Class Notes September 30: Linda Sexton "Women of the Book of Genesis"

• Categories of Women
• "feminine"- symbolic/metaphorical women
• "women"- social persons who are designated by culture
• "female"- biological category
• any character is a mix of these categories
• Eve
• means mother of all living
• women is a symbolic figure about ideas of femininity & masculinity
• Phallic God
• warrior attributes
• masculine symbolic attributes
• Femininity of God
• subdued & hidden
• complex
• more difficult to find
• Birth Process of Eve
• symbolic of couvade
• couvade
• men's envy of childbirth
• as Eve is born from Adam
• Bible inspires Patriarchy religions
• ruled by fathers
• most men & women are women in these types of religion
• men, women, children, sick people, etc...
• library
• every text has a context
• All gods are metaphors
•  of human emotions, thoughts, ideas, etc...
• Ziphorah
• symbolic of Israel
• Bride Groom of Blood
• Deuteronomy 25:11
• relationship between 2 men > relationship between man & woman
• Gender
• role of masculine
• role of feminine
• Lot's Daughters
• lead to the start of insulting parentage
• Judges 19: The Levite
• concubine=wife
• male bonding
• father-in-law & son-in-law
• Importance of guests
• man is saved from rape
• but female guest and virgin daughter are handed over to the mob to save the male guest
• women are enhance property
• wife is raped but the wrong is done to the Levite
• b/c it was his property that was harmed
• women are exchanged as tokens of power
• The concubines body is a metaphor of the 12 tribes of Israel
• her body becomes text
• represents vows, promises, words
• same as male genitals
• Israel's fault for suffering
• not worshipping correctly
• treating each other badly
• Prophet Amos & Hosea explain why
• Amos
• social justice
• way to worship God is to treat others kindly
• Hosea
• cultic purity
• how to worship
• laws and rules
• historical figure
• man not symbol
• Leviticus 19:29
• Women's Rights
• 1st daughter then become wife
• weddings are property transfer ritual
• from father to new husband
• father/husbands
• have the right to sell daughter
• own their body and life
• Symbolism of God's relationship with his people
• father/daughter = God/Israel
• conflation
• Word choice
• Adam, Earth, Red, Blood
• are almost the same word
• Symbols but have physical effects
• Hosea-wife (harlot)
• Yahweh-Israel (harlot)
• worshipping other gods
• likened to harlots
• Yahweh's feminine partners are human
• Jeremiah
• 40 years as a prophet
• Chap 13
• Dirty underpants= ppl of Israel
• 2:33-34
• speaking for Yahweh
• Israel=women's skirts
• promiscuous women
• unclean (menstrual)
• 13:22
• Yahweh violate Israel for everyone to see
• a sort of rape
• Genesis 31
• Jacob- Leah & Rachael
• sneaks out of father in laws' house
• accused of teraphim
• stealing household gods
• tries to search Rachael
• says she is unclean
• not searched and gets away with stealing from her father
• Judges 5
• Oldest poem in Hebrew Bible
• Symbolic feminism
• women change
• goes from powerful to weak
• Deborah
• judge
• authority figure on battle
• tells men when to fight
• women= holy book/Torah
• Yael
• drives a peg through a man's head
• violent
• masculine
• powerful
• Mother of Sisera
• spoils of war=women
• weak
• not even given her own name