Women in Ugarit and Israel: Their Social and Religious Position in the Context of the Ancient Near East (Oudtestamentische Studien)

WOMEN IN UGARIT AND ISRAEL

OUDTESTAMENTISCHE STUDIEN OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES published on behalf of the Societies for O l d Testament Studies in T h e Netherlands, Belgium, and South Africa by

J O H A N N E S C. DE M O O R KAMPEN ADVISORY BOARD

H A R R Y VAN R O O Y

MARC VERVENNE

POTCHEFSTROOM

LEUVEN

VOLUME XLIX

WOMEN IN UGARIT AND ISRAEL THEIR SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS POSITION IN T H E C O N T E X T O F T H E A N C I E N T N E A R E A S T

BY

HENNIEJ. MARSMAN

‫ י י‬6 8 ‫י ל־‬

BRILL LEIDEN · BOSTON 2003

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication data

LC Control Number: 2003051999

ISSN 0169-7226 ISBN 90 04 11732 6 © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Authorization to photocopy itemsfor internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriatefees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 DanversMA 09123, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

To Derk Jan Marsman and Dina Marsman-Hasewinkel

Contents Preface

ix

1

Introduction

1

1.1

Early Feminism and the Bible

1

1.2

The Synchronic Approach

12

1.3

The Diachronic Approach

22

1.4

Methodological Considerations

31

2

The Social Position of Women

43

2.1 2.1.1 2.1.1.1 2.1.1.2 2.1.1.3 2.1.1.3.1 2.1.1.3.2 2.1.1.4 2.1.1.4.1 2.1.1.4.2 2.1.1.5 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4 2.1.5 2.1.6

Women in the Family Wife The Choice of a Partner Courtship Marriage The Legal Basis of Marriage Was Marriage a Religious Institution? Married Life Husband and Wife A Wife's Own World The Dissolution of Marriage Mother Sister Daughter Widow Orphan

47 49 49 73 84 84 107 122 122 153 168 191 243 252 291 321

2.2 2.2.1 2.2.1.1 2.2.1.2 2.2.1.3 2.2.1.4 2.2.2 2.2.2.1 2.2.2.2 2.2.2.3 2.2.2.4

Women in Society Women of the Court Queen Queen Mother Royal Wives and Concubines Princess Non-royal Women Legal Ownership of Immovable Property Business Professions and Domestic Activities Slavery

324 325 325 345 370 381 389 389 400 404 437

2.3

General Conclusions

454

3

The Religious Position of Women

473

3.1

Women as Religious Specialists

486

3.2

Women as Worshippers

572

3.3

General Conclusions

613

4

A Check on Reliability

627

4.1 4.1.1 4.1.2 4.1.3

Letters The Letters from Ugarit The Letters from Israel The Letters from Elephantine

628 628 639 642

4.2 4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3

Seals Seals Seals Seals

and Bullae from Ugarit and Bullae from Israel and Bullae from Elephantine

643 643 643 659

4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3

Legal Legal Legal Legal

Texts Texts from Ugarit Texts from Israel Texts from Elephantine

659 659 676 676

4.4 4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3

Administrative Administrative Administrative Administrative

4.5

Conclusions

690

5

Summary and Conclusions

701

5.1

The Social Position of Women

701

5.2

The Religious Position of Women

727

5.3

Epilogue

737

Indices

739

Abbreviations Index of Authors Index of Subjects Index of Textual References

741 745 756 764

Texts Texts from Ugarit Texts from Israel Texts from Elephantine

679 679 688 689

Preface Theology is a caleidoscopic field of study. There are so many interesting angles one might explore that it is almost a pity to make the inevitable choice for any particular specialism. Yet at an early stage of my study of theology at the Kampen Theological University I became intrigued by the Hebrew Bible, or the Old Testament, as it is commonly called in the christian tradition. The stories fascinated me, their strangeness as well as their down-to-earth soberness. In the course of my studies I became aware of questions regarding women in the Bible, and those regarding feminist exegesis. I also became aware of an often unvoiced presupposition: that the position of women worshipping the God of Israel was worse than that of women worshipping Ishtar, Asherah, or any other goddess. According to this presupposition, women would have been better off worshipping a goddess. This was the starting point of my dissertation which induced me to study a wide variety of subjects, for studying the position of biblical women is as broad as studying the Bible as a whole. Many people offered their guidance, critique, support and friendship. I am greatly indebted to Prof. J.C. de Moor for his inspiring and professional supervision. I also thank Prof. C. Houtman for his co-supervision and helpful comments and Prof. K.M.L.L. De Troyer of Claremont School of Theology (USA) for her stimulating and critical remarks. I wish to thank the Theologische Universiteit Kampen for creating favourable conditions, including financial ones, for writing this dissertation. I am indebted to the personnel of the Kampen theological libraries of Oudestraat and Broederweg for their kind assistance. I am grateful to the Stichting Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk (Amsterdam) for their financial support in publishing this dissertation. Thanks are due to Carolina Koops and Jolanda Paans-Spoelstra for their assistance in some of the bibliographical research. I am thankful to Dr Denise Dijk and Dr Dorothea Erbele-Kuester for discussing a previous draft of chapter 1 with me. To Jeanet Aartsen and Yvonne van den Brake, who critically read the text with a feminist eye, I wish to express my warmhearted gratitude. I also thank Dr Leslie McFall (Cambridge) for correcting my English. For any errors that remain I bear full responsibility. During the years in which I wrote this dissertation I had the privilege to work in the team of the Sectie Semitica of the Theologische Universiteit Kampen. I thank my colleagues for their friendship and encouragement. I am indebted to Frans de Boer-Knegt, David Kroeze,

Jaap Overeem and, especially, to Dr Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman, for their assistance in making the indixes. I thank my family and friends for offering their interest in my research. The continuous support of my parents during the years of my study and writing were extremely important to me and I therefore wish to dedicate this book to my mother, Dina Marsman-Hasewinkel and the blessed memory of my father, Derk Jan Marsman. Finally, deep feelings of love and gratitude concern my husband, Aart ten Have, who encouraged me and supported me in innumerable ways. Kampen, March 2003

Hennie J. Marsman

Chapter 1

Introduction Biblical arguments have played a major role in the discussion regarding the social and religious position of women. During the first feminist wave1 women who demanded their rights were confronted with biblical arguments in order to keep them in a subordinate position. They in turn used biblical arguments to plead for matters such as education for women and suffrage. In the first section I will give a brief overview of the early feminist biblical interpretation. The hermeneutical arguments used by biblical exegetes in the first feminist wave were used again in the second wave. There was, however, an important difference, namely, a critique of ideology, which was of major importance in the second feminist wave. Both in synchronic and diachronic analysis this critique was used. In the second section five hermeneutical approaches will be discussed that combine biblical criticism with the experience of women from a synchronic point of view. In the third section I will discuss the diachronic analysis with special attention to the earlier work of Rosemary Radford Ruether, in which she points to male monotheism as the major cause for the social repression of women. This will lead us to the main question of this study: whether the social and religious position of Israelite women was worse, equal or better than those living in neighbouring polytheistic cultures. In the fourth section I will deal with the methodological considerations required to answer this question.

1.1 Early Feminism and the Bible In the years of the first wave of feminism,2 three different approaches 1

Feminism is often divided into two 'waves', the first starting at the end of the nineteenth century and the second in the sixties of the twentieth century. O. Banks, Faces of Feminism: A Study of Feminism as a Social Movement, Oxford 1981, discerns three intellectual traditions in feminism: that of evangelical Christianity, of Enlightenment philosophers, and of communitarian socialism. See also J.J. Dijk, Een beeld van een liturgie: Verkenningen in vrouwenstudies liturgiek, met bijzondere aandacht voor het werk van Marjorie Procter-Smith, Gorinchem 1999, 26-30. 2 In this section we will focus on the first feminist wave. In the United States 1848 is generally regarded as the beginning of the first wave. In that year the first Women's Rights Convention was held at Seneca Falls. Feminist women in Europe started to organize themselves some twenty years later. The publication of John Stuart Mill's Subjection of Woman in 1869 is often taken as the starting point in Britain. F. Dröes, 'Vrouwen gepromoveerd in de theologie in Nederland', in:

to counter interpretations defending the subordination of women were used. 3 The first approach was the use of opposing proof texts, a method by which women countered certain biblical passages with others that were thought to be supportive of their case. The second approach was the study of female biblical characters. In this case women were identified with either their moments of glory or their suffering. The third approach was the most radical in that it advocated cutting loose from everything that was considered patriarchal 4 in the Bible. The subordination of women, and its defence using biblical arguments, has a long history. Although arguments against the subordination of women in some degree or other have been expressed over just as long a period, their history is less well-known. Medieval female theologians sometimes raised modest protests to the then prevailing male-dominated interpretation of Scripture. 5 Prom the period just before the Enlightenment, Anna Maria van Schurman, a well-educated Dutch woman, may be mentioned as an example. In 1641 she published a dissertatio on the right of women to engage in science.6 Her J. Bekkenkamp et al. (eds), Proeven van vrouuienstudies theologie, dl. 1 (IIMO Research Publication, 25), Leiden 1989, refers to 1870 as the beginning of the first feminist wave in the Netherlands. In that year the pamphlet Gelijk recht voor alien. Geschreven door Eene vrouw [pseud, of G. Feddes] was published. Dröes regards 1919, the year in which women obtained suffrage in the Netherlands, as the end of the first wave. Around the 1920s women had acquired the right to vote in most Western countries and this signaled the end of the first wave. Even today there are still a few countries in the world where women are denied suffrage. According to some writers the designations 'first' and 'second' wave are inappropriate. At the end of the eighteenth century several female writers formulated their criticism on the social position of women in pamphlets and novels. Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, published in 1792, is among the most well known. Most of these female writers did not operate within an organization, but acted individually. Also the fact that some of these women played a major role during the French Revolution has lead historians, such as Annie Romein-Verschoor, to the conclusion that it would be better to speak of three feminist waves, the first starting around 1780. Cf. A. Romein-Verschoor, Vrouwenwijsheid: Een bundel kritieken en essays over de vrouw (Synopsis), Amsterdam 1981, 271-2. 3 Cf. A.Yarbro Collins, 'Introduction', in: Idem (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (SBL Centennial Publications) (Biblical Scholarship in North America, 10), Chico CA 1985, 4-5. 4 For a discussion on the definition of patriarchy, see section 1.3. 5 Cf. Ε. Gössmann, 'History of Biblical Interpretation by European Women', in: E. Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1: A Feminist Introduction, London 1994, 27-40; G. Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-seventy (Women and History, 2), New York & Oxford 1993, esp. ch. 7, O n e Thousand Yeaxs of Feminist Bible Criticism'. 6 Nobiliss(imae) Virginis Annae Mariae A Schurman Dissertatio, de Ingenii

study was written in response to those who argued against women participating in science. According to her opponents God made females submissive to the will of males because of woman's sin in eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6). Combining this argument with that of the duty of women to be silent and to be subordinate (1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-14) they were of the opinion that women did not need to study the sciences in order to do their task, viz. housekeeping.7 Van Schurman opposed this by means of a scholarly rebuttal in which she stressed the equality of all souls before God. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century the discussion on the status of women, including the question whether women should be allowed to study, received some attention in Western Europe and America. The majority of the scholars who showed an interest, however, stressed the nature of women - bearing and caring - which kept most women from engaging in studies. Only a few women in privileged positions were able to learn Latin, Greek and Hebrew, to discuss theological and philosophical matters, and to give a feminist reading of biblical texts. A more radical protest against men who justified their own privileged position by invoking biblical arguments had to wait until the struggle for women's political rights began. In 1790 Judith Sargent Murray wrote an essay entitled O n the Equality of the Sexes', in which she made a plea for more educational opportunities for American women. She appended a letter to the essay which she had written a decade earlier to a male friend, responding to his claim for male superiority. Since he based his claim on scriptural evidence, Sargent Murray, who 'had believed that "arguments from nature, reason Muliebris ad Doctrinam, & Meliores Litteras Aptitudine. A pirate edition with the slightly different title Arnica Dissertatio inter Annam Mariam Schurmanniam et Andr. Rivetum de Capacitate Ingenii Muliebris ad Scientias appeared in 1638 in Paris. Since women were not allowed access to university in the Low Countries, she could not officially defend her thesis in academia. An English translation of the Dissertatio appeared in 1659 entitled The Learned Maid. Cf. C. van Eck, 'Het eerste Nederlandse feministische traktaat? Anna Maria van Schurmans verhandeling over de geschiktheid van vrouwen voor de wetenschapsbeoefening', in: M. de Baar et al. (eds), Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678): Een uitzonderlijk geleerde vrouw, Zutphen 1992, 49-60 [Engl, transi.: C. van Eck, 'The First Dutch Feminist Tract? Anna Maria van Schurman's Discussion of Women's Aptitude for the Study of Arts and Sciences', in: M. de Baar et al. (eds), Choosing the Better Part: Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678) (AIHI, 146), Dordrecht 1996, 43-53]. 7 Cf. A.M.H. Douma, Anna Maria van Schurman en de Studie der vrouw, Amsterdam 1924, esp. 42-60.

and experience" were sufficient to make her point', came to recognize the necessity for adducing scriptural arguments in favour of women's equal position. 8 Sargent Murray treated the scriptural accounts as metaphorical. Hence, when her opponent invoked the traditional argument of Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden as the cause of the Fall, with the consequent subordination of females to males, she replied with her own interpretation. She valued Eve's deed more positively, since it was motivated by eagerness to gain knowledge. In Sargent Murray's view the biblical accounts were capable not only of conveying different levels of meaning but also of bearing more than one possible interpretation. For her opponent, and to a large extent most of American society, the Scriptures contained only one meaning, in the case of Gen. 3:16 one that justified woman's subordination to man. However, Sargent Murray's male friend, and other traditional scholars, not only felt offended by her metaphorical interpretation, but also by the fact that she, being female, criticized the conventional interpretation of the Scriptures which had been a male preserve up until that time. The male clergy considered her contribution to be inappropriate. 9 In the early years of the nineteenth century American women continued the struggle for equal schooling rights. 10 When the goals set out by Sargent Murray began to be implemented and girls were allowed to participate in education, it became clear that women were still supposed to respect the 'proper' spheres for males and females. As the profession of school teacher opened up for women, their role as a moral arbiter was stressed. The responsibility of women for children's moral upbringing was extended from the private home to the school and the Sunday school.11 When Angelina and Sarah Grimké, 12 8

Cf. C. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women and the Bible: The Nature of Woman as a Hermeneutical Issue', in: Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 12. 9 De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 13. 10 On the European continent a similar struggle was going on, though results came to fruition a few decades later in some countries. In the Netherlands, for example, girls were excluded from secondary education. Inspired by what she had seen in the United States, Anna Maria Storm-Van der Chijs argued in favour of vocational training and secondary schooling for girls. During 1865-1870 she gave several lectures on the topic. Her words struck a sympathetic note in many quarters, although there was still much opposition. But during the sixties and seventies of the nineteenth century schooling opportunities for females in the Netherlands gradually improved. Cf. W.H. Posthumus-van der Goot, A. de Waal (eds), Van moeder op dochter: De maatschappelijke positie van de vrouw in Nederland vanaf de Franse tijd, Nijmegen 31968, 41-56. 11 Although the argument of woman as moral arbiter was used by those who

Quaker women speaking against slavery, began to extend their role as moral arbiters beyond their prescribed sphere, the tension between that role and the ideal of woman's domestic sphere became visible in the clash that the Grimké sisters had around 1837 with the Massachusetts clergy. The crucial issue in the conflict between the Grimké sisters and the Massachusetts clergy was the allocation of the public realm to men and the private realm to women. The content of the matter for which the Grimké sisters fought - abolition - was of no interest in the argument. The fact that the sisters had overstepped the boundary of the private sphere to which God had confined women was of prime importance to the clergy and they condemned it as unnatural. 13 Throughout the nineteenth century women who did not keep within the boundaries of the private sphere were charged with unnaturalness. New Testament passages such as 1 Cor. 11:3-12; 14:34-35; Eph. 5:2224; 1 Tim. 2:9-15 and 1 Pet. 3:1-7 were cited as proof texts for the subordination of women and the circumscription of their proper sphere. The Grimké sisters and their fellow combatants countered these texts with passages such as Acts 2:17-18 and Gal. 3:28. In addition, they pointed to biblical women like Miriam, Deborah, Jael, Huldah, Elizabeth, Anna, the Samaritan woman and Mary the Mother of Jesus as models for their own public activity. 14 Attacking each other with opposing proof texts seems to have been the main issue of the conflict on the position of women in the light of the Bible. However, many participants in these discussions realized that different criteria for interpreting the Scriptures were underlying the choice of proof texts. The position of the Massachusetts clergy, for instance, is, as wanted to confine women to the (extended) private sphere, the same argument was also used by some Christian women to build their case in favour of schooling. In the 1860s Elise van Calcar-Schiotling, for example, stressed the need for girls to become educated in the 'science of motherhood' in order to become good mothers and good teachers as well. Cf. J.H. Sikemeier, Elise van Calcar-Schiotling: haar leven en omgeving, haar arbeid, haar geestesrichting, Haarlem 1921, 381-2, 41011. This illustrates the fact that various persuasions existed within the feminist movement. 12 On the Grimké sisters, cf. Lerner, The Creation of Feminist Conciousness, 160-3. Lerner notes that Sarah Grimké was a member of various denominations during her lifetime, the Quakers being one of them. 13 Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 14-5. For some black women becoming aware of the questionable use of the Scriptures in their repression, see K. Baker-Fletcher, 'Anna Julia Cooper and Sojourner Truth: Two NineteenthCentury Black Feminist Interpreters of Scripture', in: Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1, 41-51. 14 Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 17.

Carolyn De Swarte Gifford observes, 'an example of an interpretation of scripture that took as a guiding principle or criterion the notion that God from creation intended that females be subordinate to males and that they inhabit different spheres'. 15 The biblical interpretation of feminists such as the Grimké sisters and, half a century later, the temperance advocate Frances Willard, 16 contrasted sharply with this. To them the central message of the Scriptures was one of liberation from oppression. According to both Sarah Grimké and Frances Willard, the concept of subordination of women was based on a false interpretation of the Bible, a fundamental and wilful misunderstanding of male translators and interpreters. 17 Therefore, incorrect translations and biased traditional interpretations needed to be replaced with what these feminists held to be the original biblical message of freedom and equality. Hence, women needed to study Hebrew and Greek in order to translate the Bible themselves. 18 During the nineteenth century most women involved in the struggle for equal rights, like Grimké and Willard, believed that if the Bible were interpreted correctly, it would reveal God's intention that women be equal to men. In this respect the impact of higher criticism of the Bible seemed very promising. By the end of the nineteenth century this method had become an accepted approach, both in Europe and the. United States, even though a fundamentalist use of the Bible was never fully replaced by it. 19 Biblical criticism, with its presuppositions, brought into question the plenary inspiration of the Bible. The notion that the Bible, although containing the Word of God, is in its entirety 15

Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 17. Willard was president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WTCU) in America from 1879 till her death in 1898. In 1883 she founded the worldwide WTCU and was its first president. Besides temperance she also was an advocate of woman suffrage and improvement of working conditions regarding safety for women. Cf. NEBrit.Mic, vol. 12, 664. On Willard and other nineteenth-century Evangelical feminists, cf. Ν.A. Hardesty, Women Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism in the 19th Century, Nashville 1984. 17 An example of this is the translation of Gen. 3:16. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 20, mentions that 'Sarah Grimké and others . . . had pointed out that with an alternative translation of verb forms - from 'shall' to 'will' - the passage could be read as God's prediction of women's lot in a fallen creation rather than God's timeless commandment for women'. 18 Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 19-26; D.C. Bass, 'Women's Studies and Biblical Studies: An Historical Perspective', JSOT 22 (1982), 7. 19 See e.g., J.W. Rogerson, 'Bibelwissenschaft', in: TRE, Bd. 6, 351-2, 356-7; H.J. Kraus, Geschichte der historisch-kritischen Erforschung des Alten Testaments, Neukirchen 31982, 242-94. 16

not the Word of God, but articulated in historically limited and culturally conditioned human language, was an assumption shared by biblical critics and feminists. 20 Feminists could refer to a growing number of publications on new approaches to the Bible that could also be used in support of their case. However, as Dorothy Bass puts it, 'the sociology of scholarship precluded an alliance1 between biblical scholars trained in higher criticism and the advocates of a feminist hermeneutic. 21 Although the latter were disposed towards adopting the tools of higher criticism, these tools were under the guardianship of traditional biblical scholars, among whom were very few women. 22 Marie-Theres Wacker suggests that those few women who were active in what she calls 'Männerexegese', i.e. traditional exegesis, did not have the same goal as those striving for women's rights. The latter, she argues, aimed ultimately at undermining the divine authority of the Bible, whereas the former might have had no further goal than to educate women according to scientific standards at the newly established women's colleges.23 Whether or not this analysis is correct is difficult to establish. Of interest in this respect is the dissertation of Constance Gerlings, the first Dutch woman to obtain a doctorate in theology.24 The 20

Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 21; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, London 1983, 13. 21 Bass, 'Women's Studies', 7. 22 Writing on women's history in the Society of Biblical Literature, Bass reports that the first female member of the SBL was admitted in 1894. The few women who were SBL-members were mostly teachers at women's colleges. This career pattern, according to Bass, continued into the 1940s. Women were generally excluded from teaching at theological and university faculties. Bass, 'Women's Studies', 10, states: 'Women SBL members have been active for women's causes, but as far as I can tell they did not combine this commitment with scholarly activity to produce a unified, feminist reading of the Bible. Until the 1970s, it was necessary to seek feminist hermeneutics outside the SBL'. On the history of female biblical scholars see further C. Halkes, 'Towards a History of Feminist Theology in Europe', in: A. Esser, L. Schottroff (eds), Feministische Theologie im europäischen Kontext (Yearbook of the European Society of Women in Theological Research, 1), Kampen & Mainz 1993, 11-37; D.J.A. Clines, 'From Salamanca to Cracow: What Has (And Has Not) Happened at SBL International Meetings', in: Idem, On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays, 1967-1998 (JSOT.S, 292), vol. 1, Sheffield 1998, 158-93; Idem, 'From Copenhagen to Oslo: What Has (And Has Not) Happened at Congresses of the IOSOT', in: Idem, On the Way to the Postmodern, vol. 1, 194-221. 23

M.-Th. Wacker, 'Geschichtliche, hermeneutische und methodologische Grundlagen', in: L. Schottroff et al. (eds), Feministische Exegese: Forschungserträge zur Bibel aus der Perspektive von Frauen, Darmstadt 1995, 5. 24 A.C.E. Gerlings, De vrouw in het oud-christelijke gemeenteleven, Amsterdam

theme of her thesis, woman in the early Christian communities, was strongly connected with her own personal struggle to get admitted to the ministry. 25 In a research article on Gerlings, Freda Dröes points to the fact that in her dissertation she did not use any literature published in feminist circles. Feminist authors like Barbara Kellison and Lydia Stöcker who, like Gerlings, drew on the status of women in the Early Church to make their case, and others like Matilda Joslyn Gage and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who accused Christianity of contributing decisively to the subjection of women, were not mentioned by Gerlings. Dröes assumes this can be partly explained by the fact that these women did not have an academic education. 26 1913. 25 In her dissertation Gerlings first gives an overview of the position of women in the Greek, Roman and Israelite world, and opposes this with Jesus1 universal message of the Kingdom of God. According to her, Jesus broke with Jewish tradition by treating women and men equally (73). - On the dangers of such a dualistic approach, see the criticism on revisionists below. - In the Early Church women had a position equal to men, though sometimes their participation was restricted by social and cultural circumstances. Both women and men administered the sacraments of baptism and communion in the first Christian congregations (194-214). With the development of the Catholic church, however, woman's role became restricted. 'When the Lord's Supper degenerated into Mass, and hereby the sacrificial service actually was introduced anew in the Christian church, one took the Old Testament position again, and exclusion of woman was a direct consequence' (214, transi, HJM). 26 The only woman Gerlings did refer to was Anne Dacier (1647-1720), who published a number of source editions of Greek philosophers that are of scientific value even today. Cf. F. Dröes, 'Dr. Constance Gerlings: De ontwikkeling van een geëngageerd theologe', in: F. Dröes et al. (eds), Proeven van vrouwenstudies theologie, dl. 3, (IIMO Research Publication, 36), Leiden 1993, 97-166, esp. 131-7. Gerlings dissertation was influential in her struggle to get admitted to the ministry. Beginning in 1905 she wrote several requests to the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) concerning this matter. But time and again she was turned down, partly on dogmatic-biblical, and partly on practical grounds. Then in May 1913, shortly before taking her doctoral degree, she again put in a request, together with four other female students of theology. This was discussed in some detail in the meeting of the synod in July 1913. By then she was already a Doctor of Divinity and this was of some influence in support of her request, as was the content of her dissertation. Although her request was again turned down, only one member of the synod had objections on theological grounds. The others put forward objections on practical grounds only. Cf. Dröes, 'Dr. Constance Gerlings', 110-2, 119-23,127, 154-6. It was only in 1967 that women were admitted to the ministry in the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk and two years later, in 1969, the synod of the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (Reformed Churches in the Netherlands) opened the ministry to women. Some of the smaller Dutch denominations were much earlier, the Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (Mennonites) already admitted women to the ministry in 1905. Yet some of the Reformed sister churches over the world still

Many feminists of the nineteenth century were convinced that somehow the Bible would prove to contain expressions of a nonpatriarchal faith. If only educated women applied the tools of higher criticism to the Scriptures, they would be able to prove that such a non-patriarchal faith had been normative in true biblical religion.27 In this way they were able to combine their traditional Christian belief with their feminist views. However, not all feminists held this in hindsight somewhat naive - conviction. For a few leaders of the women's rights movement, notably Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the patriarchal faith of the Bible and feminism were ultimately irreconcilable. Elizabeth Cady Stanton is probably one of the foremost representatives of feminist biblical scholarship in the nineteenth century. 28 Already in 1848, at the first Woman's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls (NY) she protested against male claims that the Scriptures contained a divine mandate for restricting women's activities. 29 Moreover, she dedicated most of her lifetime to the struggle for equality for women and the abolition of slavery. When she was well into her seventies she wrote the work by which she is now most widely remembered. Together with the 'Revising Committee' 30 she published The Woman's Bible in 1895 and 1898. Her reaction was prompted by the preparation of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible by an all-male committee between 1881 and 1885.31 Cady Stanton stated she would have preferred cooperation of 'Hebrew and Greek scholars, versed in Biblical exclude women from the clergy; cf. M. Bakema, L. Sluis-Sluis, Een ander ambt: Vijfentwintig jaar vrouwen in het ambt in de Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, Kampen 1994, 75-91; L.A. Werkman, O p eigen wijze?: De geschiedenis van de vrouw in het ambt 1 , in: D.Th. Kuiper et al. (eds), Predikant in Nederland (1800 tot heden) (Jaarboek voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands Protestantisme na 1800, 5), Kampen 1997, 254-73. Antoinette Louisa Brown is usually considered to be the first woman minister in the United States. She was ordained in 1853. 27 Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 27, 30. 28 But cf. Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza, "Transforming the Legacy of The Woman's Bible', in: Idem (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1, 12, who notes the risk of singling out The Woman's Bible as 'the milestone in the history of women's biblical interpretation'. This risk also holds for the main author of the Woman's Bible, Cady Stanton. 29 Cf. Ε. Cady Stanton and the Revising Committee, The Woman's Bible, part 1-2, repr., Seattle 1974, vi (first impr. 1895-8; also reprinted: Salem NH 1986). 30 The Committee consisted of twenty woman suffragettes, among whom three Universalist ministers and several prominent free-thinkers; cf. Bass, 'Women's Studies', 10. 31 C. De Swarte Gifford, 'Politicizing the Sacred Texts: E. Cady Stanton and The Woman's Bible', in: Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1, 52-63 (56).

criticism', but that these distinguished women had declined because 'they were afraid that their high reputation and scholarly attainments might be compromised by taking part in an enterprise that for a time may prove very unpopular'. 32 And unpopular it proved to be indeed. Cady Stanton received much criticism on The Woman's Bible, both from the clergy and from the women's emancipation movement. 33 Realising how profound the political influence of the Bible was for it was being used as a weapon against women's struggle for liberation - Cady Stanton proposed a revision of the Scriptures. 34 Treating the Bible as a literary work and repudiating its divine authority, the authors of The Woman's Bible commented on those passages in both Testaments that referred directly to women and on those in which women were 'made prominent by exclusion'.35 Against the doctrine of verbal inspiration Cady Stanton emphazised that the Bible was written by men and was the expression of a patriarchal culture. 36 As 32

Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, 9. This seems to illustrate Bass's statement that the sociology of scholarship precluded an alliance. Yarbro Collins supposes that the female biblical scholars invited by Cady Stanton 'may have declined because they had been socialized to value objectivity more than commitment', commitment versus objectivity being the most striking difference between nineteenth-century feminist interpretation of the Bible and historicalcritical scholarship. Cf. Yarbro Collins, 'Introduction', in: Idem (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 3. In agreement with this see also Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 5. 33 Many women's rights leaders repudiated the book for the alleged harm it did to the women's cause; cf. Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, 215-7; De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 30; Idem, 'Politicizing the Sacred Texts', 57-59. Neither were the clergy particularly happy about it, to say the least. According to one clergyman the book was 'the work of women and the devil'. To this Cady Stanton commented that 'his "Satanic Majesty" was not invited to join the Revising Committee which consists of women alone'; cf. Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, ix. On reactions from the side of conservative evangelicals and premillennialists, cf. Β.Α. DeBerg, Ungodly Women: Gender and the First Wave of American Fundamentalism, Minneapolis 1990, 1. After publication The Woman's Bible only had a short period of effectiveness; cf. Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 6. It was only about three quarters of a century later that it received renewed attention, when, äs a consequence of the 'second feminist wave' it was reprinted in 1974. In the 1990s the centennial of The Woman's Bible was celebrated by means of publication of two worthy 'daughters': C.A. Newsom, S.H. Ringe (eds), The Women's Bible Commentary, London & Louisville Κ Y 1992 and Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, 2 vols., New York 1993-4. 34 Cf. Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 7. 35 Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, 5, 12. Wacker points to the fact that relatively much attention is given to texts that were used by opponents in the USA to legitimize legal inequality of women, in particular Pentateuchal texts; cf. Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 5-6. 36 According to Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, 13, the Scriptures 'bear the

the work progressed, Cady Stanton became convinced that patriarchy was the foundation of Christianity as it had evolved over time. No pointing to false translations, interpretations and symbolic meanings could change the fact that the Bible was a patriarchal book which did not contain a message of equality from God to the women of the nineteenth century. Further, if the results of biblical criticism would be applied to the biblical position of women, this would shake the theological basis of orthodox theology. As Cady Stanton concludes in the second part of The Woman's Bible: T h e real difficulty in woman's case is t h a t the whole foundation of the Christian religion rests on her temptation and man's fall, hence the necessity of a Redeemer and a plan of salvation. As the chief cause of this dire calamity, woman's degradation and subordination were made a necessity. If, however, we accept the Darwinian theory, t h a t the race has been a gradual growth from the lower to a higher form of life, and t h a t the story of the fall is a myth, we can exonerate the snake, emancipate the woman, and reconstruct a more rational religion for the nineteenth century, and thus escape all the perplexities of the Jewish mythology as of no more importance t h a n those of the Greek, Persian and Egyptian. 3 7

In Cady Stanton's view, women needed a different belief system. According to her, the Judeo-Christian belief system was based fundamentally on the oppression of women. As a daughter of Enlightenment liberalism, she thought this to be an inadequate expression of the ideals of liberty, justice and equality. Many women, however, stepped back from Cady Stanton's far-reaching conclusions.38 Still, Cady Stanton did not totally reject the Bible, for she thought it contained valuable teachings, but she advocated its expurgation. 39 In 1902, just months before her death, she envisioned a Bible from which all passages detrimental to women would have been removed.40 Cady Stanton 'recognized the interdependence of social structure and ideology as well as the role of the Bible in the construction of that ideology'.41 Although women had gained more opportunities in eduimpress of fallible man, and not of our ideal great first cause, "the Spirit of all Good" '. 37 Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, 214. 38 Cf. De Swarte Gifford, 'American Women', 30; Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 12. 39 Cady Stanton, The Woman's Bible, xii-xiii, 13. 40 De Swarte Gifford, 'Politicizing the Sacred Texts', 59-60. 41 E.M. Wainwright, Towards a Feminist Critical Reading of the Gospel according to Matthew (BZNW, 60), Berlin 1991, 12.

cation and the right to vote, the fabric of society did not change. Feminist criticism in the nineteenth and early twentieth century mostly concerned equal rights for women. It was only with the 'second wave'42 of feminism that a critique of ideology became a basic feature. To conclude, three approaches were used in the early years of feminist biblical interpretation. First, by opposing proof texts women countered certain biblical passages with others that supported their cause. Secondly, by studying female biblical characters, women could identify themselves with either the moments of glory or the suffering of these biblical women. Thirdly, and most radically, by advocating to cut loose from everything that was patriarchal in the Bible, women tried to free themselves from male subordination. All three methods continued to be employed in the twentieth century.

1.2 The Synchronic Approach43 The different approaches to biblical hermeneutics that were employed during the first feminist wave were also employed in the twentieth century. In the first decades emphasis was put mainly on understanding the transmitted text. From the nineteen sixties onwards not only was the Bible considered a source for doing theology, but also the experience of women, although scholars differed in their view on the hierarchy of these sources. These different views can be outlined in five approaches: the loyalist, rejectionist, revisionist, sublimationist and liberationist approach. All of them are mainly synchronic in method. Applying the tools of higher criticism and marking passages as 42

The 'second feminist wave' started in the 1960s. During that decade several protest movements manifested themselves and several women who were active in these movements became feminists. Books by Simone de Beauvoir, La deuxième sexe, 2 vols., Paris 1949, and Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, New York 1963, were of great influence to the feminist movement. 1967 is generally regarded as the beginning of the second feminist wave in the Netherlands. In that year Joke Kool-Smit published an article that was to have a great impact, 'Het onbehagen bij de vrouw', De Gids 130 (1967), 267-81. 43 For the outline of feminist hermeneutical alternatives in this chapter I am highly indebted to C. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible: Hermeneutical Alternatives', in: Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 93-105, and M.-Th. Wacker, 'Geschichtliche, hermeneutische und methodologische Grundlagen', in: L. Schottroff et al., Feministische Exegese: Forschungserträge zur Bibel aus der Perspektive von Frauen, Darmstadt 1995, 34-46. I am aware of the fact that a classification like this does not do credit to the individuality of authors. Some feminist biblical scholars might apply one method in connection with another, or they might work according to different modes of interpretation during various periods. However, the use of categories is necessary to clarify the differences of emphasis and basic assumptions.

secondary on historical-critical ground gradually became an accepted approach in most academic circles of the nineteenth century. However, to consider passages to be secondary with respect to content, because certain texts were not regarded as belonging to the genuine biblical message, as some feminist critics stated, was not deemed acceptable to the main stream of biblical scholars. The price for such radicalism was scholarly and ecclesiastical isolation. By the turn of the century some male scholars showed an interest in the position of women in Israelite religion. Thus, e.g. 'Women in the Ancient Hebrew Cult' was published by Ismar Peritz in 189844 and a similar study by Max Lohr appeared in 1908 45 Soon it was realised that also the social position of women had to be taken into account, as was done in studies by Georg Beer46 and Willem Dirk van Wijngaarden. 47 It seems warranted to assume this interest was influenced by the first feminist wave, especially since attention for the position of women in ancient Israel decreased after the 1920s. In an article that focuses on a bibliographical introduction of the theme, Phyllis Bird states that scholarly interest in the position of Israelite women was sporadic between ca. 1920 and 1970.48 Nevertheless, it would be incorrect to assume hardly any publications appeared, though perhaps not all of them were qualified for the criterion 'scholarly'. 49 Most female writers on the subject of the position of women in the Bible continued to concentrate on a better understanding of the transmitted text by taking into account the experience of women, without questioning the authority of the Bible.50 This approach was dominant 44

I. Peritz, 'Women in the Ancient Hebrew Cult', JBL 17 (1898), 111-48 M. Lohr, Die Stellung des Weibes zur Jahwe-Religion und -Kult, Leipzig 1908. 46 G. Beer, Die soziale und religiöse Stellung der Frau im israelitischen Altertum, Tübingen 1919. 47 W.D. van Wijngaarden, De sociale positie van de vrouw bij Israel in de vooren na-exilischen tijd, Leiden 1919. 48 P.A. Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Israel', in: Biblical Research 39 (1994), 37. 49 Cf. M.I. Gruber, Women in the Biblical World: A Study Guide, vol. 1: Women in the World of Hebrew Scripture, (ATLA Bibliography Series, 38), Lanham MD 1995, 19-155. The topic 'social and religious position' indeed did not get much attention during the above-mentioned period. More interest was shown in 'women of the bible' and family matters like marriage. In the discussion on the ordination of women to the ministry, a much debated topic during the 1950s in the Netherlands, the main focus was not on the Hebrew Bible but on the New Testament. An exception to this was C.M. van Asch van Wijck, Tweezaam is de mens, Amsterdam 21961 [first impr. 1949], 50 One of the Dutch examples of such an approach was A.M. de Moor-Ringnalda, Vrouwen als u en ik, Utrecht 1959. Also a dissertation defended in 1968 at the Free University of Amsterdam by C.J. Vos - a male author - may be characterized 45

in the period that preceded the second feminist wave. When a critique of ideology became a basic feature of feminist biblical scholarship, this method continued to be used, mainly in orthodox and evangelical circles.51 One might call the approach loyalist. The foundational premise of this method is 'the essential validity and goodness of the biblical tradition as Word of God, which cannot be dismissed under any circumstance'. 52 Hence, to loyalists, the Bible is a prescriptive expression of divine authority; being the Word of God, it cannot be oppressive. Therefore the interpretation may be at fault, but not the text itself. Scholars who work according to the loyalist approach treat passages that are problematic to women today in two ways. First, by showing through critical exegesis that texts which seem to oppose women's rights in fact do not contradict each other, and the explanation for this is found in the principle of hierarchy of truth. 53 The second way consists in pointing out the limited validity of ancient Israelite civil and ceremonial law over Christians liberated by Christ. 54 With regard to the subordination of women, the loyalist approach means that the traditional argumention, stressing the necessity of order through hierarchy, is accepted in a restricted sense. Subordination, loyalists argue, needs to be understood as 'necessary leadership of one and followership of the other as the only and divinely intended way to unity and harmony in society'. 55 This hierarchical order is misunderstood if it is seen as a relation of dominance and submission.56 It is understandable that in opposition to this rather ambiguous approach, others picked up Cady Stanton's radicalism again, but went in this way, cf. C.J. Vos, Woman in Old Testament Worship, Delft 1968. 51 Cf. e.g., L. Dawson Scanzoni, N.A. Hardesty, All We're Meant to Be: A Biblical Approach to Women's Liberation, Waco TX 1974; V.R. Mollenkott, Women, Men and the Bible, Nashville 1977; M. Suurmond-Vonkeman, 'Een evangelische waaxdering van en kritiek op de feministische theologie', Soteria 4 (1987), 16-24; M.E. Suurmond-Vonkeman, J.-J. Suurmond, 'Een tandemrelatie van Woord en Geest', Mara 2/2 (1989), 56-62. 52 Cf. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 99. 53 Cf. Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza, 'Feminist Hermeneutics', in: A BD vol. 2, 789. 54 On the debate of anti-Judaism in women's studies, see further below (criticism of the revisionst strategy). 55 Cf. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 100. A somewhat different interprets tion is that which, while holding on to the authority of the Bible, stresses mutual submission before God. Thus e.g. Mollenkott, Women, Men and the Bible. 56 According to Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 36, the weakness of the loyalist viewpoint is that it lacks possibilities of feminist analysis of patriarchalism. 'Frauendiskriminierung kann in diesem Rahmen nur entweder wegerklärt oder als akzidentelle Abweichung von einer guten und zeitlos gültigen Ordnung verstanden werden'. For this reason she denies the designation 'feminist' to this method. On her definition of feminism, see Wacker,'Grundlagen', 34.

a step further in totally rejecting the Bible's authority as it is imbued with patriarchalism. This approach may be called rejectionist. One of its most eloquent advocates is Mary Daly.57 She rejects a distinction between the essence of the biblical message and the accidents of its expression in culturally and sociologically determined language. According to Daly, the androcentric language of the Bible is not accidental, but essential to it; the medium is the message.58 Her attempt to formulate a post-Christian faith that would go beyond patriarchal religion and transcend into a sisterhood as cosmic covenant met some harsh criticism, even from feminist writers. 59 However, there are also feminists who, following Daly's lead, have developed a religious belief system based solely on the experiences of women. In their thealogies they offer theories of the Goddess. 60 In between the two extremes, loyalism and rejectionism, at least three other hermeneutical options may be discerned. One is the revisionist strategy of interpretation. 61 According to revisionists, the 57 M. Daly, Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation, Boston 1973; Idem, Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism, Boston 1979. 58 In her 'Feminist Postchristian Introduction' to the second edition of The Church and the Second Sex, Daly II (postchristian) imagines a conversation with Daly I (Catholic Feminist): ' "Professor Daly," I would say, "don't you realize that where myths are concerned the medium is the message? Don't you see that the efforts of biblical scholars to reinterpret texts, even though they may be correct within a certain restricted perspective, cannot change the overwhelmingly patriarchal character of the biblical tradition?" ' Cf. M. Daly, The Church and the Second Sex, with a new feminist postchristian introduction by the author, New York 21975, 21. The first edition was published in 1968. Cf. further Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 22-3. 59 Radford Ruether, for example, criticises Daly's work as neo-Gnosticism, 'built on the dualism of a transcendent spirit world of femaleness over against the deceitful anticosmos of masculinity'; cf. R. Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Towards a Feminist Theology, London 1983, 230. Cf. also Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 98-9; Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 37. 60 E.g. the thealogian Carol P. Christ, Diving Deep and Surfacing: Women Writers on Spiritual Quest, Boston 1980; Idem, Laughter of Aphrodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess, San Francisco 1987. On Goddess worship and thealogy cf. further E. Erwin Culpepper, 'Contemporary Goddess Thealogy: A Sympathetic Critique', in: C.W. Atkinson et al. (eds), Shaping New Vision: Gender and Values in American Culture (Studies in Religion, 5), Ann Arbor MI 1987, 51-71; N.R. Goldenberg, 'The Return of the Goddess: Psychoanalytic reflections on the shift from theology to thealogy', SR 16 (1987), 37-52. It should be noted that not all thealogians reject the Bible, some endorse the viewpoints of the sublimist approach (see further below). 61 Cf. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 100-1; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation, Boston 1992, 21-4; Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 38-41.

patriarchalism that shaped the biblical tradition is a historical, not a theological determinant. The patriarchal characteristics are not intrinsic to the tradition; their human form needs to be distinguished from the biblical revelation, the core of which would be non-patriarchal. Thus, the patriarchal accidents can be separated from the non-patriarchal essence.62 To demonstrate the legitimacy of this distinction, revisionists show by various methods that the biblical world is not completely patriarchal. 63 Among revisionists the arrangement of biblical texts into positive and negative categories is common. Sometimes a third category of ambivalent texts is added. The texts labeled negative are considered to be historically conditioned and their authority restricted to their own time, whereas texts labeled positive are considered to have enduring authority. 64 The danger of such a dualistic approach within a Christian context is demonstrated by Bernadette Brooten. 65 Using Leonard Swid1er's Biblical Affirmations of Woman66 as an example, she reveals the anti-Judaism in his presentation. 67 Variants to this Christian-positive 62 Cf. Wacker's description of the revisionist strategy in 'Grundlagen', 38: 'Die 'revisionistische' Hermeneutik nimmt, da sie historisch-kritisch arbeitet, durchweg deutlicher als die 'loyalistische' die geschichtlich bedingten Brechungen des Gotteswortes in Menschenwort auch für das Neue Testament wahr, unterscheidet die faktisch patriarchale Prägung der Bibel jedoch gleichsam als 'Schale' (Menschenwort) von einem nicht-patriarchalen 'Kern' (Gotteswort) der biblischen Offenbarung'. Schüssler Fiorenza's description of the revisionist strategy in But She Said, 23, is slightly different from Wacker's. She states that according to revisionists only the interpreters of the Bible are to blame for patriarchalizing texts, the biblical texts themselves are not misogynist. Although this is true for some feminists writing from an evangelical perspective, not all revisionist authors agree on this. Cf. for instance P. Trible in 'Depatriarchalizing in Biblical Interpretation', JAAR 41 (1973), 48: 'For our day we need to perceive the depatriarchalizing principle, to recover it in those texts and themes where it is present, and to accent it in our translations' [emphasis HJM). Hence, according to Trible, the depatriarchalizing principle is not present in all the parts of the Bible. 63 Cf. Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 38. 64 Cf. Schüssler Fiorenza, 'Feminist Hermeneutics', 789. 65 Cf. B.J. Brooten, 'Early Christian Women and Their Cultural Context: Issues of Method in Historical Reconstruction', in: Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 65-91. See also J. Plaskow, 'Anti-Judaism in Feminist Christian Interpretation', in: Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1, 117-129. 66 L. Swidler, Biblical Affirmations of Woman, Philadelphia 1979. 67 Brooten, 'Early Christian Women', 76: 'Especially striking about Swidler's outline is that, whereas passages from the Hebrew Bible and extracanonical Jewish writings do fall under the category "negative," on the Christian side, all of the New Testament falls into "positive" or "ambivalent," and it is only the Christian

versus Jewish-negative reading are those in which the influence of the Greek-Roman or of the Canaanite culture are held responsible for the negative traditions. Another danger of the revisionist approach is its subjective procedure of distinguishing between essence and accidents. With regard to the Hebrew Bible the work of Phyllis Trible is probably the most widely known revisionist example. 68 Using rhetorical criticism, her hermeneutic is twofold. She discusses texts that show a depatriarchalizing principle and, separately from this, tells tales of terror with women as victims. It should be noted that although revisionists distinguish between an outdated historical skin of patriarchalism and a universal essential core in the Bible they seldom pay attention to the historical reality of Israelite society or the historical process of shaping the Bible. Trible, for example, recognizes the essential nature of the diachronic dimension of the text, but immediately assigns it a secondary importance, Such considerations as historical background, sociological setting, compositional history, authorial intention, and linguistic and archaeological d a t a are essential in the total exegetical enterprise, but in literary analysis they are supporting rather t h a n primary concerns. T h e emphasis here is artful composition. 6 9

Such a statement by no means disqualifies the 'total exegetical enterprise', but it definitely tends to restrict the importance of historical research to the role of handmaid of literary analysis. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza is doubtlessly right when she sees it as a weakness in Trible's approach that the text is abstracted from its cultural-historical context. The latter is considered extrinsic to interpretation. 70 Therefore it may be said that also the revisionist approach, at least as voiced by Trible, is basically synchronic. In some penetrating studies Esther Fuchs has demonstrated that revisionists tend to idealize passages in which women seem to be honoured for their courage, independence or perseverance in seeking motherhood. In her opinion the patriarchal ideology pervades even fathers who are placed in the negative category. The New Testament canon, with the exception of the "(and Some Negative)," is thus kept within the boundaries of the positive and the ambivalent1. 68 Cf. her God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (OBT, 2), Philadelphia 1978, and Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (OBT, 13), Philadelphia 1984. 69 Trible, Texts of Terror, 6, n. 11. 70 Cf. Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, London 1983, 20.

the most scenic biblical dramatizations of women's virtues. 71 Yet she, too, refers rather loosely to the inferior social status of women, without ever attempting to establish whether this was true in actual fact or not. Whereas revisionist authors hold that a non-patriarchal revelation of divine reality is still recognizable in the Scriptures, despite all androcentrism, sublimationist authors argue for a different conception of the divine reality. Marie-Theres Wacker describes their position as follows: Nur wenn auch die Bibel auf ein Göttliches verweise, das wesentlich in Symbolen des Großen Weiblichen zu fassen ist, nur wenn die menschheitsgeschichtlich wie individualpsychisch als ursprünglich postulierte Großen Göttin, die allein den Grund einer den gegenwärtigen Herausforderungen entsprechenden Thea-logie und Spiritualität zu bilden vermöge, auch die Gott-Rede der Bibel bestimme, könne dieses Dokument heute weiterhin Geltung beanspruchen. 7 2

Hence, sublimationist authors relate the validity of the Bible to the fact that it contains expressions of the Divine as the Eternal Feminine. Some even go a step further, arguing that biblical sources, when read closely, reveal that Israel originally had a matriarchal societal structure. Gerda Weiler, for example, develops a gynocentric world view in which (mother)goddess, creation and cosmos coalesce. According to her, every woman embodies the cosmic and creating power of the Goddess. 73 In the sublimist approach the (human) feminine is considered to operate by its own principles and rules, differing from the masculine.74 The otherness of the feminine is stressed and cherished. According to sublimationists, social roles of woman and man are fixed. With regard to biblical studies sublimist scholars glorify the eternal feminine in biblical symbolism. 75 They stress the femininity of divine Wisdom, 71

E. Fuchs, 'The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible', in: Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 117-36; Idem, 'Who Is Hiding the Truth? Deceptive Women and Biblical Androcentrism', ibid., 137-144; Idem, Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the Hebrew Bible as a Woman (JSOT.S, 310), Sheffield 2000. 72 Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 41. 73 Cf. G. Weiler, Das Matriarchat im Alten Israel, Stuttgart 1989, 70. Since Weiler's book is a mixture of diachronic and synchronic approaches, I mention her here. See section 1.3. 74 Cf. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 101. 75 Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 102.

for instance, and the feminine character of the Holy Spirit. 76 Although this approach may give women posibilities to understand themselves, it inclines towards separatism and exclusivism on the social and political level.77 Finally, in liberationist hermeneutics liberation theology is connected with feminist exegesis.78 The basic assumption of feminist exegesis from the viewpoint of liberation theology is that women must become the central subject of biblical revelation. Feminist scholars working with liberationist hermeneutics regard the interpretative community of contemporary women as the centre of their hermeneutics. 79 In contrast to revisionists, whose main interest is preservation of biblical traditions, be it texts that reflect the experience of women or texts that are misogynist, the main interest of liberationist hermeneutics is connecting exegesis with the practice of women's liberation. They, too, tend to neglect the historical dimension of the Bible as irrelevant to their struggle. An example of a liberationist approach is the work of Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes. Founded on the theory of Patricinio Schweickart that some texts deserve a double hermeneutic - a negative as well as a positive - because of the Utopian moment they hold, and making use of Mieke Bal's theory of focalisation, Van Dijk-Hemmes reveals a double voice in the texts she analyses. 80 In a way the work of Van Dijk-Hemmes shows the inadequacy of a schematic description of the broad field of feminist hermeneutics. Van Dijk-Hemmes is critical both toward reading feminist ideas into the Bible and toward writing off the 76

M. Monheim Geifert, 'Abschied vom himmlischen Vater?' in: Chr. Schaumberger, M. Maasser (eds), Handbuch feministische Theologie, Münster 1986, 169. 77 Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 102, mentions identification with 'much of the mystical tradition of Judaism and Christianity' and with aspects of Mariology as well as association 'with one type of Jungianism' as positive aspects, but concludes by criticizing: 'Its response to the problems of patriarchy and androcentrism is not to join battle but by a kind of philosophical idealism to transcend the conflict by ascribing greater importance to the world of symbols, and to assert that the way to true freedom will be found only by following their lead'. Cf. also Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 42. 78 Cf. Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 42-46. 79 Cf. Wacker, 'Grundlagen', 43. 80 F. van Dijk-Hemmes, Sporen van vrouwenteksten in de Hebreeuwse bijbel (UTR, 16), Utrecht 1992 [Eng.: 'Traces of Women's Texts in the Hebrew Bible', in: A. Brenner, F. van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (BIntS, 1), Leiden 1993, 17-109]; Idem, De dubbele stem van haar verlangen: Teksten van Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes, verz. en ingel. door J. Bekkenkamp en F. Dröes, Zoetermeer 1995. The double hermeneutic of Van DijkHemmes consists of an exposing mode of reading ('ontmaskerende leeswijze') next to a liberating mode ('bevrijdende leeswijze').

Bible because of its sexism. In her work she pleads for a coordination of feminism and theology.81 Nevertheless I regard the character of her work to be more liberationist than revisionist, since a criticism of ideology that aims at liberation impregnates her writings. In dialogue with Van Dijk-Hemmes since 1985, the work of Athalyah Brenner may also be classified liberationist. A product of their collaboration is On Gendering Texts, in which they uncover the gender positions inherent in texts. 82 Although Brenner shares the perspective of Van Dijk-Hemmes, she stresses the exposing mode of reading over the liberating mode. Brenner usually does not express the liberation she aims at. Yet in her work, too, the exposing mode eventually serves liberation, even though she interprets liberation differently from Van Dijk-Hemmes. This is illustrated by her article O n "Jeremiah" and the Poetics of (Prophetic?) Pornography', in which she concludes: . . . I wish to point out t h a t whoever composed those passages perceived women and men - not to mention God - and gender relations in a certain way. T h a t vision . . . is pornographic. As a reader, I can resist this fantasy by criticism and reflection. But I do so against odds, for I myself was raised and educated to comply with that fantasy and adopt it as my very own. Like other F readers 8 3 , I deconstruct myself by having to fight a wish to reciprocate or even appropriate M fantasy. For awareness is partial defense only. 84

Thus we may conclude that for Brenner liberation is interpreted as deconstruction. In contrast with her work The Israelite Woman (1985), which she designated as 're-writing history', her later work is mainly 81

'Wanneer je op deze manier bijbelverhalen leest, niet krampachtig feministisch, wel met 00g voor de patriarchale elementen erin, doe je mijns inziens recht aan de tekst en aar! jezelf. Je voorkomt daarmee ook het de-bijbel-heeft-tochgelijk-syndroom, met alle intolerante consequenties van dien. . . . Ik ben geen feminist omdat het in de bijbel staat, maar omdat ik dat een goede zaak vind. Vanuit die opvatting ontdek ik dat veel bijbelverhalen ook nu nog erg inspirerend en bevrijdend kunnen zijn, maar zeker niet alle verhalen hebben die eigenschap'. F. van Dijk-Hemmes, 'Want eerst is Adam geformeerd en daarna Eva . . . , , in: Idem, De dubbele stem, 40. 82 A. Brenner, F. van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts: Female and Male Voices in the Hebrew Bible (BIntS, 1), Leiden 1993. 83 In their On Gendering Texts, Brenner and Van Dijk-Hemmes discern female and male voices in texts, which they symbolize as F (feminine/female) and M (masculine/male) voices. Consequently, a text can be read from an F or M perspective, i.e. as an F or M reader. Cf. A. Brenner, 'Introduction', in: Brenner, Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts , 6-13. 84 A. Brenner, 'On "Jeremiah" and the Poetics of (Prophetic?) Pornography', in: Brenner, Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts , 193.

synchronic in character and the historical dimension has disappeared into the background. 85 The liberationist mode of hermeneutics offers the possibility to relate criticism on the subjection of women to a critical review of social and political structures. Problematic, however, is its theology of revelation. That which restricts or denies full humanity to women cannot have authority - cannot reflect the divine. Thus, the danger of creating a canon within the canon is present. What is left, then, is a small selection of texts. 86 Looking back, it may be said that all hermeneutical approaches reviewed thus far are basically synchronic. The loyalist approach ends up harmonizing the Bible or in simply ignoring the tensions within the Bible which can only be explained plausibly with the help of a diachronic hermeneutical model. If patriarchalism is rejected as a relic of a different era and culture, as the rejectionist movement advocates, this point of view is rarely reinforced with actual historical arguments. Were women repressed in ancient Israel 87 ? And if so, were they repressed more than women in other ancient Near Eastern civilizations? The discrimination between 'acceptable' texts and patriarchal redundant baggage by revisionists is an a-historical and highly subjective procedure. The dangers of approaches that hold early Israel ultimately responsible for the discrimination of women in Judaism and Christianity were realized too late when this deplorable form of anti-Judaism had already cropped up in feminist writings. Emphasizing the sublime femininity of God fails to convince other scholars because such theories are not based on solid exegetical and historical research. Using the loyalist approach makes it possible to criticize the subjection of women, yet it contains the danger of creating a canon within the canon. Despite these necessary critical remarks it must be granted that the synchronic feminist approaches were - and are - necessary. For it is the Bible in its canonical form that was - and still is - used to legitimize male supremacy in synagogues and churches, the tacit assumption being that this inequality commanded by God corresponded 85

A. Brenner, The Israelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative (BiSe, 2), Sheffield 1985, 135-6. 86 Cf. Osiek, 'The Feminist and the Bible', 102-4. 87 With the term 'Israel' I mean both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms. Cf. R. Albertz, 'Biblische oder Nicht-Biblische Religionsgeschichte Israels?' in: M. Dietrich, I. Kottsieper (eds), 'Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf': Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient, Fs. O. Loretz, (AOAT, 250), Münster 1998, 28-30.

to historical reality throughout ancient Israel's history. Understandably a radical exposure and, where possible, rebuttal of this kind of biblical patriarchal ideology was the first priority of the feminist exegetes. 88

1.3 The Diachronic Approach As we have seen, the early feminist interpreters of the Bible yearned for an alliance with literary and historical criticism of the Bible in the hope that this would prove patriarchalism to be a non-essential element which had developed only later on, presumably based on an egalitarian motive. However, mainly for sociological reasons, no such alliance was formed. In the second wave of feminist studies of the Bible there was a growing awareness that a historical-critical approach need not necessarily lead to the radicalism of Cady Stanton. Thus, more and more women raised the inevitable questions concerning the historical roots of biblical androcentrism. Next to the synchronic approach feminist scholars stressed the importance of a diachronic analysis and the need for historical research that incorporated extra-biblical evidence. It was recognized that quick and easy simplifications had to be avoided. For example, what do we mean when we describe Israelite society as 'patriarchal'? Marie-Theres Wacker defines patriarchy as, die konkrete Herrschaft des pater familias über sein Hauswesen, d.h. nicht nur seine leibliche Familie (Ehefrau und Kinder), sondern auch die Lohnarbeiterinnen und Sklavinnen. 8 9

However, as Sylvia Schroer points out, not all women took part in this system in the same way. The historical reality was much more complex than Wacker's definition indicates, since some men, and even some women belonging to certain classes or groups, exercised power over other men, women and children, regardless of the fact whether or not they were family.90 88

Cf. e.g., M.A. Tolbert, 'Defining the Problem: the Bible and Feminist Hermeneutics', Semeia 28 (1983), 113-26, who points to the fact that reconstructions of history cannot replace the canon and formulates the basic problem of feminist hermeneutics as follows: 'we are faced with the issue of how a pervasively patriarchal document can continue to communicate anything of value to those who reject all such oppression' (125). 89 M.-Th. Wacker, 'Geschichtliche, hermeneutische und methodologische Grundlagen', in: L. Schottroff et ai, Feministische Exegese: Forschungserträge zur Bibel aus der Perspektive von Frauen, Darmstadt 1995, 47. 90 Cf. S. Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg zu einer feministischen Rekonstruktion der

With regard to the description of the social position of women, this means that not only do we need to keep in mind the position of women vis-à-vis the position of men, but also the social class to which persons belong. Those belonging to the upper social classes will have had more opportunities to exercise power than those of lower social classes, i.e. women belonging to the upper classes of Israelite society, such as queens and princesses, will have been more powerful than women and men belonging to lower classes. Moreover, it is questionable whether the whole issue of dating texts can be omitted from the discussion. One of the first feminist scholars who resolutely adopted a diachronical approach was Rosemary Radford Ruether. Radford Ruether recognized the possibility of canonization as a process which may have been aimed at marginalizing and suppressing certain branches of the community, At a certain point a group consisting of teacher and leaders emerges t h a t seeks to channel and control the process, to weed out what it regards as deviant communities and interpretations, and to impose a series of criteria to determine the correct interpretive line. T h e group can do this by defining an authoritative body of writings t h a t is then canonized as the correct interpretation of the original divine revelation and distinguished from other writings, which are regarded either as heretical or of secondary authority. In the process the controlling group marginalizes and suppresses other branches of the community, with their own texts and lines of interpretation. The winning group declares itself the privileged line of true (orthodox) interpretation. 9 1

Her solution is to examine other traditions for usable principles which criticize the Biblical tradition. 'Heretical' traditions, such as Gnosticism, or ancient Near Eastern myths, like those from Ugarit, function as resources for doing feminist theology alongside the Hebrew Bible.92 Yet even those resources 'need to be "corrected" by the femiGeschichte Israels', in: Schottroff et al., Feministische Exegese, 88. Schroer warns against a too hasty comparison of ancient Israelite patriarchy with male dominance in the European industrialized contemporary society (88-9). The danger of enforcing views and values of our own time on Israelite society should be realized, especially where it concerns a 'hot item' like this. See also, in more general terms, T. Ishida, 'Adoniah the Son of Haggith and his Supporters: An Inquiry Into Problems About History and Historiography', in: R.E. Friedman, H.G.M. Williamson (eds), The Future of Biblical Studies: The Hebrew Scriptures (SBL Semeia Studies), Atlanta GA 1987, 165-87. 91 R. Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Towards a Feminist Theology, London 1983 [31989], 14. 92 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 21-2, 47-52, 56, 76, 140.

nist critical principle'. 93 In her Womanguides Radford Ruether wants to broaden the basis for feminist theology by adding other sources of historical tradition to the canon. 'Feminist theology must create a new textual base, a new canon'. 94 Yet she notes that her selection of texts is not a new canon, but only 'a working handbook from which such a new canon might emerge'. 95 In her later work she modifies this intention of broadening the canon. Other traditions may be used to criticize the Bible, yet they only have the character of revelation insofar as they promote the full humanity of women. She characterizes her position as particularistic yet rejecting exclusivism.96 Radford Ruether combines her critical principle of feminist theology, i.e., the promotion of the full humanity of women, with the prophetic principle of the Bible. Everything in the Bible that is patriarchal must be denounced in accordance with the prophetic-liberating tradition. 97 Although this approach clearly helps to put the social position of Israelite women in a clearer perspective, it proceeds on the tacit assumption that women may have fared better in non-biblical texts whereas the consequences of an opposite finding, namely more evidence of the same repressive tendencies, are hardly reflected on. 98 Moreover, the choice of theologically acceptable prophetical traditions certainly helps to focus on the essentials, but is bound to be subjective, since - as Radford Ruether acknowledges - the male prophets were also far removed from rejecting male sexual discrimination. 99 The solution to broaden the basis for doing feminist theology by adding other sources can also be elaborated differently, that is, instead of adding 'non-orthodox' texts from the period in which the canonization process took place, one chooses texts that are contemporary to the theologian. In her dissertation Canon en keuze Jonneke Bekkenkamp argues for the formation of female canons alongside the Bible as sources for doing theology. Examining the posibilities of reading 'as a woman' and 'as a theologian' she presents a reading model by which she analyses Song of Songs together with the Twenty-One Love Poems of Adrienne Rich. Cf. J. Bekkenkamp, Canon en keuze: Het bijbelse Hooglied en de Twenty-one love poems van Adrienne Rich als bronnen van theologie, Kampen 1993. 93 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 22. 94 R. Radford Ruether, Womanguides: Readings Toward a Feminist Theology, Boston 1985, ix. 95 Radford Ruether, Womanguides, ix. 96 Radford Ruether, Sexism and G od-Talk, 21. This is the standpoint she also takes in Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing, London 1993, (205-6), and in Women and Redemption: A Theological History, London 1998. 97 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 22-33, see also 62. 98 For some criticism in this direction see Korpel, RiC, 30-1. 99 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 29, 63. Cf. Tolbert, 'Defining the Problem', 123; T.D. Setel, 'Feminist Insights and the Question of Method', in: A. Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (SBL Centen-

Radford Ruether sees male monotheism as a major cause of the social repression of women, God is modeled after the patriarchal ruling class and is seen as addressing this class of males directly, adopting them as his "sons." They are his representatives, the responsible partners of the covenant with him. Women as wives now become symbolically repressed as the dependent servant class. Wives, along with children and servants, represent those ruled over and owned by the patriarchal class. They relate to m a n as he relates to God. A symbolic hierarchy is set up: God-male-female. Women no longer stand in direct relation to God; they are connected to God secondarily, through the male. 1 0 0

Whether or not this picture corresponds to historical reality remains unclear. The least one can say is that Radford Ruether seems to simplify the issue here in skipping the many biblical examples of women directly relating to God, either in prayer (Hannah for example) or protest (Naomi). Although some elements of her book, such as her hypothesis about the origin of monotheism in nomadic herding societies which were hostile to sedentary life with its female gardening role, are outdated, 101 her main argument about the gender-related niai Publications) (Biblical Scholarship in North America, 10), Chico CA 1985, 41; Brenner, Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts, 167-193. 100 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 53, and on 54, 'Thus the hierarchy of God-male-female does not merely make woman secondary in relation to God, it also gives her a negative identity in relation to the divine. Whereas the male is seen essentially as the image of the male transcendent ego or God, woman is seen as the image of the lower, material nature'. Radford Ruether had elaborated this theory even earlier in her book New Woman New Earth, New York 1975, 1-35. Cf. also Mary Daly's famous statement 'if God is male, then the male is God', Beyond God the Father, 19. Others, such as Judith Ochshorn and Esther Fuchs elaborate this view of sexual hierarchy of access to the divine; cf. J. Ochshorn, The Female Experience and the Nature of the Divine, Bloomington 1981, 194-5; E. Fuchs, 'The Literary Characterization of Mothers and Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible', in: A. Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (SBL Centennial Publications) (Biblical Scholarship in North America, 10), Chico CA 1985, 119. But see the criticism of Amico, SWU, 437. 101 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 53-4, 62. Cf. e.g., M.B. Rowton, 'The Physical Environment and the Problem of the Nomads", in: J.-R. Kupper (ed.), La Civilisation de Mari (RAI, 15), Paris 1967, 109-21; H. Klengel, Zwischen Zelt und Palast: Die Begegnung von Nomaden und Sesshaften im alten Vorderasien, Wien 1972; Y. Yadin, 'The Transition from a Semi-Nomadic to a Sedentary Society in the Twelfth Century B.C.', in: F.M. Cross (ed.), Symposia Celebrating the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of the American Schools of Oriental Research (1900-1975), Cambridge MA 1979, 57-68; I. Finkelstein, The Archaeology of the Israelite Settlement, Jerusalem 1988; O.S. LaBianca, Hesban I: Sedentarization and Nomadization, Berrien Springs 1990; T. Staubli, Das Image

symbolic hierarchy in monotheism is still shared by many. Yet, if it could be proved that Israel's polytheistic neighbours were just as rigidly patriarchal, Radford Ruether's argument collapses. In the Hebrew Bible the marriage metaphor is often used as a description of the relation between Y H W H and his people.102 Radford Ruether asserts that this would be a reversal of the ancient sacred marriage rite in which not the God, but the Goddess would have been the dominant partner. 103 She correctly points out that many people continued to worship Asherah and/or 'Anat alongside Y H W H . 1 0 4 However, is it true that in the sacred marriage rite the goddess was more important than the god? And, if so many people in ancient Israel still worshipped a goddess, would we not- inverting Radford Ruether's hypothesis of a gender-related symbolic hierarchy in monotheism expect priestesses next to priests in documents from the pre-exilic period? A somewhat similar approach is found in a controversial book by Gerda Weiler. She asserted that in ancient Ugarit, a country culturally and linguistically quite close to Israel 105 , not a patriarchy but a matriarchy was the rule and certain ancient cultic texts from Israel would prove that originally the same was true in ancient Israel.106 In her opinion Christian and Islamic monotheism have obscured the origder Nomaden im alten Israel und in der Ikonographie seiner sesshaften Nachbarn, Freiburg 1991; I. Finkelstein, N. Na'aman (eds), From Nomadism to Monarchy, Jerusalem 1994. 102 See e.g., F. van Dijk-Hemmes, 'The Imagination of Power and the Power of Imagination: An Intertextual Analysis of Two Biblical Love Songs: The Song of Songs and Hosea 2,' JSOT 44 (1989), 75-88; Korpel, RiC, 213-232; Brenner, Van Dijk-Hemmes, On Gendering Texts, 167-193. 103 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 54-5. 104 Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk, 55-6. Radford Ruether wrote these lines before the inscriptions from Kuntillet 'Ajrud had been published. 105 See e.g., P.C. Craigie, Ugarit and the Old Testament, Grand Rapids MI 1983; O. Loretz, Ugarit und die Bibel: Kanaanäische Götter und Religion im Alten Testament, Darmstadt 1990; D. Pardee, P. Bordreuil, 'Ugarit: Texts and Literature', in: ABD, vol. 6, 706-21; M. Yon, 'Ugarit: History and Archaeology', in: ibid., 695-706; G.J. Brooke et al. (eds), Ugarit and the Bible: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Ugarit and the Bible, Manchester, September 1992 (UBL, 11), Münster 1994; M. Dietrich, Ο. Loretz (eds), Ugarit: Ein ostmediterranes Kulturzentrum im Alten Orient: Ergebnisse und Perspektiven der Forschung, Bd. 1: Ugarit und seine altorientalische Umwelt (ALASP, 7), Münster 1995; W.G.E. Watson, Ν. Wyatt (eds), Handbook of Ugaritic Studies (HO, 1. Abt., 39), Leiden 1999 (henceforth HUS). 106 G. Weiler, Das Matriarchat im Alten Israel, Stuttgart 1989, a revised edition of her earlier book, Ich verwerfe im Lande die Kriege: Das verborgene Matriarchat im Alten Testament, München 1984. It is somewhat confusing that occasionally she also discerns patriarchal elements in the religion of Ugarit (30-56).

inal matriarchal essence of YHWH.107 Although in this edition of her book she does make an exception for Judaism, she, too, came under the suspicion of anti-Judaism. 108 Because the philological and historical basis for her claim of an original matriarchy was rather shaky, few were convinced by her argument. 109 And, as in the case of Radford Ruether, the big question remains at what point in the history of Israel may we reckon with the origin of the concept of 'monotheism'. In her well-known book In Memory of Her,110 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza argued strongly in favour of a feminist-critical approach which takes historical-critical research fully into account, The explorations of this book begin therefore with the hope of moving away from the pervasive apologetic t h a t characterizes most treatments of women in the Bible, to a historical-critical reconstruction of women's history and women's contributions to early Christian beginnings. 1 1 1

Emphasizing that all historiography 112 is a selective view of the past 107

Weiler, Das Matriarchat, 48, cf. 16ff. Weiler, Das Matriarchat, 328-45. Cf. Brooten's criticism of the revisionist stategy. 109 For some reviews of Weiler's Das Matriarchat cf. J.W. Rogerson, B0L (1990), 116; R. Laut, 'Interpretation und Willkür in feministisch-theologischer Literatur', ZRGG 43 (1991), 360-4; J. Siebert-Hommes, BiOr 49 (1992), 826-8. On Ich verwerfe im Lande die Kriege cf. M.-Th. Wacker, 'Die Göttin kehrt zurück', in: Idem (ed.), Der Gott der Männer und die Frauen (TzZ, 2), Düsseldorf 1987, 11-37; I. Müller, 'Ziele und Anliegen der feministischen Theologie: Eine kritische Darstellung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung feministischer Interpretation des Alten Testaments', in: L. Hagemann, E. Pulsfort (eds), Ihr alle aber seid Brüder, FS A.Th. Khoury, Würzburg 1990, 475-507. With regard to theories on matriarchy cf. J. Bamberger, 'The Myth of Matriarchy: Why Men Rule in Primitive Society', in: M. Zimbalist Rosaldo, L. Lamphere (eds), Woman, Culture, and Society, Stanford CA 1974, 263-280; U. Wesel, Der Mythos vom Matriarchat: Uber Bachofens Mutterrecht und die Stellung von Frauen in frühen Gesellschaften vor der Entstehung staatlicher Herrschaft (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenchaft, 333), Frankfurt am Main 1980; J.A. Hackett, 'Women's Studies and the Hebrew Bible', in: R.E. Friedman, H.G.M. Williamson (eds), The Future of Biblical Studies: The Hebrew Scriptures (SBL Semeia Studies), Atlanta GA 1987,147; B. Wagner-Hasel (ed.), Matriarchatstheorien der Altertumswissenschaft (WdF, 651), Darmstadt 1992; S. Schroer, 'Feministische Bibelforschung: Anliegen, Methoden und Inhalte', in: L. Blattmann et al. (eds), Feministische Perspektiven in der Wissenschaft (Zürcher Hochschulforum, 21), Zürich 1993, 46; B. Röder, et al., Göttinnendämmerung: Das Matriarchat aus archäologischer Sicht, München 1996. 110 E. Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, London 1983. 111 Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, xvi. 112 Much has been written lately on the problem of biblical historiography and the 108

she claims a feminist's right to critically evaluate the historical evidence. Failure to do so would imply that women give up their own history and lose their own identity in the process. 'Feminists cannot afford such an ahistorical or antihistorical stance because it is precisely the power of oppression that deprives people of their history'. 113 Although Schüssler Fiorenza applied her new hermeneutics 114 to the field of New Testament studies, her approach also won the acclaim possibility of writing a history of Israel. For an overview which is as well-informed as it is critical of the modish historical scepticism see E. Yamauchi, 'The Current State of Old Testament Historiography1, in: A.R. Millard et al. (eds), Faith, Tradition, and History: Old Testament Historiography in its Near Eastern Context, Winona Lake IN 1994, 1-36. For a noteworthy turn towards moderation in the current debate see S. Ahituv, E.D. Oren (eds), The Origin of Early Israel - Current Debate: Biblical, Historical and Archaeological Perspectives (Beer-Sheva, 12), Beer-Sheva 1998 and, to some extent, M.Z. Brettler, The Creation of History in Ancient Israel, London 1995. Two recent volumes that bring together a number of articles on Israelite historiography are L.L. Grabbe (ed.), Can a 'History of Israel' Be Written? (JSOT.S, 245) (European Seminar in Historical Methodology, 1), Sheffield 1997 (esp. the articles of H.M. Barstad and B. Becking) and V.Ph. Long (ed.), Israel's Past in Present Research: Essays on Ancient Israelite Historiography (SBTS, 7), Winona Lake 1999. It is remarkable that those writing on biblical historiography generally give little attention to the theoretical requirements of writing women's history. See e.g., B.A. Carroll (ed.), Liberating Women's History: Theoretical and Critical Essays, Urbana 1976; J. Kelly, Women, History & Theory: The Essays of Joan Kelly (Women in Culture and Society), Chicago 1984; M. de Baar et al. (eds), In de ban van het verhaal (Jaarboek voor vrouwengeschiedenis, 11), Nijmegen 1990 (several articles on The Future of Women's History); R. Buikema, A. Smelik (eds), Vrouwenstudies in de cultuurwetenschappen, Muiderberg 1993, 31-44; J. Wallach Scott (ed.), Feminism and History (Oxford Readings in Feminism), Oxford 1996. Scholars who manage to combine the issues of biblical historiography and women's history are Phyllis Bird, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Jo Ann Hackett, Carol Meyers and Sylvia Schroer, to name but a few. 113 Schüssler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, xix. See also M. Fander, 'HistoricalCritical Methods', in: Schüssler Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, vol. 1, 205-224, esp. 213: Only a historical understanding of the origins and transmission of biblical texts can prevent a biblicistic, fundamentalist misunderstanding'. Fander rightly stresses the importance of non-literary sources, like letters, contracts, archaeological data, to reconstruct ancient women's reality (220). Cf. also Setel, 'Feminist Insights and the Question of Method', 39: O n a historical level, feminist biblical scholarship affirms the significance of female experience throughout human history. Dismissal of all biblical texts as completely devoid of that experience is an implicit acceptance of women's historical nonexistence'. 114 The interpretive process of feminist hermeneutics as outlined by Schüssler Fiorenza has four key moments: a hermeneutics of suspicion, a hermeneutics of historical interpretation and reconstruction, a hermeneutics of ethical and theological evaluation and a hermeneutics of creative imagination and ritualization; cf. Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza, s.v. 'Feminist Hermeneutics', in: ABD, vol. 2, 790.

of women working in Old Testament scholarship. 115 Bernadette Brooten also calls for thorough historical research by feminist scholars. Like others, she draws attention to the fact that ancient sources in androcentric cultures tend to obscure women's history. Therefore it is absolutely necessary t h a t we cast the net as widely as possible drawing upon hitherto overlooked sources, such as nonliterary documents (inscriptions, papyri), monumental remains, art, funerary remains, the few literary fragments and works composed by women, as well as women's oral tradition quoted in literary sources. 1 1 6

However, she immediately goes on to warn against 'objectifying language' and argues in favour of 'historical imagination' to counterbalance the lack of evidence on the history of women which she ascribes to the male prejudice of androcentric historiography. 117 She further objects against any historical research which involves comparisons between the status and role of Christian (or Jewish) women and the status and role of women in their surroundings, because the very terminology of 'status' and 'role' is an implicit recognition of the male world view.118 Rather unexpectedly, however, she reaffirms emphatically that extra-biblical evidence should be taken into account because the historical study of women cannot limit itself to a canon raised to the level of normativity by men. 119 It is difficult to see how such a procedure could take place without comparison and without discussing the social position of women in various societies. Phyllis Bird agrees with Brooten on the fact that the history of women in the ancient Mediterranean world is to a large extent obscured because data on women are mostly mediated through male authors and redactors. She describes three new types of studies that employ new methods and constructs: (1) anthropological studies of gender based on cross-cultural analysis of gender patterns correlated with social and economic organization; (2) ethnographic studies of women in particular societies, which provide descriptive material for imaginative reconstruction of women's lives in ancient Israel; and (3) comparative studies of women in ancient Near 115

E.g. Schroer, 'Feministische Bibelforschung', 41-52. B.J. Brooten, 'Early Christian Women and Their Cultural Context: Issues of Method in Historical Reconstruction', in: Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 67; see also 87-91. 117 Brooten, 'Early Christian Women', 67-8. 118 Brooten, 'Early Christian Women', 82-3. 119 Brooten, 'Early Christian Women', 84-5. 116

Eastern societies based on epigraphic and iconographie data. 1 2 0

With regard to the status of women in Israelite religion, Bird advocates a study that starts with the question of women's religion. By making use of data on cross-cultural expressions of women's religious actions she finds that religious practices of women may differ from those of men. 121 Also women might have rituals of their own. Traces of women's cults can be discerned in the Hebrew Bible. In a fine essay, Schroer has sketched the outlines of a feminist reconstruction of the history of Israelite women.122 Following Schüssler Fiorenza, she wants to apply a hermeneutic of remembrance to the history of Israelite women. Although Schroer also endorses the assumption that Israelite women had their own cultic activities separate from the male realm, she does not want to focus solely on this. In the introduction to her reconstruction she stresses the dangers of a model in which state religion is considered to be opposed to popular religion, Die spezielle Gefahr dieser Begrifflichkeit für eine feministische Perspektive ist, daß Frauen dann sehr rasch auf die Seite der Volksfrömmigkeit, Privatfrömmigkeit und des Hauskultes geraten, während die staatliehe JWHW-Religion zur reinen Männerdomäne wird. Wir wissen aber, daß auch auf höchster politischer Ebene Frauen versuchten, Einfluß auf die Landesreligion zu nehmen, und daß andererseits an all den kultischen Praktiken, die als Volks- oder Privatfrömmigkeit definiert werden, auch Männer, manchmal sogar die Landesherren beteiligt waren. 1 2 3

She therefore wants to investigate Israelite history along two lines: on the one hand identification of women with Yahwism and its liberating elements and on the other hand alienating women from elements within Yahwism due to unfulfilled needs of women as well as exclusion from the cult. 124 Although Schroer does not explicitly refer 120

P.A. Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Israel', in: Biblical Research 39 (1994), 33. 121 Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World', 44: 'Women's religious practices may take different forms than those of men, even when they occur at the same time and in the same place; and participation in the "same" activity, such as a communal feast, may have different meaning for women than for men'. 122 S. Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg zu einer feministischen Rekonstruktion der Geschichte Israels', in: L. Schottroff et al. (eds), Feministische Exegese: Forschungserträge zur Bibel aus der Perspektive von FYauen, Darmstadt 1995, 83-172. 123 Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg . . . ', 100-1. 124 Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg . . . ' , 101. I translate Schoer's designation 'JHWH-

to it, her twofold approach coincides with Van Dijk-Hemmes' double hermeneutic of exposing and liberating ways of reading texts. Schroer also points to the tension between a 'hermeneutics of scepsis' and a 'hermeneutics of credit'; according to her this can only be dissolved by means of a historical analysis. 125 Schroer thus gives a reconstruction of the history of female YHWH-devotees in different periods and deliberately intends to avoid either a model of Heilsgeschichte or of Unheilsgeschichte.126 To conclude, several feminist scholars emphasized the demand for a diachronic analysis alongside a synchronic one. Radford Ruether contended that male monotheism was to blame for the social repression of women in Israel. To some scholars this has become a tacit assumption. Others, however, stress the need for a historical reconstruction of the history of Israelite women, while emphasizing various aspects. Brooten, among others, pleads for historical research that ineludes extra-biblical sources. Bird points to the possibility of comparative study of women in ancient Near Eastern cultures. Schroer gives an outline of a history of female YHWH-devotees that is intended to overcome the antithesis of Heilsgeschichte and Unheilsgeschichte.

1.4 Methodological Considerations Feminist studies into the biblical roots of the subordination of women in synagogue, church, and hence in many parts of the modern world, have brought us extremely important insights. All these studies, despite differences in approach, stress that it is no longer possible to accept a fundamentalistic use of the Bible to keep women in a subordinate position. Even the 'loyalists', though wanting to respect the authority of the Bible, sought to demonstrate that the Bible does not provide men with an excuse for oppressing women. But in order to achieve this goal, they had to resort to harmonizing and fanciful interpretations. The distinction the revisionists made between a paReligion1 with Yahwism. 125 Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg . . . .84 ,‫׳‬ 126 Schroer, 'Auf dem Weg . . . , , 101-2: 'Eine Rekonstruktion der Geschichte der JHWH-Anhängerin sollte nicht einem heils- oder unheilsgeschichtlichen Entwicklungsmodell folgen. Weder beginnt diese Geschichte mit einem goldenen Zeitalter des Matriarchats, noch stehen am Anfang der Geschichte Israels mit JHWH frauenbefreiende Impulse, die dann kontinuierlich durch Patriarchalisierung verdrängt wurden. Umgekehrt ist es auch nicht so, daß die Israelitinnen mit den Jahrhunderten aufgrund der JHWH-Religion zu größerer Freiheit und Macht als Frauen gelangten. Kein Aufstieg also und kein Verfall, sondern ein wechselvolles Auf und Ab und Nebeneinander von Befreiung und Unterdrükkung [sie], Macht und Ohnmacht1.

triarchal exterior and a non-patriarchal core in the Bible proved to be the first step in the direction of rejecting the relevance of parts of the Bible or, even more radically, to deny the Bible all authority in the realm of society. But even if patriarchalism was seen as the historically conditioned exterior, it was rarely attempted to prove this by means of historical research. Gradually, however, the necessity to delve into the historical facts dawned upon feminist exegetes. They realized that a purely synchronic approach like literary analysis might obscure certain historical developments 127 . Was the canon of the Hebrew Bible a deliberate patriarchalistic selection from an originally much more diverse collection of religious writings in which goddesses and matriarchy were still deemed acceptable? Is such a limited corpus of literary works sufficient to describe the social and religious position of women in ancient Israel? Was patriarchal dominion the only factor determining the relation between men and women in ancient Israel or should one also take other factors, such as social class, into account? Even more important, is the monotheistic faith itself to blame for the exalted position of Israelite men, as Radford Ruether and others have stated? If it is true, as many scholars state, that before the Exile Israel was a polytheistic nation, one would expect to find proof in extra-biblical documents that in the pre-exilic period the role of Israelite women in religion and society - for these domains were not clearly separated - did not differ significantly from the role of women in neighbouring countries. If, however, de facto monotheism started much earlier, as other scholars hold, one would expect to find factual evidence for the detrimental influence this had on the social and religious position of Israelite women when compared to the position of women in neighbouring polytheistic cultures. In this study I want to seek answers to some of the historical questions raised above. More specifically, I want to know whether extra-biblical evidence, in particular epigraphical material, indicates whether the social and religious position of Israelite women was worse, equal or better than that of other women in the ancient Near East. Furthermore, since monotheism proved to be so important in previous diseussions, I will briefly review the modern discussion on the rise of this form of religion in which there was no longer a legitimate place for 127

Cf. Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Israel1, 33: 'Although the insightful and provocative readings of Phyllis Trible, Cheryl Exum, Mieke Bal, Danna Fewell, and others often contribute to new assessments of women's lives in ancient Israel, their primary interest is contemporary reception rather than historical reconstruction'.

goddesses. Finally, I want to evaluate the relevance of the results of my comparative study for feminist theological research. While comparing biblical data with extra-biblical data I want to give special attention to the texts from Ugarit. This kingdom, situated on the coast of Syria at the latitude of Cyprus, flourished in the Bronze Age, especially between ca. 1400-1185 BCE. The clay tablets found since 1929 at the tell of Ras Shamra reveal much information on the culture and religion of the ancient Ugaritians. Ever since the decipherment of the alphabetic cuneiform script, scholars have stressed the parallels between Ugarit and Israel on lexicographical, literary and thematic-institutional levels.128 Several writers have called for caution, however, since there is (a) a geographical distance of approximately 450 km as the crow flies between Ugarit and Jerusalem and (b) a temporal distance of at least two or three centuries between the Ugaritic texts and the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible, and a distance of 500-1000 years with regard to younger parts of the Bible.129 This warning is appropriate, but only to some extent. While comparing cultures one needs to bear in mind the uniqueness of each separate culture. Yet the individual cultures of the ancient Near East were not solitary functioning systems, like islands, but subject to mutual influence. In this connection some speak of a cultural continuum. 130 Moreover, it is clear that there is a large degree of correspondence between the cultures of Ugarit and (proto-)Israel and that they both spring out of Canaanite culture. 131 As studies by Johannes de Moor and 128

G. del Olmo Lete, 'Approaching a Description of the Canaanite Religion of Ancient Israel: Methodological Issues,' in: Brooke, Ugarit and the Bible, 259-63. For a selection of literature see R. de Hoop, Genesis 49 in its Literary and Historical Context (OTS, 39), Leiden 1999, 20-2. 129 Cf. e.g., R. Albertz, 'Biblische oder Nicht-Biblische Religionsgeschichte Israels?' in: M. Dietrich, I. Kottsieper (eds), 'Und Mose schrieb dieses Lied auf': Studien zum Alten Testament und zum Alten Orient, Fs. O. Loretz, (AOAT, 250), Münster 1998, 32-3. 130 G. del Olmo Lete, El continuum cultural cananeo: Pervivencias cananeas en el mundo fenicio-pûnico (AuOr.S, 14), Barcelona 1996; Κ. van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (SHCANE, 7), Leiden 1996, 4. 131 With regard to both Ugaritic and Israelite culture it has been stated that they should not be equated with Canaanite culture. Na'aman and Rainey, for instance, have pointed to the fact that from a geographical point of view Ugarit was not regarded as part of Canaan; cf. Ν. Na'aman, 'The Canaanites and Their Land: A Rejoinder', UF 26 (1994), 403-4; A.F. Rainey, 'Who is a Canaanite? A Review of the Textual Evidence', BASOR 304 (1996), 4-6. They both react to the extreme position of N.P. Lemche, The Canaanites and their Land: The Tradition of the Canaanites (JSOT.S, 110), Sheffield 1991, who assumes that 'Canaanite' was used

Marjo Korpel have shown, Yahwism emerged from a schism within Canaanite religion.132 The considerable degree of similarity between the two religions can no longer be denied 133 , and obviously this has consequences for the feminist debates I described in the preceding sections. While it seems that in the ancient Near East in general the number of deities gradually decreased and that pantheons of Israel's surrounding countries became smaller in the first millennium BCE, 1 3 4 in Israel the concentration went even further, resulting in monolatry and eventually in monotheism. It, therefore, seems appropriate to compare Ugaritic textual material with the Hebrew Bible and extrabiblical sources, for in this comparison we encounter two cultures that shared a Canaanite background but each went its separate way, one continuing along the line of polytheism and the other moving toward monolatry. Because the Ugaritic literary texts are limited in number and, although to a lesser extent, this also holds true for the Hebrew Bible, I will also include data from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Hatti in my analysis. The primary focus of comparison, however, is with Ugarit. Some scholars have postulated that the position of women at Ugarit was better than elsewhere. Claude Schaeffer, for example, states 'la position sociale de la femme à Ugarit a dû être assez enas an imprecise designation for a person from a country other than one's own. Others, however, refer to the common heritage of literature and religion; cf. e.g., Loretz, Ugarit und die Bibel, 14-6; Korpel, RiC, 78, 621-35; M.S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, San Fransisco 1990, 1-7; J. Day, 'Ugarit and the Bible: Do They Presuppose the Same Canaanite Mythology and Religion?' in: Brooke, Ugarit and the Bible, 35-52; M.S. Smith, 'Mythology and Myth-making in Ugaritic and Israelite Literatures', in: Brooke, Ugarit and the Bible, 300-2; J.C. de Moor, 'Ugarit and Israelite Origins', in: J.A. Emerton (ed.), Congress Volume: Paris 1992 (VT.S, 61), Leiden 1995, 205-38; Idem, R0Y, 42, n. 5 bis. Since the designation 'Syro-Palestinian' emphasizes geography and 'North-West Semitic' mainly refers to shared linguistic features, I prefer to continue the accepted use of the term 'Canaanite'. It stresses the notion of linguistics, religion and geography, although one needs to keep in mind that during the second millennium BCE geographical 'Canaan' was a relatively small region that excluded Ugarit. 132 Korpel, RiC; De Moor, RoY. 133 E.L. Greenstein, 'The God of Israel and the Gods of Canaan: How Different Were They?' in: PWCJS, Division A: The Bible and Its World, 12 (1999), 47*-58*. 134 S.N. Kramer, 'Poets and Psalmists: Goddesses and Theologians: Literary, Religious, and Anthropological Aspects of the Legacy of Sumer', in: D. SchmandtBesserat (ed.), The Legacy of Sumer: Invited Lectures on the Middle East at the University of Texas at Austin (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica, 4), Malibu 1976, 12-7; W.G. Lambert, 'Goddesses in the Pantheon: A Reflection of Women in Society?' in: Durand, FPOA, 125-30; Smith, The Early History of God, 24-6.

viable, surtout si l'on se souvient qu'il s'agissait d'un milieu où prédominait l'élément sémitique'. 135 And according to Jean Nougayrol, Ugaritic women had 'un status juridique enviable'. 136 If this is true, it gives support to the idea that the monotheistic faith of Israel is to blame for the centuries long subordinate position of women in the three major monotheistic world religions. Eleanor Amico is one of the few persons who have directed their attention to the question whether the above cited assumption of the two French scholars can be verified.137 In her unpublished dissertation The Status of Women at Ugarit she investigates the status and roles of women at Ugarit, and compares them with data from other ancient Near Eastern cultures including Israel. The picture that emerges from her analysis of mythological and legendary texts, letters, contracts and administrâtive texts is a fairly positive one. At the end of her work on women in ancient Ugarit she concludes, Ugarit, centered in a milieu of patriarchal cultures, was also patriarchal. Men were heads of families, the ruler was male, businesses were in the names of males, and most people identified themselves by their father's names. However, within that framework, women had a surprising amount of autonomy and freedom. T h e society was patriarchal but not restrictive or oppressive of women. Furthermore, no evidence of repressive ideology exists. T h a t is, there is nothing t h a t leads us to believe t h a t women needed to be especially controlled or restrained. There is nothing whatever of misogyny in the culture. If the queen and the goddesses were models, women's opinions were respected, and they were expected to take part fully in Ugaritic life. 138

She thus seems to agree with Schaeffer and Nougayrol in her evaluation of the position of women at Ugarit. If Amico is right, it is a legitimate question whether this picture deviates significantly from the one we find in ancient Israel and, if it does, what the reason for the difference might be. 135

C.F.-A. Schaeffer, 'Exposé préliminaire', in: PRU III, xxvi. J. Nougayrol, 'Textes économiques', in: PRU III, 179. 137 E.B. Amico, The Status of Women at Ugarit, Univ. of Wisconsin 1989 [Ann Arbor MI]. Of somewhat older date is J. Klima, 'Die Stellung der ugaritischen Frau: (Auf Grund der akkadischen Texte von Ras Shamra)', ArOr 25 (1957), 313-33. For a selection of literature on women and womanhood at Ugarit, cf. M.I. Gruber, Women in the Biblical World: A Study Guide, vol. 1: Women in the World of Hebrew Scripture, (ATLA Bibliography Series, 38), Lanham MD 1995, 216-23. 138 Amico, SWU, 549. In line with Amico, see J.-P. Vita, 'The Society of Ugarit', in: HUS, 481. 136

However, Amico's last quoted sentence shows that some prudence is called for. Was her fairly positive conclusion perhaps based too much on the position of the well-to-do? Moreover, it should be taken into account that part of her arguments was derived from the work of only one writer, the chief priest Ilimilku. Marjo Korpel has pointed out that Ilimilku attributes considerable power to women and goddesses but that this may well represent a change of attitude on his part caused by certain political developments in the final days of Ugarit. 139 If this is true, it would be wrong to generalize Ilimilku's view as the prevailing attitude in Ugarit. In any case it is necessary to evaluate the evidence drawn from his work cautiously. Another important issue is the question whether mythological texts may be studied to gain information on social reality. May we assume a relationship between the position of goddesses in a pantheon and the status of women in a society that venerates those goddesses? According to some, there is no direct relationship. 140 Although certain myths and legends may be an ideological representation of the position of the women in power, such as the queen-mother and the queen, their information on 'ordinary' women is scant and might well be prejudiced by the upper-class perspective of their authors. Yet it would seem that especially with regard to their family roles the functions of goddesses in myths might well correspond to those of women in society.141 Before embarking upon the investigation, however, a number of methodological issues must be raised and a plan for the work has to be formulated. An initial and very general methodological principle is that where possible I shall confine myself to reviewing the most im139

M.C.A Korpel, 'Exegesis in the Work of Ilimilku of Ugarit', in: J.C. de Moor (ed.), Intertextuality in Ugarit and Israel: Papers ...Oxford, 1997 (OTS, 40), Leiden 1998, 86-111, esp. 106-8. Differently, N. Wyatt, 'Ilimilku's Ideological Programme: Ugaritic Royal Propaganda, and a Biblical Postscript', UF 29 (1997),· 775-96. 140 P.R. Sanday, 'Female Status in the Public Domain,' in: M. Zimbalist Rosaldo, L. Lamphere (eds), Woman, Culture, and Society, Stanford CA 1974, 189-206; J.J. Preston, 'Goddess Worship: Theoretical Perspectives', in: EncRel (Ε'), 56. 141 Cf. Β. Watterson, Women in Ancient Egypt, Stroud 1991, 16-7: 'If in secular tales women play only secondary roles - either as devoted mothers and faithful wives, or conversely as perfidious wives and wicked temptresses - in religious mythology these stereotyped images of women are somewhat less rigid. In certain respects, however, the roles played by Egyptian goddesses do correspond quite closely with the function of women in society. Women were wives and mothers, concerned with the well-being of their families; goddesses were consorts of gods and protectresses of mankind'. Cf. further Lambert, 'Goddesses in the Pantheon', 125-30.

portant previous studies on the subject. The vast scope of what I want to do precludes a complete treatment of all themes. Many hundreds of studies on women in the ancient Near East and the Bible have been published in the past few years. 142 As indicated by the title of this book, it is appropriate to compare the position of women in the two societies from the separate viewpoints of social and religious status. If we treat the status of women in the family separately from that of women in economic and public life, as was done by Amico, we are using modern categories to describe ancient cultures and run the risk of unconsciously adopting some kind of bias, for example, that it was more important to do business than raising children. If, however, we recognize that family relations, class distinctions, doing business or formulating policy, ruling a country and being ruled, are all aspects of the overarching concept of society, it is easier to accept that to some extent there may be an overlapping of categories and room for different ideas of what was important to women's status. Therefore I want to devote a large section of the work to a comparison of the social position of women in Ugarit and Israel. Although the social and religious spheres of life were not clearly demarcated in the ancient Near East, yet it is necessary for the purpose of this work to separate the religious from the social position. Of course it cannot be denied that social status could be derived from certain religious functions. However, it is easy to demonstrate that in the ancient Near East there was a feeling that the performing of religious functions often fell outside the framework of society. Performing a religious function was not necessarily determined by family or class, but by what one might call 'vocation' or divine 'election'. One of the easiest examples is the Mari prophets. Alongside professional diviner-prophets, there were lay prophets at Mari, men and women who stepped up to confront the king and queen and transmit a prophetic report. Some of these lay persons were of high social rank while others were from the lower strata of society.143 Likewise, the 142

Even the Chicago bibliography of nearly 500 titles is a selection of titles only. See the Internet site http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/WOMEN. HTML; cf. further Gruber's bibliography Women in the Biblical World: A Study Guide, vol. 1, 1995. 143 The texts refer to 'a man', 'a woman', 'a man's wife', but also to one of the daughters of king Zimri-Lim. Cf. Ε. Noort, Untersuchungen zum Gottesbescheid in Man: Die 'Mariprophetie' in der alttestamentlichen Forschung (AOAT, 202), Kevelaer & Neukirchen-Vluyn 1977, 69-75; A. Malamat, Ά Forerunner of Biblical Prophecy: The Mari Documents,' in: P.D. Miller et al. (eds), Ancient Israelite Religion, Philadelphia 1987, 33-52 (esp. 43-4); Idem, Mari and the Early Israelite Experience, Oxford 1989, 79-96; Idem, Mari and the Bible (SHCANE, 12), Leiden

biblical prophet Amos was a herdsman who was taken from his flock by Y H W H to prophesy to his people (Amos 7 : 1 4 - 1 5 ) . Moreover, women's religious practices may have differed from those of men, and both may have had rituals of their own.144 To a considerable extent religion escaped the laws of normal society and so it is warranted to treat the religious position of women as a separate entity. What is more, since it is a - often unexpressed - presupposition that monotheistic patriarchal religion may have had a negative influence on the position of women generally and that it would be especially in the area of social life that Israelite women were most repressed, a distinction between the religous and social life in this analysis is justified. In a detailed comparison of the textual 145 data with regard to the social and religious position of women in Ugarit and Israel it is necessary to make a clear distinction between literary texts which may at least in part rest on fiction and other texts testifying to the actual situation in Ugarit and Israel. Moreover, while literary texts may bear an ideological imprint with regard to patriarchal views, nonliterary texts such as letters and administrative texts may render an historically more accurate view of the position of women. All sections of chapters 2 and 3 will therefore contain at least four subsections, A. B. C. D.

Ancient Near East Ugaritic Literary Texts Hebrew Bible Conclusions

Subsection A rests on a perusal of a considerable number of studies by others and cannot claim comprehensiveness. The intention is to confine myself to the influential civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Hatti. I do not wish to deny distinctive differences between these cultures, nor other differences when we look at the evidence from a diachronic point of view. In this subsection I merely want to establish, if possible, whether the lack of a certain phenomenon in either Ugarit or Israel may be 1998, 59-156. 144 Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Israel', 33, 44. Obviously, this includes religious practices which were condemned by (later?) all-male religious leadership, e.g. the medium of Endor (1 Sam. 28) and the soulcatching prophetesses of Ezek. 13. 145 Of course it would have been possible to include iconographie evidence but since this tacit evidence often allows for many different interpretations, I decided to leave it aside in this work.

accidental, or whether a certain custom or view may perhaps be attributed to the common cultural continuum of ancient oriental cultures. 146 Therefore I will sometimes include short references to nonliterary material, such as marriage contracts, in the course of the discussion. In subsection Β I will discuss the Ugaritic material. The use of clay tablets makes Ugarit the best known Canaanite kingdom thus far. Because there existed close ties between Ugarit and the protoIsraelites this is the most important material for comparison that we have. The literary texts, of which the Myth of Ba'lu and the Legends of Aqhatu and Dani , ilu are the most informative with regard to my topic, will be discussed in relation to ritual texts and texts in which myth and ritual are combined. Since these texts might all be ideologically imbued they will be treated on an equal basis as literary texts in comparison with the Hebrew Bible. In subsection C I plan to review the previous studies on women in the Hebrew Bible. Dating, and possible Sitz im Leben of important texts will be included in the discussion, because it is clearly inappropriate to generalize about the position of women throughout Israel's history. 147 In subsection D I will analyse the information and draw conclusions. The social position of women will be discussed in C h a p t e r 2. As stated above, every division of the available material is artificial and therefore overlapping categories will be cross-referenced quite often. The chapter comprises two subdivisions: Women in the Family (2.1) and Women in Society (2.2). In the section Women in the Family, after a general introduction, the various social roles of women, those of wife, mother, sister, daughter, widow and orphan will be discussed. In the section Women in Society I will consider the positions of Women of the Court (2.2.1), i.e., those of the queen, the queen-mother, the royal concubine, and the princess. In addition I will devote a subsection on Non-Royal Women (2.2.2) in which I will deal with issues such as legal ownership, women in business, professions of women and female slaves. General conclusions will close the chapter. 146

Cf. Bird, 'Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Ancient Israel', 34. Cf. S. Schroer, 'Feministische Bibelforschung: Anliegen, Methoden und Inhalte', in: L. Blattmann et al. (eds), Feministische Perspektiven in der Wissenschaft (Zürcher Hochschulforum, 21), Zürich 1993, 47. A fine example which will convince even the staunchest advocates of a synchronic reading of the Hebrew Bible is the different treatment of Moabite women in the books of Ruth and Ezra/Nehemiah respectively. 147

C h a p t e r 3 will deal with the religious position of women in Ugarit and Israel. Instead of the commonly used distinction between official religion and family religion, I will distinguish between women as religious specialists and women as worshippers while analysing the roles women could fulfill in religion. Chapter three will end with general conclusions. By asking questions about the various aspects of women's lives in Ugarit and Israel I intend to draw a picture of their status. Scholars have pointed to the fact that ' "status" is used as if it were a perfectly self-evident concept', which is an oversimplification of the complex situation of women. In order to draw a picture of the status of women it is necessary to outline as many aspects of women's lives as possible, resulting in a status pattern. 148 A status pattern gleaned from the various roles women performed in Ugaritic and Israelite society is necessarily incomplete, since we are dealing with androcentric sources and a historical gap in the literary sources. Moreover, the discovery of new sources can lead to a readjustment of the picture. We have already alluded to the fact that the status of Israelite women was not necessarily the same throughout the biblical period (ca. 1200-300 BCE). Carol Meyers assumes the status of women deteriorated in the monarchic period. 149 I will, therefore, take into account the question of dating whenever this seems appropriate. C h a p t e r 4 will be entitled: Ά Check on Reliability'. In chapters two and three much of the evidence will have been derived from indirect sources - statements about deities and legendary figures in literary religious texts. In this chapter I want to check whether nonliterary texts such as administrative texts and epigraphic evidence of letters and bullae confirms or contradicts my earlier findings about the position of women in the two cultures. In C h a p t e r 5 conclusions based on my findings will be formulated. The hypothesis will be tested whether or not concentration on one God has indeed had a negative influence on the social and religious position of women. At least seven possibilities present themselves: 148

S. Ryan Johansson, 1 "Herstory" as History: A New Field or Another Fad?' in: B.A. Carroll (ed.), Liberating Women's History: Theoretical and Critical Essays, Urbana 1976, 405-10 (405). See also M.K. Whyte, The Status of Women in Preindustrìal Societies, Princeton NJ 1978; J.A. Hackett, 'Women's Studies and the Hebrew Bible', in: R.E. Friedman, H.G.M. Williamson (eds), The Future of Biblical Studies: The Hebrew Scriptures (SBL Semeia Studies), Atlanta GA 1987, 152-4; Amico, SWU, 7-45. 149 C. Meyers, 'Procreation, Production, and Protection: Male-Female Balance in Early Israel', JAAR 51 (1983), 569-93.

1. The position of women in Ugarit was better than of those in Israel. 2. The position of women in Ugarit was worse than of those in Israel. 3. The position of women in Ugarit was equal to those in Israel. 4. The position of Israelite women was better, both according to the Bible and to extra-biblical evidence. 5. The position of Israelite women was worse, both according to the Bible and to extra-biblical evidence. 6. The position of Israelite women was better according to the Bible, but not according to extra-biblical evidence. 7. The position of Israelite women was worse according to the Bible, but not according to extra-biblical evidence. These findings I will relate to their relevance for feminist theology.

Chapter 2

The Social Position of Women In this chapter I will discuss the social position of women by analyzing textual data from Ugarit and Israel.1 Since certain phenomena may be lacking in the textual sources of either culture, I will also discuss data from the ancient Near East in general, viz. Mesopotamia, Egypt and Hatti. By including data from the surrounding cultures of Ugarit and Israel it also becomes clear whether a custom or view is specific for a certain society or is part of the common cultural continuum of the ancient Near East. The main sources used for analyzing the social position of women are literary texts. Myths, rituals, legends, legal codes and wisdom texts all render information on the position of women, albeit in a subjective manner, and bearing their own ideological imprint. After a lot of in-depth research2 it has become generally accepted that all ancient Near Eastern cultures were male-dominated and that their extant literature reveals androcentrism. Furthermore, the view on women and their position as expressed in the literary texts mainly reveals information on women in the highest strata of society.3 Far too often it has been taken for granted that data derived from literary sources apply to all social strata. However, a bias on the part of the scribes working for the social strata employing them is by no means excluded. Unfortunately, we have very few sources on the position of women in the lower strata of society. Those that we have generally are of a non-literary nature and will be dealt with in chapter 4. Literary texts express the world view of peoples. They inform us on the views humans entertain of the organization of society. Cultural messages on the relation between the sexes are also latent in literary texts. Myths, 4 for instance, render information on the position of goddesses in relation to gods. The world of the deities is in many 1

As a source edition for the Ugaritic texts I use M. Dietrich et ai, The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places ( ALASP, 8), Münster 1995, also known as KTU2. I use the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia as source edition for the Hebrew Bible. 2 See chapter 1, esp. n. 142. 3 Cf., e.g., G. Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, London 1993, 17. 4 It should be noted that I do not want to engage upon a discussion of the concepts 'myth', 'epic', 'legend', etc. in this study. I am using such terms merely in accordance with common scholarly usage and confine myself to the distinction between literary and non-literary texts as a means of useful classification.

respects a magnified reflection of the human world.5 The polytheistic family of gods, for instance, reveals traits of the family structure of human families, especially the royal family. While the king is head of the nation, the main deity is head of the pantheon. Both are male characters, assisted by their (female) spouse. In this respect myths can be compared to biblical history, since both narrate events from an androcentric point of view, while the scope is mainly on those in power.6 However, the relation between the position of goddesses in a pantheon and that of women in its society is not a straightforward one. Gary Beckman, among others, has stressed 'that the position of female deities within a religious system is hardly a direct reflection of the power or influence enjoyed by human females within that society'. 7 Thus, it would be simplistic to assume that in a society where goddesses had an important position, this reflected the actual position of women in that society. One needs to ask which goddesses had such a position of importance and what kind of function they had. On the other hand, scholars do assume some relationship existed. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, for instance, has noted that the role of goddesses in the Mesopotamian pantheon became marginalized in the course of the third and second millennium BCE. 8 In this regard she points to a correlation between the divine world and the ancient Sumerian state. Both in the divine and the human world, power became a male monopoly.9 Females (both divine and human) were not supposed to exercise power, but to perform roles related to sexuality and reproduction. 10 5

T. Frymer-Kensky, In the Wake of the Goddesses: Women, Culture, and the Biblical Transformation of Pagan Myth, New York 1992, 78-9; I. Furlong, 'The Mythology of the Ancient Near East', in: C. Larrington (ed.), The Feminist Companion to Mythology, London 1992, 4; M.S. Smith, 'Ugaritic Studies and the Hebrew Bible, 1968-1998 (with an Excursus on Judean Monotheism and the Ugaritic Texts)', in: A. Lemaire, M. Saeb0, Congress Volume: Oslo 1998 (VT.S, 80), Leiden 2000, 344-5. 6 On the relation of myth and history, cf. P. Ricoeur, 'Myth and History', in: EncRel(E), vol. 10, 273-82. On the debate whether or not myth may also be assumed to be a literary genre in the Hebrew Bible, cf. J.W. Rogerson, Myth in Old Testament Interpretation (BZAW, 134), Berlin 1974. 7 G. Beckman, 'Inheritance and Royal Succession Among the Hittites', in: H.A. Hoffner, G.M. Beckman (eds), Kaniššuwar: A tribute to Hans G. Güterbock on his seventy-fifth birthday May 27, 1983 (AS, 23), Chicago IL 1986, 14. 8 Frymer-Kensky, In the Wake of the Goddesses, 70-80. 9 On the power shift, see also M.K. Wakeman, 'Ancient Sumer and the Women's Movement: The Process of Reaching Behind, Encompassing and Going Beyond', JSFR 1/2 (1985), 7-27. 10 See section 2.1.2.

A similar process may have occurred in Egypt. Studies on female administrative titles in the various periods of Egyptian history reveal that the number and the status of these titles declined between the Old and the Middle Kingdom. A caveat is called for, however. According to William Ward, 'one should be cautious about asserting the obvious conclusion that women were given more authority in the third millennium than in the second'. 11 The feudal atmosphere of the Middle Kingdom might be a reason for the decline. Furthermore, Betsy Brian points to the differences in sources as a partial explanation. 12 Yet, from the Middle Kingdom on, authority seems to have been a male prerogative in Egypt, too. Moreover, Egypt's main female deities appear to have been connected with motherhood and sexuality. 13 Although not a direct reflection, the position and function of goddesses in a pantheon are correlated to those of its female worshippers. Gay Robins observes: As a construct of the human mind, the divine world is bound in some way to reflect the workings of the h u m a n world. However, the interaction between divine and human spheres was always extremely complex, for while the human originated the divine, the h u m a n world in t u r n modelled itself on its own construct, so t h a t the two worlds came to reflect and interact with each other. 1 4

The view on the position of goddesses in the pantheon, as expressed in mythological texts, is correlated to the view on the position of women in society. In this respect myths, as well as other literary texts, generally reflect the ruling ideology. Legal codes, too, reflect the ruling ideology, prescribing the situation as it is desired to be by those in power. However, legal codes sometimes contradict information in other literary texts. In Lev. 18:18, for instance, it is forbidden to a man to be married to two sisters at the same time, whereas in the narrative of Gen. 29 Jacob marries the two sisters Leah and Rachel. 15 Both genres offer a different view on social reality here. Yet it would be too simple to explain it as a distinction 11

W.A. Ward, 'Non-Royal Women and their Occupations in the Middle Kingdorn', in: WER, 37. 12 Β.M. Bryan, 'In Women Good and Bad Fortune are on Earth: Status and Roles of Women in Egyptian culture', in: A.K. Capel, G.E. Markoe (eds), Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt, New York 1996, 39. 13 Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, 17-8. 14 Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, 17. 15 See section 2.1.1.4.1.

between prescriptive and descriptive literature, since many narratives offer a combination of ideal and practice. As Carolyn Pressler notes, '[t]he relationship of Pentateuchal law to the lived experience of ancient Israelite women is highly problematic'. 16 The various genres of literary texts can thus contradict one another with regard to the historical reality of women. Furthermore, literary texts may reflect a construct of reality that is the desideratum of an author with an androcentric range of thoughts, rather than reality as it is lived by historical women. On the other hand, literary texts to a large extent reflect historical reality. Advocates of the new literary criticism stress the distance between the world as created in the narrative and historical reality. 17 However, although some aspects of literary texts may be ideological constructs, it is not likely that data with regard to customs and social relations are made up by the biblical writers. 18 I assume that the information which the literary texts of Ugarit and Israel reveal on social life and the social position of women generally can be regarded as reflecting historical reality, be it sometimes somewhat distorted or magnified. 19 But since on the other hand I cannot rule out the possibility of literary texts refleeting ideological constructs rather than women's historical reality, 16

C. Pressler, 'Wives and Daughters, Bond and Free: Views of Women in the Slave Laws of Exodus 21.2-11', in: V.H. Matthews et al. (eds), Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOT.S, 262), Sheffield 1998, 148. 17 E.g. D.M. Gunn, D.N. Fewell, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford Bible Series), Oxford 1993. 18 Cf. Ε. Schüssler Fiorenza, 'Remembering the Past in Creating the Future: Historical-Critical Scholarship and Feminist Biblical Interpretation', in: A. Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship (SBL Centennial Publications) (Biblical Scholarship in North America, 10), Chico CA 1985, 43-63; Β. Halpern, 'Biblical or Israelite History?' in: R.E. Friedman, H.G.M. Williamson (eds), The Future of Biblical Studies: The Hebrew Scriptures (SBL Semeia Studies), Atlanta GA 1987, 103-39 (122); H.M. Barstad, 'History and the Hebrew Bible', in: L.L. Grabbe (ed.), Can a ,History of Israel' Be Written? (JSOT.S, 245) (European Seminar in Historical Methodology, 1), Sheffield 1997, 37-64 (623); and the many relevant articles in: J.C. de Moor, H.F. van Rooy (eds), Past, Present, Future: The Deuteronomistic History and the Prophets (OTS, 44), Leiden 2000. 19 Since social customs tend to be conservative, the question whether the historical reality is the reality of the narrator or of the narrated world is not relevant. Cf. R. Harris, 'Independent Women in Ancient Mesopotamia?' in: WER, 145, on women's lives in ancient Mesopotamia: 'My guess is that there was far more continuity and uniformity than the extant documentation suggests and that although Mesopotamian history was characterized by periodic political upheavals, the lives of ordinary people may have changed less drastically than one might think'.

I will compare my data with non-literary texts of Ugarit and Israel 20 as a check on reliability. To this end the non-literary texts will be discussed separately in chapter 4. I will describe the social position of women by analyzing the various roles women could perform. Several aspects of their roles within the family and in social life outside the family will be discussed, forming a status pattern. 21 Inevitably, such a status pattern will be incomplete. With regard to the data from section A (Ancient Near East), the pattern is built on a small number of texts coming from various periods and places. Regrettably, generalization cannot always be avoided. As Rivka Harris notes: Unfortunately, we [Harris refers to Assyriologists studying women's lives in ancient Mesopotamia, HJM] are always at the mercy of fragmentary, accidental materials, visual and written, which with few exceptions are male-authored, male-produced, and male oriented. All too often these "scatter-grams" skew the data and can easily mislead us into drawing fallacious conclusions about the quality and content of women's lives down the centuries.22 In describing the position of women in Ugarit and Israel we have to make do with the pieces of the puzzle (i.e., the texts) that are there, reconstructing the image by comparing it with fragmentary data from the ancient Near East in general. Of course there is always the risk of having to readjust the picture when new texts are found, as is the risk of every scholar who tries to interpret data from antiquity.

2.1 Women in the Family In the first part of chapter 2 I will discuss the roles of women within the family. Towards their family members, women fulfilled several roles. The most important one is that of being a wife. Most women in the ancient Near East were wives for the most part of their life. To them, marriage was a central institution. In order to become a wife, one had to find a marriage partner. Questions regarding the choice of a partner will be investigated. I will look into the matters that influenced the choice of a partner and give special attention to 20

With regard to the ancient Near East in general I will sometimes draw upon non-literary texts to complete the picture. 21 On the status pattern, see section 1.4. 22 Harris, 'Independent Women in Ancient Mesopotamia?' 145. For similar remarks with regard to the study of women in Egypt, cf. Bryan, 'In Women Good and Bad Fortune are on Earth', 25.

exogamy/endogamy. Although marriage was an arrangement made between two families, love between the marriage partners sometimes played a role. I will look at the literary texts concerning courtship, i.e., love poetry. Marriage arrangements such as payment of a marriage deposit, writing a marriage contract and giving a dowry can also inform us on a wife's social position. Beside the legal aspects of marriage I will also discuss its religious aspects, while giving special attention to the marriage metaphor as it is used in the Hebrew Bible. Furthermore, attention will be given to various aspects of married life. A marriage could be monogamous, but often a wife had to share her husband with other women. The nature of the relationship between husband and wife as well as the attitude towards wives in literary texts will be investigated. Within married life, a wife had her 'own world': certain areas for which she was responsible and which she could manage according to her own insights. Of course the tasks of a wife who was part of a nuclear family would differ from one who was part of an extended family. Beside the work in the home, a wife could have moments of relaxation with song and dance, alone or with other women. I will look into the question whether a wife also had her own world in a spatial sense, that is, live in so-called women's quarters. Although people entered matrimony with the intention to make it last, sometimes it ended in divorce. Adultery probably was the main reason for divorce. In the section on the dissolution of marriage, questions regarding the definition of adultery and its punishment will be discussed, as well as those regarding other reasons for divorce and the wife's right to dissolve her marriage. Once married, it was very important for a woman to become a mother. A childless marriage was considered to be 'unsuccessful'. In various texts a person's desire for children is an important theme. I will investigate which deities a childless person turned to and whether this should be related to the concept of 'fertility religion'. The question to whom a couple's infertility was attributed will be examined, as well as what were believed to be reasons for infertility. I will also look at views on, and customs regarding, conception, pregnancy and childbirth, with special attention to the issue of post-parturition impurity in relation to the sex of the child. Of special interest are also the preference for sons over daughters and the authority and influence of a mother on her children. Next to the roles of wife and mother, women could also fulfill other roles as members of a family. Female children fulfilled the role of sister towards their siblings and the role of daughter towards their

parents. I will note the relationship between a sister and her brothers. Issues of interest are the authority of a brother over his sister and the view on sexual relations between a brother and sister. In the section on daughters I will take a somewhat closer look into the preference of parents for sons over daughters. As we will see, the preference for sons was related to the patrilineal structure of society. With regard to a daughter's role within the family it is relevant to know how she was treated and what her tasks and responsibilities were. Furthermore, to parents a daughter's chastity was very important. Issues regarding the protection and violation of a daughter's virginity will be discussed, with special attention to father-daughter incest. Of importance with regard to status is also the question of a daughter's inheritance rights. Inheritance rights will also be discussed in the section on the widow. I will look into the question whether a widow could be an heir to her husband's property, or had any other rights in this regard. I will also consider further questions regarding a widow's jural and economic independence. Attention will be given to the remarriage of widows, in particular to levirate marriage. Finally, the role of the orphan will be discussed. We will see that orphans were among the most vulnerable of society, particularly among those who were in need of protection.

2.1.1 Wife As a wife, the most important relationship a woman had was with her husband. In the following sections I will discuss various aspects of wifehood and marriage. In section 2.1.1.1 questions regarding the choice of a marriage partner will be investigated. Section 2.1.1.2 will deal with the role that love could play between partners. We will look at love poetry as an expression of courtship. In section 2.1.1.3 marriage as an institution will be discussed. I will give attention to both the legal (2.1.1.3.1) and the religious (2.1.1.3.2) aspects of marriage. Aspects of married life will be considered in section 2.1.1.4. I will investigate the nature of the relationship between husband and wife (2.1.1.4.1) as well as the areas which can be regarded as her 'own world' (2.1.1.4.2). Finally, the dissolution of a marriage will be discussed in section 2.1.1.5. 2.1.1.1

The Choice of a Partner

In this section we will focus on women's voice in the choice of a marriage partner. Being married was the normal status for an adult woman. But in order to get married, one had to have a marriage

partner. Who chose this partner? Did young people only need parental permission after having made a choice by themselves? Or was the decision made by the persons who bore patriarchal authority? If so, was it only the father who chose a girl's future husband, or was a mother also involved in this decision? Did brides-to-be have any say in the choice of a marriage partner? And what about grooms-to-be, did they have any influence in this matter? And could love between the partners have any influence on the choice? Next to the question of who had a voice in the choosing, we will also deal with matters such as age and social class, which may have influenced the choice. Of special interest is the view on exogamy/endogamy. In the post-exilic books of the Bible intermarriage is strongly opposed and connected with the literary type of the Strange or Foreign Woman. We will look at the reasons for rejection of intermarriage in biblical Israel and its neighbouring countries. A . ANCIENT NEAR EAST

An Assyrian proverb states: Ά house without an owner (is like) a woman without a husband'. 1 This proverb illustrates the fact that being married was the normal state of affairs for a woman. Not being married was considered an abnormality. Throughout the ancient Near East, marriage was not so much an arrangement between two persons as between two families. In patriarchal societies the official authority lay with the head of the household, usually the father of the family.2 Generally the heads of two families arranged a marriage between members of their households. 3 1

W.G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, Oxford 1960, 232. In four letters of the Amarna period written by king Rib-Hadda of Byblos, he combines this proverb with the metaphor of the woman as a field: 'For lack of a cultivator, my field is like a woman without a husband' (EA 74:17-19; 75:15-17; 81:37-38; 90:42-44). Cf. W.L. Moran, The Amarna Letters, Baltimore 1992, 143, 145, 151, 163 and 144, n. 6. 2 The person who exercised the paternal authority within an ancient Near Eastern family was not necessarily the father. A man could invest his wife, his daughter or his son with the guardianship over the family upon his death, cf. sections 2.1.4 and 2.1.5. 3 Cf., e.g., G.R. Driver, J.C. Miles, The Babylonian Laws, repr., vol. 1, Oxford 1956, 249; J. Paradise, 'Marriage Contracts of Free Persons at Nuzi', JCS 39 (1987), 1-36. Sometimes, however, neither the girl herself nor the respective families were free to arrange a marriage in a normal way. This was the case when a girl was abducted or was deported as spoil of war. In that case the families obviously had no say in the matter. The girl became a slave and was at the mercy of her captor who could, however, decide to marry such a slave-girl. Cf. M.A. Dandamaev, Slavery in Babylonia, rev. ed., DeKalb IL 1984, 411-4. See section 2.2.2.4.

The fact that marriage was considered to be an agreement between two households is illustrated by the occurrence of exchange marriages, in which females of both families were given in marriage to a male of the other family.4 It is further underscored by the marriage deposit that the groom's family paid as a symbolic sum representing a caution or deposit binding the groom to his commitment (usually referred to as 'bride price', see section 2.1.1.3.1). Furthermore, marriage arrangements could contain provisions which called for the groom to remarry someone of his wife's family, should she die. 5 Although the real decision was made by the persons who bore the patriarchal authority - usually the fathers - mothers could be involved in this and have a certain influence. It seems that, although formally it was a matter between fathers, a mother's opinion often counted too. 6 The fathers of both sides had to give their permission for the marriage to go through. The groom's choice might be overruled by his father. 7 Only if the groom's father died could he himself arrange 4

E.g. in Emar, cf. G. Beckman, 'Family Values on the Middle Euphrates in the Thirteenth Century B.C.E.', in: M.W. Chavalas (ed.), Emar: The History, Religion and Culture of a Syrian Town in the Late Bronze Age, Bethesda MD 1996, 68. For the Neo-Sumerian period, cf. Α. Falkenstein, Die neusumerischen Gerichtsurkunden, Tl. 2 (ABAW.PH, 40), München 1956, 21-3 (no. 14). C. Zaccagnini, 'On Late Bronze Age Marriages1, in: S.F. Bondi, Studi in onore di Edda Bresciani, Pisa 1985, 593, assumes with regard to the Late Bronze Age that especially international marriages were exchange marriages. 5 Cf., e.g., Beckman, 'Family Values on the Middle Euphrates in the Thirteenth Century B.C.E.', 68-9. MAL §§ A30-31 state that, in case ceremonial marriage gifts (biblu, zubullū) were already given but the marriage could not be consummated because the groom's father gave the wife of another, recently deceased, son to the son that was to be married, the father of the groom had the right to give the bride to another of his sons, or to take back the non-edible parts of the biblu, such as lead, silver and gold. The edible parts he should not claim; cf. G.R. Driver, J.C. Miles, The Assyrian Laws, repr. of the ed. Oxford 1935 with suppl. add. and corr. by G.R. Driver, Aalen 1975, 174-6. We learn from this that a father of an Assyrian household decided on the choice of a marriage partner for his son and could exchange one bride for another. 6 Cf. CE §§27-28; Sefati, in: CoS, vol. 1, 541-2; Myth of Martu, cf. S. Greengus, 'The Old Babylonian Marriage Contract', JAOS 89 (1969), 527; J. Bottéro, S.N. Kramer, Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme: Mythologie mésopotamienne, Paris 1989, 430-7. For Egypt, cf. A. Depla, 'Women in Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Literature', in: L.J. Archer et al. (eds), Women in Ancient Societies: An Illusion of the Night, Basingstoke, Hampshire 1994, 30; E. Feucht, Das Kind im Alten Ägypten, Frankfurt 1995, 35. 7 For the Old Babylonian period, cf. Greengus, 'The Old Babylonian Marriage Contract', 520-2, 524-7; C. Wilcke, 'Familiengründung im alten Babylonien', in: E.W. Müller (ed.), Geschlechtsreife und Legitimation zur Zeugung (Historische

the marriage. 8 A groom could try to force his choice upon his parents and his future in-laws by having forcible sexual intercourse with a girl. When a virgin had become the victim of forcible sexual intercourse, the man was obliged to marry her, unless the father of the girl decided he did not wish to give her in marriage to the violator. 9 Since a woman in the ancient Near East generally did not arrange her own marriage, she probably had less freedom of choice than a man. However, there are indications that, to some extent, girls were free to choose their partner. In the text The Wiles of Women, the goddess Inanna makes her own choice of a lover, i.e., Dumuzi and she persuades him to go to her mother Ningal to ask for her hand. Yet in another Mesopotamian text, The Bridal Sheets of Inanna, Inanna acts in a more conventional way and 'leaves the choice, as custom dictates, to her older brother, the sun god Utu'. 10 Her brother Utu makes the arrangements regarding Inanna's marriage and until he tells her of the outcome she is unaware of his choice in partner. Further, a Sumerian proverb states: 'Girl! Your brother does not choose for you, whom do you choose?' 11 And in the Poem of the Faithful Lover it is the woman who takes the initiative to win the man's love.12 The Laws of Eshnunna (ca. 1770 BCE) indicate that a girl could marry without the consent of her parents, but that she was not considered a legal wife if the conditions of a nuptial feast and a marriage contract were Anthropologie, 3) (Kindheit, Jugend, Familie, 1), München 1985, 229-30. For the Neo-Babylonian period, cf. M.T. Roth, 'Marriage and Matrimonial Prestations in First Millennium B.C. Babylonia', in: WER, 249. With regard to these love-marriages A. Kuhrt, 'Non-Royal Women in the Late Babylonian Period: A Survey', in: WER, 227, wonders 'whether there were not some instances where these attempts [i.e., to try to force the parents to consent, HJM] were successful naturally they would not appear in the written record'. 8 Cf., e.g., K.R. Veenhof, 'Brieven van Assyrische vrouwen: uit de correspondentie der oudassyrische handelaars in Anatolië (19e eeuw v. Chr.)', in: K.R. Veenhof (ed.), Schrijvend verleden: documenten uit het oude Nabije Oosten vertaald en toegelicht (MEOL), Leiden 1983, 92, a letter from the Assyrian colony at the Anatolian city of Kanish dating from the 19th century BCE, in which PuzurAshshur writes his bride Nukhshatum that he has arranged the marriage with her father. 9 Cf. MAL § A55. See also section 2.1.4. 10 T. Jacobsen, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion, New Haven 1976, 28-31 (30). 11 B. Alster, Proverbs of Ancient Sumer, vol. 1, Bethesda MD 1997, 30. A rich girl could marry the slave she fancied, cf. A. van Praag, Droit matrimonial assyrobabylonien, Amsterdam 1945, 61-2; I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East, New York 1949, 55-7, 122. 12 Cf. B.R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, vol. 1, Bethesda MD 21996, 95-8.

not fulfilled. 13 As for a young man, he could have a say in the matter too: 'Marry a wife according to your choice!'.14 In Nuzi, a woman did not arrange her own marriage. She was dependent on a family member (either biological or adoptant) to negotiate her marriage, since she could not do so herself. 15 This might have limited her say in the choice. In Nuzi marriage contracts drawn up between the father of the bride and the groom or his father, no mention is made of the bride's consent. When a brother is giving his sister in marriage, on the other hand, the contract does contain such a phrase. 16 The Nuzi documents thus seem to suggest that for women marriage was more a matter of consent than of choice. Almost a millennium later, in fifth century Elephantine, women generally could not arrange their own marriage either. 17 In most of the Elephantine papyri, a bride is given in marriage by someone in charge of the bride. The Egyptian documents are an exception to this rule. Here the groom addresses his bride directly. 18 Regarding a woman's participation in the choice of a wedding partner there probably was a difference between a first and second marriage. According to Neo-Babylonian law (ca. 700 BCE), a widow was free to choose a marriage partner whosoever she pleased. She 13

CE §27; cf. Roth, LCMAM, 63. Alster, Proverbs of Ancient Sumer, vol. 1, 245. Although he forfeited the marriage deposit, a groom could decide at the very last moment to waive a marriage that had already been arranged in order to marry the girl he loved (CH § 159; HL § 30. 15 Cf. Κ. Grosz, 'On Some Aspects of the Adoption of Women at Nuzi1, in: D.I. Owen, M.A. Morrison (eds), Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians, vol. 2, Winona Lake IN 1987, 140. For Emar, cf. Beckman, 'Family Values on the Middle Euphrates in the Thirteenth Century B.C.E.', 70. 16 Cf. Κ. Grosz, 'Bridewealth and Dowry in Nuzi1, in: A. Cameron, A. Kuhrt (eds), Images of Women in Antiquity, Detroit 1983, 199-200. Grosz, 'On Some Aspects of the Adoption of Women at Nuzi1, 150, assumes that the necessity of a sister's consent in case her brother arranged her marriage might be dependent on her age. However, S. Greengus, 'Sisterhood Adoption at Nuzi and the "WifeSister" in Genesis', HUCA 46 (1975), 25-6, points to the fact that a woman's consent is often mentioned in transactions in which she is yielding her privileges. 17 On the Jewish women, see section 4.3.3. 18 Cf. EPE C27 (5th cent, BCE), C33 (2nd cent. BCE). The Egyptian papyri from Elephantine may reflect a more general pattern. Possibly an Egyptian woman or man had greater freedom of choice regarding their marriage partner than couples in other ancient Near Eastern countries. Yet they also needed to obtain the permission of their parents. Cf. R. Tanner, 'Untersuchungen zur ehe- und erbrechtlichen Stellung der Frau im pharaonischen Ägypten', Klio 49 (1967), 11; C. Desroches Noblecourt, La femme au temps des pharaons, Paris 1986, 274; Feucht, Das Kind im Alten Ägypten, 33-5. 14

might take her dowry 19 and anything her first husband had given her into the second marriage. 20 Yet, reality may have dictated otherwise. There probably was strong family pressure to keep the property together as much as possible. This is illustrated by a series of marriages between two Neo-Babylonian families, where the second marriages were endogamous. 21 Often the marriage partners were still children when the marriage was negotiated. Law texts from Babylonia and contracts from Nuzi refer to these practices in which neither the girl nor the boy played an active part. The marriage would not be consummated until they both had come of age. 22 Girls in general entered marriage at an early age.23 Since a husband ought to be able to take care of his wife and children, he usually would be somewhat older than his wife. Girls generally would not get married before sexual maturity, but as a rule entered matrimony soon after their menarche. In this way the dangers of sexual encounters before marriage would be minimized and the girl's fertility could be employed to the maximum. 24 That a husband often was older than a wife is illustrated by the many provisions for surviving wives made in testaments. Beside the fact that in a patriarchal culture it would have been necessary to make these provisions, it also suggests that the male marriage partner often was much older. 25 19

On the dowry, see section 2.1.1.3.1. LNB §13, cf. G.R. Driver, J.C. Miles, The Babylonian Laws, repr., vol. 2, Oxford 1955, 344-5; Roth, LCMAM, 147-8. 21 Kuhrt, 'Non-Royal Women in the Late Babylonian Period1, 226-7. On the aim to keep land property within the family, cf. also F.R. Kraus, 'Von altmesopotamischem Erbrecht: Ein Vortrag', in: J. Brugman et al, Essays on Oriental Laws of Succession (SDIO, 9), Leiden 1969, 14-5. See further section 2.1.5. 22 On Babylonia, cf. R. West brook, Old Babylonian Marriage Law (AfO.B, 23), Horn 1988, 36-9. On Nuzi, cf. E. Cassin, 'Pouvoirs de la femme et structures familiales', RA 63 (1969), 128; J. Paradise, 'Marriage Contracts of Free Persons at Nuzi', 6, n. 14. On the position of a kallatu see section 2.1.4. 23 In Egypt a girl could marry from the age of 12-14 years, a boy from the age of 16-17; cf. C. Desroches Noblecourt, La femme au temps des pharaons, Paris 1986, 273. Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian data reveal that women entered their first marriage between the ages of fourteen and twenty and men between the ages of twenty-six and thirty-two; cf. M.T. Roth, 'The Neo-Babylonian Widow', J CS 43-45 (1991-93), 4. 24 Cf. R. Tanner, 'Untersuchungen zur ehe- und erbrechtlichen Stellung der Frau im pharaonischen Ägypten', 10-1; Feucht, Das Kind im Alten Ägypten, 31-3. 25 For Emar, cf. Beckman, 'Family Values on the Middle Euphrates in the Thirteenth Century B.C.E.', 68. For the Neo-Babylonian period, cf. Roth, 'Marriage and Matrimonial Prestations', 248-9; Idem, 'Gender and Law: A Case Study from 20

Usually women married a husband from the same social class. Slaves could be released when marrying a free person. 26 Yet women might also better their position by marrying someone from a higher social class. Adoption could be a means to do so. At Nuzi, girls could be adopted by someone familiar to the family, often of somewhat higher status. The adoptant could act as a 'godparent' and use his or her influence to help the girl make a good match. 27 It was considered important that a marriage produce children, to whom the possessions of their parents would transfer in due time. If a family had accumulated any wealth they usually preferred to keep it within its lineage. Naturally this fundamental principle involved a certain reluctance to marry a foreigner, but in higher circles, such as the upper classes of the Egyptian New Kingdom, marriages between Egyptians, even pharaohs, and Semites or Nubians were by no means rare. 28 In royal circles exogamous marriages often occurred. To create political alliances, kings married royal women from neighbouring countries. 29 Also in mythology deities of different cities married one another. In the Sumerian myth The Marriage of Martu, the protagonist, Martu, from the city of Ninab marries the unnamed daughter of Numushda of Kazallu. 30 Through the centuries marriage was an important means to cement political bonds. 31 Ancient Mesopotamia', in: V.H. Matthews et al. (eds), Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOT.S, 262), Sheffield 1998, 182. 26 S. Allam, 'Zur Stellung der Frau im alten Ägypten', BiOr 26 (1969), 155, refers to two Egyptian texts of the New Kingdom in which this is the case. In the first, a freed slave marries the cousin of his former owner, in the second, a free male marries the female slave of his sister, who thereupon has to release her. For Babylonia, see Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 55-7, 122; Dandamaev, Slavery in Babylonia, 411-4. 27 Grosz, 'On Some Aspects of the Adoption of Women at Nuzi', 131-52. 28 A. Loprieno, Topos und Mimesis: Zum Ausländer in der ägyptischen Literatur (ÄA, 48), Wiesbaden 1988; with the critical review by H. Buchberger, 'Zum Ausländer in der altägyptischen Literatur - Eine Kritik', WO 20/21 (1989/90), 5-34. 29 See section 2.2.1.1. 30 In the myth Martu refuses silver and lapis lazuli as a reward for some heroic deed. Instead he claims the hand of Numushda's daughter as a reward. To this the father consents, but mention is also made of the daughter's consent. Cf. S.N. Kramer, Sumerian Mythology: A study of spiritual and literary achievement in the third millennium B.C. (Memoirs of The American Philosophical Society, 210), Philadelphia 1944, 98-101; Bottéro, Kramer, Lorsque les dieux faisaient l'homme: Mythologie mésopotamienne, 430-7. 31 A.E. Schulman, 'Diplomatic Marriage in the Egyptian New Kingdom', JNES 38 (1979), 177-93; P. Artzi, 'The Influence of Political Marriages on the Interna-

Yet intermarriage was frowned upon in some classes of ancient Near Eastern societies. Common people could regard intermarriage as a threat to the fabric of society. Annette Depla describes such a view as held in ancient Egyptian villages: Ancient Egyptian villages were insular, xenophobic communities. It appears that few travelled beyond the confines of their natal locality. Within the close confines of village society, a complex interaction of family relationships were established. Strangers, male or female, threatened this framework. This is tacitly acknowledged in Ankhsheshonq where a father is advised, 'Do not let your son marry a woman from another town, lest he be taken from you'.32 In wisdom texts young men are often warned by their teachers about 'strange' women. As in the Hebrew Bible, wisdom literature used the literary type of the Strange Woman to point out the dangers such women could pose. Scholars usually refer to the Instruction of Any, dating from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE), which says, 'Beware of a woman who is a stranger, One not known in her town; Don't stare at her when she goes by, Do not know her carnally'. 33 Wisdom texts warn against strange women, but they also inform us about a preferential wife. A man ought to choose for a bride a wife he knows from his home town. Endogamy was preferred, since it strengthened the social structure of the village or town. Inheritance rights with regard to property were of influence, too. 34 Family archives from Ptolemaic Egypt record marriages between uncle and niece and between cousins. These can be related to economic and agricultural reasons. Due to the growth of the population the shares became too small for many land owners to provide a living. To keep family property together, one had to marry within the family.35 The tendency to retain endogamy inevitably led to the necessity to strictly define which relationships were permitted and which were not. tional Relations of the Amarna-Age', in: FPOA, 23-6. See also section 2.2.1.4. 32 Depla, 'Women in Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Literature', 45. On intermarriage in Deir el Medina, cf. J.K. Toivari, Women at Deir el-Medina: A Study of the Status and Roles of the Female Inhabitants in the Workmen's Community during the Ramesside Period, Leiden 2000, 53-7. 33 M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings, vol. 2, Berkeley 1976, 137. 34 Depla, 'Women in Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Literature', 45-6. 35 Cf. Feucht, Das Kind im Alten Ägypten, 39. However, R.M. Janssen, J.J. Janssen, Getting Old in Ancient Egypt, London 1996, 36, note with regard to the choice of a marriage partner: 'It has been suggested that there was a preference for a paternal cross-cousin, but the proof for this is very weak'.

The view that incest between close relatives could not be tolerated was common to the civilizations of the ancient Near East. 36 Contrary to biblical Israel, where kinship structure influenced the choice of a marriage partner, in Egypt the obligation to marry a relative did not exist as a general rule. This was due to the fact that ancient Egyptian society was a bureaucratic state and powerful kinship loyalties would be against its interests. This also holds for Mesopotamia, where society was not organized according to a tribal pattern either, but state structure prevailed over family. On the other hand, West Semitic cultures such as Mari and Israel had a tribal organization. 37 In these latter cultures lineage was of importance with regard to the choice of a partner. B . UGARITIC LITERARY TEXTS

Being married was also the normal state of affairs according to the literary texts of Ugarit. In the Legend of Kirtu the king went to great lengths to obtain his wife Hariya after he had lost no less than seven wives who had all left him childless.38 Kirtu's father-in-law, Pubala king of Udumu, was a married man, too. 39 The legendary Dani'ilu was married to Danatiya. 40 The deity Ilu was married to Athiratu and possibly to a number of other goddesses as well,41 Ba'lu was married to 'Anatu 42 as well as to 'Athtartu, and he might have had 36

See, e.g., Driver, Miles, The Babylonian Laws, vol. 1, 318-22; H.A. Hoffner, The Laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition (DMOA, 23), Leiden 1997, §§ 189, 195; R. Tanner, 'Untersuchungen zur ehe- und erbrechtlichen Stellung der Frau im pharaonischen Ägypten', 24-6; L. Manniche, Sexual Life in Ancient Egypt, London 1987, 29. On incest see also sections 2.1.3 and 2.1.4. 37 Cf. E.A. Speiser, ' "People" and "Nation" of Israel', JBL 79 (1960), 161; A. Malamat, 'Mari and the Bible: Some Patterns of Tribal Organization and Institutions', JAOS 82 (1962), 150. S.J. Osgood, 'Women and the Inheritance of Land in Early Israel', in: G.J. Brooke (ed.), Women in the Biblical Tradition (Studies in Women and Religion, 31), Lewiston-Lampeter 1992, 33, notes that, influenced by sociological approaches, 'in place of the notoriously ambiguous term "tribal society", it is now recognized that early Israel is best described as being a segmentary lineage system, i.e. a society that uses genealogical reckoning and descent as the basis of organisation'. 38 The interpretation of KTU 1.14:1 is somewhat controversial, but this does not affect Kirtu's married state. Cf. Wyatt, RTU, 180, n. 9. 39 KTU 1.14:V.15. The restoration of the name of the wife of king Pubala is a matter of dispute. Both CTA and KTU2 propose to read [ln]'m[t], Greenstein, in: Smith, UNP, 21, on the other hand renders [l(?)'(?)]m[y(?)], whereas De Moor, ARTU, 201, reads 'Nu'mayu'. 40 KTU 1.17:V.13-16. 41 See especially KTU 1.23:46 where two 'wives' ( 'attm) called Ilu mt 'my husband', and subsequently bore him sons. 42 Daughter of Ilu. The circumstance that 'Anatu was sometimes called Ba'lu's

other wives.43 It was considered odd if a god did not have a spouse. When Ilu wanted to make the god Yammu king, Athtar objected to this and seems to have linked his doubts regarding Yammu's ability to rule to the fact that the latter had no wife.44 Human kings apparently also needed to be married. Kirtu's anxiety about the loss of his wives is related to the destruction of his clan and the lack of sons to succeed the throne. No wife and no offspring meant a serious threat to the throne and Kirtu's authority over it. 45 Marriage was also the norm for common Ugaritians. A man living alone (yhd) was classified with pitiable persons like widows, sick and blind. 46 KTU 1.24 consists of a myth on the betrothal of the moon god Yarikhu and his beloved Nikkalu-and-Ibbu 47 and a hymn to the Kotharatu, the goddesses of pregnancy and childbirth. Scholars assume the text was recited in connection with wedding celebrations. 48 In this text Yarikhu informed Nikkalu-and-Ibbu's father, Khirikhbi 49 , that he wanted to marry his daughter. Khirikhbi, the divine matchmaker, proposed some other possible candidates but Yarikhu only wanted Nikkalu. It is noteworthy that both Nikkalu and her father were apparently foreigners. This would seem to indicate that, at least at the level of the gods, exogamy was deemed acceptable. In this and many other respects this Ugaritic text resembles the Sumerian Marriage of 1

sister' should be explained as a term of endearment, see section 2.1.1.4.1. 43 See KTU 1.3:IV.40, where Ba'lu dismissed other women before 'Anatu entered. She was called n'mt bn 'aht b'l 'the most lovely among Ba'lu's sisters [= wives]' in KTU 1.10:11.16, implying that she was his favourite wife. 44 KTU 1.2:111.14, 22. Cf. Amico, SWU, 343. 45 KTU 1.14:1. 46 KTU 1.14:11.43-47 par. 47 In Mesopotamia, Nikkal (written dnin.gal) was the spouse of the moon god Sin. Nikkalu-and-Ibbu was the West-Semitic version of the deity. Cf. G. del Olmo Lete, 'Yarhu y Nikkalu: La mitologia lunar sumeria en Ugarit', AuOr 9 (1991), 67-75; M. Stol, , Sin ‫־‬X>, ‫ \שנ־‬in: DDD, 782-3. 48 Cf. De Moor, ARTU, 141; Amico, SWU, 68; Marcus, in: Smith, UNP, 215; Wyatt, RTU, 336; M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, Studien zu den ugaritischen Texten: I. Mythos und Ritual in KTU 1.12, 1.24, 1-96, 1.100 und 1.114 (AOAT, 269/1), Münster 2000, 145. A reference to KTU 1.24 is found in the cultic text KTU 1.111:17-21. 49 Khirikhbi's epithets mlk qz and mlk 'agzt (1.24:2-3) usually are translated 'king of summer' and 'king of marriage'; cf., e.g., Marcus, in: Smith, UNP, 215; Wyatt, RTU, 336; Dietrich, Loretz, Studien zu den ugaritischen Texten, 167-8. They are differently translated by J.C. de Moor, 'Ugaritic Lexicography', in: P. Fronzaroli (ed.), Studies on Semitic Lexicography (QS, 2), Firenze 1973, 92, η. 1; Idem, ARTU, 142, who renders 'the counsellor for exchange-marriages' and 'the counsellor for protection-marriages', indicating complicated types of marriage.

Martu (see above). Royal marriages could also be exogamous. Kirtu married a princess from a different country, although, since her father Pubala worshipped the same god Ilu as Kirtu, Hariya probably would be considered to share her husband's religion. It is likely that in a metropolis like Ugarit intermarriage between people of different origin occurred fairly often. 50 It seems therefore reasonable to assume that the acceptance of exogamy on a mythological level reflects the view of Ugaritic society in general. If KTU 1.24 reflects Ugaritic life, this would mean that a man had some freedom in choosing his marriage partner, even a foreigner, and that love for a woman could guide him in this. It is remarkable that nothing is told about Nikkalu-and-Ibbu being asked by Khirikhbi either in his capacity of matchmaker or as father of the bride - about either her opinion on Yarikhu or her consent in marriage. Apparently at Ugarit, too, the arranging of a marriage was a matter between men, although it is noteworthy that according to Khirikhbi's counteroffer Ba'lu would have to ask for the formal approval (gtr) of his wife 'Athtartu if he wanted to marry off Pidrayu (11. 26-28). Finally, it may be observed that according to the myth related in KTU 1.23:40-49 two women had the choice between being regarded as wives of Ilu by crying out O h my husband! My husband!' or as daughters by crying out O h my dad! My dad!'. Only when they chose the former option did Ilu have intercourse with them, but it is questionable whether they had any other real choice. Nevertheless the data found would seem to imply that women, including prospective brides, did have a say in marriage affairs, although it was not the decisive voice. According to some, the goddess 'Anatu may have proposed marriage to Aqhatu as an ultimate bid for his miraculous bow: 'at 'ah w'an 'a[htk] 'You be my brother, and I will be your sister!' (KTU 1.18:1.23-24), just as the Babylonian goddess Ishtar proposed to Gilgamesh in Tablet VI of the Epic, and the Babylonian queen of the Nether World Ereshkigal to Nergal. 51 However, the interpretation of 50

Cf., e.g., KTU 1.141 which might presuppose a marriage between a Hurrian man and an Alashian woman. Cf. furthermore D. Arnaud, 'Les ports de la 'Phénicie' à la fin de l'âge du Bronze Récent (XIV-XIII siècles) d'après les textes cunéiformes de Syrie', Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici 30 (1992), 182-4; W.G.E. Watson, 'Non-Semitic Words in the Ugaritic Lexicon', UF 27 (1995), 533-58; Idem, 'Non-Semitic Words in the Ugaritic Lexicon (2)', UF 28 (1996), 701-19. 51 On Ishtar proposing to Gilgamesh, cf. S. Dalley, Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh and Others, Oxford 1989, 77; on Ereshkigal seducing Nergal, cf. J.C. de Moor, 'Lovable Death in the Ancient Near East', UF 22 (1990), 237-8.

this Ugaritic passage is rather uncertain, 52 and in any case the situation appears to have been exceptional since 'Anatu pretended to have fled her father's house (KTU 1.18:1.26). This brings us to a caveat with regard to drawing conclusions on the relations between women and men based on myths in which goddesses propose marriage to humans. Richard Clifford has shown that these mythic themes should be considered as type-scenes, which were meant to instruct young men on the dangers of getting involved with female strangers. 53 Yet it may be assumed that, as in the Song of Songs, girls could, under some circumstances, also take the initiative to contact boys. The wailing of Kirtu's daughter, Thatmanatu, is compared to that of nkyt tgr 'women pounding the gate' (KTU 1.16:11.27). This can hardly mean anything else than that the girls had arrived after dark, returning to the city when the gate was already closed. Until she was married a daughter remained with her father, generally living in his house. The dew-goddesses, daughters of Ba'lu, were called kit 'marriageable girls, brides'. They lived with Ba'lu in the house of his father-in-law, Ilu, until he had his own palace. 54 Later on Ba'lu refused to have a window put into his new house (KTU 1.4:VI.7-11), 7

w'n. 'ai'i[yn.] b '1 'al. í,ší.'u[rb] t.bbhtm 9 hln.bq[rb.h]klm 10 'aZ.íd[d.pdr]y.&í 'ar 11 fit[r.t1]y.&í.r6

8

52

But Ba'lu the Almighty answered: 'Do not put a window in the mansion, (not) a lattice in the middle of the palace, lest Pidrayu, the girl of the honey-dew, flies off, 55 lest Tallayu, the girl of the mist, be taken away!'56

Pro, e.g., De Moor, ARTU, 242, nn. 128-9; contra, e.g., Wyatt, RTU, 279-80, nn. 131-3. H.H.P. Dressier, 'The Metamorphosis of a Lacuna: Is at.ah.wan . . . a Proposal of Marriage?' UF 11 (1979), 211-217, stresses that 'your sister' is a conjecture for a lacuna and rightly points to the fact that the 'a of 'a[htk] as it was read by Herdner, CTA, 85, and followed by many (including KTU2) can, in fact, not be read. What can be seen is a word divider and marks of a vertical wedge, perhaps of a lamed·, cf. Wyatt, RTU, 279, n. 132. Although the context is fragmentary, it appears to allude to 'Anatu seducing Aqhatu and proposing marriage to him (1. 25; cf. De Moor, ARTU, 242, n. 129). Tentatively, I therefore propose the reading 'at. 'ah.w'an [ly 'aht]; cf. Hos. 1:9; 5:12; Song 2:16; 6:3; 7:11. 53 R.J. Clifford, 'Woman Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs', in: G. Braulik et al. (eds), Biblische Theologie und gesellschaftlicher Wandel: Für Norbert Lohfink SJ, Freiburg 1993, 61-72. 54 KTU 1.3:IV.47-53 par. More on kit in section 2.1.4. 55 Cf. Isa. 16:2. 56 Reconstruction of the text is based on De Moor, Spronk, CARTU, 25. Yet I regard their proposed reading of t'itdy to be problematic. De Moor and Spronk

This passage shows that a father kept a very close watch over his marriageable daughters and that the latter were prone to escape for a little tryst now and then - or perhaps more than just that. C . HEBREW BIBLE

In biblical Israel, too, the rule was that one had to be married. It was considered a disgrace for a woman to remain unmarried (Isa. 4:1; Prov. 30:23). As the Song of Songs gives us reason to surmise, the first contacts between girls and boys may have been more or less secretive meetings, for which both sides could take the initiative. Since the social pressure on girls to get married probably was great, this may have inspired rather daring conduct at times (Song 1:5-6, 7-8; 3:1-4; 5:2-7). Indeed, a boy might try to persuade his girl to climb through the window to join him, as in Ugarit (Song 2:9-10). But such contacts were the preliminaries only and in many cases these had to be skipped because the matter had already been decided by the parents. The regulations regarding marriage were part of family law. According to the laws of Leviticus 18 and 20 a man should not have sexual intercourse with a close female relative. Scholars assume that these laws were usually observed and that marriages within the circle of the ‫בית אב‬, the extended family, were forbidden, whereas they were considered desirable within the somewhat wider circle of the clan ( 57 .(‫ משפחה‬According to Numbers 36, marriage within the clan was obligatory for daughters who had no brothers to inherit their father's land. Inheritance of land played a major role in the preference for endogamous marriages. 58 This was due to the close ties between assume an Ν stem of hdy 'to be seen' and consider the /'if to be a mater lectionis. This, however, is unlikely, since the use of matres lectionis is rare in Ugaritic literary texts, cf. Sivan, GUL, 13; Tropper, UG, 50-6 . 1 therefore propose to read t'itfr], N-stem of 'tr, cf. Akk. etēru 'to take away', Erra IV, 53: šá diš-tar mu-ta i-te-ru-ši-na-ti-ma. 57 Cf. C.H.J, de Geus, The Tribes of Israel: An investigation into some of the presuppositions of Martin Noth's amphictyony hypothesis (SSN, 18), Assen 1976, 135-7; Κ. van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel: Continuity and Change in the Forms of Religious Life (SHCANE, 7), Leiden 1996, 199-201; S. Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel: the Institution of the Family (beit 'ab) from the Settlement to the End of the Monarchy (JBS, 7), Jerusalem 1996, 45-86. For an outline of permitted and prohibited marital relationships, cf. S. Rattray, cited in: J.E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC, 4), Dallas TX 1992, 288. 58 De Geus notes that clans were voluntarily endogamous. Although not compulsory, endogamy was the rule; cf. De Geus, The Tribes of Israel, 137. Further, Van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 200, states: 'Though both biblical and comparative evidence shows that intermarriage did occur between leading families of different clans, clan exogamy remained an exception'.

a ‫ בית אב‬and its ‫נחלה‬, the part of land that a family owned and where its ancestors were buried. 59 Inheritance, therefore, was an important issue to a family, for The land was more than an economic asset; it represented the family, joining the ancestors with their progeny and objectifying the irreducible bonds of kinship and descent upon which the early Israelite society was founded.60 Carol Meyers points to the threat foreign women could pose to the stability of a kinship-based society, for worshipping foreign gods ineluded an introduction of different cultural values. Along with the acceptance of exogamy (Judg. 3:5-6) there also was rejection of it (Exod. 34:11-16).61 At least in the view of the Deuteronomist, Solomon's and Achab's marriages to foreign women were objectionable from a religious point of view.62 Next to economic and religious reasons there were other considerations in favour of endogamy. Karel van der Toorn mentions a social and a geographical motive - the future wife should preferably come from the same class and the same town or neighbourhood as the husband-to-be. 63 The situation which Van der Toorn describes, however, is that of pre-monarchic Israelite society, in which a town or village usually was coextensive with a clan. It has been argued that during the monarchy the kinship structure of ‫ בתי אב‬and ‫משפחות‬ was destroyed. 64 Shunya Bendor disagrees with this theory, in which Cf. also N. Steinberg, Kinship and Marriage in Genesis: A Household Economics Perspective, Minneapolis 1993, 11-2, 24-30. On biblical examples of endogamous marriages cf. Gen. 11:29 (Milcah is a niece of Nahor); Gen. 20:12 (Sarai is a half-sister of Abram); Gen. 24:15 (Rebekah and Isaac are cousins); Gen. 28:9 (Mahalath is a cousin of Esau); Gen. 29:12 (Leah and Rachel are Jacob's cousins). Note that they are all from the pre-monarchic period. Yet there are also numerous examples of exogamous marriages in the premonarchic period, cf. Gen. 26:34; 38:2; 41:45; Exod. 2:21; Num. 12:1; Judg. 14; etc. 59 Cf. L.E. Stager, 'The Archaeology of the Family in Ancient Israel', ΒAS OR 260 (1985), 22-3. 60 Van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 199. 61 C. Meyers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context, New York 1988, 183-5. 62 On the problems involved with the dating of the Deuteronomist and the Deuteronomistic Redaction, cf. S.L. McKenzie, 'Deuteronomistic History', in: ABD, vol. 2, 160-8; J.M. Hadley, The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess (UCOP, 57), Cambridge 2000, 56-7. 63 Van der Toorn, Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel, 201. 64 Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel, 207-8, summarizes these views as follows: 'the batei 'ab broke down and disappeared (entirely or almost entirely),

the monarchy is regarded as being responsible for disrupting the kinship structure. 65 According to him, the kinship structure persisted throughout the monarchy. However, Bendor seems to be mainly in discussion with those scholars who assume the kinship structure of Israelite society was linked to its nomadic way of life, and who contrast the centralistic government of the monarchy with the egalitarian structure of the pre-monarchic nomadic 66.‫ מהפחות‬Yet the majority of scholars no longer accepts this view on nomadic life of the early Israelites as valid.67 I agree with Bendor on his contention that ‫בתי‬ ‫ אב‬and ‫ משפחות‬remained in existence during the monarchy, but with Rainer Albertz I suppose their influence diminished due to socioeconomic and political reasons. The economy of Israel and Judah was mainly based on agriculture. In the course of the monarchic period, many farmers probably were incapable of handling the financial demands which resulted in poverty, debt slavery and a breakdown of 68 the solidarity within the .‫משפחות‬ With regard to the issue of choice of marriage partners, it would seem reasonable to assume that during the monarchic period fathers who owned land preferred endogamous marriages for their daughters, just as they did in the pre-monarchic period. Perhaps endogamous marriages were less important for those who did not own any land. However, because clans still largely coincided with their villages and towns, the importance of the geographic motive should not be ruled out. 69 and with them the mišpah0t. The dominant social unit was the small family, also termed "nuclear family" '. 65 Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel, 223-4: 'In the concept accepted by many historians of ancient Israelite society, the socio-economic stratification was a clear-cut result of a process the decisive causes of which were the monarchy and urbanization According to the concept we have proposed here, while these factors did have their effect, they did so against an existing background of internal processes taking place in batei 'ab and mišpah0t in their struggle for existence in given geographical, agricultural and demographic conditions. In the course of these processes, differences came into being among the kinship groups and within them, and these differences determined the status of the various units in the society, that is, the socio-economic stratification in question'. 66 Cf. Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel, 207-15. 67 Cf., e.g., R. Albertz, Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit Tl. 1 (GAT, 8/1), Göttingen 1992, 109-10. 68 Albertz, Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit Tl. 1, 248-52. Cf. also Stager, 'The Archaeology of the Family in Ancient Israel', 24-5. 69 Differently, A. Brenner, The Israelite Woman: Social Role and Literary Type in Biblical Narrative (BiSe, 2), Sheffield 1985, 116-7, points to social and political acceptance as the benefits of exogamous marriage. 'From the beginning of the monarchy the number of intermarriages increases, and exogamy is socially toler-

In the post-exilic period the kinship structure was of renewed importance, especially with regard to the issue of mixed marriages. According to Ezra 10:16, the priest Ezra selected heads of the families (‫ )]־אשי האבות‬of the tribes Judah and Benjamin who had gathered in Jerusalem, to examine this matter. 70 In post-exilic Judah, society was organized according to kinship, that is, according to71.‫ביתאבות‬ Were only marriages between former exiles approved of by Ezra's group? 72 The majority of scholars nowadays assumes this to have been the case, but some think that marriages between a person belonging to the tribe of Judah (and Benjamin) regardless of their being in exile or not, and a person belonging to another (Israelite) tribe were not approved of. 73 Several explanations have been proposed for the mixed marriages and its opposition in the post-exilic period. The most obvious reason would seem to be that there simply were not enough women among ated to the point where it inspires indifference rather than anxiety. This attitude prevails until well into the First Temple era. It is usually assumed that a foreign wife will join her husband's family and adapt to its cultural and religious customs. From the time of Hosea, however (second half of the eighth century BC), the tide turns once more'. 70 Bendor, The Social Structure of Ancient Israel, 112, translates 'heads of fathers' houses' and remarks on them: 'This [the community of which the returned exiles were part, HJM] was no longer the organic society of the period of the monarchy. These were the parts of batei 'ab who had gathered in Judah and Jerusalem (Ezra 7:14) and who had structured their community around the temple'. 71 Scholars such as Weinberg have stressed the fictional character of these kinship ties. H.C. Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and Post-Exilic Judaean Society', in: T.C. Eskenazi, K.H. Richards (eds), Second Tempie Studies: 2. Temple Community in the Persian Period (JSOT.S, 175), Sheffield 1994, 231: 'J. Weinberg has advanced the thesis that the Restoration community was organized as a Bürger-Tempel-Gemeinde (civic-temple community), a religiopolitical unit fictively constituted as an agnatic lineage of property-holding men and their families'. Cf. further D.L. Smith, The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile, Bloomington IN 1989, 93-126. 72 Thus, e.g., D.L. Smith-Christopher, 'The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13: A Study of the Sociology of the Post-Exilic Judaean Community', in: Eskenazi, Richards (eds), Second Temple Studies: 2, 247; T.C. Eskenazi, E.P. Judd, 'Marriage to a Stranger in Ezra 9-10', in: Eskenazi, Richards (eds), Second Temple Studies: 2, 285; C. Maier, ' "Begehre nicht ihre Schönheit in deinem Herzen" (Prov 6,25): Eine Aktualisierung des Ehebruchsverbot aus Persischer Zeit', BInt 5 (1997), 48. 73 Thus, e.g., Albertz, Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit Tl. 2, 585-6. To B. Becking, 'Continuity and Community: The Belief System of the Book of Ezra', in: B. Becking, M.C.A. Korpel (eds), The Crisis of Israelite Religion: Transformation of Religious Tradition in Exilic and Post-Exilic Times (OTS, 42), Leiden 1999, 274-5, the identity of those designated as not belonging to the 'true Israel' is not clear.

the returned exiles. A surplus of eligible males would have lead to mixed marriages. 74 But the matter is more complex than that. Sociologists usually refer to Robert Merton's definition of mixed marriages as 'marriage of persons deriving from those different in-groups and out-groups other than the family which are culturally conceived as relevant to the choice of a spouse'. 75 'Relevance' is the issue at stake here. It is quite possible that the marriages were regarded as 'mixed' by Ezra and his followers but not by the persons concerned, because they held different views on what sort of marriage was endogamous. Thus, returned exiles might have considered their marriages to be endogamous without giving it further thought until the moment of Ezra's actions (or, until the period of the editor of the book of Ezra). The opposition against mixed marriages in the book of Ezra is based on ethnic and religious reasons. It is reported to Ezra that '[t]he people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Ammorites. For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. Thus the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and in this faithlessness the officials and leaders have led the way' (Ezra 9:1-2). However, since some of these peoples, such as the Hittites and Jebusites, had not lived in Judah for centuries, the matter did not revolve around the aforementioned peoples, but rather around 'all local non-nbu populations'. 76 From a sociological point of view Ezra's actions can be regarded as group boundary maintenance. Out of concern for the preservation of group identity and cultural survival, boundaries were established to consolidate the group. 77 The plea to guard the boundaries of ethnicity was motivated religiously. Mixing the holy seed was regarded as an act of faithlessness, and on a par with forsaking the commandments of YHWH.78 Bob Becking notes that the idea of a 'holy seed' is more important to Ezra than the moral code of care for the needy, i.e. for the women and children who would 74

Thus, e.g., L.W. Batten, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (ICC), Edinburgh 1913, 331. 75 R.K. Merton, 'Intermarriage and the Social Structure: Fact and Theory' Psychiatry 9 (1941), 362. 76 Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and PostExilic Judaean Society', 238. 77 Cf. D.L. Smith-Christopher, 'The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13', 252. 78 On Ezra's citation of the law cf. Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫אטה‬ ‫ )זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and Post-Exilic Judaean Society', 238.

be sent away.79 He furthermore stresses that whereas in Deut. 7:3 the intermarriage prohibition regards both sexes, in Ezra and Nehemiah the prohibition focuses on men marrying foreign women.80 However, Becking seems to overemphasize the difference, since in giving the reason for the prohibition against intermarriage Deut. 7:4 mentions only the threat that foreign women pose to the belief of Israelite men. As was the case in the pre-exilic period, land inheritance, although not used as a motive by Ezra, is assumed to have been an important factor in the question of the mixed marriages. Scholars such as Tamara Eskenazi point to the threat which 'foreign' women (‫ )נשים נכריות‬posed. Based on data from Elephantine and on the Priestly law regarding the daughters of Zelophehad (Num. 27:1-11; 36:1-9) she assumes that women could inherit land and thus cause loss of property to the community of the ‫ גולה‬in case they were 'foreign'. 81 Yet, some remarks need to be made here. First, the assumption that women had the right to inherit is incorrect. Only if special provisions were made a woman could have continued possession of the property of her father or her husband after his death. 82 Secondly, the group that went into exile formed about 10 % of the Judahite population. The 90 % that stayed behind probably made claims to the properties of the deportees in the years after 586 BCE, which resulted in conflicts on the return of the exiles.83 Thirdly, it is often assumed that the returned exiles were in an advantageous position. From a sociological point of view, however, it is likely that the exile group was in a disadvantaged position vis-á-vis the present inhabitants of Judah ('the peoples of the land'). Marriage of a male member of the ‫ גולה‬community with a 'foreign' female would then mean marrying 'up' in status for the male. 84 Political factors were also influential. With regard to the missions of Ezra and Nehemiah, Kenneth Hoglund has pointed to the fact that 79

Becking, 'Continuity and Community', 271. Becking, 'Continuity and Community', 272: 'By implication, marrying foreign males does not seem to fall under the post-exilic prohibition. One can only speculate on the religious, social and demographic presuppositions and implications of this partial discontinuity of the tradition code'. 81 Cf. T.C. Eskenazi, 'Out from the Shadows: Biblical Women in the Postexilic Era', JSOT 54 (1992), 27-36; Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫)אטה זרה‬ of Proverbs 1-9 and Post-Exilic Judaean Society', 235. 82 See section 2.1.4, 2.1.5, and 4.3.3 83 Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and PostExilic Judaean Society', 232. 84 Smith-Christopher, 'The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13', 243-65, (260-1). 80

... their missions were an effort on the part of the Achaemenid empire to create a web of economic and social relationships that would tie the community more completely into the imperial system. Part of this process involved the clarification of the population under imperial control by legislating some means of defining that community.85 Thus, not only with regard to the controllability of allocating territories for land tenure was it desirable for the Persian authorities to guard ethnic identity, but also from the viewpoint of tightening its political grip on the Yehud province. 86 On the other hand, Persian authorities seem to have approved of marriages between members of the local government and members of the Jewish aristocracy. Yet the approval might have been limited to the upper classes.87 Thus, in the post-exilic period there was a tendency to propagate marriages within the ‫ גולה‬group, which was ethnically and religiously motivated. 88 Furthermore, land inheritance probably remained an important factor in the choice of marriage partner. Attitudes towards mixed marriages were not always negative, however. Several well-known biblical figures had foreign mothers. 89 Foreign women such as Ruth, who adopted Y H W H as their God, are looked upon positively in the Bible. Athalya Brenner summarizes this positive view as follows: 'when a foreign woman chooses to adopt Israelite (Judahite) society and religion, and her behaviour indicates that she is seriously committed to her new community, then her acceptance is guaranteed'. 90 85

K.G. Hoglund, Achaemenid Imperial Administration in Syria-Palestine and the Missions of Ezra and Nehemiah (SBL.DS, 125), Atlanta GA 1992, 244. 86 Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and PostExilic Judaean Society1, 237-8; Smith-Christopher, 'The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13', 245. 87 Smith-Christopher, 'The Mixed Marriage Crisis in Ezra 9-10 and Nehemiah 13', 261-4. 88 Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and PostExilic Judaean Society', 234, mentions a gruadual change of meaning for the word ‫גולה‬, 'from a term proper to those who underwent exile or their immediate descendants (e.g. Ezra 1.11; 2.1), to a designation for all recognized members of the community (Ezra 6.19-21)'. 89 The fact that the Bible informs us mainly on Israelite men marrying foreign women is of course due to the structure of society, which was arranged around ‫בתי‬ ‫ אב‬and ‫מטפחות‬. Women, whether they married an Israelite or a foreign man, left their paternal ‫ בית אב‬to join the household of their husband. The focus generally was androcentric. 90 Brenner, The Israelite Woman, 119.

The Samson stories show how young Samson was fatally attracted to Philistine women. According to Judg. 14 he would have asked both his parents to consent to his marriage with the girl from Timnah. They objected, but to no avail. Apparently a son could push through his choice if he wanted. However, the thrust of these stories clearly is to discourage exogamy with Philistine women. 91 The story of Potiphar's wife trying to seduce Joseph (Gen. 37) is another warning against the presumed lewdness of foreign women. Warnings against exogamous marriages were also addresses to girls. The story about Shechem's premarital and, therefore, improper intercourse with Dinah (Gen. 34) also has the objective never to marry a Canaanite. 92 Nevertheless, for kings intermarriage was an important political tool to cement friendly relationships with neighbouring countries. 93 Yet in the Bible, especially in the Deuteronomistic History, these marriages with women from other countries who worshipped other gods were frowned upon. Claudia Camp has outlined a gradual change in the perception of the foreign or strange woman. The notion of strangeness was perceived as linked with foreign cults and uncontrolled female sexuality. In the post-exilic period the Strange Woman became a literary type which embodied a threat to the community. 94 To conclude, the appreciation of foreign women in the Hebrew Bible is generally related to whether or not they were a threat to Yahwism. If they accepted YHWH as their personal God, they were valued positively. If not, then the Bible regards them as a threat to Israelite religion. Girls usually married at an early age. Often they were under sixteen when entering matrimony. 95 The prophet Joel (1:8) refers to a 91

Cf. J. Kim, The Structure of the Samson Cycle, Kampen 1993, 230-4. Cf. I. Kottsieper, 'We Have a Little Sister: Aspects of Brother-SisterRelationship in Ancient Israel', in: J.W. van Henten, A. Brenner (eds), Families and, Family Relations: As Represented in Early Judaisms and Early Christiani‫״‬ ties: Texts and Fiction (STAR, 2), Leiden 2000, 67. On Gen. 34 see further n. 108 in this section and sections 2.1.3 and 2.1.4. 93 See further section 2.2.1.4. 94 Cf. C.V. Camp, Wisdom and the Feminine in the Book of Proverbs (BiLiSe, 11), Sheffield 1985, 265-71; Idem, 'What's So Strange About the Strange Woman?' in: D. Jobling et al. (eds), The Bible and the Politics of Exegesis, Cleveland OH 1991, 23-6. Cf. also Washington, 'The Strange Woman (‫נכריה‬/‫ )אטה זרה‬of Proverbs 1-9 and Post-Exilic Judaean Society', 217-30; Maier, ' "Begehre nicht ihre Schönheit in deinem Herzen" (Prov 6,25)', 46-63. 95 Cf. Van der Toorn, Cradle, 59. Marriage at a relatively young age might also have applied to boys. Although the Hebrew Bible renders little information, scholars assume that boys usually entered matrimony soon after puberty; cf., e.g., E. Neufeld, Ancient Hebrew Marriage Laws, London 1944, 139. 92

'virgin' (‫ )בתולה‬lamenting the husband of her youth. Probably a wife usually was some years younger than her husband. Sarah, for instance, was ten years younger than Abraham (Gen. 17:17). It has sometimes been stated that Israelite fathers had absolute power over their children (patria potestas). Legally, a man's children were considered to be his property. Thus, a father could sell his children when his family lived in extreme poverty. For a girl sold into slavery, this could result in becoming a slave concubine of her new master. 96 Obviously, she would have no choice in the matter whatsoever. Further, in case of loss of prenatal life the father was entitled to receive compensation (Exod. 21:22). It has been argued that daughters in particular represented an economic value, since the head of the household was to be paid a marriage deposit (‫ )מהר‬as a compensation gift when a bride married. Hence, when an unbetrothed daughter was violated and the father refused to give her in marriage to the violator, the latter had to pay her father for the presumed loss of the marriage deposit (Exod. 22:1516).97 However, this payment needs to be regarded from the viewpoint of family law, not of property law. This is illustrated by the difference in penalty for the wrongful defloration of a female slave and that of a free maiden. 98 According to Anthony Phillips, the father, being the head of the household, had the ultimate say in the question as to whom he would marry his daughter. 99 This is illustrated by the stories of Caleb who gave his daughter Achsah as wife to whoever would take the town of Kiriath-sepher (Josh. 15:16-17 || Judg. 1:12-13) and of Tamar who pleaded with her brother Amnon to ask their father David that he might give her in marriage to him (2 Sam. 13:13). To some fathers who gave their daughters in marriage, one daughter was exchangeable for another and considered merely a pawn in their use of power. Thus Saul promised his elder daughter Merab to David, but subsequently gave her to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife and her sister Michal to 96

See further section 2.2.2.4. Cf. C.J.H. Wright, 'Family', in: A BD, vol. 2, 767. 98 Cf. R. Westbrook, 'The Female Slave', in: V.H. Matthews et al. (eds), Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East (JSOT.S, 262), Sheffield 1998, 223. 99 A. Phillips, 'Some Aspects of Family Law in Pre-Exilic Israel', VT 23 (1973), 351. Except of course in cases in which girls were abducted or were deported as spoils of war; see, e.g., Deut. 21:10-14; Judg. 21. Cf. A. Tosato, II matrimonio israelitico (AnBib, 100), Rome 1982, 23-42; C. Pressler, The View of Women Found in the Deuteronomic Family Laws (BZAW, 216), Berlin 1993, 9-15. 97

David (1 Sam. 18:17-27).100 The exchangeability of Leah and Rachel from the viewpoint of Laban seems to be another example of the use of marriageable women for the benefit of their father (Gen. 29:21-30). In both instances the texts do not report on the consultation of the daughters, and their choice of husband is subordinate to their fathers' purposes. However, in both instances the custom of the elder daughter having to be married before the younger also seems to have played a role. 101 Yet the father's ultimate authority did not necessarily rule out the influence of the mother, nor the possibility that a father could inquire about his daughter's opinion regarding her future husband. To somewhat modify the extent of a father's authority scholars have pointed to the case of Rebekah's marriage. 102 According to some, the girl is asked for her consent in marriage (Gen. 24:57-58).103 Others 100

In this connection the inconsistencies with regard to the name of the man are irrelevant. Cf. A. Caquot, Ph. de Robert, Les livres de Samuel (CAT, 6), Genève 1994, 223-4. A. van der Lingen, Vrouwen rond de koningen van oud-Israel, Zoetermeer 1997, 30, n. 28, assumes (with reference to Gr0nbaek) that Michal had been promised to David, but that David fled in the night of the wedding, after which event Michal would have been married to Paltiel/Adriel. 101 K. Engelken, Frauen im Alten Israel: Eine begriffsgeschichtliche und sozialrechtliche Studie zur Stellung der Frau im Alten Testament (BWANT, 130), Stuttgart 1990, 115, n. 81, notes that this practice also occurs elsewhere. 102 However, it seems as if the girl was under the authority of her mother and her brother. It has been argued that her father Bethuel was dead and that his name is added in vs. 50; cf. C. Westermann, Genesis (BKAT, 1/2), NeukirchenVluyn 1981, 476. The fact that Abraham's servant offered gifts to Rebekah, her brother and her mother, while no mention is made of her father in vs. 53 seems to confirm this. Cf. R. de Vaux, Les institutions de l'Ancien Testament, vol. 1, Paris 1958, 53. Differently, Kottsieper, 'We Have a Little Sister' , 70-2. Some scholars suggest that Rebekah's family may have been matrilineal, although this would be exceptional; cf. Ν. Jay, 'Sacrifice, Descent and the Patriarchs', VT 38 (1988), 52-70; V.P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50 (NICOT), Grand Rapids 1995, 157. 103 Jay, 'Sacrifice, Descent and the Patriarchs', 62; Meyers, Discovering Eve, 1867; I. Fischer, Die Erzeltern Israels: Feministisch-theologische Studien zu Genesis 12-36 (BZAW, 222), Berlin 1994, 83; L. Teugels, ' "A Strong Woman, Who Can Find?": A Study of Characterization in Genesis 24, With Some Perspectives on the General Presentation of Isaac and Rebekah in the Genesis Narratives', JSOT 63 (1994), 98. Based on cross-cultural studies, N. Steinberg, Kinship and Marriage in Genesis: A Household Economics Perspective, Minneapolis 1993, 96, nuances: 'Although Rebekah is asked directly whether she is willing to be given in marriage, the implication is, based on the gifts given to her household, that her brother (and father?) wanted and expected her to accede to the agreement in order that they might benefit materially from the arrangement. Thus, in theory, Rebekah had the freedom to refuse the marriage offer, but in practice there would have been economic pressures for her not to do so'. It should be noted, however, that Abraham and his emissary reckoned with a refusal on the part of the girl from

have argued that Rebekah is only asked about her agreement on the time of departure. 104 But it seems most likely that both her consent, and the time of departure she preferred, were asked for. 105 If a father was absent, a marriage still could be arranged parentally, i.e., by the mother. After they had been sent away by Abraham, Hagar selected an Egyptian wife for her son Ishmael (Gen. 21:21). And while a father was present, a mother could also influence the choice of partner for her child. Thus Rebekah expressed her displeasure with Esau's choice of partners and spoke to Isaac about her concern that Jacob, too, might marry a Hittite woman (Gen. 26:34; 27:46-28:2). 106 In the case of Rebekah and Isaac, a marriage was made in which the partners did not know each other. Yet love could bloom even in these instances (Gen. 24:67). Still, it seems that at least some marriages were made in which a girl knew and loved her future husband (1 Sam. 18:20-21).107 And a future groom could take some initiative in choosing a marriage partner. Thus Shechem, son of Hamor, spoke to his father about winning Dinah as his bride (Gen. 34:4). 108 Samson the very beginning (Gen. 24:5,8) which contradicts the idea that it would have been a mere formality. 104 W.H. Gispen, Genesis: II, Genesis 11:27-25:11 (COT), Kampen 1979, 28990; G.I. Emmerson, 'Women in Ancient Israel', in: R.E. Clements (ed.), The World of Ancient Israel: Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives, Cambridge 1989, 384; G. Wenham, Genesis 16-50 (WBC,2), Dallas TX 1994, 150. 105 Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, 158. 106 See further C. Meyers, ' "To Her Mother's House": Considering a Counterpart to the Israelite Bêt 'āb', in: D. Jobling et al. (eds), The Bible and the Politics of Exegesis, Cleveland, Ohio 1991, 50, and section 2.1.1.4.2. 107 Although no instances are recorded of biblical women who themselves selected a marriage partner. The initiatives of Tamar and Ruth should be considered within the context of levirate marriage. 108 Since Shechem had 'defiled' Dinah, custom required that he asked the father of the bride for his daughter. According to Exod. 22:16 a father could refuse to give his daughter in marriage to the seducer (see also Deut. 22:28-29). However, Jacob and his sons agreed to give Dinah in marriage, probably because of the political gain they could get out of it. We do not learn about Dinah's (lack of) choice. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 18-50, 352, n. 5, argues that the terminology used in Gen. 34:2 does not necessarily imply Shechem raped her, but rather that he humbled her by having premarital intercourse with her. C. Pressler, 'Sexual Violence and Deuteronomic Law', in: A. Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Exodus to Deuteronomy (FCB, 6), Sheffield 1994, 111, notes that 'the offense in the story is not that Shechem had sexual intercourse with Dinah without her consent. It is that Shechem had sexual intercourse with Dinah without her father's or brothers' consent. They control her sexuality. Their rights are violated'. See also L.M. Bechtel, 'What if Dinah is not Raped? (Genesis 34)', JSOT 62 (1994), 19-36; T. Frymer-Kensky, 'Virginity in the Bible', in: V.H. Matthews et al. (eds), Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near

consulted his parents with regard to a Philistine woman he had seen at Timnah who pleased him (Judg. 14:2-3). And Jacob himself, who had fled his paternal family, made arrangements with Laban regarding the woman he loved: Rachel (Gen. 29:18,20). 109 Finally David directly approached Abigail for marriage and she immediately agreed to marry him (1 Sam. 25:39-42). As a widow she apparently needed nobody's consent. D . CONCLUSIONS

In the ancient Near East, marriage was in the first place an arrangement between families. Personal choice and love of the marriage partners were of secondary importance. The heads of families, usually the fathers, would discuss the marriage agreements. In the Sumerian myth of the Marriage of Martu and the Ugaritic myth of Yarikhu and Nikkalu-and-Ibbu, the personal choice of the groom-to-be does play a role. Only in the former, however, do we learn about the choice of the bride-to-be, but perhaps we may assume that in Ugarit she had an unofficial say in the matter. In any case the social pressure to get married may sometimes have induced girls to take the initiative in contacting a possible partner. Also in biblical literature personal choice and love sometimes played a role in marriage arrangements. Here, too, however, the focus seems to have been mainly on the male's choice (Jacob, Shechem, Samson). However, Rebekah was asked for her consent in marriage. Furthermore, we learn of the love of Michal for David (1 Sam. 18:20). Yet in general, biblical daughters were dependent on their fathers with regard to their marriage and the choice of partner (Leah, Rachel, Merab, Achsah). In all cultures of the ancient Near East, however, the mothers also seem to have had a say in the choice of a partner. Whether or not their opinion was decisive is unknown. The fact that girls were married at a young age contributed to the lack of influence they had on the choice of a partner. Girls generally were married soon after menarche, to exploit to the full their possibilities to bear offspring. It was considered of vital importance that a marriage produce children, who inherited the possessions of their parents. If the family had accumulated any wealth it should be kept East (JSOT.S, 262), Sheffield 1998, 89. 109 I disagree with Fischer, Die Erzeltern Israels, 83, who states that their marriage is based on free choice. It is indeed the free choice of Jacob, but we do not learn of any choice made by Rachel. Since Jacob is by then already married to Leah (of whose consent we are ignorant), Rachel's position within this marriage is that of a co-wife, which probably diminished her status with regard to Jacob's first intent.

within its lineage, which generally resulted in a preference for endogamous marriages. In general, people would marry within their social circle, i.e. within their class or within their village. Inheritance seems to have been one of the most important reasons to prefer endogamy. Although the evidence from Ugarit is scarce, it may be that exogamy was less frowned upon than it was in some of the other countries of the ancient Near East. According to the Hebrew Bible, endogamy was preferred. The protection of the religious identity seems to have played a major role in this, possibly already in pre-exilic times, but it certainly was of importance after the exile. This seems to be the only significant distinction between Israel and its neighbours with regard to the institution of marriage. But even this is not entirely certain. 110 2.1.1.2

Courtship

Affection between women and men has always found ways to express itself, whatever the prevailing opinion of their surroundings. But, were they equal partners in love? Were they both equally subject to the will of their respective families' patriarchal social code? What were the limits of their freedom to court? And what about premarital sex? We know that it did occur in the ancient Near East, but was it seen as admissible? In this section we will look at literary texts concerning courtship, viz. love poetry. The question concerning an alleged relationship with the sacred marriage rite will be dealt with. It has been proposed that some of the love songs reflect a female point of view and may have been part of a female sub-culture. Yet others assert that they express male wishful thinking. With regard to biblical love poetry, Song of Songs is our most important text. Its interpretation, religious or secular, and its supposed location as part of a female subculture and/or a wedding song will be discussed. A . ANCIENT NEAR EAST

In Sumerian and Babylonian love poetry lovers freely express their love, the woman often taking the lead. The lovers praise each other's beauty, embrace, kiss and fondle each others genitals, and describe their sexual pleasure in exquisite detail, though mostly in suggestive metaphors. Lively dialogues, usually unintroduced, characterize the 110

In the Marriage of Martu, 11. 129-139, the prospective groom is seen as religiously unacceptable. In Ugarit the cultic text KTU 1.40 par. characterizes many neighbouring peoples as sinners. Cf. J.C. de Moor, P. Sanders, 'An Ugaritic Expiation Ritual and its Old Testament Parallels', UF 23 (1991), 283-300 (296-7).

genre. 1 With regard to the relevance of the Mesopotamian material for this study it might be objected that the majority of these songs concern the goddess of love Inanna/Ishtar and her lovers, especially Dumuzi/Tammuz, and pertain to the sacred marriage rite. 2 So it is questionable whether they are relevant to human love. However, it is clear that these songs reflect a positive view of sexuality which will have corresponded to the way it was experienced between humans. Actually some of them are regarded as secular. 3 Not only in the world of the deities but also among mortals it was often the female partner who took the initiative, as in the Poem of the Faithful Lover.4 Girls probably were free to some extent to choose their partner. 5 Also in Egyptian love poetry 6 lovers openly express their love for each other by praising the beloved and his or her body and by uttering the desire to be in each other's presence.7 In the love poems the man and woman mutually show their affection and speak unabashedly about their desire. Michael Fox notes that, although the Egyptian love songs do not show a strict stereotyping of sex roles, they reveal a distinction: 'In many songs . . . the girls are the more intent on love and the more sexually assertive, and on balance this seems characteristic of the genre'. 8 In poems that compare falling in love to being trapped, it is always the girl who traps the boy. The poet asserts the girl's power in love, but does not picture her as a femme fatale. 1

Passages in the third person do occur however. For a more elaborate treatment of the sacred marriage rite, see section 3.1. 3 B. Alster, 'Sumerian Love Songs', RA 79 (1985), 127-59; M.V. Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, Madison 1985, 247-8, n. 23. See further Y. Sefati, Love Songs in Sumerian Literature (Bar Ilan Studies in Near Eastern Languages and Culture), Ramat Gan 1998, with earlier literature. 4 See B.R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature, vol. 1, Bethesda MD 21996, 95-8. 5 Note the Sumerian proverbs that encourage both females and males to marry according to their choice; cf. Β. Alster, Proverbs of Ancient Sumer, vol. 1, Bethesda MD 1997, 29-30, 145. See section 2.1.1.1. 6 The manuscripts of the Egyptian love songs date from the 13th-12th century BCE (19th and 20th dynasties). They may have been composed somewhat earlier, though probably not much. The collections are: P. Harris 500, Cairo Love Songs of Ostracon 25218, P. Turin 1966, P. Chester Beatty I, and some miscellaneous texts from the Ramesside period; cf. J.B. White, A Study of the Language of Love in the Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Poetry (SBL.DS, 38), Missoula MT 1978, 69-71; Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, 181; B. Mathieu, La poésie amoureuse de l'Egypte ancienne: Recherches sur un genre littéraire au Nouvel Empire (Bibliothèque d'Étude, 115), Le Caire 1996, 19-23. 7 White, A Study of the Language of Love, 96. 8 Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, 305-7 (305). 2

Girls further appear as more intent because they speak either in second person to, or in third person about, their lover, whereas boys only do the latter and thus seem more remote. The love songs hint at the girl's social situation, in that they reveal restrictions on her freedom and mobility. 'Yet even within a society in which females are expected to exhibit greater passivity and tolerate greater limits on their freedom, they may act with equal freedom and even greater assertiveness within the one-to-one love relationship'. 9 Although the background of the Egyptian love poetry reflects an upperclass style of life,10 the genre was not confined to that sphere. The scribes of the workers at Deir el-Medina possessed and probably appreciated the songs. So we may assume that love poems were enjoyed in all strata of Egyptian society.11 The setting of the songs was secular, their purpose was entertainment at banquets and festivals. 12 Yet it seems that these songs borrowed themes from the religious literature of Egypt, a circumstance proving once again that in the ancient world there did not exist a sharp distinction between a religious and secular sphere of life.13 Actually in Egypt, too, the sacred marriage rite may have functioned as a model for this kind of poetry. 14 What is of interest to us, is the question whether this freely expressed yearning for love and sexual intercourse reflected the actual social situation of Egypt and Mesopotamia. It seems doubtful that sexual libertinism conformed to the social mores. 15 It is quite possible, therefore, that the love poetry of the ancient Near East reflected the wishful dreaming of male authors lusting after sexually assertive women 16 , while in reality a girl had to protect her virginity until she met the man she would marry. In principle, a man who took a girl's virginity had to marry her. Although none of the languages of the an9

Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, 307. Mathieu, La poésie amoureuse de l'Egypte ancienne, 245. 11 White, A Study of the Language of Love, 81-2. 12 Fox, The Song of Songs and Ancient Egyptian Love Songs, 244-7; Mathieu, La poésie amoureuse de l'Egypte ancienne, 243. 13 Mathieu, La poésie amoureuse de l'Egypte ancienne, 217-41 (esp. §151). 14 J. Assmann, 'Die Zeugung des Sohnes: Bild, Spiel, Erzählung und das Problem des ägyptischen Mythos', in: J. Assmann et al. (eds), Funktionen und Leistungen des Mythos: Drei altonentalische Beispiele (OBO, 48), Freiburg, Schweiz 1982, 13-61. 15 G. Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, London 1993, 178-80; G. Leick, Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature, London 1994, 67-8; Van der Toorn, Cradle, 58. 16 Mathieu, La poésie amoureuse de l'Egypte ancienne, 245, rightly points out that several of these poems reflect a typical masculine point of view which renders the hypothesis of female authorship less likely. 10

cient Near East has a word for 'chastity', too flirtatious or even whorish behaviour on the part of women met with massive disapproval. As a Babylonian wisdom text says, 'Do not marry a prostitute, whose husbands are legion, / A temple harlot who is dedicated to a god, / A courtesan whose favours are many . . . She will disrupt the house she enters, and her partner will not assert himself'. 17 B . UGARITIC LITERARY TEXTS

So far, no collections of love poems have been found in Ugarit. We know for certain, however, that such collections must have existed because the opening lines of two love songs are quoted in the marriage ritual KTU 1.100:7072.18‫ ־‬Texts like KTU 1.10, 1.11, 1.23 and 1.24 warrant the assumption that the Ugaritic love songs were just as daringly erotic as their Mesopotamian and Egyptian counterparts. Very informative with regard to Ugaritic 19 marriage customs is KTU 1.24, a text that may have played a role in actual wedding ceremonies. 20 At first sight the linear description of the development of the romance between Nikkalu and Yarikhu, as described in KTU 1.24, would seem to favour a translation of KTU 1.24:3-13 in the past tense which is what Nicholas Wyatt prefers. 21 On this basis he regards this episode as a premarital affair ending in a happy marriage. 22 However, this resuits in a highly unlikely translation because the invocations of the Katharatu (11. 5-6, 11) become totally isolated from their context. I therefore propose the following translation of KTU 1.24:3-13, 3

bsrr.špš 4 yrh ytkh. ybbq.d5tld

17

&n! Z[h]

When Shapshu 23 has flown away, Yarikhu will strip, 24 he will embrace her who will bear a son 25 to him.

W.G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, Oxford 1960, 102-3. Cf. De Moor, ARTU, 154-5; Idem, 'East of Eden', ZAW 100 (1988), 105-11. 19 Even though the names of Khirikhbi and Prbht point to Hurrian influence, the Semitic names of Yarikhu, Shapshu, Katharatu, etc., prove that the text was fully integrated into the religion of the Semites of Ugarit. 20 See section 2.1.1.1. 21 Wyatt, RTU, 336-8. 22 Wyatt, RTU, 336-7, n. 5. 23 Sun-goddess. 24 Cf. J.C. de Moor, 'Ugaritic tkh and South Arabian mtkh', VT 14 (1964), 3712; Idem, 'Contributions to the Ugaritic Lexicon', UF 11 (1979), 641, n. 13; Idem, ARTU, 142, n. 9. 25 CT A, 102, reads tld &t.[-]t; KTU2, 69, reads tld btXrt. See, however, 1. 7. Virolleaud's copy allows the reading adopted here. 18

ih [llh. Ik]6 irt. Íbnt.h11.[snnt] hl glmt.ûd bn [lh] s 'nhn\.lydh ízd[n]

Make her conjvulse, 26 Ο Ka]tharatu 27 ! Ο swallows, daughters of Hilalu!28 Look! Let the lass bear a son to him! 29 Let her 'well' 30 boil for his 'hand', 31

[šfpt lbsrh. dm 'ab[h.y]h 10 wyn. kmírAí.b[hk1]A 11 šm' ,ilht.ktT[t.} [y1k.]mm 1 2