Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

WOMEN IN THE ISRAELITE CULT

The primary term for priest in the Hebrew Bible is kōhēn, which appears only in the masculine. The feminine khnt occurs in cognate languages and even Rabbinic Hebrew, but not with the Bible’s meaning, and each reference must be judged on its own merits.

A distinctively cultic role, though without a title, was enacted by Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron. In a controversy with Moses (Num. 12), she acted together with Aaron, the eponymous priest, so one could assume that she was acting in a priestly role also. The fact that she was punished with leprosy shows the significance of her actions. Exod. 15:20 shows Miriam, here entitled “prophetess,” leading women in music and dancing, a cultic role. Here it is emphasized that she was the sister of Aaron, and, indeed, sang a psalmlike utterance that was the first verse of the psalm in Exod. 15:1b-18, a psalm of praise for deliverance as often found in the Psalter.

No women had a worship role inside the temple, but immediately outside were some whose description as perhaps the “ministering women” or “serving women” may not be a title. (The root ṣbʾ is a general term meaning simply “work, serve.”) In Exod. 38:8 they have bronze mirrors, and in 1 Sam. 2:22 (if the same persons) they sinfully lay with the sons of the priest Eli. No details of their practices are given; in Exod. 38:8 their mirrors may indicate beauty, but whether for seduction or not one should not say.

The gĕḇîrâ, “queen mother,” had a high place in court, at times equaling the authority of the king, at least ceremonially (1 Kgs. 2:19; Jer. 13:18), even crowning the figure called King Solomon in Cant. 3:11. 1 Kgs. 15:13 indicates a cultic milieu, for among other suppressions of foreign cult practices, King Asa had his mother removed from the gĕḇîrâ-ship because she had an abominable image made for Asherah.

Women often appear in the roles of singer, musician, and dancer, and most of these are cultic. The female participants were probably among the lesser offices. The OT mentions at least 25 different types of musical instruments of the horn, lyre, and percussion types, some of which were played by women. In Exod. 15:20 Miriam plays a tōp, “drum” or “tambourine,” and Jephthah’s daughter also plays this instrument (Judg. 11:34) in a story that may be the etiology of a lost cult; both women also dance. Male and female singers are mentioned together in postexilic sources (Ezra 2:65; Neh. 7:67).

Deborah sings her magnificent poetry (Judg. 5:2-31), and Hannah prays (1 Sam. 1:10). Tradition calls the beautiful psalm of praise attributed to Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1-10) a prayer, but the verse form shows that it is poetry and therefore sung. Women appear in temple processions (Ps. 68:25[MT 26]), which continue into the “sanctuary.” Those who give the joyful tidings that the enemy has been overcome are also women (Ps. 68:11-12[12-13]).

Cultic weeping and mourning also took place. A woman is to teach her daughter and neighbors a lament over the fall of Jerusalem (Jer. 9:20[19]), and an earlier verse (v. 17[16]) indicates a group of mourning women. This same qînâ (“lamentation”) form is found in the book of Lamentations. There the weeping is done by someone who sings of women’s concerns, for Jerusalem the “daughter of Zion,” and this may indicate that the book, or a large part of it, was chanted by women. Though the temple as a worship place does not appear in the book, spiritual elements are found all through.

Women also had roles in foreign and forbidden cult practices. Though their sitting and weeping for Tammuz (Ezek. 8:14-15) is described as “an abomination,” it was done at one of the gates of the temple. This was a late variant of a 2nd- or even 3rd-millennium rite borrowed from the Babylonians, reflecting the yearly return of Tammuz/Dumuzi to the netherworld. Women also made a special recipe of cakes for the queen of heaven (Jer. 7:18). Her identity has been much discussed, but she probably was one of the Canaanite goddesses of the Asherah, Ashtoreth, or Anat family, ultimately reflecting a Babylonian Ishtar cult. Women also wove battim (RSV “hangings,” but lit., “houses” or “vestments”) for the Asherah (2 Kgs. 23:7). This weaving was done in the house of the qĕḏēšîm, a controversial cultic figure; this apparently foreign title occurs in both masculine and feminine forms.

The picture of Palestinian and Israelite women would not be complete without mention of the prolific clay figurines, usually female and usually naked. These have been found from the 8th millennium on, but increasingly in Middle Bronze–Early Iron levels. The figures usually hold the breast area, and the pubic region is emphasized by an incised triangle. Later they come to be stylized in pillar form. Scholars disagree about whether these figurines represent a goddess or her votary, and both are possible. Early attempts to identify these with a known goddess have largely been abandoned. Because the figurines are usually found in houses, this may reflect a “people’s religion,” not recorded in the Bible. They may also represent the “images” so frequently denounced (e.g., Exod. 20:4).

The forbidden area of divination was rejected out of hand by Hebrew orthodoxy, yet all the evidence points to its prevalence throughout history. Both men and women appear in these roles, usually vaguely translated “witch” or “sorcerer/ess” (Deut. 18:10-11; 2 Kgs. 21:6; Jer. 27:9; Lev. 19:26, 31). A few titles provide a general idea of their practices: necromancy, dream interpretation, divination by arrows, whispering, and serpent handling.

Bibliography. P. A. Bird, “The Place of Women in the Israelite Cultus,” ed. P. D. Miller, P. D. Hanson, and S. D. McBride, Ancient Israelite Religion (Philadelphia, 1987), 397-419; R. A. Henshaw, Female and Male: The Cultic Personnel: The Bible and the Rest of the Ancient Near East. PTSMS 31 (Allison Park, 1994): K. van der Toorn, From Her Cradle to Her Grave: The Role of Religion in the Life of the Israelite and the Babylonian Woman. Biblical Seminar 23 (Sheffield, 1994); C. J. Vos, Woman in Old Testament Worship (Delft, 1968).

Richard A. Henshaw

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

WOMEN IN THE ISRAELITE CULT

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)