Old Testament views on women
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The Old Testament views on women can arise as a topic in areas such as apologetics for atheism, evangelical (Christian) feminism, or gender roles in Western Culture. In part, this is because the Hebrew Bible was one of the main source documents of Western Culture, albeit primarily as interpreted by Christians. Thus, it has had a significant influence on how Western Culture viewed women. This influence has waned as Judaism and Christianity have become less significant to Western Culture, especially since the Enlightenment.
Women are presented in the Hebrew Bible as a social role, especially in the law code portions, and as individuals in the histories and stories. In the histories and stories they may apear as victims in morality plays, as the cause of sin in other morality plays, as leaders or as heros, and sometimes they are characters who happen to have been female with no special role as a woman.
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Social position of women
Women in the Tanakh were not the social or economic equals of men. A married woman would be largely subject to the wishes of her husband, and an unmarried one to the wishes of her father. For example a husband or father had to consent before a woman could take religious vows (Book of Numbers 30:3-5). This situation was roughly similar to the position of women in the surrounding societies of the time.
Women were not mere possessions, however. The killing of a woman was considered murder, and not theft. A wife could not be disposed of at her husband's whim, or divorced for no reason. Women could own property, and a daughter could inherit her father's property (although only if there were no sons). They could engage in business and trade (Book of Proverbs chapter 31). There are frequent references in the Tanakh to giving or acquiring a wife in exchange for money or goods, though this was not simply a commercial transaction, but a gift compensating the bride's family. Such gifts are common in the Near East today. Arranged marriage was the norm for both sons and daughters (Genesis 21:21; Genesis 38:6; Book of Judges 1:12,13) although the bride was sometimes asked for her consent (Genesis 24:58) and sometimes the son chose a wife for himself (Genesis 34:4).
In general, the women of highest status within the Tanakh were pious married mothers, especially mothers of sons (Meyers). For example, the prophetess Deborah was both married and a mother. Among the lowest of status in the Hebrew Bible are prostitutes; prostitution is forbidden by the Tanakh in Leviticus, Chapter 19.
Morality plays: women as victims
In 2 Samuel 11-16 and 1 Kings 1-2 are a series of stories that begin with David and his adultery with Bathsheba, continue through the story of the rape of Tamar by David's son Amnon, continue still with David's son Absalom taking David's harem, and ends with Adonijah's attempt to have Abishag (Blenkinsopp, pages 66-67). The stories share in common the abuse of sexuality by the offending party, and the actions of a supposedly wise man (in one case, a woman) in the aid of each of the offending parties, whose aid eventually results in disaster. As Blenkinsopp says:
- Both the Eden story and the Succession Narrative, therefore, exhibit the same deterrent attitude to a kind of wisdom which not only promises more than it can deliver but also leads away from the traditional religious resources, resulting in disaster and death.
In the case of the rape of Tamar, other critics have noted that Amnon appears to have confused love with lust, as otherwise, there would be no reason for his initial suggestions of love for his sister, and his eventual rejection of her (Guzik). Amnon's sin, therefore, in the language of the decalogue, was covetousness. The "solution" to Amnon's desire, as suggested by Jonadab, was as follows:
- 5 "Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand. '" (2 Samuel 13:5)
After the tragedy, and ignoring divine law, David allows his son's crime to go unpunished, which then leads to Absalom taking the law into his own hands.
Morality plays: women as the cause of sin
The decalogue begins with the declaration that Yahweh is to be worshiped in exclusion to all others, and followed by an injunction against idolatry. Accordingly, the worst sin of man or woman is to turn a believer from Yahweh (Meyers, pages 225-226). The men and women that do are treated as the most wicked in the Tanakh.
Solomon, as a king, is lauded both for his power and wisdom, and yet, neither of these virtues could save him from the love he had for his foreign wives, and the turning away from Yahweh it engendered:
- As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the` LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4-6)
- Jezebel and her worship of Ba'al.
- Delilah and her seduction of Samson.
- Lot's daughters, or how to *really* insult the neighboring country...
Women as leaders
Leadership in Tanakh times was predominantly male, like all of the societies around it. However this was not exclusively the case. Women were recognised as 'prophetesses', and many are named, including Miriam (Book of Exodus 15;20) Huldah (2 Kings 22:14) and Noadiah (Book of Nehemiah 6:14) (Campbell, chapter 3; Daniels; Plampin; Let Us Reason Ministries). In the Book of Judges chapter 4, the story is told of 'Deborah the prophetess and wife of Lappidoth' who was judging (i.e. leading) Israel, and who had authority to summon war leaders to her and issue commands ( Daniels; Plampin; Let Us Reason Ministries).