Mothers of Promise

Women in the Book of Genesis

Schneider, Tammi J.

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781441206015
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Eve, Noah's wife, Sarah, Tamar, Asenath, and others played a critical role in shaping the nation and faith of Israel. But we need to look closely at their stories to fully understand their impact. Respected Hebrew scholar and archaeologist Tammi Schneider takes us into the biblical account by carefully reading the stories of all the women in Genesis and illuminating the text with cultural background and archaeological insights. Her careful and creative approach challenges traditional ways of seeing these women and gives a fresh perspective on familiar stories. The result is a readable, thoughtful, and biblically grounded look at the roles and functions of Genesis women and a solid resource for studies of Genesis, women in the Bible, and women's issues.

PART 1

Matriarchs

This section focuses on the wives of the patriarchs: Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. The Hebrew Bible focuses on the construction of the people Israel, and the people are formed in Genesis. The women who bear Israel must be central to the key concerns.1 Scholarship regularly refers to “patriarchal narratives,”2 “patriarchal stories,”3 and “patriarchal history,”4 clearly defining a category of “patriarchs”; thus “matriarchs” appears to be an appropriate category. “Patriarchs” is an ancient concept, with apocryphal books using the term in titles such as “Testaments of the Three Patriarchs” and “Testaments of the Twelve 5 All of the “patriarchs” have at least one female spouse who is the Patriarchs.”mother of the heir to the patriarch and the Deity’s promise. The countergrouping and consideration of the matriarchs together follow this precedent.

The “matriarchs” are linked to one another through their actions, creating and maintaining descendants, devotion to the Israelite Deity, and the way the Israelite Deity rewards them. All are wives of patriarchs, stem from the right ethnic group,6 and have a fair amount of text about them. These women are the most important for this volume because they form the basis of the thesis that the primary role of women in Genesis is to determine who will inherit the promise from the Israelite Deity. Furthermore, with the focus of Genesis on protecting the promised line, their roles in that process must be examined.

Despite solid reasons for treating these women as a group, modern scholarship does not consider this a relevant category. Commentators no longer subdivide Genesis using “patriarchy,” but that does not result in usage of the term “matriarchy” or “matriarchs.”7 Even in approaches highlighting feminist concerns, the term does not appear frequently or with consistent meaning.8 Scholars also seldom study these women in comparison to one another. When treating the patriarchs’ wives, scholars usually compare the matriarchs to someone else, often a woman with whom the matriarch has a conflict or is a rival. Thus Sarah and Hagar are often paired,9 as are Rachel and Leah.10 Rebekah has no rival and is usually treated alone.11

Nowhere does the Masoretic Text group the matriarchs together, and no ancient text treats them as a group. I group “matriarchs” here because the role these women play is different from that of other women in Genesis and needs to be considered in parallel with the patriarchs. This section forms the basis to which other groups of women will be compared and thus will shy away from incorporating comparative discussions of the “matriarchs” with other women; I will focus on the comparative aspects when analyzing the other women.

1 . Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta: John Knox, 1982), 2; Ronald S. Hendel, “Genesis, Book of,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. D. N. Freedman, 6 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 2:935; Sharon Pace Jeansonne, The Women of Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar’s Wife (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 1; Jon D. Levenson, “Genesis,” in The Jewish Study Bible, ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 8.

2 . Examples include A. R. Millard and D. J. Wiseman, eds., Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1980); most essays assume some historicity to the narratives; cf. Thomas L. Thompson, The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives: The Quest for the Historical Abraham (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002), who questions the historicity of a recognized category of patriarchal narratives.

3 . E. A. Speiser, Genesis: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, 3rd ed., Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), liii, categorizes 12:1 as “The Story of the Patriarchs.”

4 . Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, rev. ed., Old Testament Library (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), 5, names 12:10 through the end of the book “The Biblical Patriarchal History.”

5 . E. P. Sanders, “Patriarchs, Testaments of the Three,” in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:180–81; and Marinus de Jonge, “Patriarchs, Testaments of the Twelve,” in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:181–86.

6 . Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel are related to Abraham through Nahor and Milcah. Sarah will be discussed below.

7 . David W. Cotter, Genesis, Berit Olam (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003), vii, refers to Gen. 12–50 as “Stories about the Troubled Family Chosen for Blessing: Genesis 12–50.”

8 . Anchor Bible Dictionary includes no entry on “matriarchs.” Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah are mothers of Israel but are not treated together or referred to as “matriarchs” in Tikva Frymer-Kensky, introduction to Reading the Women of the Bible (New York: Schocken, 2002), xv. They are treated as equal to patriarchs by Susan Niditch, “Genesis,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary, ed. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe (rev. ed. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1998), 11. Athalya Brenner (Israelite Woman, 93) labels as matriarchs women who feature in the stories of Genesis as pairs and lists the following: Sarah and her maid, Lot’s daughters, and Leah and Rachel.

9 . Naomi Steinberg, “The Sarah-Hagar Cycle: Polycoity,” in Kinship and Marriage in Genesis: A Household Economics Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 35–86. Joyce Hollyday, “Sarah and Hagar: Trapped Rivals,” in Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 5–7. Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, “Sarah and Hagar: Power and Privileges,” in Just Wives? Stories of Power and Survival in the Old Testament and Today (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 7–26.

10 . Steinberg, “The Rachel-Leah Cycle: Sororal Polygyny,” in Kinship and Marriage, 115–34; Hollyday, “Rachel and Leah: Pawns in a Game of Love,” in Clothed with the Sun, 8–12.

11 . Steinberg, “The Rebekah Cycle: Monogamy,” in Kinship and Marriage, 87–114; Frymer-Kensky, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: The Rivka Stories,” in Reading the Women, 5–23.

1

Sarah

Sarah1 is a complex figure; she is the first matriarch, married to the first patriarch, but she receives a negative evaluation by many scholars.2 Sarah’s negative reception by modern scholarship stems in part from her negative relationship with Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s first son (16:16).3

The goal of this volume is to determine the role and function of the women in Genesis. Sarah, as the first matriarch and mother of the first heir to the Deity’s promise, should hold a special place. As such, it is important to gain a clear understanding of how Sarah is described, how she acts, and how she is acted upon in the text; the nature of her relationships deserves special attention.

Sarah’s Description

The Hebrew Bible does not describe its characters in much detail. When details are provided about a character they usually concern the plot surrounding them, as is the case with Sarah. The reader is introduced to Sarah early in Abraham’s story,4 though the beginning of Sarah’s story is not the beginning of Abraham’s. Abraham’s beginning locates him in Ur of the Chaldeans as part of a family that continues into the generation following him, through the reference to Lot’s birth (11:26–28). The beginning of Sarah’s story does the direct opposite.

Sarah is introduced as the wife of Abraham at the same time that the reader meets Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother (11:29). The first issue is that the word in Hebrew for “woman” is the same as the word used for “wife,” ’ishah. While the Hebrew word for “woman” at first glance appears to be the feminized form of the word for “man,” ’ish, they actually come from different roots.5 Thus the word “woman” is not simply the feminine form of “man.” Furthermore, because the word in essence entails the sense of “female,” the translator must determine when it means “woman” and when it means “wife.”

In this introductory verse Sarah is named Abraham’s wife, but Milcah, identified as Nahor’s wife, receives the designation “daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah” (11:29).6 Both women are introduced as wives of Terah’s sons, but Milcah has paternity; Sarah is not associated with anyone other than Abraham.7 Some argue that this verse identifies Milcah as part of Terah’s family since the previous verse just noted that Haran, Abraham’s brother and son of Terah, dies. Is Milcah Nahor and Abraham’s niece?8 Note the contrast with Sarah. She has no family or city. She has no one but Abraham.

Sarah is again labeled a “wife” when the text notes that Terah takes his son Abraham; his grandson Lot, son of Haran; and his daughter-in-law Sarah, labeled the “wife” of his son Abraham, when they leave Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan (11:31). She is again a “wife” when Abraham takes her on a similar journey from Haran with Lot, along with the wealth they amass, and “all the souls they make” in Haran (12:4–5). She is at the bottom of Terah’s list but at the top of Abraham’s, though when the narrator first recounts that Abraham follows the Deity’s instructions, only Lot is named as going with him (12:4).

Sarah is identified repeatedly as a “wife” when they are in Egypt. The first appearance of this title for her is when Abraham enters Egypt and says to his “wife” Sarah how beautiful she is (12:11). He continues: if the Egyptians see her and think she is his wife they will kill him and let her live (12:12). The implication is that as a wife she is a threat to Abraham. Abraham is correct about Sarah’s beauty: when the courtiers see how beautiful the woman is, they praise her to Pharaoh and she is taken to his palace (12:15). Since ’ishah is the Hebrew word for both “woman” and “wife,” this is a play on words: the courtiers see a “woman” even though the reader knows she is a “wife.” Pharaoh is then plagued on account of Sarah, labeled “the wife of Abraham” (12:17). Pharaoh claims that he takes her for his “wife” (12:19), though he does not elaborate what that means. Finally, Pharaoh tells Abraham to take his “wife” and go.

Sarah is referred to as a “wife” twice in the Hagar episode: in the introduction (16:1) and again when Sarah takes Hagar and gives her to Abraham (16:3). Sarah is not called a “wife” when she and Abraham argue over the outcome of his encounter with Hagar.

Sarah is a “wife” when the Deity changes her name. Elohim labels Sarah “your [Abraham’s] wife” when informing him that her name is Sarah (17:15).9 Elohim again refers to her after Abraham suggests that Ishmael might live by Elohim’s favor (17:19). Sarah is called Abraham’s “wife” in the following chapter when the Deity’s messengers tell Abraham that Sarah will have a son (18:10).

The narrator is careful to label Sarah a “wife” when Abraham tells another foreign king she is his sister (20:2). In Abimelech’s dream the Deity tells Abim–elech to return the “man’s wife,” referring to Sarah (20:7). When Abraham is asked why he said that Sarah was his sister, he admits he thought he would be killed if they knew she was his “wife” (20:11). Abimelech restores Sarah, Abraham’s “wife,” along with wealth (20:14). Finally, Abraham prays for Abimelech, his wives, and his slave girls, because the Deity had closed every womb of the household of Abimelech on account of Sarah, again labeled “the wife of Abraham” (20:17–18).

The next and final time Sarah is labeled “wife” is when Abraham buries her in Machpelah (23:19). Sarah is not labeled a “wife” when she bears Isaac, banishes and frees Hagar, or dies, but only after Abraham finishes negotiations for her burial place.

The only times Abraham refers to Sarah as a wife are when he thinks being married to her will get him killed. The Deity, the messengers of the Deity, and the narrator are the ones reminding Abraham that she is his wife and that she plays a role in Abraham’s life and in naming this child who inherits the promise.

Another description of Sarah appears in the verse following her introduction as Abraham’s wife (11:30) and magnifies the impact of Sarah’s attachment to Abraham. Genesis 11:30 focuses only on Sarah, noting that she “is barren and she has no child.” A number of problems are inherent in this verse. If Sarah is barren, what is the need to also state that she has no child? One answer may lie in the translation of the waw consecutive that begins the verse. Should it be translated “now” or “and”? The difference affects how the verse relates to the previous verse, which focuses on paternity, the generation before Sarah and Milcah. The second half of the verse includes a hapax legomenon, meaning it is the only place in the Masoretic Text where walad, “offspring, child,” occurs.10 Genesis 11:29 implies that Sarah has no past, and it seems unlikely, according to 11:30, that she will have a future. Trible notes, “Unique and barren Sarai . . . has neither pedigree nor fertility, neither past nor future.”11

Abraham’s next description could be considered complimentary when he tells Sarah, “Please...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part 1: Matriarchs
• Part 2: Mothers of Potential Heirs (or Slaves, Concubines, Daughters, and Daughters-in-Law)
• Part 3: Mothers Who Predate the Promise
• Part 4: Women Who Do Not Bear
• Conclusions
• Bibliography