Posted on 04/05/2008 12:37:18 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
In the days when Moses dictated the law of the land, the five daughters of Zelophephad took issue with the rules of inheritance. The Book of Numbers xxvii recounts how the sisters sought counsel with Moses in front of the congregation of travelling Israelites to demand that the laws be altered to accommodate female succession.
This bit of biblical history is often brushed over, as are other feminist aspects of the Old Testament, because for thousands of years men alone have interpreted the Hebrew Scriptures, according to a feminist revision of the text.
The Torah: A Women's Commentary re-evaluates the Torah's feminine side and offers the first comprehensive analysis of text from a female point of view. “With this commentary we will continue as sisters to empower the women - and men - who come after us for generations to come,” said its chief editor, Tamara Eskenazi, a professor of Bible studies at Hebrew Union College.
The Torah - also known as the Pentateuch or five books of Moses - is the foundational text of Judaism. While scholars have begun to examine women's role in the biblical period, A Women's Commentary is being hailed as a seminal text in religious studies owing to the depth of its analysis and wide spectrum of its contributors - which include several hundred women from the four main branches of Jewish movements - Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist. Those women re-evaluated the text from page one - taking the story of Creation to task for its rendering of Eve as a secondary creation to God's original Adam.
Women and men were created simultaneously, Professor Eskenazi said, though the description of Eve's formation from Adam's rib is often taken as a sign of her inferiority. “It is a sign of equality. They're described as being the same flesh both created in God's image and blessed with fertility and power',” she said.
The tale of Adam and Eve's downfall in the Garden of Eden includes an alleged mistranslation that places the heavier burden of guilt on women. In most standard versions of the Torah, God punishes the transgressions in the Garden of Eden by casting Adam and Eve from paradise and giving man the toil of work, and women the pain of childbirth.
In the original Hebrew the word etzev is used to describe both of their burdens, placing the punishment of the sexes at equal value, said Professor Eskenazi. “By changing the language to the two separate words toil and pain, the story is prejudiced. It gives readers the impression that women's punishment was greater than men's punishment,” she said.
The story of Abraham and Isaac has raised questions about paternal love. In A Woman's Commentary scholars question the role of Sarah, Isaac's mother, when her husband's hand was poised to strike and sacrifice their son to prove his adherence to God's will. How would the mother have responded to her son, bound and tied, at the altar?
Professor Eskenazi also describes how women could have been the original songstresses, and credits them for one of the most famous poems in the Torah, Exodus xv, Song of the Sea. After the destruction of the Egyptian Army at the Red Sea, women penned the joyful song to celebrate their liberation, one passage of A Women's Commentary suggests. “Again and again women who have gotten this commentary in their hands, from all walks of life, said that they felt included in the conversation for the first time,” Professor Eskenazi said.
The book also uses a new model to examine the text, offering six different approaches to each section of the Torah. Each portion includes the Hebrew text with an English translation and commentary, plus a line-by-line explanation. Compiling the book took more than 13 years and $1.5 million (£750,000). The book's initial publication of 12,000 copies sold out within weeks. An additional reprint was ordered this month.
While the book has met with acclaim from secular and Reform scholars, religious leaders from the more conservative communities have been hesitant to comment. Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice-president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said that he was wary of biblical commentary that was exclusively female, just as he was distrustful of the traditionally male commentary. “We need commentaries that speak to all people and that have male and female voices blended together,” he said.
Lost in translation
— Michelangelo’s rendering of Moses with two horns occurred because the Italian Renaissance painter’s Bible, the Latin Vulgate, mistranslated Exodus 34:29 as “Moses had horns” instead of “Moses’ face shone”
— In April 2007, Dr Laleh Bakhtia, a former professor of Islam at the University of Chicago, published a translation of the Koran that challenged the use of words that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of Islamic women. She asserted that the Arabic word idrib traditionally translated to mean “beat” could also mean “to go away”
— Biblical scholars down the centuries have debated the passage citing Mary as a virgin upon her marriage. Different translators argue that the Hellenistic Greek text describes Mary as being young, or a woman of marriageable age, but not a virgin
If the moon were made out of barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x7JYADhWIo
“The Torah: A Women’s Commentary re-evaluates the Torah’s feminine side...”
Next up, “The Torah: A One-Legged, Filipinos Women’s Commentary.”
Torah by consensus?
No men? Gee, that's spiritual of them.
yitbos
What about Lilith?
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . .
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
"The tale of Adam and Eve's downfall in the Garden of Eden includes an alleged mistranslation that places the heavier burden of guilt on women."
"In the original Hebrew the word etzev is used to describe both of their burdens, placing the punishment of the sexes at equal value"
(Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings)
And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.
“because for thousands of years men alone have interpreted the Hebrew Scriptures”
If only there was a Supreme Being powerful enough to over come this type of thing.
Quote: “Those women re-evaluated the text from page one - taking the story of Creation to task for its rendering of Eve as a secondary creation to God’s original Adam.”
(sigh)
A seminal text coming from women?
Here is the academic exercise that saps the very life out of the Holy Scripture.
A woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.
—Samuel Johnson
Psa 121:1 A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence, cometh my help.5828
Shame on all the flippant remarks - I’m not sure which of you are Christian and which are not, however “justice and mercy,” mercy and not sacrifice, are tenets of both Judaism and Christianity. The Christians should remember resurection morning and the scoffing with which the men treated the women’s news that the tomb was empty. Was the flaw in the women and the Good News they brought, or in the men’s hearts?
First ask yourself, is there truth here?
Is Miriam named a prophet? Did the Lord bless Israel with 40 years of peace under the judgeship of Deborah?
As to the “travail” of labor: - does the Lord use double-speak? The same word, in the same passage, is traditionally translated the same way.
Non-believers relish in laughing at the “two stories of creation” in the 1st and 2nd chapters. We understand that they are the same story. “Male and female created He them.” In fact, the word used for “help” (ezar, or azar) is used as the “Lord is my help,” or “my shield” (Deuteronomy 33:29), etc. Out of about 20 uses in the Old Testament, this word is used to note a rescuer, a defender.
(here’s a search on the root word translated as help or helper, azar or ezar, Strong’s 5826:
(2 Kings 14:26 KJV+) For3588 the LORD3068 saw7200 (853) the affliction6040 of Israel,3478 that it was very3966 bitter:4784 for there was not any657 shut up,6113 nor any657 left,5800 nor369 any helper5826 for Israel.3478
(Job 30:13 KJV+) They mar 5420 my path,5410 they set forward 3276 my calamity, 1942 they have no 3808 helper.5826
(Psalms 10:14 KJV+) Thou hast seen 7200 it; for 3588 thou 859 beholdest 5027 mischief 5999 and spite, 3708 to requite 5414 it with thy hand: 3027 the poor 2489 committeth 5800 himself unto 5921 thee; thou 859 art 1961 the helper 5826 of the fatherless.3490
(Psalms 30:10 KJV+) Hear,8085 O LORD,3068 and have mercy2603 upon me: LORD, 3068 be 1961 thou my helper. 5826
(Psalms 54:4 KJV+) Behold,2009 God 430 is mine helper:5826 the Lord 136 is with them that uphold 5564 my soul.5315
(Psalms 72:12 KJV+) For3 588 he shall deliver 5337 the needy 34 when he crieth;7768 the poor 6041 also, and him that hath no 369 helper.5826
Tell me, what was Adam doing while he was there “with her,” as Eve was being tempted and taking that first bite?
Isa 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
And that man was first and woman deemed to be his help gives preeminence to man and signifies him as head as it should be, and is.
1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1Co 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
Between the nags,islamics,athiests,religioists, and all others who are anti Christ, the true Bible believing church is victorious and will rule and reign with Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to the earth for the millenial rule of God and all governents will be put under His feet.
Until then, let God be true and every man a liar, and the femanist rebellion but one of many.
I wonder how they will feel when they kneel at the feet of Jesus and give account for their lies.
Why do you say I am anti-Christ? Simply not believing in something doesn’t make one anti.
In the case of inheritance mentioned here the women were making a legal case that since their father had not been a rebel his name should be preserved by having his land go to the daughters. It was a special situation that called for a resolution from God. The daughters would inherit and would later be required to marry men from their father’s tribe.
There was no “alteration of law” involved since there was no law covering such a situation. However as the book of Job shows daughters could and did inherit along with their brothers (Job 42).
The so-called scholars are simply trying to force their erroneous concepts into the Scriptures.
Preach it Brother !!!
“Shame on all the flippant remarks - I’m not sure which of you are Christian and which are not, however “justice and mercy,” mercy and not sacrifice, are tenets of both Judaism and Christianity. “
This is not about “justice & mercy”.
It’s about “genderism & feminism”.
Who are you to tell the Lord that He shamed the Israelites by naming Deborah as judge? There is absolutely no indication of that in the text.
However, in the Genesis account, the word used for “help” is “ezar.” Ezar is always used for a rescuer and helper like a shield or sword - or the Lord. She is the calvary sent by the General, and both are under the orders of that General.
Take a look again at the Corinthian passage and the next verse, with a fresh eye:
1Co 11:11 Nevertheless4133 neither3777 is the man435 without5565 the woman,1135 neither3777 the woman1135 without5565 the man,435 in1722 the Lord.2962
1Co 11:12 For1063 as5618 the3588 woman1135 is of1537 the3588 man,435 even so3779 is the3588 man435 also2532 by1223 the3588 woman;1135 but1161 all things3956 of1537 God.2316
In fact, some translations and scholars such as Gordon Fee, say that the woman should have power or liberty over her own head. “Judge for yourselves” seems fairly prominent, especially since we are all sons of God, “circumcised by Christ, and not with hands.”
Why do the angels care? And, since Paul spends so much time discussing the apparel of women who prophesy and pray in public, it’s obvious that we should, indeed, prophesy and pray in public. (And we won’t get into how prayer shawls are used by Jewish men.)
These questions are not salvation issues are used to divide, rather than edify, the body of Christ.
The specific points discussed in this article are the definitions of certain words and the deliberation about female inheritance. Let’s appreciate the truth, not condemn it.
Actually, if you divide the quotes from the authors from the editorialism of the reporter, it’s about the creation of “male and female” by the Lord and about clear interpretation and translation.
Let’s don’t let the petty concerns of the world divide the body of Christ. We are reconciled to G_d by G_d, the least we could do is reconcile with one another.
Would you point out the lies that are mentioned in the original post?
“A seminal text coming from women?”
A seminal text about the testaments.
Bet those women didn’t look up the root word of testament.
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