Carol Newsom, Sharon Ringe, Jacqueline Lapsley
The Women's Bible Commentary - Redemption and Resolution
The Women's Bible Commentary - Redemption and Resolution
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Redemption and Resolution Just as Naomi predicted (3:18), Boaz moves quickly to settle the matter. The gate represents the legal assembly of the town, where its male citizens determine judicial and economic cases…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Genocide and More Rape in Times of War
The Women's Bible Commentary - Genocide and More Rape in Times of War
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Genocide and More Rape in Times of War When the other tribes realize what happened in Gibeah, they gather in Mizpah and ask the Levite: “Tell us, how did this criminal act come about?” (20:3). Identified as “the husband of the woman,” the Levite gives an answer that crucially mod…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace
The Women's Bible Commentary - Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Gang-Rape, Murder, and Dismemberment in Times of Peace In Judges 19, an unnamed woman, identified as pilegesh, a Hebrew term of unclear social status and often translated as “concubine” but sometimes also as “secondary wife,” runs away from her husband, a Levite…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Places of Worship, Gang Rape, Genocide, and Wife-Stealing: Two Conclusions
The Women's Bible Commentary - Places of Worship, Gang Rape, Genocide, and Wife-Stealing: Two Conclusions
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Places of Worship, Gang Rape, Genocide, and Wife-Stealing: Two Conclusions Two conclusions complete the book of Judges. They are packed with provocative narratives that enhance discussions about identity, gender, masculinity, and violence…
The Women's Bible Commentary - A Dutiful Daughter for the Preservation of Male Honor?
The Women's Bible Commentary - A Dutiful Daughter for the Preservation of Male Honor?
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
A Dutiful Daughter for the Preservation of Male Honor? The Tale of Jephthah’s Daughter The scandal of a father killing his daughter did not make the frontlines of biblical commentaries until feminist scholars brought Judges 11:29–40 out of the exegetical shadows in the early 1980…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Religiously Inclusive Practice as Evilness?
The Women's Bible Commentary - Religiously Inclusive Practice as Evilness?
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Religiously Inclusive Practice as Evilness? Additional Demarcations of Israelite Identity in Canaan The second introduction in the book of Judges, also going back to the time of Joshua, depicts a faithful Israel that worships God exclusively…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Macho-like Destruction or Peaceful?
The Women's Bible Commentary - Macho-like Destruction or Peaceful?
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Macho-like Destruction or Peaceful? Two Introductions The book of Judges begins with two introductions that depict early life of the Israelites among the Canaanites. It presents both violent encounters with the local population and the cooperative sharing of the land, the latter …
The Women's Bible Commentary - Division of Property
The Women's Bible Commentary - Division of Property
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Division of Property These chapters of Joshua contain the continued efforts to drive out the remaining Canaanites and divide the land among the tribes. These chapters reflect the bureaucratic work of conquest: negotiating, maintaining, allotting, and defining boundaries…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Be Strong and Resolute!
The Women's Bible Commentary - Be Strong and Resolute!
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Be Strong and Resolute! That the reader enters a particular ideological and theological world in Joshua is evident from the first verses of chapter 1 (1:6–9), which introduce the voice of the Deuteronomistic editor…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Levirate Marriage
The Women's Bible Commentary - Levirate Marriage
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Levirate Marriage In numerous preindustrial societies, a male relative of a deceased man is expected to marry or to have sex with the dead man’s widow. Such relationships, called “levirate” from the Latin levir, “brother-in-law,” vary in form and purpose from culture to culture…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Sexual-Offense Laws
The Women's Bible Commentary - Sexual-Offense Laws
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Sexual-Offense Laws Deuteronomy 22:13–29, the most extensive biblical treatment of the topic of adultery, is a valuable if ambiguous source of at least one Judahite group’s assumptions and ideals about women’s sexuality; they have been the subject of much feminist and womanist sc…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Inadmissible Mixtures
The Women's Bible Commentary - Inadmissible Mixtures
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Inadmissible Mixtures Deuteronomy 22:1–12 interweaves cases expressing concern for the neighbor (22:1–3, 4, 6–7, 8) and prohibitions against inadmissible mixtures (22:5, 9, 10, 11). The first of these, verse 5, prohibits cross-dressing: “No warrior’s object shall be on a woman, n…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Relationships in the Family