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Table of contents
1 Preface
2 Introduction
3 Genesis
4 The Covenant Law
5 Deuteronomic Law
6 The Remaining Law
7 Women and sex
8 Social position of women
9 Morality Plays: Women as Victims
10 Morality Plays: Women as the cause of Sin
11 Women as Leaders
12 Books
13 External links and references

Preface

The basis of this article is the examination of Old Testament (i.e. the Hebrew Bible ) attitudes towards women. In doing so, a number of questions have to be asked. Any analysis of the Old Testament text depends on the answers to the questions of who wrote the text, when the text was written, and how accurate were the writings in the first place.

In the view of the Biblical minimalists, the Hebrew Bible is not a historical document at all. It is a post-exilic construction. In the view of the Biblical maximalists, portions of the Hebrew Bible could have been written as early as the tenth century BCE, and there are positions taken by respectable scholars in a spectrum between these extremes.

Consequently, the period in which the sections of law within the Hebrew Bible may have functioned as law are also debated. By the reckoning of Blenkinsopp, the covenant law dates to perhaps to the ninth century, the law of Deuteronomy to the 7th century, and the law of the P author is perhaps newer than both covenant law and Deuteronomic Law. It should be noted, however, that as a body of Middle Eastern law, the covenant law of Moses is not considered exceptional (Blenkinsopp, chapter 6). Further, there is little disagreement that the Pentateuch in its current form came into being during the period of Persian rule, ca the fifth century, and that it served as the basis of regional law in the period.

Finally, it has to be noted that the monotheistic culture of Yahwism was being superimposed on top of the Canaanite religion of the time, which involved a central deity named El and his consort Asherah (Cross, pages 1-76; Dever, pages 175-180, 183-188 among others). The Bible itself details the creation of temples to gods other than Yahweh from the time of Solomon forward, and these temples were not entirely expunged until the religious purge of King Josiah of Judah (2 Kings 23:4-23:27. See also Campbell, chapter 3). Therefore, it must be understood that the norms spoken of in the Hebrew Bible may not have accurately reflected the behavior, treatment and beliefs of all people in the region at that time. People worshiped in a variety of ways, of which the monotheism of Yahweh was a component (Finkelstein and Silberman, pages 240-242; Patai, chapters 1-3).

Introduction

This article concerns the laws, customs, practices, and stories described in the Old Testament regarding women. These helped to form the norm of Jewish society in ancient Israel and Judah, though the period in which the narrative of the Torah did so is still a matter of debate.

Genesis

Adam and Eve

It is widely thought that the creation account from the book of Genesis is composed from two different accounts. In the second, supposedly older account, God creates Adam first, and then Eve.

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18)

21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs [9] and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib [10] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man." (Genesis 2:21-23)

In the first account, there is no difference noted between the creation of man and woman. Both are created in the image of God; the two together are given commands to "be fruitful and multiply" and to "have dominion over the earth".

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Some commentators have chosen to use the subsequent creation of Eve and her purpose of creation as a 'helpmeet' of Adam to indicate that women's proper role in life is the support of men; others have argued that in Biblical Hebrew, the word for "helpmeet" is better translated as "equal" (need reference(s) here).

In Genesis 3:1-7 the serpent tempts Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, and she then tempts Adam to eat it also (Meyers et al. would argue with the question of whether Eve "tempted" men). God pronounces a special punishment for Eve in addition to the general punishment of exile for them both.

To the woman [God] said "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)

This verse has been frequently used to justify the keeping of women in a subservient position to men, though other interpreters use this verse to assume merely that men and women have different roles in the religious sense (Meyers, pages 79-82; Robinson; Let Us Reason Ministries). Many commentators have taken this to indicate that a subservient role for women is a divinely ordained punishment, although not a part of his original intention for women. A more feminist interpretation is that the passage is mistranslated in most common English translations, and that the intent of the passage is to suggest a purely sexual domination of men over women (Meyers, page 81).

See Adam and Eve

Tamar

This story is told in Genesis 38. Tamar is the wife of Judah's son Er, who passes away. Tamar is then given to Er's brother Onan in a levirate marriage. Onan refuses to treat her as his wife, and therefore is killed. Consequently, Tamar is regarded as unlucky, as two husbands have died under her, and Judah becomes unwilling to honor his promise to marry her to his son Shelah. Consequently, she disguises herself with a veil and waits on the road for Judah, who has sex with her and makes her pregnant.

She is to be burned to death for her pregnancy and apparent act of prostitution, but then she produces Judah's seal and staff, which he gave to her in payment. The text then says:

Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again. (Genesis 38:26)

A father could perform as levir for his son, and Tamar had tricked Judah into giving him her marriage right.

The Covenant Law

The portion of the Old Testament beginning with the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and ending in Exodus 23:19 is considered to be the oldest body of law in the Hebrew Bible (Blenkinsopp, chapter 6). Portions of the Covenant Law that deal with women include:

Covenant Law: Female Slavery

While slavery of a Hebrew male was of limited duration, the period of slavery of a woman was not.

1 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. (Exodus 21:1)
7 If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do. (Exodus 21:7)

Covenant Law: The rights of the first wife upon marriage of another

Polygamy is not an excuse for marital abandonment.

If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing, and marital rights. If he does not provide her with these things,she is to go free, without any payment of money. (Exodus 21:10-11)

Covenant Law: Injury to a pregnant woman

If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, (Exodus 21:22-23)

Covenant Law: Seduction of a virgin

If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride price and she shall be his bride. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall still pay the bride price for virgins. (Exodus 22:16-17)

Covenant Law: Treatment of widows and orphans

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. (Exodus 22:22-24)

Deuteronomic Law

The book of Deuteronomy claims to have been written by Moses in the fortieth year and eleventh month of exodus (Deuteronomy 1:3). There is also a three hundred year tradition among scholars of higher criticism to identify the book of Deuteronomy with the book of Torah found by Hilkiah in 621 BCE, during the reign of King Josiah (Friedman, chapter 5; Campbell, chapter 3. See also the documentary hypothesis). In either case, this law postdates the covenant law and is the second law book within the Pentateuch.

Deuteronomic Law: Kings are not to have too many wives

This is either a prophecy of Solomon's sin or a commentary on it.

He must not take too many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:17)

Deuteronomic Law: Marrying a captive woman

If you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. If you not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her. (Deuteronomy 21:11-14)

Deuteronomic Law: the wearing of clothing

This appears to prohibit transvestism.

A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear woman's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. (Deuteronomy 22:5)

Deuteronomic Law: Female premarital infidelity

The whole passage discussing this is contained in Deuteronomy 22:13-20. We'll quote the results here. If a man falsely accuses his wife of infidelity, her father and mother are supposed to provide proof that she was indeed a virgin. If such proof is forthcoming, then

and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. (Deuteronomy 22:18-29)

The lack of proof, however, will cost the accused her life.

If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)

Deuteronomic Law: adultery

If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. (Deuteronomy 22:22)

Deuteronomic Law: rape and seduction of a virgin

If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take the both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death -- the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving of death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, for the man found the girl out in the countryside, and though the bethrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (Deuteronomy 22:23-29)

Deuteronomic Law: marriage prohibition

A man is not to marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father's bed. (Deuteronomy 22:30)

Deuteronomic Law: cult prostitution

No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. (Deuteronomy 23:17)

Deuteronomic Law: remarriage of a former wife prohibited

This passage is fairly long so, in summary, the remarriage of a former wife is prohibited by Deuteronomy 24:1-5 because she has been defiled.

Deuteronomic Law: The Levirate marriage

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfil the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5)

The penalty for not assuming this responsibility is a kind of ritual curse on the reluctant brother-in-law and his family. (Deuteronomy 25:9-10).

Deuteronomic Law: unseemly interference in a fight

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and siezes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity. (Deuteronomy 25:11)

The Remaining Law

The bulk of the remaining law is supposedly authored by P (see documentary hypothesis), and often considered to be of later authorship than the Deuteronomic author (Blenkinsopp, chapter 1).

Presenting an offering

When someone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering is to be of fine flour. He is to pour oil on it, put incense on it and take it to Aaron's sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. (Numbers 2:1-2)

The point to be made here is that the Hebrew word nepes (i.e. someone) is not gender specific. Both men and women can present offerings (Meyers, page 203).

Women and sex

In the Hebrew Bible a girl's virginity is often treated as a valued possession of either the father or the husband (Robinson). For example, in the law dealing with accusations of infidelity before marriage, it is the father of the bride who must provide proof of virginity, and it is the father of the bride who is paid if the proof is adequate. Ironically, if the proof is missing, it is the girl who suffers. She is stoned to death.

An unmarried woman who lost her virginity, regardless of cause, before marriage was placed in a serious bind. Marriage, for her, becomes a kind of perpetual death sentence. Therefore, the onus was on a Israeli maiden to keep her virginity at all costs. This burden is emphasized by the language of the Deuteronomic Law on rape of a betrothed female within a town. The victim is stoned if she does not cry out and prevent the rape from happening.

Adultery between married partners is treated by stoning both parties.

The point of this concern was to preserve clear paternal lines of inheritance (Meyers, pages 210-211, 230). Generally the eldest son would inherit, and so the rules of law existed to insure that the father was the wife's husband. The point was not to preserve monogamy, as men could have multiple wives, and sex with prostitutes was not forbidden.

In the case of the death of one of a pair of brothers, the other brother was supposed to marry the widow (the so called Levirate marriage). That this obligation was considered something of a woman's right is shown by the story of Tamar in Genesis 38 (Meyers, pages 161-163).

Social position of women

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Women in the Old Testament were not the social or economic equals of men. A married woman would be largely subject to the wishes of her husband, and an unmarried one to the wishes of her father. For example a husband or father had to consent before a woman could take religious vows (Numbers 30:3-5). This situation was roughly similar to the position of women in the surrounding societies of the time.

Women were not mere posessions, however. The killing of a woman was considered murder, and not theft. Wives could not be disposed of at their husbands' whim, or divorced for no reason. Women could own property, and a daughter could inherit her father's property (although only if there were no sons). They could engage in business and trade (Proverbs chapter 31). There are frequent references in the Old Testament to giving or acquiring a wife in exchange for money or goods, though this was not simply a commercial transaction, but a gift compensating the bride's family. Such gifts are common in the Near East today. Arranged marriage was the norm for both sons and daughters (Genesis 21:21;Genesis 38:6;Judges 1:12,13) although the bride was sometimes asked for her consent (Genesis 24:58) and sometimes the son chose a wife for himself (Genesis 34:4).

In general, the women of highest status within the Pentateuch were pious married mothers, especially mothers of sons (Meyers). For example, the prophetess Deborah was both married and a mother. Among the lowest of status in the Hebrew Bible are prostitutes, though interestingly, prostitution is not forbidden by the Old Testament.

Morality Plays: Women as Victims

In 2 Samuel 11-16 and 1 Kings 1-2 are a series of stories that begin with David and his adultery with Bathsheba, continue through the story of the rape of Tamar by David's son Amnon, continue still with David's son Absalom taking David's harem, and ends with Adonijah's attempt to have Abishag (Blenkinsopp, pages 66-67). The stories share in common the abuse of sexuality by the offending party, and the actions of a supposedly wise man (in one case, a woman) in the aid of each of the offending parties, and whose aid eventually results in disaster. As Blenkinsopp says:

Both the Eden story and the Succession Narrative, therefore, exhibit the same deterrent attitude to a kind of wisdom which not only promises more than it can deliver but also leads away from the traditional religious resources, resulting in disaster and death.

In the case of the rape of Tamar, other critics have noted that Amnon appears to have confused love with lust, as otherwise, there would be no reason for his initial suggestions of love for his sister, and his eventual rejection of her (Guzik). Amnon's sin, therefore, in the language of the decalogue, was covetousness. The "solution" to Amnon's desire, as suggested by Jonadab, was as follows:

5 "Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand. '" (2 Samuel 13:5)

After the tragedy, and ignoring divine law, David allows his son's crime to go unpunished, which then leads to Absalom taking the law into his own hands.

Morality Plays: Women as the cause of Sin

The decalogue begins with the declaration that Yahweh is to be worshiped in exclusion to all others, and followed by an injunction against idolatry. Accordingly, the worst sin of man or woman is to turn a believer from Yahweh (Meyers, pages 225-226). The men and women that do are treated as the most wicked in the Hebrew Bible.

Solomon, as a king, is lauded both for his power and wisdom, and yet, neither of these virtues could save him from the love he had for his foreign wives, and the turning away from Yahweh it engendered:

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the` LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4-6)

Women as Leaders

Leadership in Old Testament times was predominantly male, like all of the societies around it. However this was not exclusively the case. Women were recognised as 'prophetesses', and many are named, including Miriam (Exodus 15;20) Huldah (2 Kings 22:14) and Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) (Campbell, chapter 3; Daniels; Plampin; Let Us Reason Ministries). In the book of Judges chapter 4, the story of told of 'Deborah the prophetess and wife of Lappidoth' who was judging (i.e. leading) Israel, and who had authority to summon war leaders to her and issue commands ( Daniels; Plampin; Let Us Reason Ministries).

Note about the quotes: All Bible quotes are taken from the New International Version Bible translation.

See also: Jews in the Old Testament, Role of women in Judaism, religious aspects of marriage, Christian views of women

Books

  • Blenkinsopp, Joseph The Pentateuch, The Anchor Bible Reference Library, Doubleday, New York, New York, 1992 ISBN 0-385-41207-X
  • Campbell, Joseph, Occidental Mythology: the Masks of God, Penguin Books USA, 1964, ISBN 0-14-019441-X
  • Carmichael, G. Women, Law, and the Genesis Tradition, Columbia University Press, 1979, ISBN 0-85-224364-2
  • Carmody, Denise Lardner Biblical Woman: Contemporary Reflections on Scriptural Texts, Crossroad/Herder & Herder, 1988, ISBN 0-82-450892-0
  • Cross, Frank Moore, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1973, ISBN 0-674-09176-0
  • Dever, William G. What Did the Biblical Writers Know & When Did They Know It? William B. Erdmanns Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2001, ISBN 0-8028-4794-3
  • Finkelstein, Israel and Silberman, Neil Asher The Bible Unearthed: Archeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts, The Free Press, Simon and Schuster Inc., New York, New York, 2001, ISBN 0-684-86912-8
  • Fraine, Jean de Women of the Old Testament,St. Norbert Abbey Press, ISBN 0-83-161029-8
  • Friedman, Richard E. Who Wrote The Bible?, Harper and Row, NY, USA, 1987 ISBN 0-06-097214-9
  • Horton, Robert F. Women of the Old Testament: Studies in Womanhood, Press unknown, date unknown.
  • Meyers, Carol, Craven, Toni, and Kraemer, Ross S. (editors) Women in Scripture, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2000 ISBN 0-8028-4962-8
  • Otwell, John H. And Sarah Laughed: The Status of Woman in the Old Testament, Westminster John Knox Press, 1977, ISBN 0-66-424126-3
  • Patai, Raphael The Hebrew Goddess, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 1990, ISBN 0-8143-2271-9
  • Wood, D. R. W., Millard, A. R., Packer, J. I., Wiseman, D. J., and Marshall, I. H. New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, Intervarsity Press, 1996, ISBN 0-8308-1439-6

External links and references