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The Women's Bible Commentary - Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother
The Women's Bible Commentary - Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Tamar: Trickster Would-be Mother Genesis 38 begins as a story of Judah, who is left in the land of Canaan during Joseph’s ordeal in Egypt. In the Joseph narrative, Judah is one of the villain brothers. He does not actually want to kill the boy Joseph but suggests he be sold to a …
The Women's Bible Commentary - My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man
The Women's Bible Commentary - My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
My Brother Esau Is a Hairy Man and I Am a Smooth Man The ancestor hero of Israel, Jacob, father of the Israelites, is smooth, whereas the founding father of the neighboring, related, Semitic-speaking people, the Edomites, is hairy. Particular cultural messages are encoded in such…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rebekah the Trickster
The Women's Bible Commentary - Rebekah the Trickster
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Rebekah the Trickster In Genesis 27, the woman herself is the trickster who formulates the plan and succeeds, moving the men around her like chess pieces. Lest the reader think that here one finally encounters a more liberated woman, beware that again success is gained through th…
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 - 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 - 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 - The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Wise Woman of Abel-Maacah The second story about a wise woman (2 Sam. 20) is more instructive. When Joab is besieging the town of Abel of Beth-maacah and attacking it in order to drive out a rebel who had taken refuge there, a wise woman from within the city calls out to him …
The Women's Bible Commentary - Hezekiah and the Siege of Jerusalem
The Women's Bible Commentary - Hezekiah and the Siege of Jerusalem
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Hezekiah and the Siege of Jerusalem This final section of the book of Kings begins with praises for Hezekiah, king of Judah, who has instituted religious reforms crucial in the Deuteronomists’ eyes, including finally removing the “high places” from the land…
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Moral World of Biblical Patriarchy and the Problem of Solidarity
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Moral World of Biblical Patriarchy and the Problem of Solidarity
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Moral World of Biblical Patriarchy and the Problem of Solidarity For the author’s purposes it was necessary that the hero of the book be a character at the top of the social order. The hero must be one who quite literally has everything to lose…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Speaking Again about Love
The Women's Bible Commentary - Speaking Again about Love
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Speaking Again about Love As it draws to a close, the Song returns to the mode in which it began, with a series of shorter speeches by the woman, the man, and, in 8:5, the Jerusalem women. As in the opening section, the transitions from one topic to another are more abrupt…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Body
The Womens' Bible Commentary - The Body
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Body Presuming arguably that Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, like most ancient slaves, would have been enslaved through military conquest, being born to an enslaved mother, piracy, kidnapping, or infant exposure…
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 - Construction of the Sanctuary and Priesthood