In 1 Kings 10:1-13 we read the story of the Queen of Sheba who traveled a great distance to witness the riches and wisdom of King Solomon. After testing him with riddles, she concluded that the king was very wise as well as wealthy; she even declared that Solomon was blessed by his God. Then after abundant gifts were passed around, the Queen of Sheba returned to her land. Continue reading The Queen of Sheba
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Women as Property
As part of a whole section of rape legislation, Deut. 21 outlines the laws for taking women as booty during war. Sometimes it is difficult to read the Bible, particularly the rape texts and it’s easy to relegate the Bible to “long ago and far away.” Vastly different from our time, so the argument goes; most ancient cultures stole wives and the Israelites were just fitting in with their neighbors. “[T]he abduction of women by men for marital purposes is a familiar feature in nation-building myths of the ancient world” (Zlotnick, p.47). Furthermore, most often the rape laws and stories are classified as seduction, marriage or love. A traditional commentator “emphasizes the need for marriage as the law’s noble intention. That the marriage is coerced does not become problematic for the commentators” (Scholz, p.109). Here is a typical example of this kind of thinking: Continue reading The Silence Itself Turns Into Speech
Deut. 17:15 -17 admonishes the people of Israel to not let their king, probably Solomon, have lots of wives. Since the patriarchs and King David were polygamists, this critique of King Solomon seems unwarranted at first reading. As I explored all the references to Solomon’s wives and concubines I found varied and contradictory assessments of the king, from expressions of national pride to severe condemnation, particularly for his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter. Since Pharaoh’s daughter is the first mentioned in the list of Solomon’s wives in 1 Kings 11:1, she came to symbolize Solomon’s harem as a whole (Reinhartz, Why, p.25). Continue reading Solomon’s Egyptian Wife
“You must destroy all the sites at which the nations you are to dispossess worshiped their gods, whether on lofty mountains and on hills or under any luxuriant tree” Deut. 12:2
What is the importance of these trees? After some research I learned that the
“phenomenon of a sacred tree, particularly one associated with a sacred site, is well known in a variety of cultures. A distinguished tree, especially one of great antiquity, might be looked upon as the ‘tree of life’ or as being ‘cosmic,’ its stump symbolizing the ‘navel of the earth’ and its top representing heaven. In this sense, it is a bridge between the human and the divine spheres, and it becomes an arena of divine-human encounter, an ideal medium of oracles and revelation. Trees may have also symbolized the protection or fertility the worshiper hoped to receive from a deity. Fertility cults flourished in connection with such trees, and this form of paganism proved attractive to many Israelites” (Sarna, p.91).
The Canaanite goddess Asherah is closely related to the sacred terebinth trees. Even etymologically the Hebrew words for “goddess” (elat), “terebinth tree” (ela or alla) and the two words for oak (elon and allon) are closely related (Ackerman, Asherah). It has been well known for some time that the Israelites embraced monotheism quite late in their history as evidenced by archaeological finds. Despite the fact that Israelites were forbidden to worship Asherah under the sacred Canaanite trees, “there are multiple indications in biblical tradition that many in ancient Israel did regard Asherah’s cult icon as an appropriate sacred symbol within the religion of YHWH,” (Ackerman, Asherah).
It is against this backdrop that I read about Deborah who sat under a “luxuriant tree” called “the Palm of Deborah.” From this location Deborah summoned the general Barak to march against Sisera, the general of Israelite’s oppressors. Then she acted as military mastermind for the ensuing battle. Continue reading Deborah and Her Tree
“‘Ascend a lofty mountain, O herald of joy to Zion; Raise your voice with power, O herald [m’vaseret] of joy to Jerusalem.'” Isaiah 40:9
Within the words of comfort in Isaiah 40, we find a number of voices calling out to Zion on God’s behalf with no success. “Rather than relying solely on Divine but disembodied voices of solace, God turns to a messenger of flesh and blood” (Nosan- Blank, p.217). Olyan believes that the messenger is an angel (p.21n). Regardless, in the Hebrew this herald of good tiding is feminine, m’vaseret. It is this lone woman who partners with God and is able to “carry the word of God to bring comfort to those in need” (Nosan-Blank, p.218). Most translations do not call attention to the gender of the messenger because she is without precedence. If she is an angel then she is the only female angel in the Bible. If she is a human messenger, then she is in rare company. Uncomfortable with a creature they cannot categorize, several traditional commentators try to explain away her gender using mental gymnastics such as “scribal error.” Whether the m’vaseret is human or angelic I want to explore the implications of her presence in the Bible. Continue reading Of Angels and the Servant Girl of En-rogel
In Deuteronomy God wants to be perfectly clear with Moses that Yahweh has a covenantal relationship with Lot’s descendants and that their lands are to be respected. In other words, God condones the incestuous actions of Lot’s daughters which resulted in the two nations being given ancestral lands east of the Jordan. More than matriarchs of great nations, the daughters are also depicted as the ancestors of Ruth through whom the Davidic and Messianic line flows and Naamah, the Ammonite wife of King Solomon, mother of Rehoboam, King of Judea. Indeed, Lot and his daughters appear to hold an illustrious place in biblical history right alongside Abraham, Sarah and their descendants. As modern readers, we are challenged by this inference and must return to the story of Lot and his daughters to consider more carefully the nuances of this incestuous tale. Continue reading Lot’s Daughters
At first glance, Hannah’s tale is a typical patriarchal tale reinforcing a woman’s role and function as merely biological; maternal yearnings are not personal but a result of a social setting that prizes women for their reproductive potential above all else. Continue reading Hannah and the Sacred Medium of Language