Silenced Voices, III

Last month I began a series on the roles -- and specifically, the voices -- of Ancient Near Eastern women, a subject I studied while taking a course on Life in Bible Times.  The subject still fascinates me, of course, as a woman, as a student of the Bible, and as an avid believer in the rights of all people to speak up.  I believe our voices are our representatives to the world.  If a person cannot speak or does not have permission to speak, a critical part of her personhood, of her individual heart and mind, is lost.  And while we postmodern women were perhaps raised to believe that our voices were given to us by the Civil Rights Movement of our mothers and grandmothers (a campaign which I am 100% behind, by the way), I'd suggest that Someone else gave us our voices, Someone much more interested in our individual hearts and minds.  We certainly haven't always and won't always use our voices for the glory of God, but to believe that He has ever silenced women is to believe a lie.  

While I remind you that the following is an academic paper, I hope you may glean some "devotional" thoughts as you consider the history of woman's voice throughout sacred texts of our faith as well as those of other religions.  In this series, I've already covered Woman's Voice in the Social Sphere of the Ancient Near East (in general) and Woman's Voice in the Social Sphere of the Old Testament (in particular).  Without further ado, today I'm covering... (drum roll, please)...

Woman's Voice in the Religious Sphere of the Ancient Near East

In addition to the voices women had in the social sphere at home and beyond, like Ruth, they also had a say in the religious sphere.  Miriam, Moses’ sister, is a good illustration of the active involvement of women in leadership and worship of Yahweh among the Jews.  In Exodus 15:20, Moses recorded, “Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing.”  As a prophetess, Miriam used her voice to speak God’s word to God’s people, and as a song-leader, she used her voice to lift praises back up to the Lord.  1 Chronicles 25:5-6, Ezra 2:65, and Nehemiah 7:67 also all record women involved in the temple worship of Yahweh.

"Judith and Holofernes" by Giorgo Vasari, c. 1554

Besides these Old Testament examples of women’s voices used for religious purposes, we also have extra-biblical sources to guide us in understanding how women were involved in this sphere of life.  The apocryphal book Judith, for example, tells the powerful story of a daring woman who, totally trusting in Yahweh for victory, saved Israel from the Assyrians. Judith’s story is not strictly religious, but it is a story of social action informed by religious beliefs. 

Although Judith “punctiliously obey[ed] religious regulations,” she did not consider her womanhood to be a variable in preventing her from doing what was right in protecting Israel and Yahweh’s name. Toni Craven explains:

When Uzziah tells her to pray for rain, she responds by upbraiding his lack of faith, urging him and the other officials of Bethulia to listen to her voice (8:32; cf. 8:11). She decides for herself that she will go against the enemy with a planned deceit that culminates in an assassination (Judith 9 – 13). Unconventional conduct is not only permitted these women [referring to Judith, Esther and Ruth], but it is approved because through their acts tradition is being served.

The Book of Judith is non-canonical to Jews and Protestants, and deuterocanonical to Catholics and Orthodox, and many do not consider Judith’s story to be historical.  Nevertheless, it may illustrate for us some elements of truth in Jewish thought, including a certain respect for bold women in the religious and social spheres, or it most likely would never have been preserved.

Outside of Judaism, women of the Ancient Near East were quite involved in certain aspects of religious life.  In Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:19, Jeremiah condemned Judean women who were “making offering cakes for a goddess called the queen of heaven.”  Susan Ackerman notes that although this goddess was worshipped by men, women, children and people of very high political standing in Jerusalem, “the special stress on women as the makers of the queen’s cakes, as well as their role in pouring out libations and offering incense to the goddess (Jer 44:15, 19, 25), probably indicates that the queen’s cult was particularly appealing to females” (Meyers 327).  Ackerman also suggests that “the cult of the queen of heaven” may actually have been “an example of domestic or household-centered religion,” which would explain the significant role women played in a culture where “women were generally excluded from official or public religion” (ibid). 

Egyptian Priestess with sistrum, a musical instrument

There is also much evidence that women in Egypt were quite involved in the religious sphere. “In the Old Kingdom, the evidence for women of particularly high social rank reveals a wide variety of priestly positions” (Goslin 34).  Women served “in the priesthoods of both male and female deities. There is also evidence that women served in the mortuary priesthood of Cheops and for the god Ptah” (ibid).  Furthermore, women were among those who “performed in ceremonies for king Neuserre’s jubilee in the solar temple of Abusir” (ibid).  Goslin suggests that women’s involvement in Egyptian worship was less associated with harems and prostitution than we tend to believe, and more to do with their service to the gods as “devotee[s] to a divinity,” perhaps similar to Nuns of the much later Catholic tradition (29).

In Mesopotamia, women were particularly considered the “intercessors” of their husbands and families.  In addition to this, there appeared to be “cloisters in the Old Babylonian period,” – specific places of intercession – “rather than an economic motif to preserve the family capital. Rich and even royal families sent their daughter to this secluded place, where they prayed and made sacrifices on behalf of their relatives” (Stol 139).  Again, this seems to be quite like a monastic ritual, though specifically for the purpose of praying for one’s family.

Of course, when considering the religious association of women with Judaism specifically, one can hardly overlook the Wisdom Woman of Proverbs 1-9, especially in light of the fact that some people “see an indigenously Hebrew goddess beneath the surface” of this text, “hypothesizing this goddess to have been a vigorous participant in a quasi-Canaanite pantheon in prehistoric Israel” (Moore 148).  Obviously, this is not a Christian view, but this perspective should not be left out of this discussion.  Others consider the origins of this woman to be from Mesopotamia or Egypt, comparing the  “Wisdom Woman in Proverbs to Inanna in Sumer, Ma'at in Egypt, and even Athena in Greece” (ibid).

Another (more biblically coherent) view is that the Wisdom Woman is a personification of the wisdom tradition, and specifically of Yahweh’s wisdom.  Even so, the fact that Yahweh chose to reveal His wisdom by means of a feminine personification proves that it is impossible to believe that women had no voices in the religious sphere, for God apparently does not.  In using a woman to illustrate His attributes, He validated women in religious thought, ensuring that women had a voice.  As Moore notes, there were certainly examples of wise women in the Hebrew Scriptures, namely the “wise mediator” (Abigail) of 1 Samuel 25, “the ‘wise woman’ of Tekoa in 2 Samuel 14 and the ‘wise woman’ of Abel in 2 Samuel 20” (Moore 152).

God continued to hear and speak through the voices of women long after these wise women no longer walked the earth.  The New Testament was written in a Hellenistic culture which had its own opportunities and problems for women in both the social and religious spheres of life.  But that, my friend, is another subject for another day.  Stay tuned for my next and final say on Silenced Voices: Woman's Voice in the New Testament Era.  To read all of this series in one place, go here, where you'll find them in reverse order, thanks to good ol' blogspot.

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Works Cited

                    Craven, Toni.  "Tradition and Convention in Judith."  Semeia 28 (1983): 49-61.

                    Goslin, Sheldon L. "Female Priests: A Sacerdotal Precedent from Ancient Egypt."  

                            Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion  12.1 (1996): 25-39.

                    Meyers, Carol, Toni Craven and Ross S. Kraemer, eds.  Women in Scripture.

                            Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

                    Moore, Michael S.  "'Wise Woman' or Wisdom Women."  Restoration Quarterly

                            35.3 (1993): 147-158.

                    Stol, M.  "Women in Mesopotamia."  Journal of the Economic and Social History

                            of the Orient  38.2 (1995): 123-144.

*****

Seemingly Appropriate Post Script:

You better believe it!

Silenced Voices, II

I began this series, Silenced Voices, two weeks ago, to share with you my research on the roles of women in the Ancient Near East.  I've already covered a bit about what we know about women's voices in the social sphere from sources outside of the Old Testament (which you can find here).  Today we'll look at just a few outspoken women (or, simply, speaking women) within the Old Testament itself, in which we have clear evidence that God cares about the rights of women.  Let's jump right in, shall we?

Part 2 - Woman's Voice in the Social Sphere of the Old Testament

Numbers 27 tells the remarkable story of five women, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, who stood before Moses and the assembly of the Jews to make the case that, since their father had no sons, they ought to have the right to inherit their father’s property and carry on their father’s name (a justice which even "modern" 19th century England did not incorporate, according to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice!).  The purpose of this account was to clarify that in such cases, daughters would inherit.  According to T. Desmond Alexander,

This purpose could have been achieved simply by including the point within the general case-law, but the writer includes the story of these particular women, describing their ability to speak out on their own behalf in a lucid and persuasive way…. Moses, perhaps recognizing the validity of their position but also reflecting the unwillingness of a male-dominated culture to accept their demands, instituted a special consultation with the Lord himself.  It needed to be made clear that women were not to be deprived of their rightful inheritance within the community (903).

Such biblical stories relate to us that, even in such a male-dominated culture, God listened to the voices of women and acted out on their behalf.  “Phyllis Bird states that, although wives were included among a man’s possessions, they were not reckoned as property” (King 49).  And although Exodus 20:17’s “commandment against coveting… includes the wife as part of the household, along with the slave, ox and donkey,” Deuteronomy 5:21 does not include the wife “among the domestic property but... in a separate category” (ibid).  It is the difference between ownership and identity.  I belong to my husband, as he belongs to me, and as our children would belong to us if we had any.  I would not own them as an object to be bought or sold, but identify them as people uniquely connected with me, as part of my family. 

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Although the family structure in the Ancient Near East was predominated by patriarchy, signifying “that the father (paterfamilias) [was] head of the family,” the domestic sphere of a given family was governed largely by the mother (King 38).  According to Stager, “besides raising children,” which involved “care, discipline and training,” women “were responsible for providing food and clothing.  They engaged in crafts that could be managed while caring for the children, such as basketry, spinning, and weaving tapestries and mats” (ibid 50).  They also baked cakes and breads, kept water troughs full, built fires, ground grains, worked in fields, milked sheep and goats, and tended flocks.  

This may sound like an "ideal" world straight out of Leave It to Beaver, but -- in this particular culture -- what these women were essentially doing was considered all within the realm of the family business.   It's not that the husband was the lone bread-winner, but that the husband, wife and children all worked together to make the bread.  In addition to such chores, women were involved in economic trade, selling their creations and buying necessities for the family.  There is a reason that most women get exhausted just reading about the “ideal wife” of Proverbs 31; she was one busy lady!  To think of primarily domestic-leading, home-making women of the Ancient Near East as we do of the typical modern home-makers in our Western culture, would be a drastic mistake indeed.  She wasn't a "housewife"; she was an integral economic contributor to her family.

Women’s voices in the home did not merely affect the home, however.  Often, their voices were heard by and made effects on their communities.  Esther stands out as a woman selfless and courageous, whose voice was the saving grace of the Jewish people.  Agreeing to go before King Xerxes unbidden, a forbidden act that might have resulted in her death, Esther rescued God’s people from certain death, an act still remembered in the Jewish holiday, Purim.  

"Ruth" by James Tissot

 Ruth also comes to mind as a strong voice for Jewish women of the Ancient Near East.  A Moabitess by birth, she left her home and even her religion in order to care for Naomi, the mother of her deceased husband, and to worship Naomi’s God, Yahweh, as her own.  One might wonder, when she made this decision, whether she knew what bold things she would do at her mother-in-law’s bidding.  Naomi advised Ruth to “‘uncover the feet’ of Boaz and propose to him (3:6-9).”  In this act, “both Ruth and Naomi [acted] in ways which radically [defied] traditional standards of patriarchy” (Craven 51).  Yet, in so audaciously doing, Ruth not only secured her and Naomi’s livelihood, but she also became another link in the Messianic line, speaking out in her social sphere, but being heard in the religious sphere.

Speaking of the religious sphere, well, you'll have to come back next week for that!  Part 3 of Silenced Voices is subtitled Woman's Voice in the Religious Sphere of the Ancient Near East, and it's definitely a part not to be missed!

*****

Works Cited

Alexander, T. Desmond and David W. Baker.  Dictionary of the OId Testament: Pentateuch.  Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003.

Craven, Toni.  “Tradition and Convention in Judith.” Semeia 28 (1983): 49-61.

King, Philip J. and Lawrence E. Stager.  Life in Biblical Israel.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Silenced Voices

 A Study of Women's Roles in the Ancient Near East

Since the creation of man, he has needed woman.  When God made Adam, the Master Creator admitted that His creation was incomplete without an “ezer” (translated “helper”), and wasted no time in forming Eve to be Adam’s companion.  In this perfect setting, man and woman depended on one another, harmonizing in perfect compatibility as they communed with one another and with God.  

God’s world, as He originally created and intended it to be, is a far cry from what creation became post-Fall: a “man’s world.”  In the last century, women have taken great strides toward claiming their equality with men, but just because they lived for millennia in a man’s world does not mean they had no influence on it.  History affirms for us that women have always had an undercover authority, even in ancient Biblical times, which we sometimes consider particularly misogynistic.  Though men certainly had the upper hand in the social sphere, women’s roles in the domestic sphere and beyond gave women more of a voice in ancient near eastern culture than we typically grant them.  

When I was a student at Moody, one of the classes I particularly enjoyed was "Life in Bible Times," which took a look at social, religious and other aspects of life in the particular time period of the Old Testament, spanning a few thousand years.  We looked not only at biblical texts, but also other sources such as the Hammurabi Codes, ancient mythological narratives, religious texts of other faiths and even personal letters in order to understand better the context of the Bible itself.  As a women's ministry major (and, simply, as a woman), I was very interested in understanding the context of the Bible insofar as it related to women's issues, and particularly authority issues between men and women.  The following writing was the result of this interest and several hours of study.  I'll have to chop my paper up a little to make it fit in the attention-span of the blogosphere, but I hope you find it as interesting as I do!

Part 1: Woman’s Voice in the Social Sphere of the Ancient Near East

            

From the earliest writings of our faith, the Pentateuch, come the voices of women.  Subtly and discretely, they dream and scheme, quite under our religious radar.  Then, suddenly, they stand up and speak, taking us a bit by surprise at times.  Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, is a grand example of this.  In Genesis 27, she connived to have her younger son, Jacob, receive Isaac’s blessing even though it rightfully belonged to Esau, the elder of the twins.  By means of a series of deceitful actions, she not only ensured blessings upon her favorite son; astonishingly, this woman actually rerouted the Messianic line!   (Not to the surprise of God, but certainly usurping the practices of man.)

"Isaac Feels Jacob as Rebekah Looks On" by James Tissot

According to King and Stager, “the mother’s authority was exercised in the household,” as seen in the cases of Sarah who “cast out Hagar and her son Ishmael (Gen. 21:20),” the Shunammite woman who “extended kindness and hospitality to Elisha (2 Kings 4:8-10),” and Rebekah, who, as mentioned, “perpetrated Jacob’s deception of his blind father Isaac” (50).  Although we should not trust the total authenticity of stereotypes, there may be a reason Jewish mamas have a reputation of being lovably overbearing.  Such conduct did not only affect their households, however, as may be obvious.  Their voices and actions also had an effect on their social lives and even our salvation history.

The women of the Old Testament do have voices of their own, but we can better grasp their roles in their culture and time by studying the lives and words of other women in the Ancient Near East.  A writing entitled, “A Letter from an Angry Housewife,” may strike us as thoroughly modern, but it is actually a Sumerian archival letter from the Ancient Near East, in which a woman defended herself “against charges of waste and mismanagement of her 

Prologue to the Hammurabi Cod

husband’s estate as dealt with in… the Laws of Hummurabi” (Hallo 3: 295).  According to these Codes, “If the wife of a man who is residing in the man’s house should decide to leave, and she appropriates goods, squanders her household possessions, or disparages her husband, they shall charge and convict her,” and, “if she is … wayward, squanders her household possessions, and disparages her husband, they shall cast that woman into the water” (Hallo 2: 344).  It is no wonder this woman, if innocent, was angry!  In her letter, she asked, “Why on account of the children does he demean my reputation?” (Hallo 3: 295).  She went on to account for every good, but it is clear that goods were not her concern.  By accusing her, her husband was disgracing her, bringing shame to her standing in the community.  It may be surprising enough to find that this was a concern to women, but this letter ensures us that it was, while clarifying that women did indeed have voices and did not hesitate to use them when they were displeased or afraid for their own well-being.

The elaborately detailed marriage contracts of the Ancient Near East also magnify to us the protection of women’s voices and rights in this time period and culture.  For instance, the “Document of Wifehood,” dated to 449 BCE, gives an intricate description of each possession (including the value of each) that the woman, Tamet, owned when she entered her marriage to Anani.  The contract says that should Anani decide he “hates” his wife, and thus decides to divorce her, “silver of hatre(d) is on his head.  He shall give Tamet silver, 7 shekels, 2 q(uarters) and all that, she brought in in her hand she shall take out, from straw to string” (Hallo 3: 172).  Apparently, even this slave woman was not considered worthless enough that she could be disposed of and left penniless should her husband so design.  

Despite what we may believe now about rights of women in the Ancient Near East, women were apparently given the right in most cases to retain and protect their own possessions.  Even so, there were what we would consider unreasonable accusations against women in particular marital circumstances.  For instance, “barrenness was unacceptable for the marriage and resulted in an alternative woman,” which was sometimes specified in the marriage contract (Hallo 3: 251).  One such Akkadian contract says, “[I]f she does not give birth after seven years, he (Idat[ti]) may take a second wife” (ibid 252).  Again, this seems like an obstinate requirement, but in a culture where procreation and thereby continuance of the family name and fortune were of first importance, this stipulation was apparently necessary. 

            

In the Old Testament itself, there is clear evidence that God cared about the rights of women.  As this installment is already pretty lengthy, however, I'm afraid I'll have to save that exciting part of the story for next time!  I'll aim to post the next section of my five-part series on Silenced Voices, "Woman's Voice in the Social Sphere of the Old Testament," some time next week.

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Works Cited

Hallo, William W., ed.  The Context of Scripture: Vol. 2.  Boston: Brill, 2003.

Hallo, William W., ed.  The Context of Scripture: Vol. 3.  Boston: Brill, 2003.

King, Philip J. and Lawrence E. Stager.  Life in Biblical Israel.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.