The Influence of Early Hebrew Women

 

Joseph married the daughter of a Heliopolitan priest.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Most of the women in the Bible were members of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste which is the oldest known caste. There is a great deal of information about these women in the Bible and in extra-biblical sources. They were instrumental in preserving their Hebrew identity. They influenced fashion trends and court customs, ministered to women, and some became women of independent means. Though they are the backstory of the Bible, their importance cannot be over-emphasized.

There is much false information about women of the Bible. We have been told that Rahab was a prostitute, yet the biblical data does not support that depiction. Rahab is described in the Bible as a zn. The ZN root could refer to zonah (one who sells her body) or to the word zon, an innkeeper or tavern owner. The archaeologist and Bible scholar D. J. Wiseman noted that tzond can be translated as “barmaid.”

Rahab married a righteous Hebrew named Salma who was one of the elders of Bethlehem. Since the Hebrew rulers married only members of their ruler-priest caste (endogamy), we may assume that Rahab was a Hebrew woman living in Jericho. Before the Israelites arrived in Canaan, there were many Hebrew people living throughout Canaan. 

The names of some of the early Hebrew rulers appear in Genesis chapters 4, 5, 10, 11, 25 and 36. Women named in these chapters include Eve, Naamah, Keturah, Anah, and Oholibamah. Others are not named, but their presence is evident. Such is the case with the wives of Cain and Seth and the wives of Noah’s sons, all of whom appear to be cousin brides and second wives. The marriages to second wives (usually cousins) took place long after the Hebrew rulers’ marriages to their first wives. Recognizing this two-wife pattern is essential to understanding the social structure of the early Hebrew.

Jewish commentators claim that Ruth converted to Judaism, yet the religion of Judaism did not exist when Ruth lived (c.980-950 BC). Informed Jews recognize this. They know that Abraham was not a Jew. He was Hebrew, and he was not the first Hebrew.

In a September 2007 NOVA interview conducted by Gary Glassman with Dr. Shaye J. D. Cohen (Harvard Divinity), Cohen was asked “Was Abraham the first Jew?” He replied, “The biblical narrative gets going with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Abraham in turn Isaac, in turn Jacob, in turn Joseph and the twelve tribes, this brings us directly to the people of Israel and the covenant at Sinai. So Abraham is thought of as the first Jew, the archetype. Historically speaking, of course, this doesn't make much sense. It's hard to talk about Jews living around the year 1800 B.C.E. or anytime near that. We don't have any of the institutions, beliefs, social structures in place that will later characterize Jews and Jewishness. So in a mythic kind of way we can say that Abraham recognizes God and that Abraham launches the process—biological and social and cultural—that will culminate in the people of Israel, who in turn will become Jews and the purveyors of Judaism.”

The faith of Abraham the Hebrew was not Judaism. It is much older, and it involved belief in God Father and the veneration of God’s son, HR. Judaism emerged later in the Axial Age (1000-200 BC), a time when many new religions came into existence. Because it rejects belief in the Son of God Judaism departs from the faith of the early Hebrew. Rabbi Stephen F. Wise, former Chief Rabbi of the United States, explains: "The return from Babylon and the introduction of the Babylonian Talmud mark the end of Hebrewism and the beginning of Judaism.”

Indeed, the Talmud, a collection of rabbinic disputations, defines Jewish beliefs. Rabbi Morris Kertzer (American Jewish Committee) further explains, “The Talmud is the very foundation of Jewish life. It is taught to Jewish children as soon as they are old enough to read.”

Most of the women of the Old Testament were Hebrew, not Jewish. They married only Hebrew men and observed Hebrew practices. The higher the Hebrew woman’s status, the more responsibilities she had related to the local shrines and temples. The early Hebrew (5000-2000 BC) served at many temples built at high elevations with permanent water sources. Some Hebrew women oversaw ministries to women who came to the temples and water shrines for ritual cleansing and healing.

Hebrew men and women lived and served at some of the most prestigious temples of the ancient world, including Nekhen and Heliopolis (biblical On), both on the Nile. Thought widely dispersed before Abraham's time (c.2000 BC), the Hebrew ruler-priests and their families lived along the major water systems. Hebrew wives ministered to women who came to the water shrines for purification and healing.

Hebrew temple women had many responsibilities and privileges. Their duties included weaving, sewing, drawing water, brewing beer, singing, and playing musical instruments such as the sistrum and the tambourine. Psalm 68:25 refers to the women singers: “The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.” The Hebrew word that appears here is alamot, referring to cloistered women. The Hebrew word almah (עַלְמָה) is derived from a verb meaning “to conceal” or “to hide away.” Temple virgins were “alamot” because they were cloistered until they married. In Antiquitates judaicae, the historian Flavius Josephus (c.37-100 AD) refers to the cloisters in Book XV, Chapter 11.

Hieroglyphic writing for Neith. Note the wavy sign that signifies water.

Joseph's wife, Asenath was named for Neith, the Nilotic patroness of water shrines, rivers, pregnant women, and women in childbirth. It is likely that Neith was a holy woman who lived at one of the early water shrines along the Nile before Egypt emerged as a political entity (c.3200 BC).

 

Related reading: The Ministry of Hebrew Woman at the Sun Cities; Temple Women; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; The Social Structure of the Biblical Hebrew