrary to accepted
mores and kills her husband, Uriah the Hittite, to cover up the woman’s preg-
nancy; Joab kills his brother’s slayer, but, whereas Abner kills unavoidably
in war, Joab takes vengeance in an ambush, perhaps not only to avenge his
brother but also to remove a rival general who now vies for David’s patron-
age. Each of these men exemplifies a particular sort of macho arrogance and
displays an undisciplined and unbridled aggressiveness, undertaking action
not circumscribed by proper thought or consideration of consequences, and
evidencing, in short, a lack of wisdom.
All four representations of interactions between powerful men and the
women who influence them are rooted in notions of mother as teacher even, a
Freudian would say, as the mother-teacher sometimes mixes with the mother-
as-lover. Claudia Camp has explored these boundaries in representations of
Woman Wisdom,44 who is the archetypal civilizing force of Israelite classical
literature, at God’s side in creation, drawing the young man to her with words
of love, nurturing, and encouragement, helping him to avoid the impetuous
adolescent side of himself prone to violence, illicit sex, and other harmful
aggressive activities.

3.3. Social Critique, Cultural Model: Whose Voice?

On the one hand, all of these images of the way men and women interact
are reactionary, for true power arrangements are not altered and the women
achieve their objectives by working within that system—by helping to build
up the confidence of those in power so that they can be helpful to the woman’s
objectives, at least this time.
On the other hand, these scenes, stories, and characterizations have a sub-
versive underside. As women hear or create such typological scenes, they learn
that they can be wise, wiser than the men, and that they can take some mea-
sure of control. Even more subversively, these women’s words and deeds may
serve as powerful social critique, perhaps a self-critique and a critique of their

44. Camp, Wisdom. For personified wisdom see also the essay by Gerlinde Baumann
in this volume.
 Interpreting Esther 269

culture by men, when they are the composers of one or another of the tales.
One thinks of the Iliad, in which the words of women might be interpreted as
questioning the agonistic, male-dominated ethos of their warrior husbands.45
These various complaints of women are complex markers of cultural atti-
tudes toward the accepted or proverbial ways of men and women, for while
the critiques in the women’s voice stand, the ways of the world and the ways
of men—be they violent, foolhardy, or reckless—are not expected to change.
And yet, apart from the culture at large, in individual situations and on indi-
vidual men, the influence and therefore the responsibility of the women can
be deemed to be considerable. These works, at least in their final form, were
no doubt written and preserved by men, members of scribal elites.
Esther, Abigail, and the wise women of 2 Samuel are ultimately ways
in which men can express their conscience and their best side, but through
these women the superego prods in a nonthreatening and nonintrusive way.
Ancient Israelite women, while not encouraged to feminist liberation by these
models, were no doubt reinforced in their belief in the truth of Nancy Astor’s
saying, “I married beneath me. All women do.” Paradoxically, the inner self-
esteem lent to women by this belief tends to reinforce the outer status quo.46
Additional ways to look at portrayals of Esther’s story are offered by a number
of contemporary scholars of folklore, feminism, and ritual.

4. Purim as Portrayed and Received

A discussion of the holiday of Purim, which is said to be established at the end of

the book of Esther as a celebratory response to the survival of the Jews of Persia,
provides another opportunity to explore ancient contexts and modern interpre-
tations from women’s studies perspectives. The description of the founding of
the holiday emphasizes the mood of the day, ritual activities, and reasons for the
feast. These are to be days of feasting and gladness on which portions of food
are to be sent as gifts from Jew to Jew and presents offered to the poor. Because
the Jews have been saved from their enemies, “grief has been turned to joy and
mourning to a holiday” (9:22). Purim is thus a holiday of reversals, reciprocity,
and generosity. A folk etymology is provided for the holiday rooted in the word
‫פור‬, for lot; lots were cast to select the day of the Jews’ destruction (3:7).

45. See, e.g., the exchange between Andromache and Hektor in Iliad 6:406–465.
46. For an interesting and thoughtful discussion of women’s voice and the implicit
ambivalences in the portrayal of wise women, see Athalya Brenner and Fokkelien Van
Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden:
Brill, 1993), 129. Brenner’s comments dovetail nicely with the discussion above, although
she and I reach somewhat different conclusions.
270 Susan Niditch

Esther herself is involved in the establishment of Purim, providing, with

Mordecai, written authority for the celebration (9:29–32). In the ancient
Esther tradition, the establishment of the holiday thus features a powerful
foundational role for the queen. Purim is integrally related to her activities
and status. What, however, is the holiday’s relationship to the questions about
gender and power with which this essay begins?
In U.S. history, abolition, women’s suffrage, African American civil rights,
and gay rights are often seen as part of a chain of comparable phenomena,
each building on the other. A similar equation might be drawn between
themes in the book of Esther concerning the saving of the Jews, an event com-
memorated by Purim, and the aspirations of women in Judaism, symbolized
by Esther’s relationship to the events surrounding the holiday and the estab-
lishment of Purim itself. This set of connections, however, is complicated, and
each member of the set poses problems of interpretation.
On the one hand, the Jews are saved, and Esther does play a central role in
their salvation. On the other hand, the insecurity of a marginal people living in
exile cannot be erased. Nothing guarantees that a similar crisis, a threat to the
Jews’ very existence, might not arise again. Does Purim have to do with genuine
liberation? Similarly, Esther’s success involves the deployment of precisely those
characteristics that are rooted in her subservient womanly position and status.
Is the celebration of Purim actually a reminder to women that they must use
their power carefully, only behind the scenes? This would seem to be a pale sort
of liberation indeed. It can be argued, moreover, that the Jews’ escape makes
them accomplices in a colonialist tyrant’s exercise of power. Does Esther’s role
as his queen similarly undermine women’s aspirations? In this way, like the nar-
rative and the characterization of Esther as heroine, the holiday associated with
the narrative and with Esther herself has a somewhat tortured or equivocal rela-
tionship to questions concerning women’s identity and sense of self-worth.
It is significant that the holiday itself as biblically described has to do with
chance (the drawing of lots), the reversal of fortunes (the saving of the Jews,
Mordecai, and Esther, and the death of Israel’s enemies, Haman included), the
overt, ritualized manifestation of joyfulness, and the emphasis on community
with the exercise of care for the less fortunate and the exchange of commensal
gifts. Purim is perhaps less about liberation than about a temporary break from
an all-too-unliberated reality. As such, Purim takes its place among a host of
traditional celebrations that emphasize “the reversal of the normal course of
events and the social order.”47

47. Shifra Epstein, “The ‘Drinking Banquet’ (Trink-Siyde): A Hasidic Event for
Purim,” Poetics Today 15 (1994): 133–52, 135.
 Interpreting Esther 271

4.1. Purim Celebrations: Gender and Appropriations

The biblical message about celebrating Purim with gladness and joy has
been put into action in a variety of customs and ritual forms including plays
(Purim-shpil), processions, drinking banquets, and ritual actions during the
reading of the Esther scroll at synagogue such as noisemaking to drown out
the name of Haman. Drawing on the work of folklorist Barbara Babcock,
Shifra Epstein compares Purim to a host of other “festivals, carnivals, and
spectacles” and notes that “given the conservatism of traditional Judaism,
such activities as masquerades, pranks, drinking bouts, parodies and theatri-
cals” purposely invert or contradict expected behaviors and norms.48 She sug-
gests that “all of these festive features serve to reinforce the idea of a holiday
on which unusual behavior is not only tolerated, but actively encouraged.”49
Many of these aspects of carnival throughout most of the twentieth century
have been male-dominated events.
The ninetieth- and twentieth-century Purim plays explored by folklorist
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett regularly feature countercultural and anties-
tablishment plots dealing with smugglers and brigands. The plays send the
message “that justice resides outside the official system, that the law is often
ineffectual, and that nonviolent breaches of the law … may be necessary for
survival in an unjust and capricious world—themes of the original Purim
story.”50 The actors in these Yiddish theatrical performances, undertaken in
the private homes of well-to-do hosts, were generally “boys and unmarried
men.”51 The small troupe of actors thus constituted a kind of young men’s club,
and although the plays challenge aspects of the status quo, norms regarding
the status of women are not included in this form of social criticism.
Contemporary drinking banquets celebrated by Bobover Hasidim pro-
vide another challenge to norms in the context of a men’s club. Epstein notes,
however, that the “trink-siyde, which celebrates the actions of a heroic woman,
Esther, is a male festivity that almost completely excludes women.”52 Women
are confined to a women’s section, although “no one notices or cares if the
women … peer over the mehize (partition). This kind of behavior by women

48. Epstein, “The ‘Drinking Banquet,’ ” 134; see also Barbara Babcock, ed., The Revers-
ible World: Symbolic Inversion in Art and Society (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,
1978), 31.
49. Epstein, “The ‘Drinking Banquet,’ ” 134.
50. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “Contraband: Performance, Text and Analysis of a
Purim-shpil,” The Drama Review 24 (1980): 5–16, 9.
51. Ibid., 6.
52. Epstein, “The ‘Drinking Banquet,’ ” 140.
272 Susan Niditch

would not be tolerated on other occasions during the year.”53 Women’s intru-
sion is thus allowed as a mild and temporary reversal of norms in this very
Orthodox, conservative group of Hasidim. Contemporary non-Hasidic cel-
ebrations of Purim, however, offer new possibilities for a challenge to norms, a
form of inspiration and advocacy concerning the place of women in Judaism.
The links between liberation from tyrants, Esther’s prominence in the ancient
narrative, the challenge to sexual stereotypes, and Jewish feminist aspirations
are made overt.

4.2. New Women’s Rituals for Purim

Examples abound of new rituals for Purim inspired by women’s religious aspi-
rations in Judaism and the larger concern with contemporary gender issues.
Just as some have appropriated and adapted the narrative tradition of Esther
through a process of exegesis, so the holiday of Purim itself has been trans-
formed and rendered newly meaningful to women.
One trend involves the creation of flags featuring or evoking Esther,
Vashti, or both women. The flags are raised and waved at the mention of the
women’s names during the public reading of the Esther scroll, a counterpoint
to the noisemaking that traditionally accompanies the reading of the name
Haman, a sound that is supposed to drown out mention of the villain. The
flags are works of artistic imagination whose very creation can be a sacred,
self-defining, ritual act. The use of the flags in the context of ritual reading
contrasts with what one writer describes as the “negative sound” of the noise-
maker, which tends “to put Haman, hatred, and sometimes the valorization of
violent acts of retribution at the center of communal celebrations of Purim.”54
Rather, the flags point to “the experiences of women,” Jewish and non-Jewish.
Another essay, by Erika Katske, asks how the festival of Purim can provide
an opportunity “to bring attention to deeply ingrained societal perceptions of
women and to take action towards new and healthier understandings and rep-
resentations of women’s beauty.”55 She describes the way in which creating art

53. Ibid.
54. Tamara Cohen, “Taking Back Purim,” originally published in A Different Purim
Sound: Waving Flags and Ringing Bells, An Exhibition of Esther and Vashti Purim Flags
by Jewish Artists (Ma’yan exhibition catalog), 2 (now available at http://www.ritualwell.
org/ritual/taking-back-purim). On violent retribution and Purim, see Elliott Horowitz,
Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2006).
55. Erika Katske, “Transforming Purim,” Ma’yan Journey, winter 2001, http://www.
ritualwell.org/ritual/transforming-purim.
 Interpreting Esther 273

(Purim masks, group collages) and taking action (e.g., by organizing events,
group performances, and displays that explore feminist themes) can infuse the
holiday with new meaning for contemporary Jewish women.

5. Pulling Threads Together

The study of themes pertaining to women in Esther and the discussion of

women’s interpretations of Esther have been framed by four categories: accep-
tance, rejectionism, appropriation, and structured empathy. These catego-
ries have been shown to be far more porous and overlapping than one might
expect. Currents in particular periods—social, cultural, and scholarly—do
indeed influence views of Esther, for example, the women’s movement of
the 1970s and 1980s or contemporary postfeminism. Worldviews, however,
are not confined to certain times. Views of Vashti, found among the suffrag-
ettes of the early twentieth century, are similar to those expressed by modern
Jewish feminists. If women share attitudes concerning authority, power, and
gender, they tend to reach many of the same conclusions about the portrayal
of women in Esther. A similar connection is found between a range of nine-
teenth-century Protestant women’s treatments of Esther and the interpreta-
tions of contemporary evangelical women.
Certain culturally constructed archetypes have enormous staying power
and seem to transcend particular periods: the self-sacrificing woman; the
woman who achieves her goals through beauty and charm; the woman as a
civilizing force. Such archetypes, as they relate to Esther, are deeply rooted in
complex gender relations that allow women backdoor power within the con-
tours of an overtly male-centered construction of culture.
The field of folklore studies provides an important methodological
dimension in the analysis of Esther’s narrative patterns and characterizations
and raises questions about women’s voices. This comparative work is a means
of exploring ways in which the biblical Esther reflects the concerns and ori-
entations of its composers and audiences. The study of the holiday of Purim
as a festival of inversions that challenges social norms relates beautifully to a
variety of questions concerning Esther traditions and gender.
 Susanna, Example of Virtue
and Daniel’s Female Counterpart
Isabel Gómez-Acebo

1. The Book of Daniel

The book of Daniel underwent a process of stringing together its stories due
to the memory of Babylonian captivity, an experience that remained vivid in
Israel.1 These events were transmitted without proper names, which facili-
tated their attribution to specific characters in other parts of the story. The
original text was written in Hebrew and, when it was translated to Greek, pos-
terior additions were made, as with the story of Susanna and the Elders, which
gives the text a female protagonist and a more novelistic character.
We have two versions of Susanna’s story—the one known as Theodotion,
long and well written, preferred by the church, and the OG-Daniel (Old Greek
Daniel), which appeared in the Septuagint and is much shorter and possibly
older.2 Both are surely Greek translations of Aramaic or Hebrew stories, writ-
ten long ago, and linked to an oral tradition that continued evolving through
the years.3

1. In Qumran, eight fragments of the book of Daniel have been found (1Q71; 1Q72;
4Q112; 4Q113; 4Q114; 4Q115; 4Q116; 6Q7) and seven more of texts from the Daniel tra-
dition.
2. The Theodotion version was the one most utilized in the Greek church between the
years 150–200 CE, a process that was also started in the Latin church. Because of this, the
LXX version practically disappeared until the year 250 CE except in three manuscripts. See
the interesting study by Christina Leisering, Susanna und der Sündenfall der Ältesten: Eine
vergleichende Studie zu den Geschlechterkonstruktionen der Septuaginta- und Theodotion-
fassung von Dan 13 und ihren intertextuellen Bezügen (Exegese in unserer Zeit 19; Münster/
Vienna: LIT, 2008).
3. For the origin of the texts, their comparison and canonization, see Carey A. Moore,
Daniel, Esther and Jeremiah: The Additions (AB 44; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977),
79–92.

-275-
276 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

I believe the idea that both narrations were included in the book of
Daniel is valid (even though they could have been written at the end of the
Persian Empire),4 between the first and second centuries before Christ, by
Jews, who added to or adapted previous manuscripts and Babylonian tradi-
tions in the custom of their people. It is possible that the original story was
composed in Babylon, but its Jewish form points us toward educated writers,
possibly living in Jerusalem. The same can be said of the final Hebrew ver-
sion, which was written during the Maccabean revolt, inside a wisdom circle
that valued divination.5

1.1. The Sociopolitical Situation

The introduction of Hellenistic thought into the Jewish world began with the
arrival of the armies of Alexander the Great and grew due to the changes Pal-
estine suffered during the second and first centuries BCE. After the Battle of
Panium (200 BCE), Antiochus III (the Great) resumed the government in the
area and proved to be very generous with those Jews who looked kindly on
his Hellenistic reign. This approval of foreign customs caused many to con-
sider their own customs to be antiquated and an impediment to the prog-
ress brought with the new morals. The political instability that was rampant
during the wars caused the disintegration of a community that until that point
had been closed, and allowed, upon breaking open, for the appearance of dif-
ferent ways of thinking that would affect the theological sphere. All of these
changes motivated an internal conflict between cosmopolitan Jews and those
who wanted to stay loyal to their traditional ways. The latter considered some
Hellenistic proposals anathema to their beliefs and opted to develop a stron-
ger national identity.6

4. Giovanni Garbini, “Hebrew Literature in the Persian Period,” in Temple and Com-
munity in the Persian World (ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Kent Richards; vol. 2 of Second
Temple Studies; ed. Lester L. Grabbe; JSOTSup 175; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1994),
180–89, speaks of the large amount of Hebrew literature produced during this period.
5. See Gerhard von Rad, The Theology of Israel’s Prophetic Traditions (vol. 2 of Old
Testament Theology; trans. D. M. G. Stalker; Louisville: John Knox, 2001), 301–15: “Daniel
and Apocalyptic.”
6. For more information on this, see James K. Aitken, “Judaic National Identity,” in
Judah between East and West: The Transition from Persian to Greek Rule (ca. 400–200 BCE)
(ed. Lester L. Grabbe and Oded Lipschits; Library of Second Temple Studies 75; New York:
T&T Clark, 2011), 36–40; Richard Horsley and Patrick Tiller, “Ben Sira and the Sociol-
ogy of the Second Temple,” in Studies in Politics, Class and Material Culture (ed. Philip R.
Davies and John Halligan; vol. 3 of Second Temple Studies; ed. Lester L. Grabbe; JSOTSup
340; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2002), 74–107.
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 277

The opening of new commerce routes led to the birth of a class of people
who did not belong either to the central government or to the priesthood. In
the countryside, overwhelmingly abandoned by governors, the rural nouveau
riche were in command together with the elders, who enjoyed great power in
their communities.7 A new class of intellectual independent scribes emerged,
like Ben Sira, who used their knowledge to defend the Jewish identity that was
under attack. It is within this group that we find our authors.8

1.2. The Cultural Situation

The exchange between different Hellenistic kingdoms and Greek as the lingua
franca favored a situation in which the intellectual classes had access to
manuscripts that circulated through trade routes. Within this framework, to
adopt Foucault’s language, the book of Daniel should be understood within “a
system of references to other books, other texts, other sentences: like a knot
inside a large net.”9
Who influenced our authors? We can affirm that they were familiar with
Jewish tradition, Greek literature, and some customs and texts from the Ori-
ental courts, which can be seen by the placement of their story in Babylon. A

7. James Pasto, “The Origin, Expansion and Impact of the Hasmoneans in Light of
Comparative Ethnographic Studies,” in Davies and Halligan, Studies in Politics, Class and
Material Culture, 189. The Zenon papyri show that these rural communities had sufficient
capacity to resist possible official interference in subjects related to their localities.
8. I refer to those who wrote the story of Susanna and to those alluded to at the
beginning. The importance of this period for the emergence of Judaism and Christianity
has produced many studies, among them Jon L. Berquist, ed., Approaching Yehud: New
Approaches to the Study of the Persian Period (SemeiaSt 50; Atlanta: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2007); Berquist, Judaism in Persia’s Shadow: A Social and Historical Approach
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995); Philip R. Davies, ed., Persian Period (vol. 1 of Second
Temple Studies; ed. Lester L. Grabbe; JSOTSup 117; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1991);
Eskenazi and Richards, Temple and Community in the Persian World; Davies and Halligan,
Studies in Politics, Class and Material Culture; Grabbe and Lipschits, Judah between East
and West. About women, see Tal Ilan, Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Palestine (Peabody,
Mass.: Hendrickson, 1996); Ilan, Integrating Women into Second Temple History (Peabody,
Mass.: Hendrickson, 2001).
9. Michel Foucault, The Archeology of Knowledge (trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith;
London: Tavistock, 1974), 23. For intertextuality, see Richard Bautch, “Intertextuality in
the Persian Period,” in Berquist, Approaching Yehud, 25–35; or some classic works such
as Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1983); and
Julia Kristeva, Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1980).
278 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

good knowledge of the Bible allowed them to support their threatened Jewish
identity, which was linked to their historical narratives and legendary figures.
The starting point to possibly relate Susanna to Daniel can be seen in the
similarity of their lives with that of the patriarch Joseph (Gen 37–50), a varia-
tion on the story of the deposed and restored governor, a classic in Babylonian
literature, Ludlul bel nemeqi.10 Joseph is sold by his brothers because of envy,
and in the house of his new master the Egyptian wife offers him sexual rela-
tions, which the young man declines. As in Susanna’s story, the spiteful lover
accuses him before the servants of the house of seeking to seduce her, and as
a result the Jew is arrested and jailed in the king’s prison.
In jail, he has the chance to interpret the dreams of two palace officers,
and one of them, reinstated in office, remembers him when no wizard in the
court is capable of understanding the pharaoh’s dream. Joseph’s explanation
convinces the monarch, who sends him to manage the land that has been
prophesied to have seven years of abundance followed by seven years of hard-
ship. This story is similar to that of Daniel in the Babylonian court, and in
this way unites the dissimilar lives of Susanna and Daniel. Susanna’s story is
told with plots frequent in popular literature: the spiteful lover who swears
vengeance against the desired woman and only the child or the crazy person is
capable of uncovering the truth, because he says what he thinks without being
affected by societal norms.11
The text of Isa 52:13–53:12, about the suffering servant, a figure who
through pain gives light and salvation to his companions, also plays an
important role. The martyrdom of the mother and her seven children (2 Macc
7:1–42) is a show of interest in this figure in this moment. The story became
famous because of the centrality that Hellenism gave to the individual, which
allowed people’s lives to be put forth as examples even when these people were
neither kings nor priests nor notable within the community. Any human being
could, with his or her acts, light the path for other people, including women.12
We can see a certain analogy between Susanna’s, David’s, and Bathsheba’s
(2 Sam 11:1–17) stories. The king, upon seeing Uriah’s wife naked while bath-
ing, sends for her and has sexual relations with her that end with an unwanted

10. Donald J. Wiseman, “A New Text of the Babylonian Poem of the Righteous Suf-
ferer,” Anatolian Studies 30 (1980): 101–7, cited by Karel van der Toorn, “Scholars at the
Oriental Court,” in The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception (ed. John J. Collins and
Peter W. Flint; VTSup 83.1; Leiden: Brill, 2002), 43.
11. The most famous of these stories is The Emperor’s New Clothes.
12. Sylvie Honigman, “King and Temple in 2 Maccabees: The Case for Continuity,” in
Grabbe and Lipschits, Judah between East and West, 25, emphasizes the importance that
individuals were gaining with the arrival of Hellenism.
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 279

pregnancy. In order to avoid gossip, he sends her fooled husband to the front
lines of battle so that he will die. This is a story that plays with eroticism,
power, and death, which is explicated by the characters of the elders in Susan-
na’s story.13
Greek novels also influenced the story. The literacy rate had risen, and
these readings were very popular, especially in the female world. Their cre-
ation was similar to the creation of the book of Daniel; they were based on an
amalgamation of popular stories and legends whose principal figures offered
examples of how to behave in life. The protagonists were characterized by
their youth, beauty, and faithfulness in love, to which they adhered strongly
enough to endanger their own lives.14 They often prayed to gods who, when
all seemed lost, returned to them the freedom of which they dreamed. The
women’s behavior was especially exemplary. Jewish stories did differ from
Greek stories, however, in that their heroines were presented alone.15
The first of the novels we have is Chaereas and Callirhoe, written by Chari-
ton of Aphrodisias in the first century CE. Although his story takes place in
Syracuse in the fourth century BCE, many passages recall what happened in
Susanna’s story. Callirhoe, a woman of great beauty, is unjustly accused of
adultery (1.2.6), and before her punishment she is unclothed (1.13.14) before
many people, who admire her beauty. Her rejected lovers plot that she be pun-
ished by death.
Many exegetes consider the possibility that the female protagonists of
Jewish books, such as Esther, Judith, and even Susanna, are formed on pat-
terns similar to those found in Greek novels, knowing of the success that this
literature had by adding an erotic dimension to its stories. This inclusion was
facilitated by the fact that the prophets had already used this practice when
they denounced Israel as an unfaithful wife.16

13. For a study of these stories in which Bathsheba appears guilty for sleeping with
David, see Ester Fuchs, Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the Hebrew Bible as
a Woman (JSOTSup 310; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000), 118–39.
14. For the characteristics of Greek novels, see Mari Cruz Herrero Ingelmo, La novela
griega antigua (Madrid: Akal Clásica, 1987), 7–27 (introduction). The book reproduces the
novel I cite.
15. Lawrence M. Wills, ed., Ancient Jewish Novels: An Anthology (Oxford: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 2002), 5.
16. Renita J. Weems, Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Proph-
ets (2nd ed.; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), refers in detail to these images in the prophets.
280 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

2. The Texts Warn about the Dangers of Power

2.1. Human Power

Daniel, a young, faithful, and sophisticated Jew, arrives at the top of the Baby­
lonian government thanks to his wisdom and culture, two qualities that,
besides divination, increased people’s influence in primitive cultures. Susanna,
in contrast, moves within the rural world, and her relationship to power is
seen through her spouse, the rich man in the village, who offers his house for
meetings with his neighbors and for the settlement of court cases.
The power that surrounds Susanna, in addition to her husband’s riches,
is one wielded by a pair of elders, governors of the small community in which
she lives. Infatuated with the young woman, they decide to trap her when she
is alone and force her to have sexual relations with them. Angry when she
declines, they start a libelous process to condemn her to death.
The young woman possesses qualities highly valued by the author, who
uses them as an example because they form part of the identity of the chosen
people: she is of their race, has received a careful religious education, and is
beautiful and virtuous, a paragon of qualities that are worth more than all the
power and kingdoms in the world.17
In all cultures, power is assumed to include the right to sex, whether
through raping the women of the vanquished or accosting the wives of sub-
ordinates, while in the home men have imposed their right and forced even
daughters or sisters against their will. In the Bible there are many tales of
sexual abuses against women that are not condemned by the authors. In order
to give wives to Benjamin’s clan, other tribes do not hesitate to take the young
virgins of Shiloh (Judg 21:19–23). Amnon, infatuated with his sister, does not
hesitate to rape her and deny her a later marriage (2 Sam 13:15); the great
patriarch Abraham offers his wife Sarah to the pharaoh in exchange for a flock
of animals (Gen 12:14–17), a story that is repeated with Abimelech in Gen
20:2. The worst example is offered by the prophets, making God the subject
of violent acts against his unfaithful wife who dared defy social order. In all of
these cases, the powerful, whether husband, father, governor, or brother, had
the right and the power to reprimand his subordinate.18

17. Geoffrey D. Miller, Marriage in the Book of Tobit (Deuterocanonical and Cognate
Literature Studies 10; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), 34–91, highlights the qualities that a male
Jew faithful to YHWH should look for in a wife, and that are in accord with the description
of Susanna in the text.
18. Weems, Battered Love, 68–80, offers one of the best surveys of this violence against
unfaithful Israel.
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 281

Although it is not elaborated, in Susanna’s story one can also see a theme
of envy. The elders hold the governorship of the village, but they have to hold
their trials in a house lent to them by the wealthy Joakim, which makes them
dependent on him. The Bible advises with one of the Ten Commandments:
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neigh-
bor’s wife” (Exod 20:17). A way to recoup one’s anger is to cuckold the enemy,
sleeping with his wife, who, if she is pretty, will yield double satisfaction.
Our two protagonists suffer from the havoc of this unjust power. The
envy of Daniel’s companions causes them to denounce Daniel for not having
prostrated himself before the golden image the king has had erected; for this
denial he is punished with seclusion in a den of hungry lions. In the Babylo-
nian world, lions were used as a metaphor for designating “hostility and com-
petition among the wise men of the court,” a theme that is used in the book of
Daniel to change his enemies into real beasts.19
In the case of Susanna, the predators are the elders who govern the small,
exiled Jewish community. They participate in a prestigious institution, known
for its knowledge of the law and its administration of justice. But they accost
the young woman and thus transgress their duties as pastors of the village.
They are two men who go after the same woman, while in the Bible we some-
times see two women fighting over one man. But here there is a third man
involved, Susanna’s husband, who is the legitimate owner of the desired body.
This prohibited fruit, possessed by the rich man of the village, adds a sickness
to their desire.
The two versions of Susanna’s story clearly show that power must be
opposed when it is not exercised with fairness, but that opposition on a politi-
cal level would be suicide because of Israel’s weakness. The fight must take
place on a religious level, where fragility is supplemented by God’s power.
Such a scenario is exemplified by Susanna’s attitude.

2.2. Divine Power

The divine person moves behind the scenes like a mute spectator who waits
to see the end of the story before interfering. Divine sovereignty over tem-
poral powers, which forget they are only commissioned, is obvious. We hear
through Daniel the interpretation of the dream that worried Nebuchadnez-
zar, according to which the kingdom would slip through his fingers “until

19. Van der Toorn, “Scholars at the Oriental Court,” 43. Power always manages to
create laws in its own interest; see Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the
Prison (trans. A. Sheridan; London: Lane, 1977), 48–49.
282 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

you know that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals”
(Dan 4:22; NRSV 4:25). It does not seem that these words make an impression
on the king. It is only when the prophecy comes true that we hear: “reason
returned to me and I blessed the Most High” (Dan 4:31; NRSV 4:34), a flash
of wisdom that allows God, as he did with Job, to return to him the glory he
had lost.
Susanna’s elders also have time to recognize their error through the poor
use they make of their power. They do not, however, say one word of repen-
tance, and are thus condemned to death.
Both texts are based on the idea that God punishes the bad and rewards
the good, those who stay faithful to the torah and resist corrupt rulers, whether
Gentiles or Jews. Their heroes are willing to sacrifice their lives before giving
up their convictions.
Susanna’s prayer is a determining factor in the story. Naked before the
community during the trial, the largest embarrassment to which a woman
could be subjected, she rises without pause and, standing upright, sends a
prayer to a God who seems in that moment absent.20 It is an affecting scene
designed to stay in the readers’ memory: the innocence of a young woman
facing the malicious libel of a group of elders; the fragility of the weak in front
of constituted power; the mass of an apathetic people who do not react against
a possible injustice until shaken by a young, wise prophet.
The accused has faith in YHWH because she knows his character and
starts her plea with a phrase that relates him to time, “Oh eternal God!” (Dan
13:42 = Sus 1:42 NRSV), which is the equivalent of saying: “You know what
happened, I am innocent.”21 It is a cry of pain before injustice, which neither
asks for anything nor reproaches God for not having intervened: she simply
presents him with the facts in the hope that he will act in her favor. On the
edge of the precipice, she demonstrates that she is capable of maintaining her
faith when all appears lost; a faith that is given to her by God himself, who has
awakened a patient faith redressed in active hope.22 God listens to her, takes
pity on her, and sends her the young Daniel as a savior.

20. To understand the magnitude of the offense, we find in the haggadah exam-
ples of modest women who cover their heads even at home, see Ilan, Jewish Women in
Greco-Roman Palestine, in particular the section titled “Head Covering,” 129–32. In the
Mishnah, in trials for adultery, hair is let loose and clothes are torn, except in the case of
women who are very beautiful (Sotah 1:5).
21. The titles applied to God tended to be placed at the beginning of prayers; see
Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Min-
neapolis: Fortress, 1994), 58.
22. Samuel E. Balentine, Prayer in the Hebrew Bible: The Drama of Divine-Human
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 283

The prayer of the protagonist is a recurring theme in situations of weak-

ness suffered by many biblical women. Judith in her prayer reminds God of
his deeds for Israel and presents him as “God of the afflicted, helper of the
oppressed, an upholder of the weak, a protector of the forlorn, a savior of
them that are without hope” (Jdt 9:11). The case of Queen Esther is simi-
lar. She sees herself alone and needs to intercede for her people by speaking
with her husband, the king. Her prayer echoes glorious past deeds in order to
deliver to Yhwh “the cry of the desperate” (Esth 4:17 LXX addition).
The Bible talks about these women when Israel is in danger. In these
moments, all social convictions fall, and what is important is saving the nation,
using all possible talent. Agustina de Aragón, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Queen
Zenobia of Palmyra—all were women who came from anonymity to take care
of their people during difficult times. All of them are seen as threats once the
danger is over, because they show that a female government is possible. The
solution, necessary to return to the status quo, is to make them disappear. The
people’s historical memory, however, is not erased, and the women’s deeds are
repeatedly narrated.
Did Susanna come to the defense of a people in danger? Our authors
believed she did. The Jews were going through rough times, they were perse-
cuted for staying faithful, or they were threatened by a wave of thought that
was considered to be more in accord with the times. For a pious man, the
threat of enemies on a battlefield was preferable to the slow infiltration of Hel-
lenism into faithful hearts, something that broke their faith.
As the situation is extreme, God appears and frees Daniel and Susanna.
He no longer acts for himself as he did before. He uses messengers or inter-
mediaries, to whom he gives the freedom to move within parameters of his
choosing. In the case of Susanna, the intermediary is Daniel, a young man
who is linked to two classic figures in the Jewish world: the prophet and the
wise man, used by God to guide the people. Susanna’s mediation is produced
because of her refusal, which leads to a public trial in which her value, piety,
and virtue stand out. These three qualities generate a light that can guide, like
a lighthouse on a path, a weak and badly governed people.

Dialogue (OBT; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 187; Rainer Albertz, “Personal Piety,” in Reli-
gious Diversity in Ancient Israel and Judah (ed. Francesca Stavrakopoulou and John Barton;
New York: T&T Clark, 2010), 135–49.
284 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

3. The Symbolic World

Numerous cultures use the image of women to symbolize cities and communi-
ties. In the Bible, Israel appears in the female role of YHWH’s wife and mother
of the people. She is not a woman faithful to her husband: she prostitutes her-
self with foreign lovers, and God punishes her. This negative image of Israel
is made more and more extravagant, both in attitude and punishment, which
culminate in the texts of the prophet Ezekiel (chapters 16 and 23); today we
would consider such behavior violence against women.23 Susanna’s image as
an honest and faithful wife, capable of defending herself against a sexual attack
despite risks to her own life, offers a counterpoint to this development in Israel.
In metaphorical discourse, the woman’s beautiful and desirable body
becomes a symbol for talking about problems in the social body: women and
cities should guard their walls and access points because the arrival of intrud-
ers will pollute and harm them. With this parallelism, illicit sexual relations
are compared to social relations that compromise the people and should be
avoided at all cost. For this reason, those who oppose the power of the intrud-
ers are placed as guardians of all points of access.24
In Susanna’s story there are doors that open and close. Those that stay
open allow the entrance of the elders into the garden, threatening Israel with
impurity symbolized in the body of a woman. This woman is attacked and
maligned for not wanting to open her own door.25 The immoral attitude of
those who should defend the law not only hurts them but also affects the
entire social body, whereas those who are faithful to YHWH and his covenant
strengthen the religious community.
In adding Susanna’s story to the book, our authors directed attention to
the fragile and vulnerable collectives in communities that serve to represent
the people. Susanna, together with Judith and Jael (Judg 4:17–22; 5:24–27),
are paradigmatic cases of women who, despite their little strength, can over-
come their opponents. They manage to defeat the powerful not alone, but pray

23. See Athalya Brenner, “The Hebrew God and His Female Complements,” in Read-
ing Bibles, Writing Bodies: Identity and the Book (ed. Timothy K. Beal and David M. Gunn;
London: Routledge, 1997), 64.
24. John W. Wright, “A Tale of Three Cities: Urban Gates, Squares and Power in Iron
Age II, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid Judah,” in Davies and Halligan, Studies in Poli-
tics, Class and Material Culture, 19–50, explores in detail what doors and walls represent
in Israelite cities.
25. Mary Douglas has best analyzed societies’ self-defense: “we” against those from
outside, “the others,” and the way in which bodily control constitutes an expression of
social control; see Mary Douglas, Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology (London:
Barrie & Rockliff, 1970), 71, 103.
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 285

to God, who helps them with his power. The image of the pleading Susanna
allows us to see the “rest” of Israel, this small group that knew how to stay
faithful to its creed, even in difficult circumstances.
In the Old Testament, women serve as mediators between God and cer-
tain men, as in the case of Moses, who lives thanks to a group of women (Exod
1–3), and Abigail, who stops David’s vengeance against her husband (1 Sam
25:1–42). In our story, Susanna’s mediation has served to highlight the mali-
ciousness of the elders who hurt the community.

4. What Does Susanna Add to the Story of Daniel?

Can a short story of a page and a half add something of interest to a book as
long as Daniel? What does Susanna contribute to the story of the male hero?
From the situation in Palestine, we can infer that the ancient authors, illus-
trious and faithful men, were worried about the people oppressed by unscru-
pulous governors, both foreign and Israelite. Their subjects did not dare to
stand up to them and were even tempted to imitate their actions, which seemed
beneficial and were not punished. The ethics of Israel, a strongly marked part
of its identity, is questioned, seriously harming its image and future.
In order to stop this aberration, joined to the old legendary figure of Daniel,
the story of Susanna and the Elders adds a tale that takes place in different cir-
cumstances. Daniel walks among the foreign governors, while Susanna deals
with the powerful people from her own village. The common people cannot
see themselves reflected in Daniel’s story because he offers a model of behavior
for Jews who govern, for the wise and the scribes in their own circle.
Susanna’s story introduces other parameters; she is not among the gov-
erning class and lives among the people, in everyday life both in the Diaspora
and in Israel; she highlights a problematic use of the torah, a basic pillar of
Judaism, when two witnesses agree to manipulate it. Susanna’s case, however,
provides an example of what is happening in many communities, in order to
alert recipients to similar dangers and offer an alternative.26
To show the weakness of the people, the text uses a woman, the wife of
a rich man who does not defend her. No one helps her, and she has neither
the knowledge nor the cultural information that Daniel has received at court.
Yet she has learned faith and the history of salvation from her family through
stories of the deeds of a merciful God in favor of Israel. The young woman not

26. For a reading of the book of Susanna in painting, see Dan W. Clanton, The
Good, the Bold and the Beautiful: The Story of Susanna and Its Renaissance Interpretations
(LHBOTS 430; New York: T&T Clark, 2006).
286 Isabel Gómez-Acebo

only refrains from prostituting herself with alien lovers, as Israel did, but also
risks her life for not complying. It is her faith, ignorant in mundane knowl-
edge but rich in knowledge of the divine, that the story presents to people who
find themselves in a similar situation, in order that they might have a model.
The social weakness in which Israel is engulfed does not preclude fighting, as
this woman has shown. The strength of her faith allows her to challenge the
governors of her community and to deny their desires.
Susana is a paragon of publicly expressed convictions. Naked before the
assembly, she is not afraid, she does not cover her body, but she screams her
prayer aloud so that everyone can see and hear her, though God is the recipi-
ent of her words. More than fidelity, the defense of faith demands a raising
of one’s voice when it is crushed, even though it may seem futile because no
one listens.
Hers is the cry of the innocent, of the poor and weak who have no human
support, a theme that recurs in Judaism and in the Greek novels of the peri-
od.27 The story, however, presents us with an inversion of values: the weak
turn to a God who is in favor of their disgrace, and will win a battle that, in
any other moment, would have been lost.
Apart from the principal characters, the actors that appear in these sto-
ries can be divided into three categories: the bad, the good, and the numer-
ous. Susanna’s story is written for this last group, so that they avoid evil and
fight against it. It shows them the way to hold their heads high and their faith
firm. Its authors have lost hope of converting the powerful (an idea latent in
Daniel), and Susanna serves as their role model. The individualistic ideas of
Greece, though, also influenced these Jewish authors, who advocate that any
human being, even a woman, can serve as a light for the people.
Susanna is the last in a saga of women who take a step forward. Some,
like Deborah, lead frightened groups of people (Judg 4–5); others, like Judith
or Jael, kill the adversary general; Queen Esther convinces her husband to
annul a decree of the Jews’ extermination; while the mother of the Maccabees
encourages her children not to falter at the moment of martyrdom (2 Macc
7), an image that is very close to that of our protagonist. Susanna would never
know if her example serves and is imitated, but her story in the Bible adds
feminine life to Jewish faith.
The story has nothing that can be compared to modern feminism. How-
ever, the figure of Susanna, like that of other heroines in these Jewish books,

27. In Hellenistic novels of this period, such as Chariton and Callirrhoe or Leucippe
and Clitophon, weakness tends to be found in women; see Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and
Clitophon (trans. S. Gaselee; LCL 45; London: Heinemann, 1961).
 Susanna, Example of Virtue 287

has opened doors for other female protagonists, unthinkable until these
moments. These women have confronted powerful men, and won, showing
that female leadership is possible and the process of a people’s liberation is
only complete when both sexes fight to achieve it.28
The story has a happy ending. The people are glad to see that a young man
has shown himself to be more useful and honest than the partial governors of
the village community. The husband and family of the young woman see that
her honor has not been stained, and the young Daniel begins to make himself
a legend of wisdom.
We still need to ask about the young wife, whose feelings are not men-
tioned. In my view, one may rightly surmise that this episode would have
had emotional repercussions. She receives no praise for refusing the elders,
although she has almost been condemned to death. Her relationship with her
husband, who does not defend her, would have deteriorated—although the
law did not allow for spousal declarations. Susanna’s contacts with the mem-
bers of her community may not be the same either. She has appeared naked or
unclothed in their presence, and every time she is with someone, she will feel
that they are imagining her thus.
The authors of our story have ruined Susanna’s (fictive?) life—have they
not? They have possibly done so without realizing they have because, like the
God of the prophets, they only see one side of the equation. Once they have
used her image for their intentions, they make her disappear because she is
no longer needed. The same thing happens with other biblical women, like
Esther, Judith, Deborah, and Jael. Their images and gestures are used when the
circumstances require it, and once they are no longer needed, they leave the
scene without a sound, leaving behind only the example of a life to be imitated.
The message to the hurt and subjugated community is clear. Neither igno-
rance nor weakness is an excuse to give in to this type of power, which is
diminished because God comes to the defense of the innocent who cry for
help. Political leadership, however strong it may be, will give in to divine
power, which is always greater. Susanna, as a faithful and virtuous woman,
who stands and implores YHWH in her most difficult moment, is the best
example that readers can imitate when they seek to preserve their religious
identity—and Israel can imitate her as well, because every little bit helps.

Translated from Spanish by Anna Deckert and Christl M. Maier

28. André LaCocque, The Feminine Unconventional: Four Subversive Figures in Israel’s
Tradition (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 20.
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 Contributors

Ulrike Bail is Extraordinary Professor of Old Testament at Ruhr-Univer-

sität Bochum, Germany. She is working as a freelance writer and teacher of
German in Luxemburg. Her main research areas are the Psalms, traditions of
lament, and prophets. In her interpretation, she uses literary methods as well
as postmodern concepts of text and space in a feminist perspective. She is co-
editor of Bibel in gerechter Sprache (Gütersloher, 2006; 4th ed., 2011), the new
German translation of the Bible in inclusive language. She was awarded prizes
for her book Die verzogene Sehnsucht hinkt an ihren Ort: Literarische Über-
lebensstrategien nach der Zerstörung Jerusalems im Alten Testament (Güterslo-
her, 2004) and for her poems. Recently she published the poem collection
Wundklee streut aus: 47 Gedichte über theodora (Conte, 2011) and essays on
Psalms, Habbakuk, and Zephaniah in Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Com-
pendium of Critical Commentary on the Book of the Bible and Related Litera-
ture (ed. L. Schottroff and M.-T. Wacker; trans. Lisa E. Dahill et al., Eerdmans,
2012). For more information, see www.ulrike-bail.de.

Gianni Barbiero, a member of the Roman-Catholic order of the Salesians of

Don Bosco, is Professor of Old Testament Exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical
Institute in Rome, Italy. He earned his PhD in 1988 and his habilitation in
1998 from St. Georgen (Frankfurt) supervised by Norbert Lohfink. He taught
at Messina, Italy (1982–1992), and at the college of his religious order in Bene-
diktbeuern, Germany (1992–2003). His current research focuses on Psalms,
Song of Songs, and Jeremiah, as his recent publications demonstrate: Il regno
di JHWH e del suo Messia: Salmi scelti dal primo libro del Salterio (Città Nuova,
2008); Cantico dei Cantici (Paoline, 2004); Song of Songs: A Close Reading
(Brill, 2011); “Tu mi hai sedotto, Signore”: Le confessioni di Geremia alla luce
della sua vocazione profetica (Gregorian and Biblical Press, 2013).

Gerlinde Baumann is Extraordinary Professor of Old Testament at the Uni-

versity of Marburg, Germany, and research fellow at the University of Preto-
ria, South Africa. She works as a freelance translator, writer, editor, and lec-

-317-
318 Contributors

turer. Her main research areas are wisdom literature, images of the divine,
and hermeneutics of the Hebrew Bible. She has published numerous books
and articles for academic and lay readers, among them Die Weisheitsgestalt in
Proverbien 1–9: Traditionsgeschichtliche und theologische Studien (Mohr Sie-
beck, 1996); Love and Violence: The Imagery of Marriage for YHWH and Israel
in the Prophetic Books (Liturgical Press, 2003; the German original received
a prize in 2000); Gottesbilder der Gewalt im Alten Testament verstehen (Wis-
senschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2006; trans. to Brazilian Portuguese in 2011);
and “Hermeneutical Perspectives on Violence against Women and on Divine
Violence in German-Speaking Old Testament Exegesis,” in Global Hermeneu-
tics? Reflections and Consequences (ed. K. Holter and L.C. Jonker; IVBS online
publication; see http://ivbs.sbl-site.org/uploads/JONKER~1.PDF).

Nuria Calduch-Benages, born in Barcelona, Spain, is Professor of Old Tes-

tament at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. She edits book
reviews for the journal Biblica (Pontificial Biblical Institute) and serves as
consultant at the Cardinal-Bea-Center for Jewish Studies (Rome). She is Vice-
President of the International Society for the Study of Deuterocanonical and
Cognate Literature and editorial board member of Estudios Bíblicos and Vetus
Testamentum. Her research focuses on wisdom literature, especially the book
of Ben Sira. Among her recent publications are En el crisol de la prueba: Estu-
dio exegético de Sir 2,1–18 (Verbo Divino, 1997); with J. Liesen and J. Ferrer,
The Wisdom of the Scribe (Verbo Divino, 2003); with J. Liesen, History and
Identity: How Israel’s Later Authors Viewed Its Earlier History (de Gruyter,
2006); The Perfume of the Gospel: Jesus’ Encounters with Women (Gregorian
and Biblical Press, 2012); and Wisdom for Life (de Gruyter, 2014).

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi is Professor of Bible at the Hebrew Union College–

Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, California. She is editor-in-chief of
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (Union of Reform Judaism Press, 2008),
the winner (with Andrea L. Weiss) of the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award.
She has served in several committees of the Society of Biblical Literature and
on several editorial boards of leading journals. Her research focuses on the
reconstruction of Jewish life in the Persian period, on the role of women in the
biblical world, and on the significance of the Hebrew Bible for contemporary
communities. She co-authored The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth (with Tikva
Frymer-Kensky; Jewish Publication Society, 2011), which won the National
Jewish Book Award for Women Studies in 2012. She also received a National
Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for her project on “Out from the
Shadows: Biblical Women in the Persian Period (Sixth to Fourth Centuries
BCE).” A volume in her honor, titled Making a Difference: Essays on Bible and
 Contributors 319

Judaism in Honor of Tamara Cohn Eskenazi (ed. D. J. A. Clines et al.; Sheffield

Phoenix) appeared in 2012.

Vittoria D’Alario is Professor of Old Testament at the Pontifical Faculty of

Theology in South Italy (San Luigi Section) in Naples, Italy. Her main subject
of research is the book of Qoheleth. She has authored numerous books and
articles, including “L’assurdità del male nella teodicea del Qohelet,” in Initium
Sapientiae: Scritti in onore di Franco Festorazzi nel suo 70° compleanno (ed.
R. Fabris; Dehoniane, 2000); “Struttura e teologia del libro del Qohelet,” in Il
libro del Qohelet: Traduzione, redazione, teologia (ed. G. Bellia and A. Pasaro;
Paoline, 2001); “Qohelet e l’apocalittica: Il significato del termine ‘olam in
Qo 3,11,” in Tempo ed eternità: In dialogo con Ugo Vanni S.I. (ed. A. Casa-
legno; Cinisello Balsamo, 2002); “Qoèlet,” in Temi teologici della Bibbia (ed. R.
Penna et al.; Cinisello Balsamo, 2010); and “Il silenzio di Dio nell’esperienza
di Giobbe e di Qoelet,” in Ricercare la sapienza di tutti gli antichi (Sir 39, 1):
Miscellanea in onore di Gian Luigi Prato (ed. M. Milani and M. Zappella;
Dehoniane, 2013).

Isabel Gómez-Acebo is Professor (emerita) at the Pontifical University of

Comillas in Madrid, Spain. She is a founding member of the Association of
Spanish Theologians (ATE) and of the School of Feminist Theology in Anda-
lusia (EFETA; see http://www.efeta.org/EN/). Her research focuses on spiri-
tuality and female characters of the Bible. She has edited twenty-four volumes
of the series En clave de mujer (Desclée de Brouwer). Her recent publications
include “Personajes femeninos en el libro de Ester,” Reseña Bíblica 56 (2007);
Lucas: Guía de lectura al evangelio de Lucas (EVD, 2008); and “Aportaciones
a la familia del Libro de la Vida,” in El libro de la Vida de santa Teresa de Jesús
(Burgos, 2011).

Miren J. Guevara Llaguno is Professor of Old Testament (Pentateuch and

Historical Books) at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Granada,
Spain, and also teaches in the postgraduate masters program in the Depart-
ment of Semitic Studies. She is coordinator of university extension and Vice
Director of the Department of Holy Scripture. Her research interests are the
reception of the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament and the relationship
between the Bible and culture, with a focus on the Bible in soap operas. She
has authored Esplendor en la diáspora: La tradición de José (Gn 37-50) y sus
relecturas en la literatura bíblica y parabíblica (Verbo Divino, 2006); Proyecto
Nazaret 1: En la Iglesia; 2: Comunidad de bienes (with J. J. Gómez-Escalonilla,
J. M. Rodríguez, and A. Villar; Edelvives and Verbo Divino, 2010); and Los
apócrifos posmodernos (Edelvives, 2012).
320 Contributors

Sara Japhet is Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor (emerita) of Bible at the Hebrew

University of Jerusalem and until 2012 was editor of Shnaton: An Annual for
Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. She held positions as chairperson
and member of academic committees in Israel and abroad as well as pres-
tigious visiting professorships in the United States and Europe. She served,
among others, as the Chairperson of the Department of Bible at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem (1984–1986), the Chairperson of the Institute of
Jewish Studies (1986–1989), the Director of the National and University
Library (1997–2001), and the President of the World Union of Jewish Studies
(2006–2009). In 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for Biblical
Studies. Her research interests are the history, society, religion, and literature
of Israel in the biblical period, biblical law and legal traditions, and the history
of the interpretation of the Bible. She has widely published on Chronicles and
the restoration period, for example, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and
Its Place in Biblical Thought (3rd ed.; Eisenbrauns, 2009); I and II Chronicles:
A Commentary (SCM, 1993; Herder, 2002–2003); From the Rivers of Babylon
to the Highlands of Judah: Collected Studies on the Restoration Period (Eisen-
brauns, 2006). She also authored books and articles on biblical exegesis, such
as Collected Studies in Biblical Exegesis (Mosad Bialik, 2008) and A Commen-
tary on Ezra-Nehemiah (Magnes, forthcoming).

Nancy C. Lee is Professor of Religious Studies at Elmhurst College near Chi-

cago and Extraordinary Visiting Professor at the University of Stellenbosch in
South Africa. In 1996–1997 she was a Fulbright Fellow to Croatia and Bosnia
and co-founded the section on Lamentations in the Society of Biblical Lit-
erature. Her research focuses on lament traditions in the Hebrew Bible and
across ancient and contemporary cultures, as reflected in her “Lamentations
and Polemic: The Rejection/Reception History of Women’s Lament … and
Syria,” Interpretation 67 (2013). Another research topic is oral poetic artistry
in the Hebrew Bible in relation to a Hebraic woman’s lyrical tradition also
utilized by women prophets. Her books include The Singers of Lamentations:
Cities under Siege, from Ur to Jerusalem to Sarajevo (Brill, 2002); Lyrics of
Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation (Fortress, 2010); and Hannah and
Hannevi’ah: Hearing a Woman’s Lyrical Tradition and Women Biblical Prophets
(Wipf & Stock, forthcoming).

Christl M. Maier is Professor of Old Testament at the University of Marburg,

Germany. In 2003–2006 she taught at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Con-
necticut. She is editor-in-chief of Supplements to Vetus Testamentum and a
member of the editorial boards of lectio difficilior, the Journal of Biblical Liter-
ature, and the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Her research focuses
 Contributors 321

on prophecy and wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible, with special inter-
ests in feminist hermeneutics and theories of space. Her recent publications
include Daughter Zion, Mother Zion: Gender, Space, and the Sacred in Ancient
Israel (Fortress, 2008); Constructions of Space V: Place, Space, and Identity in
the Ancient Mediterranean World (co-edited with G. Prinsloo; Bloomsbury
T&T Clark, 2013); and Prophecy and Power: Jeremiah in Feminist and Postco-
lonial Perspective (co-edited with C. J. Sharp; Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013).

Susan Niditch is Samuel Green Professor of Religion at Amherst College,

Amherst, Massachusetts. She has widely published on biblical and Jewish
women, war and ethics in the Hebrew Bible, and biblical and Jewish folklore.
Her publications include War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Vio-
lence (Oxford University Press, 1993); Judges: A Commentary (Westminster
John Knox, 2008); and “My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man”: Hair and Identity
in Ancient Israel (Oxford University Press, 2008). A new book, forthcoming
in the fall of 2015 (Yale University Press), is tentatively entitled “The Respon-
sive Self: Personal Religion in Biblical Literature of the Neo-Babylonian and
Persian Periods.”

Donatella Scaiola is Professor at the Department of Missiology of the Pon-

tifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy. She also teaches Biblical Hebrew
at the Department of Theology and Old Testament Exegesis at the School of
Theology of Northern Italy in Milan. She is a member of the Biblical Asso-
ciation of Italy (ABI) and serves as a representative of ABI at the Section of
the Biblical Apostolate (SAB) as well as at the coordinating council of Ital-
ian Theologians. She is editor-in-chief of the journal Parole di Vita and a
member of the editorial board of Euntes Docete. Her research focuses on the
Psalms and the Twelve Prophets. Among her recent publications are Servire
il Signore: Linee di una teologia biblica della missione nell’Antico Testamento
(Urbaniana University Press, 2008); “I Salmi imprecatori; il linguaggio vio-
lento dei Salmi: Preghiera e violenza,” RStB 1–2 (2008); and Ruth (Paoline,
2009); I Dodici Profeti: Perché «Minori?»; Esegesi e teologia (EDB, 2011); Abdia,
Giona, Michea (Edizioni San Paolo, 2012); Naum, Abacuc, Sofonia (Edizioni
San Paolo, 2013) and La donna perfetta: Interpretazioni di un poema biblico
(EDB, 2014).

Silvia Schroer, a Roman Catholic theologian, is Professor of Old Testament

and the Biblical World at the University of Bern, Switzerland. She is co-
founder and (with Tal Ilan) co-editor of lectio difficilior, the first electronic
journal for feminist exegesis in Europe (www.lectio.unibe.ch). Since 2011 she
has been a member of the National Research Council of the Swiss National
322 Contributors

Science Foundation (SNF). Being an expert in feminist interpretation and

ancient Near Eastern iconography, she has published fundamental studies in
these research areas, for example, a compendium of the history of religion in
Palestine/Israel on the basis of iconographic findings titled Die Ikonographie
Palästinas/Israels und der Alte Orient: Eine Religionsgeschichte in Bildern,
vol. 1: Vom ausgehenden Mesolithikum bis zur Frühbronzezeit (with O. Keel;
3 vols.; Academic Press, 2005–2011). Many of her books have been trans-
lated into other languages, such as, Wisdom Has Built Her House: Studies on
the Figure of Sophia in the Bible (trans. L. M. Maloney and W. McDonough;
Liturgical Press, 2000). She also writes popular books for a wider audience
interested in the Bible, among them Eva—Mutter alles Lebendigen: Frauen-
und Göttinnenidole aus dem Alten Orient (with O. Keel; 3rd ed.; Academic
Press, 2010) and Menschen­bilder der Bibel (with T. Staubli; Patmos, 2014).
 Index of Ancient Sources

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament 37–50 278

37:21 228
Genesis 38 47, 159
1:1–2:4a 62 38:11 25, 240
1:2–3 166, 67 38:15–16 224
1:28 144 39:7–12 84
2 131 41:43–57 251
2–3 258 42:5 251
2:4 253 43:1 251
2:10–14 177
2:18 122, 220 Exodus
2:20 220 1–3 285
2:21–22 154 1:15–22 159
2:23 225 12:48 245
2:24 224, 233, 240, 251 13:21 69
3:6 115 15:23 239
3:16 227 19:4 140
3:20 220 19:15 21
4:1 167 20:17 281
10 44 21:2–6 48
10:1 253 34:14 230
12:1 224, 252 34:22 248
12:10 251
12:14–17 280 Leviticus
19:30–38 159, 245 7:11–21 29
20:2 280 17:7 238
24:4–9 252 19:9–10 249
24:28 240 19:33 245
24:58 252 22:13 25, 240
25:1–4 44 22:21 29
25:4 46 23:15–21 248
25:12–16 44 24:16 88
26:1 251 25:23–28 249
36 44
36:1 253

-323-
324 Index of Ancient Sources

Numbers 16:17 228

9:14 245 21:19–23 280
12 209
22–24 245 1 Samuel
25 245 19:8–17 159
26:33 43, 46 25 159, 267
27:1–11 43 25:1–13 267
27:8 49 25:1–42 285
28:26–31 248 25:24 267
30 29 25:28 267
36:8 49
2 Samuel
Deuteronomy 2:14–22 159
2:8–9 245 6:16 156
4:4 240 6:20–23 38
4:24 230 7:27 250
5:9 230 8:16 38
6:4–5 230–31 11:1–17 278–79
6:5 69 12 42, 187
7:1–6 22 13 36, 42, 190–93
10:18 245 13:15 280
12:9–10 69 13:19 191
20:19 154 13:20 190, 192,
23:3–6 245 14 36, 267
23:4–7 22, 24 14:12 267
24:17 90, 245 14:17 267
24:19 249 15:2 175
24:19–22 90 20 36
25 249 20:4–22 267
25:5–10 48 20:18–19 267
25:7 174 21:8–14 159
32:11 140 23:18 38
32:18 134
1 Kings
Joshua 3:1 49
17:6 46 3:16–27 36
19:50 47 7:14 38
24:30 47 8:1–10 50
9:24 39, 49
Judges 10:1–10 38
4–5 286 10:13 38
4:17–22 284 11 51
5:2 228 11:1–10 36
5:24–27 284 11:2 240
5:28–30 156 11:3 36
 Index of Ancient Sources 325

15:33 37 Ezekiel
16:6 46 3:17 212
17:8–24 36 16 284
16:25 116–17
2 Kings 23 202, 284
2:8 167 23:33 192
4:1 25 47:1–12 177
4:1–37 36
9:30–34 156 Hosea
11:1–16 38 1–3 202
11:2 40 9:8 212
12:22 40–41
22:14–20 38 Micah
25 42, 52 5:1 46
7:4 212
Isaiah
13:21 228 Psalms
22:4 206 1 154
43:2–3 232 5:12 194
52:13–53:12 278 6 187
54:1 192 7:11 194
54:1–10 175 10:14 194
56:3–8 24 14:6 194
57:7 85 16:8–9 186
62:4 192 16:9–11 232
66:7–14 175 17:7–9 138
17:15 135
Jeremiah 22:2–3 168
1:5 167–68 22:5–6 168
2:13 222 22:7–9 169
3:1–3 202 22:10 183
3:3–5 85 22:10–11 133–44, 168–70
4:17 192 23:2 194
6:17 212 24:2 178
7:16 205 27:1 194
9 205 27:10 171
9:17–21 191 28:2 183
11:14 205 31:14 192
12:1 204 31:17 137
14:11 205 31:21 194
15:1 205 36:7 161
17:8 154 40:7–11 161
17:13 222 41:13 137
51:43 190, 192 46:5 177
50:2 219
326 Index of Ancient Sources

Psalms (cont.) Job

51:1 187 1:21 134
55 190–93 2:3 87
55:4–6 192 2:5 87
55:7–9 193 2:9 87–89
55:14 191 2:9 LXX 88–89
57:2 138 2:9–10 165
59:8 185 10:8–11 167
59:17 194 22:9 90
61:4–5 138 24:3 90
63:2 185 24:21 90
63:8–9 138 28 64, 73, 160–61
68:22 228 28:28 64
69:13 174 29:12–13 90
70:3 171 29:12–16 91
71:5–9 171 31:9–10 91
71:13 171 31:16–17 90
71:17–18 171 31:21 175
71:24 171 39–41 141–43
72:1–2 161 39 132
85:14 161 42:13 87
87 172–78 42:14–15 89
87:1–3 174–75 42:15 80
87:4–6 175–76
87:7 177 Proverbs
90:2 134 1–9 59–63, 66, 69, 74, 81, 83–86
91:1–2 194 1:2–3 160
91:1–5 138 1:7 64
102 180 1:8 29, 86, 91
102:1–8 184–85 1:20–21 59
102:9 185 1:20–33 59, 66
104 142 1:22–33 59, 61
104:29 137 2:6 84
109:4 180 2:17 84
111:10 64 3:16–17 59
118:19–20 175 3:16–18 61
127:5 174 3:18 61, 144
130:2 138 4:6 59, 61
131:1–2 170 4:8–9 59
131:2 134 5:3–5 99
139:13–16 166–68 5:3–14 29
139:15 134 5:9–10 82
144:12 154 5:9–14 84
5:15–18 222
5:15–19 84, 222
 Index of Ancient Sources 327

5:19 29, 218 12:26 79

6:20 29, 86, 91 14:1 80
6:20–35 29, 84 15:25 89
6:24 84 17:23 79
6:26 84 19:14 80, 120
7:1–27 29 21:9 81, 116
7:4 59, 61 21:19 116
7:6 154–56 22:14 83
7:6–27 228 22:17–23:11 132
7:14 84 22:22 174
7:14–15 29 23:10 89
7:14–20 84 23:27–28 83–84
7:16 82 25:1 78
7:16–17 29 25:8 116
7:22 97 25:17 116
7:25–27 99 25:20 116
7:26–27 85 25:24 116
8 59 26:1–4 118–19
8:1–3 59 26:7 116
8:1–21 160 27:15 81
8:4–11 59 31 30
8:4–36 61 31:1 86
8:11 81 31:1–9 28, 83
8:12–21 59 31:2 29
8:13 64, 66 31:10 28, 81
8:14–16 87 31:10–31 12, 28–29, 66, 81–83, 91,
8:15–16 61, 70, 160 218
8:19 61, 66 31:11–12 118, 122–23
8:22 61 31:14 21
8:22–31 60, 64, 132, 162–63 31:15 28, 30
8:24–25 61 31:17 21
8:30 61 31:21 28
8:31 62 31:22 29
8:32–36 60 31:23 82, 123, 174
9:1–6 66, 81 31:24 28
9:1–9 59 31:26 87
9:10 64 31:28 29
9:11 59 31:30 218
9:13 84
9:13–18 60 Ruth
10:1 86 1:1 251
10:6 79 1:1–4 244
11:22 80 1:4 238
12:4 80 1:6 239, 241, 244
12:5 79 1:7 223
328 Index of Ancient Sources

Ruth (cont.) 2:1–2 150

1:8 25–26, 240 2:4 217
1:11 239 2:6 221
1:14 239–40 2:7 152, 218, 220–21
1:16 240 2:8–17 221, 224–25
1:18 246 2:9 220
1:19 25, 243 2:10 219–20, 221, 224
1:20 239, 243 2:13 219–20, 221, 224
1:21 243 2:14 152, 218
1:22 244, 249 2:15 221, 225
2:2–3 252 2:16 150, 224–25
2:6 244 3:1–2 107
2:10 245 3:1–5 221, 224, 227
2:11 251–52 3:4 228, 240
2:16 25 3:5 215, 220, 228
2:17 244 3:6 229
2:20 247 3:8 229
2:21 244 3:11 229
2:22 25 4:1 153, 219, 225
2:23 249 4:1–3 222
3:1–15 223 4:4 144
3:3–4 250 4:7 219
3:10 245, 250 4:8 153, 229–230
3:11 245 4:8–5:1 226–29
3:16 244 4:12 222, 226
4 21 4:12–16 222
4:1–11 175 4:15 222
4:3 25 4:16 226
4:11 249–50, 252 5:1 226, 227
4:11–16 248 5:2–4 226
4:12 252 5:5–6 226
4:12–13 26 5:6–7 227
4:15 243 5:7 217
4:17 25, 243, 250 5:9 218
4:18 26, 253 5:12 225
4:18–22 26 5:13 150, 225
6:1 218
Song of Songs 6:3 226
1:5 218, 221 6:4 217, 219
1:6 215, 218, 222–23 6:8 230
1:7 223 6:9 230
1:8 218, 224 6:10 219, 231
1:10 219 6:12 217
1:15 152, 219 7:1 216
1:16–17 221 7:2 219
 Index of Ancient Sources 329

7:2–11 217 8:1 96

7:3 144, 150 8:16–17 100
7:5 144, 225 9:1 104
7:7 218 9:1–12 103
7:7–10 144–45 9:2–3 104
7:9–10 227 9:7 105
7:11 227 9:9 94, 103–6
7:12–13 221 9:11–12 104
7:12–14 221, 227 9:12 98
8:1–4 227 12:9–10 101
8:2 215, 228, 240 12:13 107
8:4 220, 227
8:5 221, 228, 230 Lamentations
8:5–14 230–32 1 199–201
8:6 156–58, 221, 224, 230–31 1–2 201, 210, 212
8:6–7 217 1:1 201
8:7 230 1:1 LXX 197
8:8–9 215 1:5 202
8:8–10 144 1:8 202
8:9 222 1:9 202
8:10 216, 223 1:10 203
8:11–12 223, 230 1:11 202, 243
8:12 223 1:11–12 203
8:14 232 1:16 203
1:18 204, 207
Qoheleth 1:19 243
1:3 93 1:20 204–5
2:8 14 1:21 205
3:8 99 2 199, 205–9
3:10 102 2–4 200
3:19–21 131 2:11 202
5:6 107 2:12 206
6:10–12 93 2:13 207
6:12 100–101 2:18 207
7:14 107 2:22 208
7:16 103 3 199, 209–10
7:23–24 96 3:1 209
7:23–27 94–99 3:26–28 209
7:25–26 97–99 3:41 209–10
7:26 92, 98, 99–101 3:42–44 210
7:26–28 94–95, 99–101 4 199, 210
7:27 101–2 4:22 210
7:27–29 101–3 5 199, 210–11
7:28 107, 202–3 5:2–3 210
7:29 95, 103 5:10 210
330 Index of Ancient Sources

Lamentations (cont.) 13:23–24 23

5:11 210–11 13:23–31 85
5:12–14 211 13:26 23, 51, 85
5:20–22 211
1 Chronicles
Esther 1–9 35, 42–47
2:1–8 27 1:1 34
3:7 269 1:32 46
4:3 255 2:3–4 47
4:10–17 27 2:16 38, 47
4:11 266 2:17 47
4:14 256 2:19 45
4:15–16 263 2:21 45
4:17 283 2:23 45
7:4 255 2:34–35 48–49
8:2 263 2:46 43, 45
8:5 267 2:48 43
8:8 263 2:50–54 45
8:11 255 2:50 43
9:22 269 3 47–48
9:29 27 3:17–24 47
9:29–32 27, 263, 270 3:19 43
3:19–20 47
Daniel 4:2–4 45
4:22 282 4:4 43, 46
4:31 282 4:18 45
13:42 282 7:14 45
7:15 43
Ezra 7:16 43
2:65 14, 30 7:24 43, 46
9–10 22–23, 50, 85 7:30 42, 47
9:1–2 22 10 36
10:3 50 11 36
10:19 23 11:6 38
10:44 23 11:20 38
15:29 38
Nehemiah 18:12 38
5:1–13 14 18:15 38
5:17 14 23 49
6:14 22 23:21–22 49
7 13 23:22 49
7:67 14, 30 25:5 40
8:2–3 21 26:33 46
10:1–29 22
10:29–30 22
 Index of Ancient Sources 331

2 Chronicles 6:26 69
2:13 38 6:28 69
5:2–14 50 7:18–28 112
8:11 39, 49–50 7:19 112, 119
9:1–9 38 7:20–21 112
9:12 38 7:24–25 91, 111
11:18–22 39–40 7:26 112, 116, 117
13:21 40 8:3 73
15:13 41 9:1 112, 119
21:14 41 9:1–9 111
21:16–17 41 10:18 109
22:3 38 14:20–15:10 64, 65, 139
22:10–23:15 38 15:2 71
22:11–12 40 15:2–3 66
24:3 40 15:6 65
24:26 41 22:3–5 111
28:8 41 23:22–26 111
28:10 41 24 64, 67, 112, 177
28:15 41 24:1–22 65
29:9 41 24:3–7 67
31:16–18 40 24:4 69
31:19 40 24:8 69
34:22–28 38 24:9 69
35:25 41 24:10 67, 69, 121
36:17 41–42 24:13–22 68
36:22–23 34 24:18 66
24:19–21 66, 68, 148
Deuterocanonical Writings 24:21 118
24:23 64, 67
Judith 25:1 113
9:11 283 25:6 113
25:13 113
2 Maccabees 25:13–26 112, 114–15, 123
7 286 25:15 116
7:1–42 278 25:15–26 91,
25:16 114, 116
Ben Sira 25:17 113, 116
1:1–27 64 25:19 113
1:10–20 64, 66 25:20 115, 116, 117
1:20 144 25:21 114, 117, 120
1:26 64 25:22 115, 117
4:11–19 64 25:24 92, 115
4:14 68–69 25:25 114, 117
4:19 64–65 25:26 114, 118
6:18–37 64 26:1–4 91, 112, 118–19
332 Index of Ancient Sources

Ben Sira (cont.) 6:22 70

26:1 118 7:7–22 70
26:3 118, 120, 122 7:12 73
26:5–12 112, 114–15, 119 7:15 70–71
26:7 113, 114, 116 7:21 70
26:7–12 91 7:22–8:1 70, 73
26:8 115, 117 7:25 73
26:9–12 117 7:28 71, 73
26:10 114, 115 8:1 73
26:12 116–17 8:2–20 70, 73
26:13–18 91, 112, 118–19, 117 8:13 71
26:14 119, 120 8:17 71
26:15 120 9:2 162
26:17–18 120–21 9:4 70, 151
26:22–27 91 9:9 70
33:20 117 10:15–21 73–74
33:27 112
36:21–27 119, 122 New Testament
36:24 123
36:24–25 122 Mark
36:25–27 123 10:30 216
40:1 134
40:23 113 Pseudepigraphal Works
42:5 112
42:6 112, 113, 118 1 Esdras
42:9–14 111 9:36 51
44–50 64, 109–10
47:19 112, 117 Testament of Job
50:12 154 23:2–10 89
51:13–26 64, 65 46 89
51:19–20 66
51:23 65 Ancient Near Eastern Texts/
Documents
Baruch
3–4 73 Amenemope
7:11–14 89
Susanna 275–87
Ankhsheshonqy
Wisdom 24–25 111
1:1 160 24:21 118
1:1–15 70
1:6 71 Elephantine Papyri, Cowley
3:12–14 71 C7 20
6:12 72 C 10 20
6:12–21 71 C 22 20
 Index of Ancient Sources 333

Elephantine Papyri, Kraeling Midrash Psalms

K2 19, 20 59 114
K4 19
K5 19 Ancient Authors
K7 20
K 10 20 Chariton of Aphrodisias, Chaereas and
K 12 20 Callirhoe
1.2.6 279
Gilgamesh Epic 1.13.14 279
3.12–13 106
Pseudo-Demosthenes, Against Neaera
Gortyn–Codex 122 16
VI.1–2 17
VII.1–10 17 Euripides, Uncertain Fragments
VII.15 17 1059 113–14
VIII.20–22 17
Hesiod, Works and Days
Ludlul bel nemeqi 278 695 113
702 118
Moussaiff tablet 19
Greek Menander
Murashu tablets 18 83 120

Pap. Insinger Syriac Menander, Sentences

8:10 114 118–22 120
9 111
Stobaeus
Qumran 22–23 111

4Q179 197 Theognis

1225 118
4Q184 92
Xenophon, Oeconomicus
4QLam 197 3.14–15 11–12

Rabbinical Writings Patristic Writings

b. Pesaḥ . Augustine, Confessions

68b 249 11.20.26 237

m. Sotah
1:5 282

Gen. Rab.
17:2 122
 Calduch-Benages
Maier
1.3 The Writings and Later Wisdom Books Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
This volume in the Bible and Women series covers the third part of the Hebrew
canon (Writings) and two deuterocanonical wisdom books: Ben Sira, the Greek
translation of a Hebrew collection of sayings; and the Wisdom of Solomon.
Several contributors trace the living conditions of women in Persian and
Hellenistic times, while others examine the Israelite wisdom tradition with
regard to its numerous female characters, among them Lady Wisdom and the biblia y mujeres
“strange” woman, the mother of the king and the “strong” woman, as well as the bible and women
“good” and “bad” wife. Essays discover female voices and experiences in Psalms, bibbi a e d onne
Lamentations, and the Song of Songs and connect motifs and metaphors of the bibel und frauen

Writings to ancient Near Eastern iconographical traditions. Finally, the stories

Later Wisdom Books

The Writings and
of Ruth, Esther, and Susannah are interpreted with a focus on their female
protagonists, who embody wisdom and strength in situations of conflict and
therefore may serve as role models of virtue and faith. The Writings and
Later Wisdom Books
Christl M. Maier, Professor of Old Testament, University of Marburg,
Germany.
Nuria Calduch-Benages, Professor of Old Testament and Biblical
Anthropology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy.

The Bible and Women:

An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History
Edited by Christiana de Groot, Irmtraud Fischer, Mercedes Navarro Puerto,
and Adriana Valerio
The collaborative, international multivolume project The Bible and Women presents
a reception history of the Bible and its cultural history, focusing on gender-related
biblical themes, female biblical characters, and the women who throughout history
have read, appropriated, and interpreted the Bible in text and image. Male and
female, Jewish, Christian, and secular scholars elaborate this interdisciplinary work,
bringing theological, archaeological, iconographic, art historical, philosophical,
literary, and social-historical gender studies into conversation. The encyclopedia is
published in German, English, Italian, and Spanish.

Cover detail from Damascus Keter. Photo by Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures.com. Design by Kathie Klein. Edited by
Christl M. Maier and
1.3 Nuria Calduch-Benages

SBL PRESS The Bible and Women: An Encyclopedia of Exegesis and Cultural History