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Elna K. Solvang A Womans Place Is in The House Royal Women of Judah and Their Involvement in The House of David JSOT Supplement 2003 PDF
Elna K. Solvang A Womans Place Is in The House Royal Women of Judah and Their Involvement in The House of David JSOT Supplement 2003 PDF
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
349
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
Executive Editor
Andrew Mein
Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, J. Cheryl Exum, John Goldingay,
Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, John Jarick,
Andrew D.H. Mayes, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller
Elna K. Solvang
Published by
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Parti
Chapter 1
WHO ARE THE ROYAL WOMEN OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST? 16
Access 21
Industry 30
Service to the Kingdom 36
Cult 40
Dynasty 46
Chapter 2
WOMEN' s PLACE IN THE HOUSE 51
The Women of the Palace 51
To What Does 'Harem' Refer? 52
The Middle Assyrian Palace Decrees 54
Gender Segregation and Royal Women's Activity 57
Analogy to Imperial Turkish Harems 58
Gender Segregation and Royal Women's Activity in
Turkish Harems 60
Women's Place in the Royal House 62
Women of the House 65
Leaving One Set of Houses and Entering Another 67
vi A Woman's Place is in the House
Part II
Chapter 3
WHO ARE THE ROYAL WOMEN OF THE HEBREW BIBLE? 72
The gebira 73
Mother of... Wife of... Daughter of 78
The Shape of the Regnal Notices 80
What's a Mother to Do? 83
Beyond the Titles 85
Chapter 4
MICHAL: A ROYAL DAUGHTER 87
A Man's Place Is in the House 88
The Woman of the House 95
Women Between Houses 99
Women of a Fallen House 105
A Woman without a House 108
A Man without a House 113
God's Place Is in the House 120
A Woman's Place Is in the House 122
Chapter 5
BATHSHEBA: A QUEEN MOTHER 124
One House Only 125
Taking in the Royal House 127
Keeping an Eye on the House 134
A New Woman in the House 13 7
Dis-placement in the Royal House 139
Re-placement in the Royal House: A Matter of Succession 144
Securing the Royal House 149
A Queen Mother in the House of David 152
Chapter 6
ATHALIAH : A QUEEN AND A KING 15 4
One House or Two? 154
Missing a Link 158
Emptying Out the House 159
A House within a House 161
Replacing the House 162
Contents vii
Bibliography 177
Index of References 189
Index of Authors 195
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The beginnings of this project lie in a PhD seminar led by Professor J. J.M.
Roberts. Although he was on sabbatical when the dissertation was com-
pleted, his teaching and his challenges had a profound influence on this
work. Deepest thanks are due to Professor Dennis T. Olson whose gentle
guidance as chair of my dissertation committee served to focus my ques-
tions, rein in my subjects, and direct my attention, without tempering my
enthusiasm for this project. He has continued to provide critical guidance
as this project has moved from dissertation to publication. It is a privilege
to work with him. Sincere gratitude is expressed to Professor Katharine
Doob Sakenfeld, whose expertise in history and feminist inquiry are
reflected in this work, and to Professor Jacqueline E. Lapsley, whose con-
tributions in the final stage of the dissertation corrected and improved it in
many ways. Remaining weaknesses in the project are mine, not theirs.
Six former colleagues lent inspiration to this project through their exam-
ple of women creatively and powerfully operating within an organization:
Mary W. Anderson, Mary D. Pellauer, Charlotte D. Williams, Jan Erickson-
Pearson, Gail Liggett-Watson and Sylvia Pate. My affection and respect for
them is boundless.
Professor Ralph W. Klein has been a gracious source of encouragement
through his scholarship and his enthusiasm for my academic interests and
progress.
My parents, Arthur and Lillian Sievert Solvang, remained hopeful for
the day when this project would be complete. May they be honored for
their love and support.
My colleagues in the Religion Department at Concordia College, Moor-
head, MN, urged this project to completion through their interest, feed-
back, respect for my designated writing times, and, most of all, through
their own accomplishments in scholarship and teaching. With their help I
have found that diligence in both brings a double measure of discovery
and delight.
x A Woman's Place is in the House
Special tribute goes to two princely men: William S. Campbell, who has
been guide and goad through every step of this process and kept a watch-
ful eye on me during a whole summer of writing and Arthur M. Suther-
land, whose cooking, companionship, theological questioning and loving
encouragement made life richer and more enjoyable
Finally, I thank the editors of Sheffield Academic Press for their interest
in this study and for their care in bringing it to publication. May this work
be a window into the royal houses of centuries past and a framework for
recognizing the women who were actors in and representatives of them.
ABBREVIATIONS
BZAW BeiheftezurZ4FF
CAD Ignace I. Gelb et al. (eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary of the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago:
Oriental Institute, 1956-)
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Monograph Series
ConBOT Coniectanea biblica, Old Testament
CRRAI Compte Rendu de la Recontre Assyriologique International
CSJH Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism
CT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British
Museum
CTH E. Laroche (ed.), Catalogue des Textes hittites (Paris:
Klincksieck, 1971)
CTN Cuneiform Texts from Nimrud
EA El-Amarna tablets (J.A. Knudtzon, Die el-Amarna-Tafeln
[Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs, 1908-1915; repr.; Aalen: Otto Zeller,
1964]); continued in A.F. Rainey, El-Amarna tablets, 359-379
(Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker; 2nd rev. edn, 1978)
FOIL The Forms of the Old Testament Literature
HALOT L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner and J.J. Stamm, The Hebrew and
Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (trans, and ed. M.E.J.
Richardson; 4 vols.; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994-2000)
HAR Hebrew Annual Review
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
HSS Harvard Semitic Studies
IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and
Preaching
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
JEOL Jaarbericht...ex oriente lux
JHNES Johns Hopkins Near Eastern Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
Kbo Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazkoi(Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs, 1916-)
KlPaitly Der kleine Pauly
KTU M. Dietrich, 0. Loretz and J. Sanmartin (eds.), Die
keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit (AOAT, 24.1; Miinster:
Ugarit-Verlag, 1976-)
KUB Keilschrifiurkunden aus Boghazkoi
LCL Loeb Classical Library
Abbreviations Kill
...the interviewer asked. Can you imagine a world where women are
absent. (He believed he was joking.)1
Monarchy in the ancient Near East and in Israel is most often represented
as a world of men only'. Legitimacy, loyalty, authority and narrative sub-
jectivity are attributed to male members of the royal house and to male
pretenders to the throne. The patriarchal structure of ancient society is
interpreted as categorically resistant to and suspicious of female leadership
and power. Some allowance is made in the discussion for the involvement
of queen mothers in matters of succession and co-regency for a minor who
inherits the throne, but active leadership on the part of a royal woman is
attributed nearly uniformly by scholars to her personality or to her having
taken advantage of some weakness or incapacity on the part of the 'legiti-
mate' male ruler.
While the representation of monarchy has retained a 'men only' charac-
ter, over the past 50 years archaeological discoveries and scholarly research
have increasingly brought to light evidence of royal women's involvement
in this institution. Such results have been reported and discussed in Egyp-
tian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Mari, Assyrian, Sumerian and Baby Ionian research.2
Basil Blackwell, 1991), pp. 366-87; G. Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt (London:
British Museum Press, 1993); J. Tyldesley, Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh (New
York: Viking, 1996).
3. Among the notable exceptions are the studies by J. Aboud, Die Rolle des
Konigs undseiner Familie nach den Texten von Ugarit (Forschungen zur Anthropolo-
gie und Religionsgeschichte, 27; Miinster: Ugarit-Verlag, 1994); M. Heltzer, The
Internal Organization of the Kingdom of Ugarit: Royal Service-System, Taxes, Royal
Economy, Army and Administration (Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1982); S.R.
Bin-Nun, The Tawananna in the Hittite Kingdom (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Univer-
sitatsverlag, 1975).
4. The content of these functional categories will be described in detail in Chap-
ter 1.
5. Aboud, Die Rolle des Konigs und seiner Familie.
Introduction 3
8. Foucault observes that 'the State, for all the omnipotence of its apparatuses, is
far from being able to occupy the whole field of actual power relations.. .because the
State can only operate on the basis of other, already existing power relations' (Power/
Knowledge, p. 122).
9. Heltzer, Internal Organization of the Kingdom of Ugarit, p. 181.
10. Foucault, Power/Knowledge, p. 98.
11. Foucault, Power/Knowledge, p. 142.
Introduction 5
12. L.P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman
Empire (Studies in Middle Eastern History; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
13. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. x.
14. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. viii.
15. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. 6.
16. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. viii.
17. L.P. Peirce, 'Beyond Harem Walls: Ottoman Royal Women and the Exercise of
Power', inD.O. Helly and S.M. Reverby (eds.), Gendered Domains: Rethinking Public
and Private in Women's History. Essays from the Seventh Berkshire Conference on the
History of Women (Ithaca, "NY: Cornell University Press, 1992), pp. 40-55 (48, 54).
6 A Woman's Place is in the House
22. See, e.g., D. Ussishkin, 'Was the "Solomonic Gate" at Megiddo Built by King
Solomon?', BASOR 239 (1980), pp. 1-18; A. Biran and J. Naveh, 'An Aramaic Stele
Fragment from Tel Dan', IEJ43 (1993), pp. 81-98; P.R. Davies, In Search of 'Ancient
Israel'(JSOTSup, 148; Sheffield: JSOTPress, 1992); I. Finkelstein, 'The Archaeology
of the United Monarchy: An Alternate View', Levant 28 (1996), pp. 177-87; G.N.
Knoppers, 'The Vanishing Solomon: The Disappearance of the United Monarchy from
Recent Histories of Ancient Israel', JBL 116.1 (1997), pp. 19-44.
23. M. Bal, 'Introduction', in idem, (ed.), Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading
Women's Lives in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup, 81; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1989),
pp. 11-24(14).
Introduction 9
24. M. Bal, Death and Dissymmetry: The Politics of Coherence in the Book of
Judges (CSJH; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 3.
25. See Bal, 'Introduction', p. 17.
26. Bal, Death and Dissymmetry, p. 36.
27. T.L. Thompson, The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past (London:
Jonathan Cape, 1999), pp. 59, 68. Thompson argues that the formation of the biblical
narrative 'had its earliest roots in the period of Assyria's domination of Palestine, but
the understanding of Israel we know from the tradition first arose during the late
Persian or early Hellenistic period and was not fully developed before the time of the
Maccabees' (The Bible in History, p. 81). Thompson's argument is against the use of
biblical materials in the reconstruction of Israel's history. His argument does not affect
the use of history in providing a context for reading the biblical text.
10 A Woman's Place is in the House
28. M.Z. Rosaldo, 'The Use and Abuse of Anthropology: Reflections on Feminism
and Cross-Cultural Understanding', Signs 5.3 (spring 1980), pp. 389-417 (411).
29. Rosaldo, 'Use and Abuse of Anthropology', p. 414 n. 51.
Introduction 11
chies of Judah's neighbors does not prove that they were in Judah. More-
over, at the end this study will not reconstruct, prove or disprove the his-
torical reality of Judah's monarchy and royal women's involvement in it.
Instead, it will establish whether or not the literary account of the Judean
monarchy as presented in the biblical text depicts royal women as included
in and representative of the monarchy of Judah. The historical-anthropo-
logical model developed in Part I of this study will bring insight to reading
this narrative of'the nature of sovereignty' and 'claims to legitimacy'.
The focus of this study is the women of the royal house of Judah. The
reference to Judah is adopted to reflect the direction of inquiry after the
division of the kingdom. This does not imply that the Northern Kingdom
had a different form of monarchy than the South (e.g. a charismatic vs.
hereditary understanding of kingship); it simply reflects the emphasis in
the narrative on the continuity of the Davidic monarchy through the period
of division up to the destruction of Jerusalem. Attention to one kingdom
provides a more adequate basis for demonstrating that royal women were
presented in the text as integrally involved in and representatives of that
royal house.
The attention to royal women in Part II of this study begins with the
reign of Saul and the royal daughters Merab and Michal. Regardless of the
political history of Israel and whatever differences might have existed
between the kingdoms of Saul and David, in the biblical narrative Saul's is
the first royal household. The text refers to Saul as king, marriage to his
daughters makes one a 'son-in-law to the king' (1 Sam. 18.18), and Saul's
son Jonathan is expected to follow his father on the throne. Though God
rejects Saul as king (1 Sam. 15.26), nevertheless Saul continues to serve in
that position and members of his house (male and female) continue to
represent a claim to royalty and to rule well into the period of the kingdom
of David and long after the divine promise articulated in 2 Samuel 7.
Part II of this study begins by exploring 'Who Are the Royal Women of
the Hebrew Bible?' Chapter 3 presents the range of categories of royal
rank and role that appear in the books of Samuel and Kings. The biblical
narrative presents the women of the Judean monarchy as involved in the
same functions as their counterparts in neighboring royal households.
There is discussion of the relative absence of official titles for women in
both the biblical and historical materials. There is also an extended exami-
nation of a phenomenon that appears particular to the biblical account of
the Judean monarchy, that is, the inclusion of the names of queen mothers
in the regnal notices announcing the reign of their sons. The rhetorical
Introduction 13
36. DJ. McCarthy, 'II Samuel 7 and the Structure of the Deuteronomistic History',
JBL 84 (1965), pp. 131-38.
37. F.M. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the
Religion of Israel (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), p. 246.
38. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, p. 260.
39. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, p. 278.
40. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, p. 285.
41. lKgsll.13,32, 34, 36; 15.4; 2 Kgs 8.19; 19.34; 20.6.
14 A Woman's Place is in the House
The chief categories for royal women in the ancient Near East are mother,
wife, sister and daughter of the ruler. Within the category of 'wife' there
exists a range of designations such as chief wife, favorite wife, mother of
the heir apparent, queen consort, great royal spouse, and chief concubine.
What will be demonstrated in the pages that follow is that these categories
do more than describe the passive relationship of a woman to the male
ruler. They relate the position(s) from which a particular woman takes an
active role in the administration of the monarchy.
A striking feature that appears across cultures of the ancient Near
East—including the Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Babyloni-
ans and Israelites—is the lack of consistency with which administrative
titles are applied to women. Feminine parallels to the title 'king' do appear
in the ancient texts:
is nowhere explicitly named as the queen, but both her parentage and her
correspondence leaves no doubt that she was the queen'.2 Her lack of the
title SAL.LUGAL did not interfere with her ability to function 'as the
quasi-official head of state in place of the king',3 including supervising
male administrators, royal workshops and cultic functions, and communi-
cating with provincial leaders and citizens. Sibtu is only one example in
the existing documents of a royal woman holding the rank and authority of
'queen' without bearing a title parallel to that of king.
The inconsistency also applies to the way in which administrative titles
are applied. For example, the title SAL.LUGAL does not allow one to
distinguish whether the woman is the chief wife of the king or the mother
of the king.4 For as long as she lived, the 'mother of the king' remained
the highest-ranking woman of the kingdom and of the royal family. At the
passing of the 'queen mother' or in her absence, the chief wife of the king
became the most senior woman in the kingdom. Therefore, while it is
necessary and appropriate to use the English term 'queen' to refer to the
woman identified by the administrative title SAL.LUGAL, it is essential to
bear in mind that the most frequent and useful references to royal women
are relational titles, such as AMA.LUGAL ('mother of the king'), assat
sarri and sinnistum sa ('wife of).
The use of relational titles, applied to men as well as women, reveals the
ancient conception of a familial foundation to various social groupings and
relationships.5 The government was an extension of the organization of the
chief royal household and involved assent to the authority of 'father' and
'mother'. In Akkadian, therefore, a male administrative official was known
as a mar ekalli, literally 'a son of the palace'. While such a person was not
physically a son of the king, in contrast to mar sarri ('son of the king')
referring to the crown prince, the term makes clear that the relational lan-
illegitimate means, the chief category of royal men in addition to the king
is that of 'sons'. Such a category is necessary for designating the possible
successors to the king and the appointed heir, and a hierarchy obviously
existed within this category. Status changes occurred based on the desires
of the king, on the activities of the sons, on treaties, and on the involve-
ment of other nations in the internal politics of the kingdom.10 Royal
women—as wives, daughters11 and mothers—also played a part in those
status changes.
While the titles of royal women reference their relationship(s) to the
king, the position of king is not an independent one. Other royal men (e.g.
father, brother, kings of other nations) may determine the rank, access and
support a man may claim to legitimate and carry out his kingship. A
mother may secure the crown prince designation for her son through her
relationship with her husband, the king, and/or through her connections to
the palace nobles after the death of her husband, as in the pledge of loyalty
Naqia/Zakutu obtained for her grandson Ashurbanipal after the death of
her son Esarhaddon.12
It was not merely by force of personality that royal women played signi-
ficant roles in the monarchies of the ancient Near East; they were expected
to take part in shaping the monarchy through personal relations and acti-
vities. While some women achieved prominence in meeting those expec-
tations or by chance survival of documentation appear to contemporary
10. For example, the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV intervened to support the Ugaritic
queen Ahat-milku in a struggle with two of her sons over the succession to the throne.
Tudhaliya and Initesub of Carchemish both supported Ahat-milku and the appointment
of her younger son Ammistamru III as king (RS 17.352; 17.35; [PRU, IV, pp. 121-
23]). Tudhaliya IV also authorized Ammistamru to determine his own successor (RS
l7.367[PRU,IV,p. 124]).
11. Sometimes the relationship as royal sister would factor in status changes. For
example, civil war broke out in the Hittite Old Kingdom when the nobles rejected Hat-
tusili's son Huzziya because he was born of an unfree woman (pahhurzi) and attempted
to install Labarna, the son of Hattusili's sister. The sister was clearly a force in this
matter. After Hattusili' s victory he banished his sister while allowing Labarna to remain
near him. See Bin-Nun, Tawananna, pp. 23-24,71,111. Though the conflict is between
siblings, the royal woman's authority, status and network of support derive from being
daughter of the former king.
12. SAA 2.8 in S. Parpola and K. Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty
Oaths (SAA, 2; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1988), pp. 62-64. Sarah C. Mel-
ville notes that this is 'the only Assyrian treaty in existence to have been imposed by
someone other than the king': The Role ofNaqia/Zakutu in SargonidPolitics (SAAS,
9; Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1999), p. 86.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 21
Access
The status and activity of royal daughters are indications of the political
boundaries and strength of a kingdom internally as well as externally. Mar-
riages involving royal daughters were one means of establishing, advanc-
ing or stabilizing a particular sovereign's reign. They opened or controlled
political access. Brother-sister marriages, for example, limited access to
and competition for royal rule, as well as eliminated possible obligations
to and involvement with non-royal households.
While it is not specified in any of the records the degree to which
marriage to a princess benefited the noble families of that kingdom, there
is good reason to assume that this could bring access to favorable treat-
ment and economic benefits such as release from taxes, gifts of land, and
positions within government.13 It would also change that noble family's
13. M. Heltzer concludes from RS 16.276 (PRU, III, pp. 69-70), 'we know that a
certain Karkusuh was married with Apapa, the daughter of the king, and this gave him
22 A Woman's Place is in the House
status vis-a-vis others, since that family would appear to have greater
access to the king's favor. A noblewoman's marriage to the king might
offer similar benefits to her family. They might be expected to visit her at
times during her residence in the palace and therefore be in a position to
present requests to her as well as signs of their devotion to her husband,
the king. Some royal princes fleeing a change in leadership in their nation
might sometimes find a royal wife in a neighboring land along with assis-
tance in taking or retaking the throne in their country.14
The change in status that might accompany marriage to a princess can
be glimpsed as in a mirror reflection in some of the struggles for royal suc-
cession, where a man who would have no claim to the throne seeks to
legitimate a claim through his marriage to a sister of the former king. The
Hittite New Empire Edict ofTelepinu permitted the husband of a sister of
the king to succeed to the throne if there was no 'legitimate' son to follow
his father. This edict may be seen as justification of Telepinu's own irregu-
lar accession to the throne as a brother-in-law of the former king.15 It
should be noted that since the Edict ofTelepinu does not appear to have
been followed in the subsequent history of the Hittite New Empire, the
sister-and-brother-in-law claim to the throne was not secured.
Details regarding marriages of royal daughters or marriages of women
to the king involving citizens of the kingdom are scarce in the extant
evidence. The overwhelming sources of information concern diplomatic
marriages, that is, exogamy. Treaties, marriage contracts, correspondence
and ration lists record the purposes, arrangements and destinies of such
marriages and the kingdoms connected by them. The most obvious pur-
pose of such marriages was to secure an alliance between two kingdoms.
William Ward observes, 'International relations were at a personal level
between rulers and marriages were arranged so the rulers became relatives
and potential hostilities between them could be better avoided'.16 The mar-
riage of daughters and the exchange of tribute that accompanied such an
arrangement signaled the expectation of long-term peaceful relations
the privilege of using the income from the village Uhnappu' (Internal Organization of
the Kingdom ofUgarit, p. 185).
14. Bin-Nun reports 'Mattiwaza of Mitanni escaped to Suppiluliuma and was given
the latter's daughter to wife, Bentesina of Amurru fled to the Hittite court and married
the daughter of Hattusili III, and several more' (Tawananna, p. 146 n. 182).
15. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, pp. 217-21.
16. W.A. Ward, Essays on Feminine Titles of the Middle Kingdom and Related
Subjects (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1986), pp. 58-59.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 23
17. EA1;3;4;5.
18. EA 4.6-7. Quoted in A.R. Schulman, 'Diplomatic Marriage in the Egyptian
New Kingdom', JNES 38.3 (1979), pp. 177-93 (179).
19. EA 4.6-7. See Schulman, 'Diplomatic Marriage', pp. 180, 185-86; Beckman,
Hittite Diplomatic Texts, pp. 135-37; and H. Klengel, Syria 3000 to 300 B. C.: A Hand-
book of Political History (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1992), p. 119.
20. 'Suppiluliumas and the Egyptian Queen' (ANET, p. 319); Schulman, 'Diplo-
matic Marriage', p. 177.
21. Schulman, 'Diplomatic Marriage', p. 177, citing H.G. Giiterbock, 'The Deeds
of Suppiluliuma as Told by his Son, Mursili IF, JCS10 (1956), pp. 41-68,75-98,107-
130 (94-95, 97-98).
22. Ward, Essays on Feminine Titles, p. 58.
24 A Woman's Place is in the House
26. B. Lafont, 'Les filles du roi de Mari', in J.-M. Durand (ed.), Lafemme dans le
Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations,
1987), pp. 113-21(121).
27. Durand, 'Les dames du palais', p. 402.
28. ARMT 10.98.
29. Durand, 'L'Organisation de 1'espace', p. 85.
30. Simatum, a daughter of Zimri-Lim, requests that he send her an official seal of
lapis (ARM 10.95). Cited in J.-M. Durand, Trois etudes sur Mari', in MARI 3 (1984),
pp. 127-79 (166).
Seven queens appear on Hittite seals. These include seals with their own names and
joint seals with their husband or his successor(s). See Bin-Nun, Tawananna, pp. 165-80.
26 A Woman's Place is in the House
It appears that for the most part royal daughters communicated with their
parents directly and without interference. A particularly direct and desper-
ate plea was raised by Kiru, who complained in a series of letters that her
life was in danger at the court of Ilansura. She claimed her husband Haya-
Sumu would kill her and demanded that Zimri-Lim send someone to bring
her back to Mari.31 It appears that at some point she lost confidence in or
access to the court scribes of Ilansura. Jean-Marie Durand and others con-
clude that the 'barbarized Akkadian' of the later letters indicates she had 'to
resort to local scribes or that she herself possibly wrote the letters'.32
Reports from royal daughters sustained the confidence or raised the con-
cern of Zimri-Lim regarding the loyalty of his vassal kings. They provided
access to strategic military and political information and on occasion the
daughters recommended a particular course of action in response to such
information. Kiru, offering counsel to her father regarding the Haneen
troops, was confident that she spoke 'words from the gods' on this matter.33
The activity of the royal daughters/wives could not be called spying,
because their task was far more complex than gathering information for
one side. They were involved in building relationships between royal
realms, of providing the appropriate attention, counsel or pressure on
either 'side' to ensure the well-being of the nation, and each woman was
responsible for attending to her own future and the well-being of the royal
house(s).
Some daughters were able to carry out this access function successfully,
while others were not. Some husbands appreciated this connection and
some did not. Kiru writes to her father that her husband Haya-Sumu
accused her of spending all her time conversing with the servants and tell-
ing her father everything in the reports she sent home about Ilansura.34
Perhaps Haya-Sumu had something to hide; perhaps Kiru was inept in her
access role. In any case, the outcome was unpleasant for both of them and
for Kiru's parents.
A royal daughter's access to authority and her ability to broker acces-
sibility were not automatic, even under the stipulations of a diplomatic
marriage. It required personal and political skill to establish herself, not
only in relation to her husband, but also in relation to other women of the
court, including other wives of her husband. Not all royal women achieved
first rank in their new royal residence. Schulman notes concerning Egypt
that none of the 'wives of the king who owed their position at the court to
a diplomatic marriage [was] more than wives of the second or third rank.
None of them ever held the title of principal wife... "great wife of the
king", that is to say, "queen" '.35 Daughters would arrive with goods and
servants from their home countries, but as foreigners would have to estab-
lish contacts and confidences among the members of the royal court and
with her own husband. Inib-sarri, who married Ibal-Addu as part of Zimri-
Lim's actions in establishing Ibal-Addu as ruler in Aslakka, arrived in
Aslakka to discover that Ibal-Addu's first wife remained there as queen.36
While she may have exaggerated her conditions somewhat, more than per-
sonal pride and status were at stake. She was not able to carry out her job.
Inib-sarri makes clear that it is the first wife, the 'queen' in Aslakka, who
receives the people of the city and the king takes his rest and nourishment
in her presence.37 In Ilansura, while Kiru held the position of queen her sta-
tus in the court was so reduced that Simatum, her own sister and another
wife of Haya-Sumu, was removing Kiru's servants from her one by one.38
No single reason can account for the acceptance and rise of any royal
daughter in the kingdom of her husband. Nor was giving birth to a male
heir to the throne always the decisive factor in determining pre-eminence
among women. Though Sibru, wife of Zimri-Lim of Mari, may have given
birth to a son as one of a set of twins,39 she is not associated with any male
heir. While Zimri-Lim owed Yarim-Lim for protecting him after his father
was driven from kingship in Mari by the Assyrians and for restoring him
to rule in Mari, Zimri-Lim had at least two primary wives before Sibru
joined him in Mari, as well as numerous other women in his house, includ-
ing wives of the previous ruler Yasmah-Addu. No account is given of
Sibru's rise to chief wife or of the details of her relationship with her royal
stepdaughters and the other wives in Zimri-Lim's court. Several of the
other wives were also correspondents with Zimri-Lim on various matters.
The correspondence between Sibru and Zimri-Lim reflects both tender-
ness and concern for one another, and deep trust. Similar trust, respect and
40. Correspondence in the archives of the royal court in Ugarit contains the joint
seals of both Hittite royal couples. The women were active and visible in their
husbands' reigns and continued to exercise authority after their husbands' deaths. See
J. Nougayrol, Lepalais royal d'Ugarit. IV. Textes Accadiens des archives Sud (Mis-
sion de Ras Shamra, 9; Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1956), pp. 30, 60.
41. Queen Tiy's name appears on numerous scarabs and in monumental mortuary
art she is presented on an equal scale with her husband. See Robins, Women in Ancient
Egypt, p. 52.
42. B.S. Lesko observes that the 'most beautifully decorated of [the tombs in the
Valley of the Queens] belonged to the first queen of Ramses II, Nefertari-Merymut'
(The Remarkable Women of Ancient Egypt [Providence, RI: B.C. Scribe Publications,
3rd rev. edn, 1996], p. 24). Nefertari also engaged in separate correspondence with
King Hattusili III and Queen Puduhepa of Hatti during the development of a treaty of
peace and diplomatic relations between the two nations. See E. Edel, 'Zwei Original-
briefe der Konigsmutter Tujain Keilschrift', in H. Altenmiiller andD. Wildung (eds.),
Studien zur altdgyptischen Kultur (Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1974), pp. 105-
146(128-31).
43. Schulman, 'Diplomatic Marriage', p. 192.
44. Schulman ('Diplomatic Marriage', pp. 192-93) argues that 'diplomatic mar-
riages forged bonds between the two rulers, the father- or brother-in-law and the son-in-
law, but not between their respective states'. The distinction cannot be made, however.
The iconography, ideology and administration of kingdoms and city-states centered on
the ruling family. The state continued not only by means of the external relationships
maintained through marriage, but also the internal continuity provided by orderly suc-
cession of familial heirs.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 29
45. Since the texts also refer to divorce proceedings with the 'Daughter of the Great
Lady', it was initially assumed that Ammistararu had two unsuccessful marriages with
princesses of Amurru. J. Nougayrol published the texts and commentary in this way in
PRU, IV, pp. 125-48. The publication of RS 1957.1 as part of The Claremont Ras
Shamra Tablets provided confirmation of the equation of the 'Daughter of the Great
Lady', the 'Daughter of Bentesina', and the sister of Sausgamuwa. C. Kiihne demon-
strates this equation and it has been adopted into more recent discussions of these texts
('Ammistamru und die Tochter der "Grossen Dame'", UF5 [1973], pp. 175-84). See
W.H. van Soldt, Studies in the Akkadian of Ugarit: Dating and Grammar (AOAT;
Kevelaer: Verlag Butzon & Berker, 1991), p. 15; Aboud, Die Rolle des Konigs und
seiner Familie, pp. 31-32.
46. See Aboud, Die Rolle des Konigs und seiner Familie, p. 88.
47. RS 17.159 (PRU, IV, pp. 126-27).
30 A Woman's Place is in the House
of the deposed queen created a problem for both nations. The representa-
tive of Amurru was not the woman's father, but her brother, Sausgamuwa,
Under the terms of the settlement imposed by Initesub of Carchemish, the
woman was to reside somewhere other than the capital city of Amurru,
Sausgamuwa was to have no contact with her, and he was forbidden from
returning her to Ugarit.48 For some reason Ammistamru was not satisfied
with the settlement and pressed for the return of his wife, apparently con-
templating taking her by force. Sausgamuwa, getting wind of the plan, took
the offensive and compelled Ammistamru to sign a document officially
dropping the matter.49 Nevertheless, Sausgamuwa was instructed by Tud-
haliya to turn the woman over to Ammistamru for 1400 shekels of gold;
Ammistamru received permission to do as he wished to the woman. She
disappeared, likely having met a violent end.50 What is striking about this
incident is the extent to which the diplomatic relationship between these
two kingdoms was threatened not only by the divorce but also by the pre-
sence of the former queen. The death of the 'daughter of the Great Lady'
can be seen as punishment for her failure in carrying through the work of
'access'.
Industry
In addition to the networks of access that royal women were involved in
maintaining, they also had a key role in the economy of the palace. Those
women established in political marriages brought wealth with them in the
form of a dowry. The extensive and expensive dowry brought by Ahat-
milku into her marriage with Niqmepa V of Ugarit (c. 1314 BCE) is docu-
mented in the marriage contract.51 Dowries and the terhatum, 'bride gift',
paid to the father or brother of the bride were displays of status and tribute.
Dowries also formed the initial capital for the woman's household. In the
event of a divorce, the woman was allowed to take her initial investment
with her when she left. During the marriage, she and her staff contributed
to the overall economy of the royal house. She received regular allotments
48. RS 1957.1: L.R. Fisher, 'An International Judgment', in idem (ed.), The
ClaremontRas Shamra Tablets (AnOr, 48; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1971),
pp. 11-19(12).
49. RS 16.270 (PRU, IV, pp. 134-36).
50. ki-i hal-qa-at; RS 17.82 line 12 (PRU, IV, p. 147).
51. RS 16.146, 161 (PRU, III, pp. 182-86).
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 31
of supplies to provide for herself and her staff and she worked to expand
her own financial worth.
If the third-millennium texts from Ebla cast a light on the centuries to
follow, royal women were listed among those involved in textiles, grind-
ing and meal preparation.52 Royal women in Assyria were in regular
receipt of wool53 to be turned into clothing items for themselves and other
members of the household. Textiles were also one of the major compo-
nents of tribute sent between nations.54 It is not inappropriate to assume
that women had a hand in supervising and preparing these products. The
queen herself was generally listed on tribute lists just after the king as a
recipient of quantities of textiles or clothing.55 Queen Puduhepa, wife of
the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, wrote to Niqmaddu of Ugarit complaining
that she had not received the gold that was to be sent to her as part of the
tribute due from Ugarit. The king had received his share, but not she!56
Some texts show royal women carrying out administrative tasks in which
their authority supercedes that of the regular managers of an enterprise.
For example, Zimri-Lim asks Sibtu to sample jars of red wine and to send
some of the wine to him and some—probably as part of a diplomatic gift—
to Babylon. Two other wine officials are to assist her in this assignment.57
In another letter, Zimri-Lim instructs Sibtu to take responsibility for deal-
ing with a group of female captives, dividing the priestesses into one group
and the weavers (isparatim) into another.58 Again, two officials who nor-
mally have responsibility for captives are to be present while she carried
out this work. In a letter from Sibtu to Zimri-Lim she reports the details of
a shipment of clothing and other supplies that she is sending to him.59 The
text demonstrates her initiative to overcome delays in the transport. In
52. M.G. Biga, 'Femmes de la famille royale d'Ebla', in J.-M. Durand (ed.), La
femme dans le Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1987), pp. 41-47 (42).
53. SAA VII, 115 in P.M. Fales and J.N. Postgate, Imperial Administrative Records.
I. Palace and Temple Administration (SAA, 7; Helsinki: Helsinki University Press,
1992), pp. 121-25.
54. D. Pardee, 'The Letter of Puduhepa', AfO 29 (1984), pp. 321-39 (327).
55. E.g.RS 11.732 (/W, ffl, pp. 181-82) lists gifts from Ugarit to the Hittite king
and queen. The tributes to king and queen differed in amount, but not in category of
gift.
56. Pardee, 'Letter of Puduhepa', pp. 322, 325.
57. ARM 10.133.
58. ARM 10.126.
59. ARM 10.18.
32 A Woman's Place is in the House
among the witnesses on the contract (RS 17.325).66 The feminine sknt
appears on an economic text from Ugarit in which payment of 20 shekels
is made to a sknt, but no additional information on her responsibilities is
supplied.67
Comparable positions of governorship are viewed in the Assyrian royal
court. The male saknu (LU.GAR.MES) appears as commander over the
horses of the royal court68 and military troops,69 as governor of various
territories,70 and as manager of large households, including the palace at
Nuzi.71
The feminine sakintu is applied to the goddess Zarpanitu, 'the Lady of
Babylon', who is the governess of the Akitu House,72 and to female admin-
istrators associated with various royal palaces and business enterprises.
The sakintu of the royal palace73 had money to lend,74 bought slaves75 and
property,76 released people,77 could be sued,78 and could forfeit pledged
87. The 'saknu 's were the link between the administrative superstructure and the
division of the population into kisru units' (CAD S 17, p. 191).
88. Dalley and Postgate, Tablets from Fort Shalmaneser, p. 9.
89. ND 7088 records a large loan made by the female scribe of the queen's house
from the temple of Mulissu to a gentleman from outside the city. Dalley and Postgate
conclude on the basis of the timing of other loans that he may be among the farmers
needing assistance 'in the lean weeks before harvest' (Tablets from Fort Shalmaneser,
pp. 92-93, 13).
90. PRU,lll,pp. 83-84,162-63; Heltzer, Internal Organization of the Kingdom of
Ugarit, pp. 161, 162.
91. SAA 7.130,131,132 in Fales and Postgate, Imperial Administrative Records, I,
pp. 140-41.
92. SAA 6.251 and 252 in Kwasman and Parpola, Legal Transactions, I, pp.
200-201.
36 A Woman's Place is in the House
98. P. Springborg, Royal Persons: Patriarchal Monarchy and the Feminine Princi-
ple (London: Unwin Hyman, 1990), p. 9.
99. E.g. ARM 10.134: rev. 1-5.
100. F. Abdallah, 'La femme dans le royaume d'Alep au XVIIIe siecle av. J.C.', in
J.-M. Durand (ed.), La femme dans le Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33; Paris: Edi-
tions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1987), pp. 13-15 (14). Cf. G. Bardet et al.,
Archives abministrative de Mari I (ARMT, 23; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1984), p. 472.
101. P. Artzi and A. Malamat comment on the 'close ties and the good relations
prevailing between Sibtu and the high officials of Mari', in 'The Correspondence of
Sibtu, Queen of Mari in ARM X', Or NS 40 (1971), pp. 75-89 (81).
102. ARM 10.14 and 10.129.
38 A Woman's Place is in the House
they have been unfairly accused or misjudged.103 While Sibtu was not an
appointed judge, she was an actor in the system of royal justice as a
recipient and respondent in such pleas and by passing along other pleas
(probably with a recommendation) to the king.
It is clear from the correspondence that Sibtu, without benefit of the
titles 'deputy', 'chief counselor' or 'aide', actually carried out these func-
tions. Regarding the royal women of Mari, Batto observes, 'Rarely does
their power seem to be simply a matter of holding an office or possessing
an official title'.104 Sibtu's understanding of the duties of the monarchy
both domestically (e.g. providing guidance and support to local administra-
tors, providing food and legal protection to citizens) and internationally
(e.g. providing tribute and maintaining a wary eye on borders and troops)
make her a valuable and necessary actor on behalf of the royal house of
Mari. What is also evident from the correspondence is that Zimri-Lim
values her participation. In Sibtu and Zimri-Lim one sees, perhaps, the
ideal partnership between king and royal wife/royal daughter.
While the Mari archive provides a rare view into the breadth of a royal
woman's activities within the structure of monarchy, Sibtu is not the only
royal woman to achieve a level of trust and collaboration in her husband's
administration. More importantly, she was not the only woman to serve
her kingdom as an extension of the royal house through counsel, commu-
nication, judicial decision-making and attention to diplomatic and cultic
concerns. In the archives of diplomatic correspondence between Egypt and
the Hittite Empire during the time of Ramesses II, there are 26 remaining
letters from Ramesses II to Hatrusili III and 13 to Puduhepa, Hattusili's
wife. Puduhepa also wrote directly to Ramesses. In one letter (KUB 21.38),
she handles the delicate matter of calming the king's anger and explaining
the delay of his Hittite bride. Gary Beckman observes, 'Despite her occa-
sional resort to sarcasm.. .the Queen is clearly at pains to smooth over the
dispute'.105 Her mission was successful.
Not only did Puduhepa serve the kingdom during the time of her hus-
band's reign, but she was active during the reign of her son, Tudhaliya IV.
RS 17.133 records a judgment she rendered in the name of her son and had
delivered to king Ammistamru of Ugarit in a case involving a sunken boat
103. E.g. in ARM 10.114 Sibtu receives an appeal from Taris-Hattu who is accused
of stealing earrings and a silver bracelet. In ARM 10.160 Subnalu appeals to Sibtu to
intervene with an official to obtain a woman's release.
104. Batto, Studies on Women at Mari, p. 135.
105. Beckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts, p. 132.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 39
Cult
The ideology of kingship in the ancient Near East placed the king at the
center of the nation's relationship to the divine. For each nation there was
a divine origin of kingship, a corresponding chief divinity to whom the
earthly king was most closely bound, and divine involvement in the selec-
tion of the king, whether at conception (as in the Egyptian mythology), at
the time of ascension to the throne, or sometime in between. The cult was
the arena of communication between the divine and the earthly. Divine
involvement functioned to legitimate a ruler, but a king also had to prove
faithful in building and maintaining temples, offering sacrifices, carrying
out the appointed rituals, and inquiring of the gods before undertaking
campaigns. In view of the king's loyalty the god(s) provided the benefits
of prosperity, justice and peace to the peoples and the land. The rubrics for
cultic ceremonies and the artistic representations of such activity from
temples and burial sites focus chiefly on the king's role, but in each of
these kingdoms royal women were expected to be visible and take part in
the activities of the cult.
Wives and daughters of the Egyptian royal household, together with the
king or in separate scenes, are depicted offering sacrifice.112 In Nineveh,
Naqia/Zakutu is represented on a piece of bronze together with her son
(Esarhaddon) or grandson (Ashurbanipal). Both are depicted holding ritual
objects.113 In the Hittite New Kingdom, the queen assumed an Old King-
dom title, tawananna, and the priestly functions associated with it, in
service of a newly elevated deity, the sun goddess of Arinna. Cultic texts
from the Hittite New Kingdom present the 'King and Queen as a pair of
priests of the sun-goddess of Arinna who was the lady of the land'.114 As
priestess of Arinna, some queens used the title SAL AMA.DINGER
112. Lesko (Remarkable Women, p. 40) observes: 'Frequently in the late New King-
dom's tomb paintings and on stelae women are shown confronting the deity directly,
making offerings to it or performing rites for deceased family members.... They do not
seem to have been relegated to being merely musical accompanists in religious cere-
monies.'
113. A. Parrot and J. Nougayrol, 'Assarhaddon et Naqi'a sur un Bronze du Louvre
(AO 20.185)', Syria 33 (1956), pp. 147-60; J. Reade, 'Was Sennacherib a Feminist?',
in J.-M. Durand (ed.), Lafemme dans le Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33; Paris:
Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1987), pp. 139-45 (143-44).
114. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 204.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 41
('mother of the god'). On her seal, Puduhepa bore the title 'The servant of
the goddess'.115 The elevation of Arinna and the reintroduction of the priest-
ly title tawananna were an expansion of the royal ideology of the Hittite
kingdom that included an elevation of the theocratic role of the chief wife.
It was as priestly partner with the king in devotion to the chief national deity
that queens were politically established in the Hittite New Kingdom. Their
identity as queen and priestess is inseparable.116
A chief responsibility of kings in the ancient Near East was temple
building. Royal women, including daughters, also play major roles in the
construction, decoration and maintenance of temples and statues. There is
evidence from Egypt of royal women involved in the construction of cult
sites117 and being honored by their husbands in temple monuments and
inscriptions.118 The oracle textKUB XXII70 describes gold wreaths dedi-
cated by the Queen Tawananna119 to Hittite deities. Sarah Chamberlin Mel-
ville notes the involvement of Naqia/Zakutu 'in religious rites and temple
administration in.. .the three main urban centers in Assyria, Assur, Calah,
and Nineveh; and two important cities in other parts of the empire, Harran
and Borsippa'.120 The queen mother in Assyria is also recorded as having
made payments in silver to the temple121 and animal offerings, which in-
cluded in one month '1 ox, 3 sisalhu-oxen, 4 female calves, 24 sheep, 4
ducks'.122 A bead inscribed with the following text likely once adorned the
statue of an Assyrian god:
To the god [...], Zakutu, the queen of Sennacherib, king of the land of
Assur, for the life of Esarhaddon, king of the land of Assur, her son and for
her own life, has donated.123
122. SAA 7.175, lines rev. 13-16 in Fales and Postgate, Imperial Administrative
Records, I, p. 176.
123. M. van de Mieroop, 'An Inscribed Bead of Queen Zakutu', in M.E. Cohen,
D.C. Snell and D.B. Weisberg (eds.), The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies
in Honor of William W. Hallo (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 1993), pp. 259-61 (259).
124. E.g. ARM 10.4 and 100 in which Sibtu reports prophecies related to military
events.
125. SAA 9.1.8 in S. Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies (SAA, 9; Helsinki: Helsinki
University Press, 1997), p. 9.
126. SAA 9.1.1 in Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, p. 4.
127. ANET, pp. 393-94.
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 43
servant of thine from old, a heifer from thy stable'. The queen expects the
necessary political effect to result from modeling perfect devotion to the
high goddess of Hatti.
Another example of the dynamic interconnection between cult and state
politics is the appointment of royal daughters as priestesses. In the late
third millennium, Sargon I appoints his daughter Enheduanna as en-pries-
tess of the moon god Nanna at Ur. In so doing, he gains a local presence
and visible public leadership for his rule through visible leadership in
devotion to the chief local god. Enheduanna's effectiveness in this role is
undeniable and her theological positioning of the rule of Akkad in Ur is
unmistakable. Her composition, 'The Exaltation of Inanna',128 represents
not only the oldest non-anonymous literature in existence, but is an elo-
quent work of devotion and politics. This 'strategic placement of the king's
daughter.. .in a traditional office...', observes Irene J. Winter, 'should be
seen in the larger context of a display of ritual continuity with the past that
served some of the political ends of the early Akkadian dynasty—particu-
larly divine sanction for its legitimacy'.129 Maintaining the connection of
the dynasty to the cult can also be seen in the action of Puduhepa, Queen
of Hatti, who commissioned the collection of the New Year Festival
tablets.130 The king and queen both have an important role in that festival.
The expansion and unification of an empire through royal women's
cultic leadership can also be seen in first-millennium Egypt. The position
of 'God's Wife of Amun', which had been a major title and primary
priestly activity of the queen in the Eighteenth Dynasty and represented
the dynasty's roots in Thebes, is revived in the later period by the royal
family based in the North. As part of the political effort to link the two
parts of the country and to maintain control of temple properties and hold-
ings, royal daughters are appointed 'God's Wife of Amun'. At times this
results in the God's Wife having more prominence in the South than the
male high priestly dynasty.131
128. 'Hymnal Prayer of Enheduanna: The Adoration of Inanna in Ur' (ANET, pp.
579-82).
129. I.J. Winter, 'Women in Public: The Disk of Enheduanna, the Beginning of the
Office of En-Priestess, and the Weight of Visual Evidence', in J.-M. Durand (ed.), La
femme dans le Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33; Paris: Editions Recherche sur les
Civilisations, 1987), pp. 189-201 (200-201).
130. H. Often, Puduhepa: Ein hethitische Konigen in ihren Textzeugnissen (Mainz:
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, 1975).
131. R.A. Caminos, 'The Nitocris Adoption Stela', JEA 50(1964), pp. 71-101 (97);
Robins, 'God's Wife of Amun', pp. 65-78.
44 A Woman's Place is in the House
132. See Batto's discussion of her identity in Studies on Women at Mari, p. 91 n. 38.
133. ARM 21.104.
134. ARM 10.42.
135. See Batto's argument regarding Sippar as the location of the temple mentioned
in ARM 10.38 line 10 (Studies on Women at Mari, pp. 94-96).
136. Batto observes: 'Apart from the obvious religious advantage of having a
personal representative before Samas, Zimri-Lim may have been influenced by the
prestige of having a daughter among the Sippar nadiatum, as did his contemporaries on
the throne in Babylon' (Studies on Women at Mari, pp. 98-99).
137. Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, p. 37.
138. While the Egyptians did not have a kispu ritual, it is interesting to note that
when Hatshepsut became king in Egypt she gave honor to the memory of her father,
not her husband. This was part of her presentation of the legitimacy of her reign.
139. This queen, who was originally from Babylon, bore the name Tawananna in
addition to holding the office oftawananna (Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 51).
1. Who Are the Royal Women of the Ancient Near East? 45
against Mursili himself.140 At one point Mursili had shared a joint seal
with his father's widow.141 The accuracy of the charges against Tawananna
is difficult to assess and they could be, as Shoshana Bin-Nun suggests,
'excuses in order to get rid of an unwanted old queen' ,142 Guilty or not, the
charges reveal that the tawananna had access to temple treasuries. In
addition, her cultic activity was so integrated into the life of the nation that
it required a political act by a group of leaders other than the king to effect
her removal. This procedure and the fact that Tawananna had been very
visible in her husband's reign strongly suggest that the accusations were
part of a power struggle between the new king, Mursili, and the tawanan-
na. Each had his or her own supporters and treasury. Mursili gained the
upper hand, but not unilaterally, and not without cautious construction of
the charges against her. Casting spells and introducing foreign elements
are highly charged accusations and promote a fear of the queen's legitimate
cultic power.143
There is no record of the charges made against the other woman
removed from the position of tawananna in the Empire period, that is,
Danuhepa who was removed by Hattusili III. Bin-Nun notes, however,
that 'the queen had a whole population...and officers...under her com-
mand' and later mention is made by Tudhaliya IV of'the cities which had
belonged to Danuhepa'.144 Again, at the heart of the conflict appear to be
issues of politics and control. These are inseparable, however, from cultic
participation and representation.
While the involvement of royal women in cultic leadership and service
is documented as part of the activity of the various ancient Near Eastern
royal houses, it is not represented in the founding mythologies of kingship
in any of those lands. As Shoshana Bin-Nun observes about the Hittite
documents, The king alone was accepted as ruler without having to share
his power with anybody. The theme of the myth is the origin of Hittite
Dynasty
The hereditary nature of rule is a denning element of monarchy as a form
of government.151 Hence, family is the central core of the monarchy. In its
various forms, family provides for the birth, nurture, training, protection,
counsel and installation of leadership from one generation to the next. As
demonstrated above, family also provides the networks of individuals,
relationships and activities that equip and sustain the individual ruler as
well as carry out the broad responsibilities of service to kingdom and cult.
Dynastic family rule is intended to ensure constancy and continuity, for
the political, social, physical and theological well-being of the land. Even
though it takes only one son to carry on the dynasty, it takes a family to
provide that son and to conduct the business of royal governance.
Though the monarchies of the ancient Near East count women among
their chief rulers, co-regents and vice-regents, they nevertheless conduct
dynastic succession in terms of male heirs. The family must produce a
male heir. While the rule of primogeniture is a general assumption govern-
ing succession, the father's favor appears to have provided the legitimating
factor. Quite often younger sons inherit the throne; most times there is no
explanation of the father's decision. This has led to the suspicion in
scholarship that the mothers of these heir-designates have interfered with
the process to bring about the upset in the succession order. 'Interfering' is
a pejorative word, suggesting that the process was intended to run auto-
matically without decision or confirmation on the part of the king. If the
'interference' of royal mothers were considered a problem for monarchy,
then one would expect to see some form of ruling against it. None exists.152
It is safer to assume that part of the responsibility of the king was to select
and curry support for his chosen successor. No single factor determined
that choice. Royal women legitimately entered into that decision at several
points.
Some heirs are designated as part of marriage contracts between royal
states. For example, in the treaty between Hattusili III of Hatti and Ben-
tesina of Amurru, Hattusili declares:
[I have given] Princess Gassuliyawiya to the land of Amurru, to the royal
house, to Benteshina, [as] his wife. She now possesses queenship [in the
152. The only rule is that established by Hattusili I against the Old Kingdom
tawananna. This forbids the mother of the crown prince from advancing the cause of
her son, but her son was, by law, the designee. The king had no say in the matter. To
halt the political activity of his own sister during his reign, Hattusili I stripped his sister
of her post. As Bin-Nun suggests, however, 'Hattusili's fight against his sister does not
appear as a quarrel over the succession... It was the Tawananna's power and influence
which were rejected by the king as dangerous to the country' (Tawananna, p. 106).
48 A Woman's Place is in the House
land] of Amurru. In the future the son and grandson of my daughter shall
[exercise] kingship in the land of Amurru.153
157. SAA 2.8 in Parpola and Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths,
pp. 62-64.
158. Z. Ben-Barak, 'The Queen Consort and the Struggle of Succession to the
Throne', in J.-M. Durand (ed.), Lafemme dans le Proche-Orient Antique (CRRAI, 33;
Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations 1987), pp. 33-40 (39).
159. Melville appropriately questions common scholarly assumptions about the
broad extent of Naqia/Zakutu's authority, particularly the claims that she ruled in
Babylonia at some point during the reign of her son Esarhaddon and that her rule grew
in light of the perceived 'weakness' of her son. Melville suggests that 'if Naqia
50 A Woman's Place is in the House
wielded real power during the reign of her son it can only be because Esarhaddon
sanctioned it... She did not, therefore, start her son's reign from an established posi-
tion of great authority. There was no reason that Esarhaddon would have had to put up
with his mother's interference when he was king. If he had not wanted her to be power-
ful he could simply have confined her to the palace or one of her estates' (The Role of
Naqia, p. 32). However, kings were not as free to discard the 'interference' of their
mothers, as Murslli III was well aware (see above, nn. 140-42). The system of mon-
archy itself and the legacy Naqia/Zakutu brought to the position of queen mother as
widow of the former king offered initial sanction for her exercise of power.
Chapter 2
Chapter 1 described the activities royal women carry out within the func-
tions of monarchy. This chapter explores the space royal women are
assigned within reconstructions of ancient palace life. Specifically, this
section focuses on the limits of the term 'harem' in representing and inter-
preting women's places in the royal house.
1. Hanigalbat writes to the Hittite king:' Greetings to you, to the house of women
and to your country'; cf. 4:4 in H.G. Guterbock, Siegel aus Bogazkoy, II (AfO, 7; Osna-
briick: Biblio-Verlag, 1967), p. 82. Cited in CAD S 15, p. 292.
2. Artzi and Malamat, 'The Correspondence of Sibtu', p. 75.
52 A Woman's Place is in the House
It is rather surprising that the Hebrew Bible has no specific term for the
royal women's quarters within the palace, that is, the harem... Now, at least
some of the kings of Judah and Israel, such as David, Solomon, and
Rehoboam, married many wives... Thus, we may assume that in the pal-
aces of Jerusalem and in the capital cities in the Northern Kingdom special
quarters were set aside to accommodate royal ladies, similar to the harems
throughout the ancient Near East and later in the Islamic and Ottoman
Empires... [W]e need to look for an alternative word in the Bible for harem,
one denoting the physical realm of the women's quarters deep within the
palace.16
16. A. Malamat, 'Is There a Word for the Royal Harem in the Bible? The Inside
Story', in D.P. Wright, D.N. Freedman and A. Hurvitz (eds.), Pomegranates and
Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law and Literature
in Honor of Jacob Milgrom (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995), pp. 785-87 (785-
86). In the book of Esther, the king gathers the most beautiful women from the
provinces and brings them to the bet hannasim ('the house of women': Est. 2.3).
17. Ps. 45.14 (MT); 2 Kgs 7.11; 2 Chron. 29.18.
18. Malamat, 'Is There a Word for the Royal Harem?', p. 787.
19. English translation in M.T. Roth, Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia
Minor (Writings from the Ancient World, 6; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), pp. 195-209.
20. E. Weidner, 'Hof- und Harems-Erlasse assyrischer Konige aus dem 2. Jahr-
tausend v. Chi\AfO 17 (1954-56), pp. 257-93 (265).
21. Roth, Law Collections, p. 196.
2. Women's Place in the House 55
sent by the king to the royal women to '(first) report to the palace com-
mander' before delivering a message,29 direct capital punishment for blas-
phemy on the part of any royal woman,30 and instruct court attendants and
royal eunuchs to stay out of earshot of the singing and conversation of
royal women, to stand no closer than seven paces when speaking with a
palace woman, and not to go near a palace woman who has bare shoulders
even when summoned.31 Zones of separation are clearly enforced but there
is no label given to a particular palace location. There is mention of women
being ina hule ('on the road/way'), translated as 'Processional Residence'
and presumed to be 'a residence or private quarters',32 and of sending a
messenger 'ana muhhi [ ]', reconstructed as 'to [the quarters of the palace
women]'.33
Two different concepts of space appear to be operative in these decrees.
One relates to a physical location: the living quarters of women of the
palace. The other relates to separation between people on the basis of gen-
der, rank and task. The latter is not limited to a particular location within
the palace building. The distinction between the two is important to note
since the identification and ranking of women of the palace come not from
where they reside in the palace, but from their position in the royal house-
hold. In addition, it is possible to preserve sharp boundaries of separation
without confining all royal women in one particular location. The decrees
themselves depict mobility with separation. The concept of 'harem' as 'for-
bidden or unlawful... sacred, inviolable, or taboo'34 can best be applied to
a class of royal persons and not limited to a corner of the palace structure.
The Middle Assyrian Palace Decrees apply to the palace as a whole35
and govern male and female personnel from the overseer of the palace
(ukal ekalli) to the baker (nuhatimmu\ from the mother of the king (ummi
sarri) to the female servant (amtu). Gender segregation is obvious. The
decrees, however, do not provide a picture of the responsibilities, relative
status and degree of interaction among these different positions.
41. Malamat, 'Is There a Word for the Royal Harem?', p. 785.
42. A.L. Croutier, Harem: The World Behind the Veil (New York: Abbeville Press,
1989).
43. Croutier, Harem, p. 38.
44. Croutier, Harem, p. 106.
45. Croutier, Harem, p. 173.
2. Women's Place in the House 59
Peirce notes that sex was not absent from the Turkish harem:
It was not a random activity. Sex in the imperial harem was necessarily
surrounded with rules, and the structure of the harem was aimed in part at
shaping, and thus controlling, the outcome of the sultan's sexual activity.
Sexual relations between the sultan and chosen women of the harem were
embedded in a complex politics of dynastic reproduction.
Peirce observes that political maturity for women within the Turkish
Imperial Household was tied to sexual maturity, particularly motherhood
She points out that concubines began to demonstrate their 'political power
and wealth (symbolized by their assumption of the privilege of public
46. R. Gost, Der Harem (Cologne: Dumont Buchverlag, 1993), p. 10. See also
Croutier, Harem, pp. 173-201.
47. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. 3.
48. Croutier, Harem, pp. 103, 105.
49. N.M. Penzer, The Harem: An Account of the Institution as It Existed in the
Palace of the Turkish Sultans with a History of the Grand Seraglio from its Foundation
to the Present Time (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1937), p. 14.
50. Peirce, Imperial Harem, p. 3.
60 A Woman's Place is in the House
building)...only after their sexual role ended, when the sultan either
ceased to have sexual contact with them or died'.51 The highest-ranking
woman of the Empire was the valide sultan, a position tied to motherhood
and achieved after the death of her spouse.
The studies by Alev L. Croutier, Roswitha Gost and Leslie Peirce sug-
gest the need for careful re-examination of the data about Turkish harems
before making analogies to ancient Near Eastern palace life. The term
'harem', if used at all, must be carefully described and cautiously applied
to the ancient monarchies. Analogy cannot be the basis for assuming that
such an institution existed in all ancient monarchies and that it was organ-
ized in the same manner as that of the Ottoman Imperial House.
While caution needs to be exercised in reconstructing ancient monar-
chies on the basis of analogy to Turkish harems, evidence from the Otto-
man Empire may, nevertheless, provide new insights useful in interpreting
the ancient data. In particular, data from Turkish harems can challenge
the common assumption that gender segregation indicates limited and
restricted involvement on the part of women.
63. Durand and Margueron, 'La question du harem royal', pp. 253-80.
64. Durand and Margueron, 'La question du harem royal', p. 274.
65. Durand and Margueron, 'La question du harem royal', p. 278.
66. Within this section there are records of Sibtu's food expenditures carrying her
seal (Room 40), correspondence of Queen Akatiya (mother of Yasmah-Addu) and
Addu-dur (possibly the mother of Zimri-Lim) both in Room 110, letters to Sibtu
(Rooms 51 and 52), administrative records relating to female captives (Room 52),
records of financial activity and property of chief women (Room 52), and the archives
of Inib-sina, sister of Zimri-Lim (Room 52). Other correspondence is found in the area
around the workshops, where the women's requests for jewelry and other work were
sent. See Durand, 'L'organisation de 1'espace', pp. 81-84.
67. Durand and Margueron, 'La question du harem royal', p. 279.
68. A bit beltim is mentioned in ARM 13.26:9. Cited in Batto, Studieson Womenat
Mari, p. 28.
69. Durand and Margueron, 'La question du harem royal', p. 280.
70. M.E.L. Mallowan, Nimrud and its Remains, II (London: Collins, 1966), p. 382.
64 A Woman's Place is in the House
in a corner (tubuqum) and placed her under guard while his other wife
publicly receives tribute.71 Though it is tempting to define the purposes
and conditions of a women's residence on the basis of Inib-sarri's com-
plaint, she does not indicate that she shares the fate of other palace women.
She treats the guard as an exceptional act of provocation. While, no doubt,
Inib-sarri's confinement was most unpleasant she was at the same time
actively involved in diplomatic negotiations, corresponding with one king
and challenging the actions of another. She did not need to be present in
the throne room to carry out her royal functions.
A women's residence within the central palace is clearly not the only
model. It appears that even the smaller kingdoms had more than one royal
residence. There is reference, for example, in the Mari texts to the
'Palace/Court of Palms'72 and to four palaces outside of the capital (Terqa,
Sagaratum, Dur-Yahdun-Lim, Qattunan).73 The Middle Assyrian Palace
Decrees refer to various royal residences in the city (ekalldte sa libit libbi
die) as well as the lusmu-house and the river house (bit naru).14 Some pal-
aces were built specifically for queens, such as that dedicated by Sennach-
erib at Nineveh for Tasmetum-sarrat.75 Some were built by queens, such as
the one at Nineveh built for her son Esarhaddon by Naqia/Zakutu, another
wife and widow of Sennacherib.76 Some palaces were estates primarily for
royal women, such as the Egyptian Harem at Miwer.
Each palace was a center of economic, diplomatic, judicial, cultic and
dynastic activities in addition to being a residence for the members of the
royal family and their staff. Though it may be possible to identify resi-
dences in palace floor plans, it is not possible to isolate the activities
carried out there from the functions of the royal household and, therefore,
of the kingdom.
77. Durand, '^organisation de Fespace', pp. 84-85; idem, 'Les dames du palais',
pp. 395-96.
78. Durand, 'L'organisation de Pespace', pp. 85-86.
79. There is no evidence that the chief wife or queen mother was incorporated into
a victor's house.
80. Durand, 'Les dames du palais', p. 389.
66 A Woman's Place is in the House
of conflicted succession suggests that the status of these women was not
solely determined by their relationship (sexual or not) to one or another
king. They were also not confined to the palace in Mari, but left it at times
to reside elsewhere.81
Was it lack of time, as Durand suggests, that explains why Yasmah-
Addu left his 'harem' behind when Zimri-Lim gained possession of Mari82
or was it political strategy? Could Yasmah-Addu expect to shelter and
provide for these women wherever he fled, and how useful would they be
to him without their various political and economic networks? The ration
lists from Mari demonstrate remarkable stability among the women of
the palace in spite of major disruptions in the position of king. Perhaps
Yasmah-Addu was hoping to pick up where he left off should he be
returned to power at Mari.
New kings appear to have made changes at the level of the first wives.
Even in cases of internal or external usurpation of the throne, this some-
times involved marrying the daughter(s) of the previous king. After Samsi-
Addu captured the city of Mari, he established his son Yasmah-Addu as
king there. Yasmah-Addu married princesses from Mari. Durand observes
that through these marriages Yasmah-Addu became part of the 'House of
Mari' and this is why 'Zimri-Lim later considered him as one of his
predecessors and not as a usurper'.83 Maria Brosius observes something
similar in the Persian Period where Darius I, who followed Cyrus the Mede
on the throne but was not himself a member of the royal house, married
'royal daughters of the early Persian kings to ensure that, as his sons, their
offspring would support his kingship rather than contest it'.84 This action
preserved the continuity of the royal house and provided Darius protection
against the more immediate challenges to the legitimacy of his rule.
When a royal son succeeded his father to the throne, the women of the
father's house came under the son's care. The son was responsible for
their provision and for arranging marriages for the unmarried women of
that household so as to preserve and continue the dynasty. The son did not
marry his father's chief wife. The transfer of women from one generation
of leader to the next served as a stabilizing factor in a potentially danger-
ous period of transition. By offering continuing care for the royal women,
the new ruler secured continuing benefit from the networks of property,
personnel and influence controlled by the women. The continued presence
of the chief wife of the former king—now the queen mother—symbolized
the continuity of the dynasty and the legitimacy of the new reign.
In conclusion, the 'place' of royal women in the ancient Near East is
complex and dynamic. Wherever they reside they are engaged in the
functions of the royal house. From their individual positions in the
hierarchy of women and collectively as an organizational network of
women, they participate in shaping and preserving the royal house and
extending its work domestically and internationally. As the inherited corps
of the royal house from generation to generation, they have a central place
in symbolizing and effecting dynastic continuity.
texts and the neo-BabyIonian texts.85 She observes that 'the Archaemenid
court modelled its court structure on practices known from the Neo-Baby-
lonian (and possibly Neo-Elamite) court'86 and 'that the king's mother and
the king's wife held an important position at court, that these women
represented the top of the hierarchical structure among the royal women,
and that they had rights and obligations that belonged with their status and
not only allowed but also obliged them to act in a certain way'.87 She sees
no evidence of royal women's seclusion or confinement, noting that 'Royal
women regularly interacted with male members of the family in the ex-
change of goods, joint appearances on travels, and other economic activi-
ties'.88 She concludes:
Royal women enjoyed a position which allowed them free disposition of
the produce of their estates reflected in their ability to give their own orders
to officials, to use their own seal and to employ their own bureaucratic staff
to execute their affairs. These women also had their own centres of manu-
facture and their own workforce.89
91. Aboud, Die Rolle des Konigs und seiner Familie; Heltzer, Internal Organiza-
tion of the Kingdom ofUgarit.
92. Sally Slocum notes 'the tendency...to look at culture almost entirely from a
male point of view; to search for examples of the behavior of males and assume that
this is sufficient for explanation'. She suggests that 'the basis of any discipline is not
the answers it gets, but the questions it asks', basing her inquiry on the question: 'what
were the females doing while the males were out hunting?' ('Woman the Gatherer:
Male Bias in Anthropology', in R.R. Reiter [ed.], Toward an Anthropology of Women
[New York: Monthly Review Press, 1975], pp. 36-50 [49]).
93. M.Z. Rosaldo, 'Women, Culture and Society: A Theoretical Overview', in
M.Z. Rosaldo and L. Lamphere (eds.), Women, Culture, and Society (Stanford, CA:
Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 17-42 (17).
70 A Woman's Place is in the House
In this study, however, the goal of asking 'what are the women in the
monarchy doing?' is not to assign them a ranking of status and power
relative to the king and other male royal officials. It is, instead, to factor
their presence and involvement into the perceptions of Judah's monarchy
and into the interpretation of the narratives presenting that monarchy.
Consequently, Part II of this study then asks, considering the involve-
ment of royal -women, what does the royal house ofJudah look like? This
question pursued in the readings presented in Chapters 4-6 surfaces a
variety of thematic, rhetorical, theological, ideological and political in-
sights to inform, challenge and contribute to the discussions and descrip-
tions of the 'house' of Judah.
Part II
Chapter 3
The biblical books of Samuel and Kings regularly and systematically con-
nect women with Judah's monarchy. At the beginning of 1 Samuel a vision
for Yahweh's agenda for the nation and relationship to the king is voiced
by Hannah (1 Sam. 2.1-10), who in her role as mother shapes the future of
her son, ultimately leading to the monarchy in Judah. At the end of Judah's
history the king and the queen mother, representing the royal house, head
the march of exiles to Babylon (2 Kgs 24.12). In the chapters between
there are many female characters—major and minor, royal and non-royal—
who factor into the story of Judah's monarchy.
In the biblical text royal women appear in two places they do not appear
in the historical materials: (1) in the regnal reports (King Lists) located
throughout the books of Kings; and (2) in the narratives about the mon-
archy. The first of these will be considered in this chapter. The second will
be raised in Chapters 5 through 7.
The profile of royal women in the biblical text resembles in many ways
that of their Assyrian, Ugaritic, Hittite and Egyptian neighbors. However
different the empires may have been in size and ideology, the monarchy of
Judah appears to have functioned 'like the other nations'. Like its neigh-
bors, Judah's royal women are chiefly the mothers, wives and daughters of
kings.
The biblical text also demonstrates the same lack ofconsistency in apply-
ing administrative titles to women as was observed among Judah's neigh-
bors. No woman in Judah's monarchy appears in the biblical text with the
title 'queen' (malka). The term is attested in Hebrew and is even used in
the Deuteronomistic History, but only in reference to the queen of Sheba
(1 Kgs 10.1, 4, 10, 13; 2 Chron. 9.1, 3, 9, 12). It is used in Jeremiah in
reference to the 'queen of heaven' (Jer. 7.18; 44.17,18,19,25), in Song of
Songs to refer to an unidentified group of' queens '(6.8,9), and in the book
of Esther to refer to Vashti and Esther. While the fact that Judah's neigh-
bors also made limited use of feminine royal titles does not explain the
3. Who Are the Royal Women of the Hebrew Bible? 73
absence of the title 'queen' in the biblical text, it does warn against con-
cluding that absence of title is indicative of absence of activity, power and
significance.
The limited use of royal titles in the biblical text extends to both men
and women. The sons of the kings of Judah receive no consistent designa-
tion such as 'first-born' or 'prince'. The princely title sar is reserved for
royal officials (e.g. 1 Kgs 4.2). The feminine sard is used to refer to
queens of other nations (e.g. sdrot parallel to meldkim in Isa. 49.23) and to
the royal wives of Solomon (1 Kgs 11.3). The sdrot of Solomon totaled
700 and were joined by 300pilagstm. The term sdrot may do double duty
in this passage in referencing their heritage as princesses from foreign
kingdoms and their status as royal women in Judah.
The gebira
A title that does appear in reference to royal women in Israel and Judah is
gebira. Technically, the term refers to a woman with servants, a 'lady' or
'mistress'.1 It is used in this way to identify Sarai (Gen. 16.4, 8, 9) and
Naaman's wife (2 Kgs 5.3). The gebird's status in society and her ruling
authority as parallel to that of the 'master' ('ddori) are demonstrated in Ps.
123.2, Prov. 30.23 and Isa. 24.2. This parallelism is carried onto the politi-
cal stage in Isa. 47.5, 7 where Babylon is represented as the 'mistress of
the nations' (geberet mamldkof). The term also has a specific royal use.
Solomon's adversary Hadad the Edomite marries the sister of Tahpenes,
the gebird (1 Kgs 11.19). Since Tahpenes is the wife of the pharaoh of
Egypt, her status and function are as queen.
There are five references to a gebird during the monarchies of Israel and
Judah. The reference in each case is to a queen mother. In 1 Kgs 15, King
Asa of Judah, carrying out national religious reform, removes his mother
Maacah from being gebird because of some 'horrible thing' she made for
Asherah. Maacah carries the same title, gebird, in the report of this inci-
dent in 2 Chron. 15.16.
A second royal woman is called gebird in 2 Kgs 10.13. Jehu encounters
the 'brothers' of Ahaziah king of Judah who report that they are on their
way to the 'sons of the king' and the 'sons of the gebird'. Here the gebird
appears as a royal position parallel to melek. Her 'sons' have a status com-
parable to the 'sons of the king'. In the context of the revolt in 2 Kgs 10,
the gebird is likely Jezebel, widow of King Ahab and mother of King
Jehoram. If the term 'sons' refers to military officers and not physical
brothers, as T.R. Hobbs suggests,2 it would appear that the gebird had a
contingent of military forces.
The pair melek and gebird is also prominent at the end of the Judean
monarchy. In Jer. 13.18 the prophet proclaims the fall of the monarchy:
'Say to the king and the gebird', "Take a lowly seat, for your crown of
splendor has come down from your heads'". The particular king and
gebird are not identified in this passage; the pair could be Jehoiachin and
Nehushta (cf. 2 Kgs 24.8-17) or Zedekiah and Hamutal (2 Kgs 24.18-20).
In Jeremiah's report of the first deportation, Jehoiachin and the gebird head
the list of those 'sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar' (Jer. 29.2-3).
From the references in 1-2 Kings and Jeremiah it appears that the title
gebird was one recognized and applied through at least the major portion
of the monarchical period in Judah. It was, apparently, a familiar enough
title that it required no explanation in the text when the Deuteronomistic
History was composed. The bearers of the title were well known enough
that it was possible to refer to the 'king and the gebird' without specific
names attached. The gebird is mentioned in connection with the cultic,
dynastic and political activity of the monarchy. Since the mother of the
king appears to hold the title gebird through successive reigns (e.g. Jezebel
through both Ahaziah's and Jehoram's reign), Israel and Judah seem to
have followed the pattern of their neighbors allowing the mother of the
king to retain her status even after the death of her son.
Defining the status of the gebird has engendered much discussion over
the past 30 years. G. W. Ahlstrom, for example, argues that gebird 'must
have been an office, since its occupant could be dismissed'. Ahlstrom con-
cludes the term 'thus means more than simply being the king's mother'.3
Using the example of Bathsheba, Niels Andreasen concludes that 'the chief
function of the position of the queen mother in Jerusalem was that of senior
counsellor to king and people'.4 Drawing particularly upon analogies to
2. T. Hobbs, 2 Kings (WBC, 13; Waco, TX: Word Books, 1985), p. 128.
3. G.W. Ahlstrom, Aspects of Syncretism in Israelite Religion (Horae Soeder-
blomianae, 5; trans. E.J. Sharpe; Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1963), p. 61. Ahlstrom em-
phasizes the gebird's role in cuitic matters, suggesting that 'the queen mother may
once, as consort of the king, have symbolized the virgin goddess in the hieros gamos
ceremony' (p. 75).
4. N.E.A. Andreasen, 'The Role of the Queen Mother in Israelite Society', CBQ
45 (1983), pp. 179-94(191).
3. Who Are the Royal Women of the Hebrew Bible? 75
Ugaritic and Hittite royal women in reading the biblical text, Ktziah
Spanier concludes 'the Queen mother was the most powerful female in the
Judean royal family'.5 Moreover, the 'source of each woman's authority
was her ancestry, and the extent of her power was determined by the initial
terms of her marriage contract and, ultimately, by the agreements which
the marriage ratified' .6 Most recently, Susan Ackerman has proposed that
within the state and popular cult in Judah many regarded Asherah as con-
sort of Yahweh. If Yahweh were the divine father, Asherah represented
the divine mother. If the king represented Yahweh on earth, the queen
mother represented Asherah. Ackerman suggests that the queen mother's
position within the cult is the basis for her other socio political responsi-
bilities.7
In discussing the gebird in Judah, Ackerman, Spanier and others draw
upon Shoshana Bin-Nun's study of the Hittite tawananna. Bin-Nun has
shown that in pre-Hittite Anatolia and in the Hittite Old Kingdom the
tawananna was a priestess. She was not the queen, but the sister of the
king (or his aunt, the sister of his father). An edict by King Hattusili ban-
ishing the tawananna, Bin-Nun notes, 'make[s] it quite clear that her office
had brought her into close contact with the people and the king's servants
and that the prohibition was intended to deprive her of her power and
influence' .8 In addition, the tawananna was at one point the 'mother of the
heir presumptive to the Hittite throne',9 a remnant of an earlier system of
'brother-succession' and brother-sister marriage that was later outlawed.10
In the period of the Empire the title tawananna was transferred to the
queen along with the priestly functions. The tawananna-queen served as
high priestess of the highest goddess, the sun-goddess of Arinna who
5. K. Spanier, 'The Northern Israelite Queen Mother in the Judaean Court: Athal-
iah and Abi', in M. Lubetski, C. Gottlieb and S. Keller (eds.), Boundaries of the
Ancient Near Eastern World: A Tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon (Sheffield: Sheffield Aca-
demic Press, 1998), p. 136.
6. K. Spanier, 'The Queen Mother in the Judaean Royal Court: Maacah—A Case
Study', in A. Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to Samuel and Kings (The Feminist
Companion to the Bible, 5; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), pp. 186-95
(187).
7. S. Ackerman, Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and
Biblical Israel (ABRL; New York: Doubleday, 1998), pp. 138-54; idem, 'The Queen
Mother and the Cult in Ancient Israel', JBL 112.3 (1993), pp. 385-401.
8. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 74.
9. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 105
10. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 158
76 A Woman's Place is in the House
guided kingship and queenship.1' As was the practice in the Old Kingdom,
there could be only one tawananna at a time. A qneen/tawananna who
lived on after her husband the king's death would continue in 'her position
for life unless she was deposed by a legal court'.12 In the Empire period,
the tawananna appears to have had no involvement in matters of succes-
sion. At least three queens (Daduhepa, Tawananna and Danuhepa13) were
'not the mothers of the heir to the throne'.14
Zafrira Ben-Barak objects to any attempt to assign status or rights to the
gebira in Judah and Israel.15 She argues that the biblical evidence is so
scant that 'no comprehensive theory can be developed.. .in regard to the
Two paragraphs later Bin-Nun notes: 'Besides her partnership with the
king the queen held some independent power as is evident from the seals
on which she appears alone'.21 Bin-Nun makes similar observations about
the limits and the extent to which the tawananna exercised power at other
points in her study.22 She is not being inconsistent; rather she is reflecting
the dynamics of power in the ancient monarchies. The king did not have
exclusive power over the tawananna. The tawananna exercised legitimate
power through cult, wealth, personnel and diplomatic relations. The re-
sponsibilities of both the king and the queenJtawananna required the
development of expansive networks of power and connections in order to
carry out the royal work of governance, economics and cult. The positions
of tawananna and of the king were deliberately shaped over time in order
to cultivate power and maximize the effectiveness of the royal house.
It is as a member of the royal house that the gebira in Judah derives her
position. Ben-Barak notes that 'the mere fact of her being a queen mother
did not bestow upon her any official political status beyond the honor due
to her by virtue of her position as mother'.23 It is impossible, however, to
separate the two. All royal mothers had a political status and function, as
did royal daughters. Some carried out those functions better than others.
Some had forceful personalities and some have survived in memory. A
few became queen mother, most did not.
Nevertheless, the position of queen mother cannot be discounted or dis-
regarded in discussing the monarchy of Judah. If the king and the gebira
were in a position to lead the captives into exile, they must have been in a
position at the head of the house of David in the period before the fall of
Jerusalem.
24. S.R. Bin-Nun, 'Formulas from Royal Records of Israel and Judah', VT 16
(1968), pp. 414-32 (422).
25. Jacobsen, Sumerian King List, p. 28.
80 A Woman's Place is in the House
26. W. Hallo and W. Simpson, The Ancient Near East: A History (New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971), pp. 52-53.
27. A.K. Grayson, Assyrian Rulers of the Early First Millennium B.C. (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1991), pp. 27, 36, 42, 52,143, 166, 186.
28. Hobbs,2^z«gs,p. 209.
29. The phrase 'son ofX" is part of the pattern of regnal reports of all kings up to
Manasseh. The pattern changes at that point. Manasseh and the kings who follow no
longer include the name of the father. The mother's name, however, continues to be
listed.
30. Meir Sternberg lists genealogies and catalogues among 'the main varieties of
3. Who Are the Royal Women of the Hebrew Bible? 81
begin after the division of the kingdom. Both the Israelite and Judean
reports present 'unbroken lines of the kings of both states' that, as Sho-
shana Bin-Nun observes, 'form a surprising contrast with the author's
fragmentary reports' of the history of those kingdoms.31
The Kingdom of Israel begins with the promise of ten tribes and an
'enduring house', only to fumble immediately and never recover in spite of
prophetic guidance and divine intervention. The orderliness of the regnal
reports harnesses the disorderliness depicted in the narrative in order to
portray Israel's persistent and enduring walk 'in the way of Jeroboam'. The
Kingdom of Judah begins with judgment, a scaled back kingdom, and
Yahweh's promise of continuance 'for the sake of my servant David' and
Jerusalem, the city chosen for Yahweh's name (1 Kgs 11.34, 36).
The rivalry between the two kingdoms that accompanies this divine
division is visible from the outset (1 Kgs 11.40) and reflected throughout
the narrative.32 Judah's apparent political weakness is portrayed as peace-
seeking33 while Israel's domination and intervention are deplored.34 The
mismatch of power between the two nations is disguised in the regnal
notices. The synchronisms preserve a separation between the two nations,
permitting Judah to appear fully autonomous during periods when the
narrative suggests it was most likely a vassal of Israel. The synchronisms
also hold the nations in tension with each other, inviting comparisons.
The deeds of Solomon and the anger of God against him are not men-
tioned in his regnal notice (1 Kgs 11.41-43), nor is there any mention of
Jeroboam's 'great sin' in the notice of his reign (1 Kgs 14.19-20). The
reference to Jeroboam as a legacy of shame and standard of evil begins in
the narrator's own discourse' (The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature
and the Drama of Reading [Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature; Bloomington: Indi-
ana University Press, 1985], p. 120).
31. Bin-Nun, 'Formulas from Royal Records', p. 423.
32. 1 Kgs 12.20-21; 13.1-3 (prophecy of Josiah); 14.30; 15.6 (continual war be-
tween Rehoboam and Jeroboam); 15.7 (war between Abijam and Jeroboam); 15.16-24,
32 (war between Asa and Baasha all their days); 2 Kgs 13.12; 14.15 (Jehoash fought
against Amaziah of Judah); 2 Kgs 14.11-12 (Judah defeated by Israel); 2 Kgs 15.37;
16.5 (Rezin and Pekah against Jotham and Ahaz).
33. Jehoshaphat 'made peace with the king of Israel' (1 Kgs 22.45) and Amaziah
sought a 'face-to-face meeting' with Jehoash of Israel (2 Kgs 14.8).
34. E.g., Ahab attempts to hide his presence in the battle at Ramoth-gilead (1 Kgs
22.29-34); Jehu slays Ahaziah of Judah (2 Kgs 9.27) and the 42 'brothers of Ahaziah'
(2 Kgs 10.14); the reigns of Jehoram, Ahaziah and Athaliah in Judah are extensions of
'the house of Ahab' (2 Kgs 8.18, 27; 11.1).
82 A Woman's Place is in the House
the theological assessment attached to the reign of his son, Nadab (1 Kgs
15.26). Each subsequent king of Israel conforms to this pattern of apostasy.
In Judah, however, there is far more suspense in these regnal reports.
For example, the report of Rehoboam's reign not only contains the stan-
dard phrase that he 'reigned in Jerusalem', but also describes Jerusalem as
'the city which Yahweh chose from all the tribes of Israel to put his name
there' (1 Kgs 14.21). This positive attitude toward Jerusalem on the part of
Yahweh stands in striking contrast to the theological evaluation of Reho-
boam's reign which follows: 'Judah did what was evil in the eyes of Yah-
weh and vexed him with their sins that they sinned more than all that their
ancestors had done' (1 Kgs 14.22). Those sins are enumerated in the regnal
report; no details are provided in the narrative. They include building for
themselves high places, placing standing stones and ""aserim on every high
place and underneath every green tree, the existence of cultic sanctuary
personnel, and committing the abominations of the nations that Yahweh
had driven out before them. The regnal report deliberately juxtaposes
divine promise and national apostasy, inviting consideration of the rela-
tionship between the two. The announcement of a successor (1 Kgs 14.31)
finally resolves the question of whether the dynasty will continue.
Divine promise and national apostasy are examined in subsequent
regnal reports. After Rehoboam, Abijam 'walked in all the sins that his
father had done before him' (1 Kgs 15.3), nevertheless 'for the sake of
David, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem setting up his son
after him and establishing Jerusalem' (1 Kgs 15.4). Abijam's son, Asa,
however, 'did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh as his father David
had done' (15.11) and his son, Jehoshaphat, 'walked in the path of his
father Asa, not turning from it, doing what was right in the eyes of Yah-
weh' (22.43). Both Israel and Judah are judged 'in the eyes of Yahweh' in
the regnal reports on the basis of worship practices, but Judah alone is
judged in relation to a promise concerning its continuance.35
This promise has its origin in the dynastic covenant Yahweh makes with
David in 2 Sam. 7.13, but it has been shaped by the oracle in 1 Kgs 11.36.
It is further shaped by its position within the regnal report. The dynastic
35. For Israel, divine promises and efforts at an enduring house are mentioned in
the narrative alone. Commenting on the dynastic promise to Jehu, E.T. Mullen, Jr, ob-
serves, 'By establishing the dynastic stability of Israel, the author was able to empha-
size the dynastic zw-stability that came to characterize Judah during this same period'
('The Royal Dynastic Grant to Jehu and the Structure of the Books of Kings', JBL
107.2 [1988], pp. 193-206 [206]).
3. Who Are the Royal Women of the Hebrew Bible? 83
36. In several instances, the succession depends on the intervention of the 'people
of Judah' (for Azariah: 2 Kgs 14.21) and 'the people of the land' (for Josiah: 2 Kgs
21.24; for Jehoahaz: 2 Kgs 23.30).
37. Bin-Nun, Tawananna, p. 174.
38. Ben-Barak, 'Status and Right of the Gebira', p. 24.
84 A Woman's Place is in the House
39. G. Molin reaches the same conclusions in his analysis of how the office of
gebird was passed on from one generation to the next in 'Die Stellung der Gebira im
Staate Juda', TZ 10 (1954), pp. 161-75 (164).
3. Who Are the Royal Women of the Hebrew Bible? 85
Ahaziah; 2 Kgs 8.26) or came into conflict with her son's policies (e.g.
Asa; 1 Kgs 15.13) cannot be determined from the regnal reports.40 The
reports are interested only in the bottom-line assessment, namely, whether
the reign was positive or negative in the eyes of Yahweh, and generally
provide little or no support for the evaluation. Information about the deeds
of the kings—and possibly the deeds of the queen mothers—is said to be
found in the Annals of the Kings ofJudah.
The Judahite regnal formulas preserve 'the lamp of David' in Jerusalem
through the very last king, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24.18-19), until Judah goes
into exile and Jerusalem is destroyed because of Yahweh's anger against
them (2 Kgs 24.20). The narrative describes that expulsion. First is Jehoi-
achin's surrender to the king of Babylon: Jehoiachin goes out to the Baby-
lonian king with his mother, his servants, his captains and his palace offi-
cials (2 Kgs 24.12). The beginning of this list is in keeping with the chief
figures of the monarchy identified in the regnal formulas: the king and his
mother. Then, at the head of the deportees are Jehoiachin, the mother of
the king, the wives of the king, the palace officials and the nobles of the
land (2 Kgs 24.15). The expulsion of the house of David from Judah and
Jerusalem is represented in the same way it has been presented throughout
the regnal reports that frame the narrative, that is, as a multigenerational
family pair: king and queen mother.
If the regnal reports provide a commentary on the narratives they link
together, those of the Kingdom of Judah draw attention not only to the
divine promise of preservation, 'for the sake of David my servant', but
also to the divine promise of a 'house'.
'And Michal loved David'. Within the Hebrew canon it is explicitly stated
only this once that a woman loved a man. One would not assume that a
woman's love was absent from all other relationships in the biblical narra-
tives, nor would it be appropriate to assume that women's feelings of love
were not recognized or accepted in ancient Israel. Song of Songs, the strug-
gle between Leah and Rachel for Jacob's affection, and the prophets' use
of bridal imagery suggest that women's initiative in expressing love and
capacity for passion were unquestioned. The announcement of Michal's
'love' in 1 Sam. 18 serves a different purpose. It introduces Michal as a
chief actor in the politics of kingship in Israel.
She is not the first to 'love' David. Michal's father, Saul, loves David
greatly (1KQ irQI'IN'1'!) when David comes to play the lyre in his court
and so appoints him as armor-bearer (1 Sam. 16.21). Jonathan, Michal's
brother, loves David 'as his own life' (l^SDD 1PK iranK3) and makes a
covenant with him that involves turning over to David all the symbols of
his royal status—robe, armor, sword, bow and belt (1 Sam. 18.1, 3-4).
David's military victories cause 'all Israel and Judah to love' him (1 Sam.
18.16). When Saul entices David to become his son-in-law, Saul sends a
message telling David that 'the king takes delight in you and all his ser-
vants love you' (1 Sam. 18.22). The language of these passages suggests
that Saul, Jonathan, the nation and the servants are prepared to deal with
David on the basis of a love that is constitutive of covenant loyalty.
As William Moran has demonstrated, the verb 'love' pi"IN) is typical of
vassal treaties.1 The sovereign is to love the vassal and the vassal the sov-
ereign. Moran observes that Jonathan's love for David 'as himself 'recalls
the oath of the Assyrian vassals to love Ashurbanipal as themselves, ki
1. W.L. Moran, 'The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in
Deuteronomy', CBQ 25 (1963), pp. 77-87.
88 A Woman's Place is in the House
napsatkunu\2 while the love of Israel and Judah for David 'implies that
the people at the [sic] point were already giving David a de facto recogni-
tion and allegiance, which his actual leadership and success in a sense
justified' .3 J. A. Thompson argues that, with regard to Saul's love for David
in 1 Sam. 16.21, 'the verb 'aheb was carefully introduced at this point
because of a certain ambiguity of meaning', serving to 'to denote genuine
affection' as well as 'preparing [the reader] for the later political use of
this term'.4 Subsequent repeated use of the term in the relationship between
David and Jonathan and Saul's suspicion that Jonathan's relationship with
David will result in the kingship passing directly to David (1 Sam. 20.30-
31) underscore the political use of the term.
It should be no surprise, therefore, that Michal, a member of Saul's
house and a citizen of Israel, should also love David. As with the reference
to Saul's love (1 Sam. 16.21), the announcement of Michal's love conveys
'a certain ambiguity of meaning'. With Michal's love for David there is
also the potential for romantic involvement. However, the reader should
not be surprised that Michal subsequently demonstrates covenant loyalty
to David in protecting him from an enemy (1 Sam. 19.11-17). Unlike her
brother, Jonathan, Michal does not need to be convinced of Saul's inten-
tions towards David (1 Sam. 20.2, 9). Yet, like her brother, Michal ad-
vances David's cause over against that of her father (1 Sam. 19.17; 20.13).
Michal's actions make clear that her love for David is not blind infatu-
ation, but a conscious decision regarding political loyalty and royal destiny.
Her loyalties and the 'ambiguity of meaning' of the verb 'love' are not
clarified before Saul has married her to David.
hand of the Philistines' (1 Sam. 18.17, 25). What Saul offers David is a
position as son-in-law, a position that places him within the power circle
of the royal family, providing access to wealth, power, prestige and privi-
lege but no access to the seat of kingship. There is no evidence in the
accounts of Saul's kingship and other Israelite/Judean kings that the throne
was inherited through the king's daughter. The same is true for the
monarchies of Israel's neighbors. A king might choose to adopt the son of
his sister as his successor6 or marry his daughter.7 In Egypt a daughter
might succeed her father on the throne if her brother had died.8 Though her
husband might achieve power, kingship would be inherited by her son, not
her husband.9 In the Hittite Kingdom, according to the Rule of Telepinu,
the daughter's husband could be heir presumptive, but, as Shoshana Bin-
Nun notes, 'Telepinu limited this right to the unmarried daughter for whom
a royal husband should be chosen, though he himself had ascended the
argues that marriage to Merab does not fit with the promise in 17.25 since 'Saul'smoti-
vation according to v. 17b (which McCarter considers redactional), was to do David in
through her, and since the king designated her as the reward for future heroics rather
than for the past action against the Philistine giant (v. 17a)' (R.W. Klein, 1 Samuel
[WBC, 10; Waco, TX: Word Books, 1983], p. 186). While noting the redactional nature
of the text, the MT remains the basis for discussion in the present study. The problem of
duplicate incidents and 'David's expressed surprise at a possible marriage to Michal, the
king's daughter (v. 23)' (Klein, 1 Samuel, p. 187), is removed when one realizes that the
purpose of the passage is not to present David's humility but the irony of Saul attempt-
ing to deal with a man he fears and who threatens his family and his kingship.
6. Bin-Nun notes that King Hattusili of the Hittite Old Kingdom adopted his
sister's son, Labarna, to be his heir and then later disowned him and disqualified him as
heir. Bin-Nun finds 'no sister's son followed a Hittite king on the throne' (Tawananna,
pp. 70, 214).
7. King Amenhotep III married his daughter Sitamen in addition to her mother
Queen Tiy. See Tyldesley, Hatchepsut, p. 66.
8. This is the case, e.g., with Sobekneferu, daughter of Amenemhet III, who suc-
ceeded her brother as pharaoh. See L.H. Lesko, 'The Middle Kingdom', in B.S. Lesko
(ed.), Women's Earliest Records from Ancient Egypt and Western Asia: Proceedings of
the Conference on Women in the Ancient Near East, Brown University, Providence,
Rhodelsland, November 5-7, 7P£7(BJS, 166; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), pp. 31-
32 (32).
9. In Egypt there is the most unusual case of Ankhesenamun, childless widow of
pharaoh Tutankhamun who wrote to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma requesting a son of
the king to be her husband and to be king in Egypt. See Giiterbock, 'The Deeds of Sup-
piluliuma', pp. 96-97. This extraordinary plea could be a move on the part of the queen
to halt the fighting between the two nations and restore diplomatic relations (Schulman,
'Diplomatic Marriage', pp. 177-79). The intended groom was killed en route to Egypt.
90 A Woman's Place is in the House
the family 'business' where his security and well-being depended on con-
tributing to the business and preserving the family. Given Michal's status
as a royal daughter and her interest in David, Saul could reasonably expect
Michal to keep an eye on David, report difficulties in loyalty to her father,
and urge David's full cooperation in the work and stability of the royal
house. It is not until after Michal has become David's wife that Saul real-
izes his miscalculation. He has misread Michal's love for David (1 Sam.
18.20). The Hebrew text notes that 'Saul saw and he knew that Yahweh
was with David, and Michal, the daughter of Saul, loved him' (1 Sam.
18.28).14 Too late Saul realizes that David will in no way come under his
control.
For David, marriage to Michal was a more risky proposition. It places
expectations of loyalty upon him and restricts him from publicly opposing
Saul. Nevertheless, it also offers significant advantages. Though it will not
guarantee him kingship, it gains him access to the royal house. From that
position he can cultivate support for himself, exercise leadership on behalf
of the royal house, and garner some royal legitimacy should he decide to
assert himself as heir to the throne.
The union between Michal and David represents a potentially positive
solution to the obvious power struggle shaping up between Saul and David,
with Michal's involvement potentially serving to bridge the struggle
between them. It also provides an opportunity for David to capitalize on
Michal's existing royal contacts, resources and prestige. While Jonathan
can mediate the royal house symbolically, clothing David in the vestments
of royal sonship (1 Sam. 18.3-4) and receiving David's covenant of pro-
tection for his heirs (1 Sam. 20.14-15), only Michal can help David build a
royal house, politically and through offspring.15
14. LXX has KCXI TT&S 'laparjA, 'and all Israel'. McCarter (ISamuel, pp. 320-21
and Klein (7 Samuel, p. 185) suggest the MT is the later reading that was changed after
v. 29b and 30 were inserted into the narrative.
The mention of Michal concludes the account of the marriage and connects the
passage with the account of her brother Jonathan's loyalty to David in the next chapter.
While the evidence of redactional shaping is clear in the passage, the MT remains the
base text for this study. The argument that Saul discovers his error in pairing Michal
and David is not tied to v. 28 alone, since it becomes all too clear in the next chapter
that he is fighting a losing battle against David for the loyalty of both of his children.
15. J. Cheryl Exum observes that 'Kingship over Israel is mediated to David
through Jonathan, not Michal; that is, through friendship with the king's son, and not
the more common means, marriage to the king's daughter' (Fragmented Women:
Feminist [Sub] Versions of Biblical Narratives [JSOTSup, 163; Sheffield: JSOT Press,
92 A Woman's Place is in the House
Since it is clear that Michal loves David, they could build a network of
loyalties, manage assets, and distribute benefits to their own advantage.
They could begin building a family that would have sufficient connection
to the royal house to stage a claim to the throne if they wished to make
that claim. Michal's love for David and her subsequent behavior suggest
that she is willing to support his rise to kingship. There is no response on
David's part.
What is startling about the chapters immediately following Michal's and
David's marriage is the way in which Michal and Jonathan act on their
love for David. They behave totally inappropriately for royal offspring.
Both of them preserve David from Saul's violence, deceiving their father
and abetting his enemy. Their motivations remain out of the view of the
reader; they only love David. Their love for David brings Saul's anger
upon them (1 Sam. 19.17; 20.30). Their loyalty to David stands in sharp
contrast to Saul's antagonism and pursuit of David, thereby framing Saul's
behavior in the narrative as something wild and inappropriate. Though
their behavior is irrational in the codes of royal conduct, it appears rational
in the narrative's assertion of David's divine election to kingship.
David's marriage to Michal makes him a royal 'son', a royal 'brother'
and a royal 'husband', though it does not establish him as a legitimate heir
to the throne. The marriage identifies him with Saul's house and presumes
his loyalty to Saul, Jonathan and Michal. As is indicated in various diplo-
matic marriage treaties and readily seen in the letters of the royal women
of Mari, husbands were expected not only to remain loyal and obedient to
the rule of their father-in-law, but also to support their wives' continued
activity in economic and political matters, thereby preserving and extend-
ing their own. Liqtum, sister of King Zimri-Lim of Mari, who had been
married by her brother to Adal-senni, king of Burundum, writes of having
200 women of various rankings under her direction and of the proper
respect and position that her husband has provided for her.16 A daughter's
approval should bring benefits to the royal house (e.g. protection, favor as
a vassal). A daughter's disapproval of her husband's behavior should merit
her father's intervention (e.g. Zimri-Lim's daughter Inib-sarri demands to
return to Mari because her husband Ibal-Addu has not lived up to his royal
1993], p. 51). While Jonathan attempts to do this and this 'mediation' lends legitimacy
to David's claim to the throne, David must ultimately accept or defeat Michal's power
of mediation in their encounter in 2 Sam. 6.
16. M.8161 in Marello, 'Liqtum, reine du Burundum', p. 456.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 93
17. ARM 10.74. J. Durand (Trois etudes sur Mari', pp. 170-72) concludes that
after a protracted period of pleading and attempts to retrieve another daughter, Kiru, by
a messenger, Zimri-Lim himself came to Ilansura and settled the matter (ARM
10.115). The divorce had to be handled carefully in order to ensure Haya-Sumu's
continuing support as Zimri-Lim's chief northern ally.
18. Examples of the political, economic and cultic activity of royal daughters are
provided in Chapter 1 of this study.
19. T.N.D. Mettinger, King and Messiah: The Civil and Sacral Legitimation of the
Israelite Kings (ConBOT, 8; Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1976), p. 39.
20. Again, both McCarter (I Samuel, p. 337) and Klein (7 Samuel, p. 203) prefer
the LXX reading 'may the name of Jonathan not be cut off from the house of David'
The MT reads: 'Jonathan cut (a covenant) with the house of David'. The conclusion
above take the LXX into consideration and are consistent with both readings.
94 A Woman's Place is in the House
have taken Michal with him. But the scene is Michal's. She is in control.
She presents David with the need to save his life. She lets him down
through the window. David' s fleeing and escaping (19.12) derive from her
actions. She not only determines his departure, but she also orchestrates
the cover-up that enables David to get safely out of Saul's reach.
It is impossible to know what Michal was thinking that night, but it is
unlikely she was thinking about going with David. David was fleeing from
the king. Practically, it would be exceedingly difficult if not impossible for
her to move into hiding with him.21 As Saul's murderous intent is directed
against David and not her, Michal's remaining in the house can be used to
disguise David's absence from his house, gaining him time and protection.
Politically, Michal's remaining in the Saulide court provides the best basis
for David's possible return—as son-in-law or as future king. She can
potentially continue her activities and her contacts as a royal daughter,
while fanning the expectation of David's return.22 Symbolically and
politically, Michal represents David's house within the house of Saul.
Michal's insistence that David take flight not only saved his life but also
effectively divided the house of David from the house of Saul. Jonathan
acknowledges this reality in the next chapter when he speaks of the house
of David (1 Sam. 20.16). At this point it becomes clear that the only way
that David will return to the royal court is as champion. He will never
again re-enter the house of Saul. Jonathan has secured his covenant with
David in anticipation of that end. He has surrendered to David and received
a promise of protection for his house. Subsequently, Saul, after chasing the
elusive David around Judah, secures a promise from David that David will
not cut off his offspring and destroy the name of his father's house (1 Sam.
24.22). While Saul calls David 'my son', he acknowledges the inevitabil-
ity of David's kingship (24.21) and secures protection for his posterity.
Michal has launched the house of David through the midnight escape,
21. The life of an outlaw is not one that makes it possible to maintain a family.
David turned care of his parents over to King Mizpeh of Moab (1 Sam. 22.3) during
his flight from Saul. The diplomatic implications would have been quite different if
David had placed Michal under the Mizpeh's care. For a description of bandits within
the social structure and conflicts of Palestine see R.B. Coote andK.W. Whitelam, The
Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987),
pp. 92-94.
22. It is not clear until 1 Sam. 20.31 that Saul will not turn from pursuing David's
life. In the prior verses in this chapter, David attempts to negotiate a return through the
efforts of Jonathan. This suggests that David has not yet abandoned his positions as
son-in-law to Saul and husband of Michal.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 95
but her political situation is different than her brother's and her father's.
Her political function as a royal daughter is to represent and manage the
joining of two houses. She instructs David to save himself. This leaves
unresolved Michal's future role in David's house. She still holds access to
power and legitimacy in connection to the Saulide house and the possibil-
ity of offspring for the Davidic house. Unlike Jonathan's right to inherit,
these are non-transferable. They are endemic to being a royal daughter.
David must work with her or oppose her to secure his political future. Thus
far, Michal has declared and demonstrated her love for David. David has
pledged nothing in return. Though there is every reason to assume that
Michal is lying to Saul to cover up her part in David's disappearance, nev-
ertheless she is the one to suggest that David could resort to violence to
gain his ways (1 Sam. 19.17).
their central concern is the nature of kingship itself: against Saul, kingship
should not require vengeance; against David, kingship should not act
with vengeance. Vengeance is inappropriate toward and from Yahweh's
anointed.
Abigail, Nabal's wife, plays the key role in the central chapter (1 Sam.
25). She compensates for the foolishness of her husband through her own
initiative in assembling food and intercepting David and his men on their
approach. She also highlights the foolishness of David's murderous intents
by understanding and articulating the proper confidence in divine protec-
tion.
It was to Abigail that one of the young men went to announce the
danger of Nabal's insult and to seek intervention (1 Sam. 25.14-17). It is
she who carries out diplomacy on behalf of her household, instructing
David to discount Nabal's rejection, asserting her own authority (1 Sam.
25.25), and addressing David as if he had already decided to abandon his
case against Nabal (25.26a). She extends restraint to David's enemies and
those seeking to do evil to him (25.26b).23 Abigail convinces David of the
inappropriateness of vengeance and secures from him assurance of
protection now and in the future (1 Sam. 25.3 Ib, 35).
This chapter merges a lesson in kingship with a lesson about good
household management. In both, Abigail is the model. Before David is
introduced in the story a contrast is made between Nabal and Abigail. The
wordplay on nabal, 'foolish', is obvious from the start, directing attention
to Abigail, who is described as having 'good sense' (1 Sam. 25.3). Nabal
may be foolish, difficult and mean (1 Sam. 25.3), but he is clearly not with-
out skills and intelligence. He is a quite prosperous landowner and herder.
It is, however, Abigail's authority in and on behalf of their household that
is demonstrated in the text. It is the wisdom of Abigail's exercise of auth-
ority that is contrasted to the behavior of Nabal and\hz initial behavior of
David. Abigail's wise exercise of authority brings positive results: she
secures the well-being of her household and staff and David is prevented
from incurring bloodguilt. (Even Nabal has no word to object to her man-
agement of matters, though he reaps the consequences of his own fool-
ishness.24) At the end of their conversation, David sends Abigail back to
her house in peace (1 Sam. 25.35).
Though the narrative has the characteristics of a wisdom tale and recalls
in its present canonical context the Prov. 31 acrostic extolling the 'woman
of wealth', the focus of 1 Sam. 25 is not on praising Abigail's efforts as
'capable wife' or 'woman of wealth' alone.25 The praise serves to bring to
light three critical issues that connect this passage to the larger narrative of
the books of Samuel.
First, as noted above, Abigail's exercise of authority is contrasted with
that of Nabal and David. In contrast to her behavior, David appears 'diffi-
cult and mean'26 in his outburst against Nabal. Abigail's restraint of and
restraining from vengeance and violence is the appropriate form of behav-
ior for a king.
Second, Abigail's behavior as household manager is connected to
David's future role as king: 'Please forgive the transgression of your ser-
vant; for Yahweh will most certainly make my lord a sure house' (fTD
]QN]; 1 Sam. 25.28). Though all the social conventions of speech and
performance are followed to honor David (e.g. Abigail's bowing and
referring to herself as 'your servant'), the passage itself honors Abigail.
Her 'transgression' not only preserves David from bloodguilt but also pro-
tects her household and maintains peace. Abigail's household management
24. His heart dies (1 Sam. 25.37). Perhaps this is from the shock of discovering what
his wife has done. In this chapter, where the foolishness of Nabal is contrasted with the
wisdom of Abigail, the death of the fool seems fitting. Abigail's way is confirmed.
This contrast and the death of the fool also appear in wisdom collections dated to the
Persian period, e.g. Prov. 19.25.
25. It is interesting to note that in Prov. 31.11, 'the heart of her husband trusts in her
and he does not lack wealth'. It is not surprising, then, that Nabal suffers a 'heart' attack.
26. The meanness (U~l) of Nabal may be contrasted with the evil (i~!in) that will not
be found in David because of his restraint (1 Sam. 25.28).
98 A Woman's Place is in the House
the king's son-in-law. This constitutes a breaking off of the treaty between
David and Saul effected by David's marriage to Michal. Michal was more
than a token of that treaty; she was to be a chief actor in it. She had
already demonstrated to Saul and David the direction in which she was
going to carry her loyalties and her activities. Saul's removal of Michal
from the royal court is not surprising, therefore. While it may be assumed
that Saul gave Michal to Palti as a wife, the narrator describes her as
'David's wife'. While separating David from Michal, Saul appears to be
deliberately separating Michal from David. There is no indication that
Saul is building a new alliance through this marriage (such as David might
be doing with his marriage to Abigail),28 but he has found a way to disable
any possible effort on Michal's part to advance David's cause in the royal
court. He has also created a potential for a rival to David should David
seek to claim the throne of Saul. Though neither a son-in-law nor the son
of a royal daughter would be in the line of succession, they have the
advantage of appearing more legitimate than other contenders.
David's decision to marry Abigail and Ahinoam not only breaks his
treaty with Saul but also represents a rejection of Michal's love for him.
He has decisively rejected her loyalty. Unlike Jonathan, Michal has secured
no assurance of future protection (1 Sam. 20.15) against David's rise and
reprisals. David could pose a danger to her in the future. At the same time,
she could pose a danger to David. Should David take the kingship, Jon-
athan has pledged to be second in rank (1 Sam. 23.17). Michal is not only
a descendent of the Saulide house but also now unites that house with the
house of Palti. The power of a royal daughter to effect linkages between
houses, which David may have sought to exploit in marrying Michal in
the first place, could work to his detriment in the future depending on the
strength of the house of Palti and whether Michal will have any sons to
challenge any claim David might make for the throne.
'highly reconstructive nature of the endeavor' ('The Political Import', p. 507). Their
attempt in these essays is to reconstruct the history of Israel from the texts.
28. Levenson ('1 Samuel 25', p. 26) makes the case that through marriage to
Abigail David makes claim not only to Nabal's possessions but to his (presumed) posi-
tion as head of the Calebite clan.
100 A Woman's Place is in the House
addition, the evidence indicates that these women were not under the
primary authority of the king, but of the queen mother or the chief wife.31
The evidence indicates, moreover, that the women of the palace were
highly stratified and independently organized for activities significant to
the dynasty and unrelated to sexual involvement with the king.32
In the war between the house of Saul and the house of David that fol-
lowed the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, David's house is represented by six
wives and six sons (2 Sam. 3.2-5). Ishbaal has succeeded his father Saul as
king upon the appointment of his uncle Abner. The house of Saul is repre-
sented by Ishbaal and two women, Saul's concubine Rizpah (3.7) and
Saul's daughter Michal (3.13). The first should have passed into the care
of Ishbaal along with any other royal women. The second should no longer
be directly identified with the Saulide house since any treaty arrangement
that her marriage effected would no longer exist after the death of her
father.33 Her sons, however, could claim royal blood if they wished to
challenge the throne for power. Her husband would have the least claim to
the throne. Any success in staging a challenge would be dependent on the
political capital that the two of them—the king's daughter and king's son-
in-law—had developed in the court during the lifetime of the former king.
The house of Saul, now led by Ishbaal, faces two challengers: David,
whose house is becoming stronger (2 Sam. 3.1); and Abner who is 'mak-
ing himself strong' (2 Sam. 3.6). As son-in-law and uncle of the former
king, neither David nor Abner has a legitimate claim to kingship. Each
attempts, however, to secure legitimacy through a royal woman. The refer-
ence to Abner's 'making himself strong', the use of the verb pin which in
the hiphil is associated with seizing and grabbing, together with the reality
that Rizpah could be very useful in engineering any attempt on Abner's
part to take the throne from his nephew or to act as co-regent, suggest that
Ishbaal is on target when he accuses Abner of involvement with Rizpah.
Abner denies the accusation with anger and turns to make a covenant with
David. Here Abner turns from attempting to advance himself through rela-
tionship to a woman to advancing himself through relationship to a man.
David offers to make a covenant with Abner, providing Abner deliver
' Saul's daughter Michal' (2 Sam. 3.13). Again, the progress toward power
is connected with a royal woman. If Abner can command Michal's return,
then he and not Ishbaal would have the authority of king. He would have
the authority to make a marriage contract such as Saul made with David.
But Abner has no legitimate claim to Saul's concubine or Saul's daughter.
No law gives Abner the right to cause Michal to come to David.
Ishbaal's inadequacies as king are apparent in the incident with Rizpah.
Accusing Abner of already having gone to her suggests either Ishbaal does
not have Rizpah's vote of confidence in that she has aligned herself with
Abner or that Ishbaal has failed to protect her from Abner's advances.
Ishbaal has been betrayed from within the royal family, a problem his
father Saul also faced. The difficulties within the royal house are political
matters. The 'entering' of a concubine is the sure sign of a king's defeat.34
It is an act of sexual violence against a woman who is part of the king's
household. It is indicative of a king's inability to protect those closest to
time a new foreign ruler ascended to the throne in a neighboring state... suggests that
diplomatic marriages forged bonds between the two rulers, the father- or brother-in-
law and the son-in-law, but not between their respective states; thus, if either king or
the bride died, then new bonds had to be forged' ('Diplomatic Marriage', pp. 192-93).
34. See 2 Sam. 16.21-22 where Absalom's 'entering' the concubines is intended to
strengthen (pTFI) the hands of all who were with him.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 103
him, hence his powerlessness in protecting the nation. Once again, the
conditions of the royal household are mirrored in the kingdom as a whole.
Not only does Ishbaal have to worry about Abner and Rizpah, but David
sends messengers to Ishbaal saying 'give me my wife Michal to whom I
was betrothed for 100 Philistine foreskins' (2 Sam. 3.14). David no longer
has any right to claim Michal; through circumstances he has forfeited his
role as Saul's son-in-law and in David's absence Saul gave Michal to
Palti.35 In addition, Ishbaal has no right to take Michal from Palti. Ishbaal
has no authority to undo the marriage agreement Saul made with Palti and
he has no authority over a married sister. When David demands and Ish-
baal 'takes' (3.15), they both demonstrate the power kings have, that is,
they show what kings can do but Israelite kings were not supposed to do.
The taking of women was something that Samuel specifically warned the
people about when they asked for a king (1 Sam. 8.11-18). Palti[el]'s piti-
ful crying (HDD) is a lonely sound of protest, a faint echo of the larger
distress (pUT) of a nation ruled by a king who takes (1 Sam. 8.18).
The text offers no defense of David's actions. Historical evidence offers
no parallels to David's claim. In addition, the letters of the daughters of
Zimri-Lim indicate that royal daughters were not merely pawns in a politi-
cal agreement. While they did not exercise independent control of their
lives,36 they could make their will known and could oppose their treatment.
37. P.K. McCarter, Jr, IISamuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and
Commentary (AB, 9; New York: Doubleday, 1984), p. 443.
38. The book of Leviticus contains specific instructions for the types of offerings
(animal and financial) necessary to atone for various offenses (e.g. 4.20). Deuteronomy
106 A Woman's Place is in the House
21.8 directs the expiation of bloodguilt from a community through the sacrifice of a
heifer.
39. The community of Israelites is to have no tolerance for the shedding of inno-
cent blood because of the defilement it brings to the land. The life that is required in
atonement is limited to 'the one shedding the blood' (Num. 35.33).
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 107
woman who had been and was his wife and who had saved his life is again
displayed in his willingness to give the sons to the Gibeonites.
The gruesome death of the sons at the hands of the Gibeonites before
Yahweh does not change conditions in the land. The fertility of the land is
not redeemed by cutting off the fruits of the fertility of the royal house.
There is contained in this narrative both judgment against David and
warning against future attempts against the lives of members of the royal
house.
Judgment against David is also conveyed through Rizpah's mourning.
Her protection of the dead members of Saul's house is juxtaposed to
David's turning over of the living members of Saul's house. Her vigilance
is reported to David. Her attentiveness finally leads David to act with duty
not only towards the remains of Saul and Jonathan but towards the sons
he, himself, handed over to the Gibeonites. It is not until David acts with
respect towards his enemies that God changes the conditions of the land,
ending the famine. It is the royal woman Rizpah who initiates the cultic
acts that bring the return of divine favor and fertility to the land.
Though many commentators attempt to provide a rationale for David's
behavior towards the Gibeonites in this chapter,40 they are uniformly sus-
picious of David's political intents.41 The chapter may serve as political
apologia for the destruction of the remaining male heirs of the Saulide
house, but it is weak at best. The violence against the remaining members
of the house of Saul and the royal women left childless are of one piece
with the revolts from within and against David's rule. Such behavior stands
in contrast to the claims and evidence of divine protection and success.
David's house has thus far not evolved successfully into a royal house-
hold. His rule differs little from the warrior mode of leadership that carried
him into kingship and expanded Israelite rule over other nations. The same
loyal comrades-at-arms who accompanied him in battle before he was
40. On the necessity of a royal sacrifice to restore the fertility of the land see, e.g.
A.S. Kapelrud, 'King and Fertility: A Discussion of II Samuel 21:1-14', NorTT 56
(1955), pp. 113-22; and A. Malamat, 'Doctrines of Causality in Biblical and Hittite
Historiography: A Parallel', VT5 (1955), pp. 1-12.
41. A.A. Anderson, 2 Samuel (WBC, 11; Dallas: Word Books, 1989), pp. 251-52
notes, 'Many scholars have seen in the events of our pericope a clever political act
whereby David got rid of his political rivals from the house of Saul, and at the same
time he appeared as the zealous doer of Yahweh's will. David needed a pretext to
eliminate Saul's family, and he found it in the famine. In this way he also turned away
any possible scrutiny of his own past deeds.'
108 A Woman's Place is in the House
42. Peirce (Imperial Harem, p. viii) refers to the Ottoman royal family 'as the
premier household of the empire—a family made up of women and men, senior and
junior generations, blood members, slave servants, and retainers'.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 109
gain. Families will not be raised up to share in the benefits and positions of
royal leadership (e.g. he will not make your daughters queens or your sons
captains). The potentially devastating effect of kingship on the households
of the nation is emphasized in Samuel's speech.
The second warning about kingship is delivered by Michal in 2 Sam. 6.
Of the six narrative scenes in which she is mentioned,43 this is one of two
scenes in which she speaks to David and the only one in which they carry
on a conversation with each other. The immediate context for the warning
is the arrival of the ark of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Having 'blessed the
house of Obed-edom and all that belonged to him', the ark was moved
to the 'city of David' (2 Sam. 6.12, 13). The procession in 2 Sam. 5-6,
according to C.L. Seow, is a 'religio-political' enactment of the rise of the
divine warrior to enthronement as king and the subsequent blessings to the
people.44 'All the house of Israel' is involved with David in this proces-
sion—with the noted exception of Michal daughter of Saul (2 Sam. 6.16).
Seow observes that the liturgical sequence associated with this rise is
'interrupted by the reference to Michal in v. 16. Her presence poses a crux
interpretum and so the verse is usually excised and, together with vv. 20-
23, regarded as secondary.'45
It is important to note that Michal's eruption into the narrative is not
directed at Yahweh or the ark, but at David. There is no objection to the
power, glory and enthronement of Yahweh.46 Michal looks through the
window, sees David leaping and whirling before Yahweh, and she despises
him in her heart (2 Sam. 6.16).
Two things stand out in this report. First, Michal is identified as 'daugh-
ter of Saul'. She had been identified as 'wife of David' after her marriage
(1 Sam. 19.11; 25.44) and when David demanded Ishbosheth take her
43. The six scenes include (1) marriage to David (1 Sam. 18.20-29), (2) directing
David to escape (1 Sam. 19.11-17), (3) marriage to Palti juxtaposed to David's marriage
to Abigail (1 Sam. 25.42-44), (4) David's demand for her return juxtaposed to Ishbosh-
eth's accusation of Abner's involvement with Rizpah (2 Sam. 3.7-16), (5) Michal's
feelings during the procession of the ark into Jerusalem and her argument with David
afterward (2 Sam. 6.16-23), and (6) the killing of the sons of Rizpah and Michal (2 Sam.
21.1-14).
44. C.L. Seow, Myth, Drama, and the Politics of David's Dance (HSM, 44; Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1989). See especially ch. 2, 'Religio-Political Drama'.
45. Seow, Myth, Drama, p. 129.
46. Seow (Myth, Drama, p. 129) concludes that 'the sequence of events in Psalm
29 mirrors the drama in 2 Samuel 5—6'. 2 Sam. 6.15-17 is parallel to w. 9c-10 of Ps.
29, with the exception of the reference to Michal.
110 A Woman's Place is in the House
back from Paltiel (2 Sam. 3.14). The reference in v. 16 suggests that she
has not been restored to her position as a royal wife of David. That Michal
resides in David's house but stands identified 'outside' David's house in
this scene is a crucial indication that all is not well with the Davidic
monarchy. David may have defeated the house of Saul, but he has not yet
established a secure house of his own.
Second, Michal despises David. This is the complete opposite of the
'love' that she had for David previously and which was the basis for her
directing David's escape. Though she has acted with covenant loyalty
toward David in the past, he has never acknowledged or established a
covenant with her. Many good 'personal' reasons could be listed for her
change of heart, but the text leaves it to the reader to review the rela-
tionship between David and Michal:
Michal loved David and David agreed to be Saul's son-in-law
Michal saved David from Saul's anger
David married Abigail and Ahinoam; Michal is married to Paltiel
David demanded Michal back from Paltiel
Michal appears as 'Saul's daughter' at the window of David's
house
Their relationship has not been open to the reader for speculation on
personal matters. It has been built on the power of her position as a royal
daughter from the house of Saul. David achieved entry into Saul's house
through marriage to Michal, and he attempted to achieve control over the
future of Saul's house through his demand that Ishbosheth return Michal
to him. Michal acted wisely and daringly when she directed David's escape
through their bedroom window. Now she looks down on him through a
different palace window.
The reference to the palace window through which (Jlbnn 1172) Michal
sees David dance before the ark of Yahweh (2 Sam. 6.16) brings to mind
the palace window through which (fibrin lin) Michal let David down to
make his escape (1 Sam. 19.12). The reader sees David dance before the
divine warrior who delivered the kingdom into his hands from the perspec-
tive of the woman who rescued him from certain death. Michal's signifi-
cance in and for David's life and royal destiny is here clearly illuminated.
She, too, has had a hand in David's deliverance. She has done him no
harm. The connection between the window scenes confirms Michal's credi-
bility as a character witness. At the same time it invites reflection on why
her love has turned to despising.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 111
Michal's position at the palace window has been much discussed in con-
nection with the literary depictions of other biblical royal women peering
out the window and the figure of the 'woman at the window' observed in
ivories found at Samaria, Arslan Tash, Khorsabad andNimrud.47 R.D. Bar-
nett, W.F. Albright, Mitchell J. Dahood and Susan Ackerman are among
the scholars who have tied the ivories to goddess forms and linked Michal
to the cult of that goddess. Barnett48 and Albright49 to Canaanite Astarte;
Dahood50 to the Cypriot Aphrodite; Ackerman51 to Canaanite Asherah.
There are difficulties, however, in making a connection between the cultic
representation presumed in the 'woman at the window' ivories and the
literary convention of the 'woman at the window'. The biblical literary
contexts in which women appear 'at the window' do not require nor do
they evoke a cultic role for the women characters.
Shula Abramsky52 identifies the literary figure of the 'woman at the
window' with three royal women: Sisera's mother (Judg. 5.28); Michal;
and Jezebel (2 Kgs 9.30). Abramsky concludes that they represent a liter-
ary convention in which they are depicted as enemies of Yahweh and are
punished by the hand of a man who has been appointed to this task by the
hand of Yahweh.53 The figure of the 'woman at the window', however, is
not limited to these three examples (see Prov. 7.6 LXX; Song 2.9).54 The
window does not function to identify them as 'enemies of Yahweh', nor
should the three be over-generalized. The character of Sisera's mother
47. R.D. Barnett, 'The Nimrud Ivories and the Art of the Phoenicians', Iraq 2
(1935), pp. 179-210; idem, Ancient Ivories in the Middle East (Qedem, 14; Jerusalem:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1982); idem, A Catalogue of the Nimrud Ivories
with Other Examples of Ancient Near Eastern Ivories in the British Museum (London:
British Museum, 2nd rev. edn, 1975), pp. 145-51.
48. Barnett, Ancient Ivories, p. 48.
49. W.F. Albright, 'Canaanite-Phoenician Sources of Hebrew Wisdom', in M. Noth
and D.W. Thomas (eds.), Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, Presented to
Professor Harold-Henry Rowley (VTSup, 3; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960), pp. 1-15.
50. M.J. Dahood, 'Canaanite-Phoenician Influence in Qoheleth', Bib. 33 (1952),
pp. 191-221.
51. Ackerman, Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen, pp. 155-62.
52. S. Abramsky, 'The Woman at the Window', Beth Mikra 25 (1980), pp. 114-24
(Hebrew).
53. Abramsky, 'Woman at the Window', p. 114. See also the summary in English
prepared by T.C. Eskenazi, 'Michal in Hebrew Sources', in D.J.A. Clines and T.C.
Eskenazi (eds.), Telling Queen Michal's Story: An Experiment in Comparative Inter-
pretation (JSOTSup, 119; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991), pp. 157-74 (172-73).
54. See comments by P.K. McCarter, Jr, II Samuel, p. 172.
112 A Woman's Place is in the House
functions in the narrative not as the 'enemy who perishes' (Judg. 5.3la)
but the one who, in vain, awaits the return of the vanquished, confirming
that the enemy does not return home. Jezebel is the enemy, unrepentant to
the end, who is struck down by Yahweh's anointed (2 Kgs 9.7,33). Michal
never speaks against Yahweh or acts against Yahweh's anointed. She is a
part of David's house to which he returns intending to bring blessing after
his procession into the city (2 Sam. 6.20). The three women's experiences
at the window differ: Sisera's mother awaits news; Jezebel engages in con-
versation with Jehu and is pushed to her death; Michal despises David. But
in each case the window is a clear and visible portal between the royal
house and the wider world in which that house is engaged. These three
women are not hidden from or mere spectators to that wider political
involvement.55
The window frame gives Michal's 'view' of the scene below, not a view
of Michal. Like shooting a film, the narrative cuts away from the street
level to Michal's view and commentary from above, and then returns to
the parade route below. Michal's thoughts weigh heavily over the scene
since the description of the events contains no dialogue. The tension is
between David's actions and Michal's assessment of him.
Robert Polzin points to the difficulty of breaking through the ambiguity
in the text in relating the description of David's leadership of the
procession at street level to Michal's feelings at the window. He notes,
Given the convention of an omniscient narrator and the frequent appearance
of unreliable or biased characters the distinction between an action that is
directly presented by the narrator and one indirectly shown through the
perception of a character can be significant.56
55. Though the 'woman at the window' ivories do not help in assigning literary
values to the women at the window in the narratives, it should be noted that the ivories
do not hide the face of the woman. She is readily visible in the carvings. She is clearly
looking out from some recognizable location—a palace apartment window (Barnett,
Ancient Ivories, p. 48) or temple (Barnett cited by Ackerman, Warrior, Dancer, Seduc-
tress, Queen, pp. 155 and 175 n. 85)—not hidden within. This visibility is markedly
different than, e.g., Ottoman Empire and Muslim iconography which depicts only the
eyes or shadows of women hidden behind screens. In both periods, however, the liter-
ary and historical evidence documents the active and necessary involvement of royal
women in the diplomatic, economic, cultic and political affairs of the dynasty. For
documentation of the Ottoman period see Peirce, Imperial Harem.
56. R. Polzin, David and the Deuteronomist: A Literary Study of the Deuteronomic
History. Part Three 2 Samuel (Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature; Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1993), p. 61.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 113
The narrator is not without 'bias'. Michal has not previously proved to
be unreliable. Furthermore, David's actions, even in generosity, have not
always been above suspicion as they have been reported.
The enthronement of Yahweh the divine warrior in Jerusalem concludes
with the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the distribution of food to
the citizens. The presence of the deity brings dignity and security to the
new capital city. David shares in that security and dignity. He has given
leadership to this procession and the blessings; David is the subject of
most of the verbs. P. Kyle McCarter observes, David 'appears unambigu-
ously as the patron and founder of the cult of Yahweh in Jerusalem' ,57 But
there is ambiguity in the text; Michal's assessment of David has been
reported and she awaits him as he returns home.
The contrast between the ark procession and the encounter between
Michal and David in front of the palace is a contrast between the triumph
of divine promise and the failure of human politics. God has given David
the kingdom; but David cannot bring blessing to his house. David now has
the throne through divine gift; his political attempts to secure the throne
through acquisition (i.e. taking advantage of and 'taking back' Michal) are
here exposed and judged. Michal receives no sympathy in the text (only
the reader may dare to provide that), but David may not walk away with
the glory. This is Yahweh's day of glory. Though David leads the proces-
sion and distributes the blessings and though 'the ark's ascent to Jerusalem
mirrors the rise of David to some extent',62 it is Yahweh, not David,
whose throne is secured this day. The 'myth, drama and polities' of the ark
procession, so carefully patterned after the rituals of legitimation and tri-
umph of other ancient Near Eastern monarchs, encounters an unexpected
interruption in the dialogue between David, 'the king of Israel', and Mich-
al, 'the daughter of Saul'.
Michal leads off the confrontation, mocking David's performance during
the procession of the ark: 'How the king of Israel has been honored [~Q3]
today by exposing himself [nba] in the eyes of the handmaids of his ser-
vants, like one of the riffraff [Dnp~ln 1PIH] would expose himself (2 Sam.
6.20). Michal charges David with stripping the office of king of its weight/
honor by behaving like the 'empty ones'.63 The accusation leaves the
(2 Sam. 3.13, 14) as an intentional pattern of naming 'where the relationship (of X to
Y) is meaningful in the context' ('Personal Names', pp. 267,271). In this instance it is
David's intention, not Michal's behavior, that Clines assumes is the basis for these two
different naming patterns.
A case similar to 2 Sam. 6 may be found in 2 Sam. 12.10 where Yahweh refers to
Bathsheba as 'wife of Uriah the Hittite'. David is married to her by that time and her
name has been introduced into the story. The identification 'wife of Uriah the Hittite'
does not suggest that Bathsheba has acted against David but makes the point that
David has acted against Uriah and against Bathsheba.
62. Seow, Myth, Drama, p. 103.
63. LXX reads TCOV opxou(jevcou ('the dancers') from lp~l, 'skip about', instead of
|T~I (hiphil), 'make empty, empty out'. The same root appears in the next verse in a
passage missing from the MT: bpxrioo|jai ('and I will dance'). The missing words in
the MT v. 21 can be explained by haplography:
LXX 'Before Yahweh I will dance. Blessed be Yahweh who chose me...'
MT 'Before Yahweh who chose me...'
In v. 20, however, the MT D'p'n ('worthless ones') is both the more logical and the
more difficult reading. The tone of Michal's speech is clearly sarcastic. Even if her
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 115
objection were to the zealousness of David's dancing before the ark. to compare David
to a dancer is not pejorative. Michal's attack is on David's 'honor', and the contrast she
makes is between honor and dishonor/worthlessness. As a text-critical problem, it is
more likely that Hebrew Pp"!!! in v. 20 became harmonized with the reference to
dancing in v. 21 than that the MT, after losing the reference to dancing in v. 21 due to
haplography, then confused a yod with a daleth and substituted D'lp~T in the previous
verse.
64. Brueggemann (First and Second Samuel, pp. 252-53) observes 'David's
"dishonor" consisted in glad yielding to the gift of Yahweh. David is utterly Yahweh's
man, a fact Michal either cannot understand or refuses to acknowledge... Tn David's
utter abandonment to dance and in his liturgic, social, royal extravagance, a new order
is authorized, wrought out of unrestrained yielding and worship. David is freshly
legitimate. The narrative of chapter 6 concerns a shift in power, a risk of worship that
embraces Yahwism and permits new order.'
65. David Clines notes, 'Michal does not profess herself troubled by the fact that
men and women along the route of the procession have seen David naked, but that
women have, that low-class women have, and that David has taken no pains to prevent
it... [David] too has been oblivious to the male bystanders and the more modest
matrons who have kept their eyes averted. His interest is in being "honoured by the
maidservants of whom you have spoken". It is of little consequence that he no doubt
deceives himself into thinking that it is his religious ecstasy that everyone thinks so
highly of; what he has been advertising to the maidservants of his servants is, it
appears, his shamelessness and his sexuality' ('Michal Observed: An Introduction to
Reading her Story', in D. J.A. Clines and T.C. Eskenazi [eds.], Telling Queen Michal's
Story: An Experience in Comparative Interpretation [JSOTSup, 119; Sheffield: JSOT
Press, 1991], pp. 24-63 [59-60]).
66. Polzin (David and the Deuteronomist. p. 66) notes 'many commentators see
David's "revealing himself as a reference to his dancing almost naked, yet nothing in
the text, so far as I can see, supports this view. In fact, David is wearing a linen ephod
(v. 14), and efforts to describe him as "scantily clad" are difficult to justify.'
116 A Woman's Place is in the House
attack, however, is on David's royal honor and how he 'reveals' it. She
shifts the audience assessing David from herself to the servant women,
who are on the complete opposite end of the social scale than Michal and
have the least direct involvement in political matters. She does not suggest
that the women are impressed with David, nor does she indicate that they
should be.
Michal compares David's behavior to that of rebels and outlaws.67 There
is most certainly a sting to that accusation since those who contributed to
David's rise were described as malcontents and bitter ones.68 Michal's
words catch David—and the reader—off guard. She charges that 'today'69
even those at the very bottom of the social ladder can see through David.
What is stunning about Michal's attack is that it is so wounding while at
the same time lacking in specificity. It is clear, however, that she does not
want David to collect the glory that customarily attends the king who
ushers in the gods of the city. She de-sacralizes David's participation in
the ark procession.
Michal makes a broad accusation against David. Oddly, it is David's
response to her that sustains that charge. Though he claims it was 'before
Yahweh' that he danced,70 David's response is not about the honor due to
Yahweh, but the honor due to David. David says nothing about Yahweh
being victorious, but that Yahweh has made David the victor over her
father and over all his house (in'Il'bDQ) and has placed David over the
people of Yahweh and over Israel. Indeed, David can claim Yahweh's
hand in his rise to the kingship he now holds. Michal surely knows that
and her assistance to David at the beginning of his rise to power is docu-
mented. David's willingness to dismiss her in defense of his 'honor' is
therefore quite troubling.
Even more troubling is that David does not stop with what Yahweh has
done. He promises to make himself'even more dishonorable than this'
67. The term D'p"! is used in Judg. 9.4 to refer to the 'worthless ones' whom
Abimelech hired to assist him in killing his brothers and establishing himself as king,
and in Judg. 11.3 to refer those who gathered around Jephthah in his outlaw days. It
appears also in 2 Chron. 13.7 in reference to the rebels who assist Jeroboam in his
revolt against Rehoboam after the death of Solomon.
68. 1 Sam. 22.2: 'everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt and
everyone who was full of bitterness'.
69. QVn (2x in v. 20)
70. Reading ~Ip~lN with LXX in the section missing from MT and pn'E? in the secon
half of the verse.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 117
(DKTE TID Tlbp]) and 'to be humiliated' in his eyes (TV2 ^StJ)71 with the
expectation that before the maidservants of whom Michal spoke he may be
honored (n~QDK; 2 Sam. 6.22). On the day honoring Yahweh's enthrone-
ment in Jerusalem, David does not propose acting honorably but being
honored. David does not suggest lowliness before God (cf. Ps. 138.6 con-
trasting the lowly and the haughty) but claims the privilege of acting nega-
tively72 while being esteemed publicly. David boasts of covenant violation.
As Saul Olyan observes in his study of honor and shame,
Though the vocabulary of honor and shame is somewhat complex, forms of
the Hebrew verbs "DD ('to be honored'/'to honor') and Tvp ('to be dimin-
ished' or 'dishonored'/'to diminish' or 'dishonor') and their Akkadian cog-
nates kabatu and qalalu are paired frequently in honor/shame discourses
and appear to be antonyms.73
David boasts of being able to violate the divine loyalty and protection
that has granted him the kingship in the first place.74 His willingness to be
regarded as 'slight' (bbp) is not a self-abasement formula75 through which
he may demonstrate (or feign) respect before a superior,76 but confirmation
that David has his eyes on the 'small things', whether it is the brideprice
dangled by Saul that raised him to king's son-in-law or the acknowledg-
ment of those who have the least power to demand anything of him.
Though David attempts to deflect Michal's charges, in the 'exchange of
whipsaw sarcasms'77 David actually reveals the emptiness that Michal has
charged against him. It is David who is prideful and does not understand
78. Seow, Myth, Drama, p. 139. Seow observes that the verbs uncovered (gly),
honored (kbd), revelled (shq), and fell (nqlty), around which the dialogue between
Michal and David are focused, also appear in Ugaritic texts related to the building of a
house for Baal (pp. 137-39).
79. Some interpreters have attributed Michal's childlessness to God's action, but
language about God's closing her womb (as one finds in 1 Sam. 1.6) is not found in
this passage.
80. Brueggemann, First and Second Samuel, p. 253.
81. Peirce observes a change in the Ottoman Empire of the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries in the 'gradual transition from a state geared to expansion and led by a
warrior sultan to a territorially stable bureaucratic state ruled by a sedentary palace
sultan' (Imperial Harem, p. x).
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 119
has a cedar residence (2 Sam. 5.11) and sons and daughters,82 but only
Michal comes to meet him at his door. David has provided a place for the
ark of Yahweh and blessings for the people of Israel, but the blessings of
Yahweh have yet to reach the house of David, and David himself cannot
bring them. He is confident that he will be honored by the servant women,
but he does not hold the respect of his political partner. He demanded the
return of Michal to his house, but now he rejects her.83 David can claim to
have been chosen by Yahweh, but the future shape of his house is unclear.
Monarchy is a family business. Royal women are an essential part of
preserving and promoting that work. Open conflict threatens the family's
ability to function, with consequences for the well-being of the nation and
the future of its royal house. Motherhood is a key political role, a channel
for preserving the future of the monarchy through progeny, education,
succession and leadership.
To dismiss Michal as a bitter spoilsport trying to rain on David's parade
is to deny her prophetic perspective on the past and future of kingship. Her
indictment against David brings to focus the struggles that preceded the
march into Jerusalem and the emptiness at its core. David has not only
received the kingship as a gift, but also uses that power to dismiss the wife
he claimed for that kingship. David has not only failed to reciprocate
MichaPs covenant loyalty (her 'love'), but also boasts of honor apart from
covenant obligations. Her words are also a proleptic rendering of the crises
to follow.84 David may have vanquished Michal, but her dismissal is part
of the unmasked tragedy of his kingship, not an unmatched confirmation
of him.
82. David had other wives and offspring (see 2 Sam. 3.2-3; 5.13-14). If David were
sincere in reclaiming Michal on the basis of the marriage contract with Saul (i.e. 100
foreskins) Michal should have ranked as 'chief wife'.
83. McCarter (II Samuel, p. 188) suggests the passage 'answers the question of the
presence of Saulid blood in the Davidic line'. The reader may ponder the question, but
the text itself does not raise it. The text has kept open the possibility of offspring from
David and Michal, particularly when David reclaimed Michal from Paltiel. In addition,
thus far in 2 Samuel David has presented himself as attempting to preserve the heirs of
Saul's house, punishing the messenger who finished off Saul's life and killing the
assassins of Ishbaal. David subsequently acts with kindness toward Mephibosheth and
his house. If David were concerned with the Saulid bloodline, Mephibosheth and his
son Mica (2 Sam. 9.12) would represent more of a threat than any offspring between
David and Michal.
84. Note how David's words to Michal come to life in his treatment of Bathsheba
and Uriah. See Chapter 5 of this study.
120 A Woman's Place is in the House
85. While the decision about successor could rest in the hands of the king, the
'viability of each prince's candidacy for the succession' is due chiefly to the activity
'of the prince's mother in his training...and the promotion of his career' (Peirce,
Imperial Harem, p. 44).
86. LXX and 1 Chron. 17.4 have 'you shall not build'.
4. Michal: A Royal Daughter 121
I will give you rest from all your enemies...for the LORD will make a
house for you (2 Sam. 7.9-11).
vehicle for divine governance and must be capable of passing the throne
safely from generation to generation. Yahweh will not only build a house
but also enter into it. Yahweh will be as a 'father' and the prince as a 'son'.
Yahweh will punish wrongdoing (2 Sam. 7.14), but not withdraw steadfast
love ("TOn). Such divine 'sonship' sets expectations for royal behavior90
that Yahweh will teach and reinforce from generation to generation.
91. Michal's name is a contraction of Michael, which translates 'who is like God?'
(^KD'B).
Chapter 5
David had boasted to Michal in 2 Sam. 6, 'I will make myself even more
dishonorable than this. I will be debased in my eyes, but before the maid-
servants of whom you speak I will be greatly honored' (v. 22). This boast
of dishonor takes on a deadly seriousness five chapters later in David's
adulterous involvement with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband
Uriah. Here, the'man after Yahweh's own heart'(1 Sam. 13.14) is charged
with despising the word of Yahweh and doing evil in Yahweh's eyes
(2 Sam. 12.9). The future of the royal house is jeopardized. As was the case
in 2 Sam. 6, the crisis centers on the proper inclusion of women in the
royal house.
Michal was to have linked two houses in some measure of peace.
Instead, she was passed between houses, left out of David's house, and
deprived of the sons she had (2 Sam. 21.8).1 Her covenant loyalty turned
to despising. As a character in the narrative she draws attention to the
composition of and expectations for the royal house. The very mention of
her name in connection with David's popularity, honor, daring and victory
over the house of Saul is a word of caution: 'Who is like God?'
Bathsheba enters the narrative as a victim of royal prerogative. She is
taken for the king's sexual pleasure. The attention she receives in 2 Sam.
11-12 draws judgment upon the grasping of the royal house as it reaches
into the houses of citizens and brings death. Bathsheba's mourning for her
husband and her child signals an irreversible loss of family and honor—for
herself and for the nation. Yet it is Bathsheba who emerges through this
narrative to shape the future of the royal house, as caretaker, counselor and
king-maker for the next generation of leadership.
dividing between the public (heroic) David and the private (tragic
and flawed) David, allowing one to capture the reader's imagina-
tion and support, and the other to generate reader sympathy and
identification.3
While it may not have been possible on the basis of the presentation of
David prior to 2 Sam. 11 for the reader to haveforeseen the adultery and
murder, recalling the earlier material aids in closing the perception gap
and in linking the narrative pieces. The confrontation between David and
Michal in 2 Sam. 6.20-23 is useful in interpreting 2 Sam. 11. The latter
episode forces the reader to recall and to take seriously the words by
which David rebuked Michal: 'I will make myself even more contemptible
than this. I will be debased in my eyes.' This retort was prompted by
Michal's charge that 'the king of Israel has revealed himself today before
the handmaids of his servants'. The confrontation over the proper behavior
of a king led David to reject one wife with the result that she had no chil-
dren until the day of her death (6.23). In 2 Sam. 11, David 'takes' a wife,
leading to the death of her husband and of their first child. In this latter
passage David's disregard for appropriate royal behavior is fully disclosed
and laid bare. He makes himself contemptible and then recognizes his
abasement as he is portrayed in Nathan's parable (2 Sam. 12.7).
This narrative resists privatization;4 there is no way to untangle the
'house of David' from the 'house of Israel' or from the 'house Yahweh
will make for you'. David Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell observe the
wordplay in 2 Samuel and Kings in the metaphor of the 'house':
The house of Israel and the house of Judah. The house of Saul and the
house of David. 'House' is the nation, the kingdom; 'house' is the dynasty;
'house' is the extended family... The houses have a way of giving expres-
3. Walter Brueggemann, e.g., suggests that the 'public' story of David's rise
encourages the hope that 'the marginal ones can be the legitimate holders of power'
while the portrayal of the 'private' side of David has a different 'agenda', one 'that lets
David become a model or a paradigm for humanness' (David's Truth in Israel's Imagi-
nation and Memory [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985], pp. 23, 46).
4. A number of scholars in addition to Brueggemann make a distinction between
David 'the man' and the 'public' David, e.g. D.M. Gunn, The Story of King David:
Genre and Interpretation (JSOTSup, 6; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1978); K.R.R.G. Louis,
'The Difficulty of Ruling Well: King David of Israel', Semeia 1 (1977), pp. 15-33;
D.M. Gunn and D.N. Fewell, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press, 1993), p. 166.
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 127
sion to each other. They are integral parts of the organism that is 'all Israel',
the people of YHWH.5
Indeed, David is residing in his house when he has his affair with
Bathsheba, cuts off Uriah's house, and adds Bathsheba to his own house.
Nathan reminds him that Yahweh has given David 'your lord's [i.e. Saul's]
house' and 'the house of Israel and of Judah' (2 Sam. 12.8). Nathan an-
nounces divine judgment on the affair that is to be carried out through evil
that will rise 'from your house'.6 Any attempt to divide David the 'king'
from David the 'man' who gets involved in adultery and murder is foiled
by the narrative connection between behavior, punishment and promise,
and the interlinking of Davidic, dynastic and national 'houses'.
No private space exists. The identity and functions of the houses com-
mingle. The boundaries blur and their inhabitants are bound together in
promise, in victory and in struggle. It is from his house that David sends
out his army and sends for Bathsheba. The indivisibility of houses is well
reflected in Bathsheba. Bathsheba cannot be 'taken' by David without
affecting the 'house'—both the inhabitants 'of Israel and of Judah' and
'his seed' after him. She cannot be a part of 'his house' without having a
role in the 'house of Israel and of Judah'.
5. Gunn and Fewell (Narrative in the Hebrew Bible, p. 166), however, take away
from this organic integration by imposing a public/private division upon David's life.
'David's political and private lives are correlates' (emphasis mine) and 'What happens
privately in David's own house (palace and family) will have an impact on the nation'.
6. Regina M. Schwartz suggests that through this judgment 'the text itself claims
[the] virtual synonymity' of the public and private spheres of David's life. She sees
them as 'so deeply and completely integrated as to be one, and it is anachronistic to
even understand them as two different spheres of life' ('Adultery in the House of
David: The Metanarrative of Biblical Scholarship and the Narratives of the Bible',
Semeia 54 [1991], pp. 35-55 [46]).
128 A Woman's Place is in the House
was the one going out and coming in before them' (1 Sam. 18.16). David
now reigned over 'all Israel' (2 Sam. 8.15), and at a critical point in the
campaign against the Aramean coalition David had gathered 'all Israel',
defeated the army of Hadadezer and subjugated the pro-Ammonite nations
(2 Sam. 10.17). As the present narrative begins, however, David now dis-
tances himself from 'all Israel'. While his army attacks Rabbah, David
remains in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 11.1). This distancing in the narrative draws
attention to David and raises interest in what he will do next. What royal
duties can require this degree of separation?
While the army attempts to take Rabbah by force, David rises from his
couch and walks around on his palace roof (11.2). The warfare that is the
subject of the start of the narrative is off-site and out of view of the reader.
This intensifies the spotlight on David's presence in Jerusalem and his
position on the royal rooftop.
From that spot, David sees a woman bathing, and 'the woman was very
beautiful' (11.2). David's gaze has penetrated the act of bathing. The narra-
tor provides no details about this woman's location. While the narrator has
opened the door to questions about David's presence in Jerusalem, there is
no information for questioning the woman's bathing spot.7
7. J. Cheryl Exum, exploring the portrayal of Bathsheba by the biblical narrator and
by scholars and artists, comments that 'biblical style typically suggests a causal connec-
tion by means of simple juxtaposition... Because Bathsheba was seen bathing, she was
sent for. It is thus the woman's fault that the man's desire is aroused. Bathsheba is guilty
of being desired, but the text hints that she asked for it: she allows herself to be seen'
(Plotted, Shot and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women [JSOTSup,
215; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996], p. 47). George G. Nichol suggests that
'bathfing] in a place so open to the roof of the royal palace and in such close proximity
that she could not only be seen, but could be seen to be very beautiful' was part of Bath-
sheba's plot 'as a clever and resourceful woman who in marrying David evidently
achieves her goal' ('The Alleged Rape of Bathsheba: Some Observations on Ambiguity
in Biblical Narrative', JSOT73 [1997], pp. 43-54 [51, 53]). Meir Sternberg offers a
different evaluation of Bathsheba: 'it is impossible to determine Bathsheba's attitude,
though one would not imagine that she showed much resistance. The Bible does not
portray her as a very clever woman (see 1 Kgs 2). The rabbis, ideologically committed to
David and his line, argued that it was she who had seduced the king—why else would
she have bathed naked on the roof?' (Poetics of Biblical Narrative, p. 526 n. 10). Is
Bathsheba's 'guilt' textual or ideological? Unfortunately, discussion of Bathsheba is a
gap in Steinberg's careful consideration of the 'system of gaps' and irony within this
passage so he offers no textual evidence for her guilt. He, apparently, joins with the
rabbis in putting her on the roof. Nichol must infer Bathsheba had a carefully con-
structed and well-timed plot to get pregnant and marry the king. If she is that 'clever and
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 129
resourceful', why would she get herself involved in adultery and pregnancy and then
merely 'look|s] to him to solve their problem'? (Nichol, 'The Alleged Rape of Bath-
sheba', p. 50). Exum's claim against the narrator that 'the withholding of Bathsheba's
point of view leaves her open to the charge of seduction' (Plotted, Shot and Painted,
p. 23) is well supported, but the causal connection of'simple juxtaposition' is not enough
narrative evidence to convict. The narrator maintains David as the subject of the verbs:
he rises from his bed, walks around, sees, sends and inquires. Bathsheba is not granted
the subjectivity over and against David that would be required to indict her for arousing
David's desire or that Nichol and the rabbis assign to her.
8. Randall C. Bailey suggests that David is speaking to himself in this passage. The
words are not those of a servant reporting back to him since there is no other subject
identified and David is not marked with a lamedh, i.e. as indirect object, receiving this
information. See R.C. Bailey, David in Love and War: The Pursuit of Power in 2 Samuel
10-12 (JSOTSup, 75; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990), p. 85.
9. Walter Brueggemann observes,' she was, as [David] presumed, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite, which means he could move with little risk' (David's Truth, p. 56). The lack
of risk, presumably, is because David is in charge. It is true that David has the power to
take Bathsheba, but he himself recognizes some level of risk, otherwise he would not
have attempted to cover up the consequences of his taking. The narrative emphasizes his
lack of risk assessment prior to and in prevention of his taking Bathsheba.
130 A Woman's Place is in the House
10. The parallel (J) account in Gen. 12.10-20 comments on Sarah's beauty. One
might assume the same basis for fear in Gen. 20.
11. Lev. 15.19-24 instructs such ritual bathing.
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 131
ritual notice of her washing has been relocated where it serves a different
purpose: as a shadowy omen following the adulterous act. There is nothing
in the text to suggest that Bathsheba told David about the bad timing of
their sexual encounter nor that she could have controlled David's behavior
by informing him that 'now is not a good time'.
By delaying the information about Bathsheba's purification until after
the sexual encounter, the author of the story clearly denounces the adultery
that has just taken place: 'he slept with her'. The timing is not the issue;
adultery is. The information about timing revealed at this point highlights
the recklessness and self-centeredness of David's sending and taking.
What did he think he was doing? Further, did he think there would be no
consequences? The emotional and spatial distance that this chapter has
built around David is suddenly threatened by the intimate information
about timing.
Does Bathsheba's silence about the potential for conception suggest she
intended to trap David in fatherhood? Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah,
provides a biblical example of such 'entrapment' in Gen. 38. Her story,
though, reveals the difficulty of assuming Bathsheba's goal in going to
David was to become pregnant. Tamar's sexual activity and her pregnancy
expose her to a death sentence; they do not gain her access to a husband.
Tamar was vindicated, but only because she had a prior claim due her
from Judah.12 There is nothing in the information about Bathsheba that
suggests she would be able to avoid the death sentence for adultery.13
The information about the timing of the sexual encounter clouds
Bathsheba's return to her house (11.4b). The act of adultery has been fur-
ther complicated by the danger of pregnancy. No time is wasted in sus-
pense. The next verse begins: 'The woman conceived'. Immediately she
moves into action: she sends, she reports to David, and she says, 'I'm
pregnant'.14 Her sending to David (n^KJTI) matches David's sending for her
12. Randall Bailey suggests that the 'illicit relations' between Lot and his daughters
and Judah and Tamar serve as 'precedent for portraying situations where women engage
in sex as a means of improving their status' (David in Love and War, p. 89). Lot's
daughters and Tamar, however, act in desperation to secure their future in the absence
of husbands. Their goal is to gain sons, not husbands. This is different from Bailey's
proposal of a calculated political 'co-partnership' between David and Bathsheba (p. 8 8)
in which pregnancy would precede the removal of the existing husband.
13. E.g. Deut. 22.22: 'If a man is caught sleeping with the wife of another man,
both of them shall die, the man who slept with the woman as well as the woman'.
14. Randall Bailey suggests that Bathsheba's pregnancy is a 'desired outcome'
since there is no 'indication of distress on the part of Bathsheba once she learns of her
132 A Woman's Place is in the House
(4a). She reports to him the consequences of his taking. There is no dis-
cussion of emotions or options.
With these two words, 'I'm pregnant', Bathsheba becomes part of the
royal house, as mother of the king's son and potential queen mother.
Though David initially plans to leave her in her own house and cover up
the liaison, he cannot ignore the dynastic implications of this affair for the
future of his house. His desperate measures to involve and then to remove
Uriah are indications that a king's sexual activity has political significance
and is not left unregulated.15 The narrator assumes the reader recognizes
those regulations.
Bathsheba is a woman belonging to two houses. She is also completely
vulnerable. The evidence that she has committed adultery will soon be all
too visible. There is no indication when she reports her condition to David
that she knows how he will respond or if he will even acknowledge his
involvement with her. There is no indication whether her husband knows
of her condition or how he might respond if he did. She does not free
David from responsibility, however. Bathsheba's 'sending' to David is a
call to accountability in perhaps the only way she could issue such a call.
The power to act for and against her, however, remains in David's hands.
In response to Bathsheba's sending and reporting, David sends to Joab
and instructs Joab to send him Uriah the Hittite. Uriah's status as husband
should have served to distance David from Bathsheba, but David violated
that status. As Uriah returns to Jerusalem, he maintains a distance from his
house and from his wife. That distance is reinforced in the four fold
pregnancy' (David in Love and War, p. 88). Since the narrator provides no report on
the emotional state of either David or Bathsheba throughout this chapter, the lack of
emotion is not indicative of a particular emotion.
15. In a Hittite treaty between Suppiluliuma I and his brother-in-law Huqqana of
Hayasa (CTH 42), Suppiluliuma addresses sexual conduct: 'And if on occasion a sister
of your wife, or the wife of a brother, or a female cousin comes to you, give her
something to eat and drink. Both of you eat, drink, and make merry! But you shall not
desire to take her (sexually). It is not permitted, and people are put to death as a result
of that act. You shall not initiate it of your own accord, and if someone else leads you
astray to such an act, you shall not listen to him or her. You shall not do it. It shall be
placed under oath for you'. InBeckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts, pp. 31-32.
Peirce (Imperial Harem, p. 3) observes of the Ottoman Empire royal house: '[Sex]
was not a random activity. Sex in the imperial harem was necessarily surrounded with
rules, and the structure of the harem was aimed in part at shaping, and thus controlling,
the outcome of the sultan's sexual activity.'
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 133
announcement that 'he did not go down to his house'.16 Instead Uriah
establishes himself in close proximity to David, even sleeping in the door-
way of David's house.
It is not reported whether or not Bathsheba knew her husband was back
in the city. It is possible that she did know since Uriah's behavior is
clearly visible to all within the king's court17 and nothing in the chapter
thus far has suggested secrecy about the events that have taken place. In
either case, Bathsheba does not participate in the attempt to draw Uriah
home. The common perception of Bathsheba as a seductress runs into
trouble at this point. How is it that her beauty leads David to commit adul-
tery but does not draw her own husband home?
Though absent in person from the David-Uriah scenes, Bathsheba is
repeatedly brought to the reader's attention in the dialogue between the
two men. David commands Uriah to go down to his house and wash (]TI~l)
his 'feet' (11.8), an echo of Bathsheba's washing (flitm) and the sexual
activity that followed. Uriah protests against going to his house to eat and
to drink and to sleep with his wife while the ark and Israel and Judah
reside in booths and Joab and his officers camp in the field (11.11). Uriah
declares, 'Your life and the life of your soul if I do go to my house'. While
the reader may be unsure whether Uriah is aware of the adultery, the
attempted cover-up, and the plans for his own demise, the irony of these
verses is unmistakable. David's taking of Bathsheba is clearly a betrayal
of the nation and of the king's covenant leadership.
It becomes clear that the theme underlying this story is not sex—as love
or lust—but the royal power to 'take'. There is here a clear echo of Sam-
uel's warning to the elders of Israel about the ways that the king they
desire will rule over them. Samuel warned that the king would take (HpV)
family members, possessions, fields and flocks for himself, for his pur-
poses and his entourage (1 Sam. 8.11-18). The warning in 1 Sam. 8 pro-
vides an interpretive context for the David-Bathsheba-Uriah narrative.18
19. 'When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husbandvias dead, she lamented
concerning her husband' (2 Sam. 11.26).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 135
poor man and he treats it as a daughter. Still, the wealthy man takes it
(npb). This taking so enrages David that he bursts out that the rich man
should restore the lamb fourfold because of what he had done and because
he had no pity. David's 'judgment' is not impaired; he can recognize the
needless taking of someone else's beloved. 'You are the man!' charges
Nathan.
Nathan's parable serves to highlight David's recklessness and harm in
taking Bathsheba and to portray the relationship between Bathsheba and
Uriah as one of closeness and deep affection. Bathsheba's lament (11.26)
takes on deeper poignancy. The parable sharpens the tragedy of the narra-
tive events.
At the same time, the parable is an uneasy fit with the David-Bathsheba-
Uriah story. After all, David was serving his own desires, not extending
hospitality when he sent and took Bathsheba. Bathsheba was the wife, not
the daughter, of Uriah. Uriah, not Bathsheba, was killed. Replacing a lamb
fourfold would not replace the relationship with the one that was killed nor
is it applicable to the loss of a spouse.
The victims in the parable are the poor man and his lamb. The victims in
the narrative are Bathsheba and Uriah. But Nathan declares another victim
in his condemnation of David. That victim is Yahweh. Yahweh reminds
David of all that he has divinely received: 'I anointed you as king over
Israel and I delivered you from the hand of Saul and I gave you the house
of your lord and the wives of your lord into your bosom and I gave you the
house of Israel and Judah and if that were not enough I would add for you
this and more' (2 Sam. 12.7b-8). The prophet makes clear Yahweh's anger
over David's taking in light of Yahweh's giving. Robert Polzin observes
that Yahweh has already taken kingship from Saul and given it to David.20
The giving of kingship is represented in the divine transfer of royal
women ('your master's wives') to David. That they are given 'into your
bosom' suggests they are to be received with care, not violence. These
women appear to be the surviving corps of Saul's house and the dynastic
foundation of David's house. Whereas David in his argument with Michal
emphasized the discontinuity of houses (i.e. 'Yahweh chose me over your
father and over all his house'; 2 Sam. 6.21), Yahweh emphasizes that
David has received Saul's house and wives as apart o/receiving the house
of Israel and Judah.
20. Polzin discusses this parable in light of God's beneficence to David' in taking
from Saul and giving to David (David and the Deuteronomist, pp. 122-26).
136 A Woman's Place is in the House
23. The verb here C]3]) is that used in the description of Yahweh's striking the
Egyptians during the Passover (Exod. 12.23, 27).
24. The David-Bathsheba-Uriah story is set into the account of this conflict over
the rejection of David's condolences (2 Sam. 10.2, 3).
138 A Woman's Place is in the House
sat with him throughout his distress. Ephriam mourned his father many
days and his brothers comforted him (1 Chron. 7.22). Job's concern for the
poor, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, and the oppressed (29.12-25)25
is described as a royal work that involves 'dwelling] like a king among
the troops, like the one who comforts mourners' (Job 29.25). The desir-
ability and effectiveness of David's comforting cannot be determined in
the text, but compassion for Bathsheba marks a change in the way David
has previously treated her and brings her to the center of attention.
Bathsheba becomes the subject of the verbs that follow. She bears a son
and she names him Solomon.26 It is a second beginning; one in which
Bathsheba is more clearly identified as royal wife and mother of a poten-
tial heir to the throne. This time the birth of the child brings Yahweh plea-
sure (2 Sam. 12.24b).
It may be expected that Bathsheba assumed her royal responsibilities
upon entering the palace as one of David's wives. In addition to caring for
her son Solomon and his future, she would have to establish her position
among the other women of the palace. A closer examination of the list of
David's wives suggests that he pursued some strategic alliances through
marriage arrangements. Following his marriage to Michal and before he
was appointed king in Judah, David married Abigail. Abigail was the
widow of a prominent and wealthy Carmelite (2 Sam. 25). She was quite
clever and through her David likely gained access to property, wealth and
significant social and political contacts in that region of Judah. David's
wife Maacah was 'the daughter of Talmai the king of Geshur' (2 Sam.
3.3). This marriage likely sealed some form of peace treaty between the
two kingdoms. There is no indication in the text whether the marriage
contract gave Maacah's son Absalom any preferential position in the line
of succession.27 Maacah's status as a king's daughter, however, might pro-
vide her some advantage over other royal wives.
25. See parallels in the prayer for the king in Ps. 72.
26. Reading with MT qere (MT ketib has 'He named'). Women who name their own
children include Eve (Gen. 4.25), the daughters of Lot (Gen. 19.37, 38), Leah (Gen.
29.32,33,34,35; 30.11,13,17,20),Rachel (Gen. 30.6,8,24; 35.18), Shua(Gen. 38.4,
5), Samson's mother (Judg. 13.24), Hannah (1 Sam. 1.20), and Maacah the wife of
Machir (1 Chron. 7.16). It is interesting to note that it is the name Bathsheba gave her
son by which he was to be known, not the name by which he was known to Yahweh
(2 Sam. 12.25).
27. It did provide him a place of refuge after killing his brother Amnon (2 Sam.
13.37-38).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 139
role to lie in the bosom of the king are taunting reminders of how David
used to be. He used to receive the praise and loyalty of men and women in
the land for his beauty and deeds.28 He had been quite capable of acquiring
beautiful women on his own.29 He no longer appears to be able to function
this way.
David's servants come up with a plan that addresses David's failed
vigor, but also exposes David's failing leadership. The servants express
two desires:
Subsequently, she 'will lie in [the king's] bosom and he will be warmed'
(1 Kgs 1.2). The text in Hebrew is as follows:
28. David is described as 'ruddy, with beautiful eyes and good looking' (1 Sam.
16.12). The throngs that welcomed him home from battle sang, 'Saul has killed his
thousands and David his ten thousands' (1 Sam. 18.7) and 'Michal loved David'
(1 Sam. 18.20).
29. Abigail is described as 'clever and beautiful' (1 Sam. 25.3), Bathsheba as 'very
beautiful in appearance' (2 Sam. 11.2).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 141
30. Of the 90 uses of the expression 'to stand before' (^sb T2U) only one appears
in a context with any reference to sexual activity. Lev. 18.23 forbids men from lying
with any animal and women from 'standing before' an animal to lie down with it. The
sexual content is in the expression 'lie down' and not in the expression 'to stand
before'.
31. E.g. !Kgs3.15.
32. E.g. Num. 16.9; Deut. 10.8; 18.7.
33. G.J. Wenham, 'Betulah "A Girl of Marriageable Age'", VT 22 (1972), pp.
326-48.
34. This is specifically stated in Gen. 24.16 but completely understood in such texts
as Deut. 22.19, 23 and 28.
35. BOB 698.
36. It appears a total of 14 times, 7 in the qal form.
37. See Chapter 1, pp. 49-54.
142 A Woman's Place is in the House
38. The prostitute with the dead child takes a living child from a sleeping prosti-
tute, lays the dead child on the breast of the sleeping woman and lays the living child
on her own (IKgs 3.20).
39. Mic. 7.5: '[She] who lies in your embrace' is included among a list of close
family members and is similar to the pattern in Deut. 13.7 and 28.54 of referring to 'the
wife of your embrace'.
40. LSJ 783. In Isa. 22.15 the term soken is translated as TOMia?, one who carves
and distributes, dispenser, steward; controller of receipts and expenditure, treasurer
(LSJ 1754).
41. LSJ 1036. Under the third meaning there is a reference to the serving of a
prostitute (AP4.48 Gallus; Tpicnv avSpaoiv). Though this opens the possibility of
viewing Abishag's ministering as sexual, the predominant usage of the verb in Greek is
unrelated to sexual activity. Moreover, the Hebrew mtD is not used in that way.
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 143
42. He views the soken as someone who represented the king to others and others
to the king and interprets Abishag as representing Bathsheba to David. See Mulder,
'Versuch zur Deutung von SOKENET', pp. 43-54.
43. Those ideals being: young, beautiful and 'Intacta1. In Mulder, 'Versuch zur
Deutung von SOKENET', p. 53.
144 A Woman's Place is in the House
44. 'She bore him after Absalom' (1 Kgs 1.6). Somehow the second son Chileab,
son of Abigail, has dropped from the list.
146 A Woman's Place is in the House
45. Michal rescues David's life when she warns him to flee in the middle of the
night from Saul's messengers (1 Sam. 19.11).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 147
46. Based on her claim that Solomon is David's designated heir, she would be chief
wife.
47. His description of the sacrifice in v. 25 is what she offered in v. 19. In the list of
attendees in the MT Nathan omits Joab, but the LXX Lucian has 'the commanders of
Joab'.
48. N^Q (piel). BDB suggests 'confirm' for this one occurrence with 'fill', 'satisfy',
'fulfill, accomplish, complete' for the other primary meanings. HALOT likewise sug-
gests 'confirm' for this one occurrence based on Martin Noth's commentary in Konige.
Noth suggests that the meaning of the verb in this context does not refer to 'comple-
tion' but that an independent 'confirmation' of Bathsheba's report to the king was
needed. See Konige (BKAT, 9.1; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1968), p.
20. While Nathan 'confirms' Bathsheba's report of the actions of Adonijah, he does not
directly confirm the most critical element of Bathsheba's speech, i.e. the oath David
swore concerning Solomon.
49. She is called back to the king in v. 28 for David's response.
148 A Woman's Place is in the House
her son will face after David's death. Nathan focuses on Adonijah's cele-
bration of his kingship, the exclusion of Solomon and others, and the
absence of David's approval. Together Bathsheba and Nathan deliver
David a one-two punch calling David to responsibility and urging Solo-
mon's case directly and indirectly.
David has made no response thus far in the chapter to any of the events,
charges, complaints and questions. The reader is left wondering what
David's physical and mental condition is and whether he is capable of
handling the attempts, claims and counterclaims on his throne. Joab, who
accompanied David, fended off enemies and directed him when he faltered
in the past, is now allied with Adonijah. A new character, Abishag, now
serves him. Nathan, who had been David's confidant, confessor and
judge—bringing the word of Yahweh in the promise and the failure of
David's kingship—now acts deferentially and speaks indirectly. Bath-
sheba, who spoke only two words ('I'm pregnant') through adultery, mur-
der, marriage, the death of one child and birth of another, now figures
prominently as speaker and actor.
That there are new characters and that familiar characters behave in new
ways heightens the tension and increases the level of suspicion in the text.
Adonijah is clouded in suspicion by the parallels drawn to his brother
Absalom. There are also nagging suspicions about Nathan and Bathsheba
and the oath they claim David swore to Solomon. This is the first the
reader has heard of it, although Bathsheba and Nathan speak as if they
both heard this promise. Have the two cooked up a memory that their
individual visits will help an aged David 'remember'? Neither Bathsheba
nor Nathan can be considered disinterested parties.50 There is no way to
establish for certain that David did make such an oath prior to 1 Kings. It
is only possible to confirm that he took responsibility for having made
such a commitment to Bathsheba.51
In their side by side audiences with David, Bathsheba and Nathan ask
David to do something he has not done before: make a decision concern-
ing his children. A number of David's children have suffered at the hands
50. This scene represents a return of Nathan to the narrative. He has not spoken
since his judgment speech against David (2 Sam. 12). The prophet Gad, David's seer,
delivered Yahweh's word after the census (2 Sam. 24).
51. Nathan instructed Bathsheba to say, 'Didn't the king swear to your maidser-
vant. ..' (1 Kgs 1.13); Bathsheba said to David, 'You swore by Yahweh your God to
your maidservant...(1 Kgs 1.17); and David addresses Bathsheba by saying, 'as I
swore to you by the LORD the God of Israel' (1 Kgs 1.30).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 149
52. She does not develop her own argument as she did in presenting her and Solo-
mon's case before David.
53. E.g. Ishbosheth's accusation that Abner was involved with Saul's former
concubine Rizpah (2 Sam. 3.7), David's claim for the return of Michal his wife (2 Sam.
3.14), and Absalom's taking of his father's concubines (2 Sam. 16.22).
152 A Woman's Place is in the House
54. Maria Hausl (Abischag und Batscheba, p. 299) reads the rejection of Bath-
sheba's request as a sign of the political direction of the monarchy. She regards it as 'a
curtailing of Bathsheba's influence through Solomon, in favor of a centralization of
power in the hands of Solomon'. While Bathsheba disappears from the Solomonic
story at this point, other queen mothers appear in later narratives and regular mention is
made of the names of queen mothers in the regnal notices.
55. Through Nathan, Yahweh declares, 'I took you from the flocks, from behind
the sheep to become ruler over my people' (2 Sam. 7.8).
56. 1 Kgs 2.19. This royal image is also depicted in Ps. 45 where the queen (dressed
in gold) is located at the right hand of the king (v. 10 MT).
5. Bathsheba: A Queen Mother 153
role she assumes and one that weights her deeds with public and political
significance.
David's view into Bathsheba's house and his inquiry after her trigger an
extensive narrative insight and inquiry into the Davidic house. 2 Samuel
11 and following paint a disturbing picture of adultery, murder, rape,
betrayal and rebellion. This is mixed with prayer, providence and promise,
involving an array of royal offspring, spilling beyond the walls of the royal
residence, drawing individuals and the whole nation into these events.
Through Bathsheba the reader glimpses the activity of a queen mother.
She is unique in that she is the only biblical royal woman whose life can
be glimpsed from entry into the palace through the birth of her son, through
his coronation, to the early period of his reign. She is not, however, excep-
tional since her responsibilities are part of the body politic, not uniquely
assigned to her. Bathsheba participates in the powers, pressures, privileges
and choices that are part of the operation and survival of the royal house.
Her success and her limits in that endeavor are recognized in the narrative.
Bathsheba's activity as queen mother is consistent with her royal counter-
parts as glimpsed in extra-biblical sources and is paradigmatic for viewing
her successors within the biblical text.
Chapter 6
2. Four times this promise shapes Yahweh's response to Judah's apostasy: (1) the
division of the kingdom after Solomon's death which left one tribe for Solomon's heir
(1 Kgs 11.12-13; repeated to Jeroboam in 11.32, 34); (2) the preservation of the
kingdom in the reign of Abijam whose heart was not in keeping with Yahweh his God
as the heart of David his father had been (1 Kgs 15.3); (3) the preservation of the
kingdom during the time of Jehoram on account of the promise to David (2 Kgs 8.19);
and (4) the preservation of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's attack during the time of
Hezekiah(2Kgsl9.34).
3. The previous notice in 8.18 had identified her as the daughter of Ahab. Josephus
identifies her as Ahab's daughter (Ant. 9, p. 75, §140). Various scholarly proposals
attempt to establish a chronology to determine whether Athaliah is the daughter or the
sister of Ahab. H. J. Katzenstein calculates the reigns of Ahab and Omri and concludes,
'Athaliah was the daughter of Omri...but that she grew up as a young orphan at the
court of Ahab' ('Who Were the Parents of Athaliah?', IEJ5 [1955], pp. 194-97 [197].
Christopher Levin favors 'daughter of Omri' because it occurs as part of the regnal
formula from the annals source, while 'the daughter of Ahab' is a 'pious insertion by
the Deuteronomist' (Der Sturz de Konigin Atalja: Ein Kapitelzur Geschichte Judas im
9. Jahrhundert v. Chr. (SBS, 105; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1982), p. 83.
Winfried Thiel also concludes that Athaliah is a daughter of Omri and a sister of Ahab
('Athaliah', ABD, pp. 511-12). For the purposes of this study, it is not necessary to
determine from which generation of the dynastic house Athaliah derived.
156 A Woman's Place is in the House
reigns since it is reported that Ahaziah also 'walked in the way of the
house ofAhab and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh like the house
ofAhab, for he was a son-in-law of the house ofAhab' (2 Kgs 8.27).
Historically, Judah at the time may have been Israel's vassal and politi-
cally subordinate to Ahab. The rhetoric of the text, however, emphasizes
that Judah has become identical to the house ofAhab. Its loyalty was not
to Yahweh. Its leaders—though technically descendents of David—were
related to and identified with a different royal house. The regnal notices
convict 'mother' and 'wife', 'husband' and 'son' of replacing one house
with another.
The evaluative summaries of the reigns of Jehoram and Ahaziah focus
the charges against them on apostasy; however, there are no details or
examples provided in the text. The narrative focuses on the activities of
the king and queen of the Northern Kingdom. King Ahab, who 'in the eyes
of Yahweh did more evil than all those before him' (1 Kgs 16.30), was
responsible for setting up an altar to Baal in the house of Baal in Samaria
and making an "asera (1 Kgs 16.32-33). Ahab and his Phoenician-born
wife Jezebel supported the Baal and Asherah cults, actively opposing
Elijah and the Yahweh priests and prophets. Of Jehoram, Ahaziah and
Athaliah (identified as wife, mother and daughter) it is only indicated that
they walk in the ways of this house. At some point a Baal temple is built in
Jerusalem (mentioned in 2 Kgs 11.18), but no one is identified as building
it. The evidence for the charges of apostasy in the Judean regnal notice is
provided indirectly, by inference and by identification with the evil ways
of the house ofAhab.
It is not difficult to picture Athaliah's participation and leadership in the
national cult. Jezebel's sponsorship of priests and prophets is in keeping
with extra biblical evidence of royal women's sponsorship of temples, sacri-
fices and offerings, prophetic inquiries and priestly intercessions.4 Solomon
joins his wives in their worship of various gods, building for them high
places, and making burnt offerings and sacrifices (1 Kgs 11.8). Maacah, the
gebird during the reign of Asa, erected something for Asherah (1 Kgs
15.13). Though the attention Maacah receives is negative, her removal only
underscores the visibility and significance of the royal women in the national
cult. It does not prove that royal women were exclusively devoted to Ash-
erah as part of the state cult5 or that only women were associated with non-
Yahwistic practices. Rehoboam builds ' 'asertm on every high hill and
beneath every green tree' (1 Kgs 14.23), and his son 'walked in all the sins
which his father had done before him' (15.3). Manasseh sets an image of
Asherah in the temple of Yahweh (2 Kgs 21.7) and when Josiah begins his
reform he gives orders that 'the vessels made for Baal and for Asherah and
for the host of heaven' be removed from the temple (2 Kgs 23.4). The exam-
ples suggest that the boundaries of the official cult and the visibility of cult
leaders were restricted neither to the temple property nor the male priestly
personnel.6 Still, there is an absence of concrete details about Judah's apos-
tasy and specific charges against Jehoram, Ahaziah and Athaliah.
In contrast, there is a flood of detail and a lengthy description regarding
the house of Ahab in the Northern Kingdom and the Jehu revolt that brings
it to an end. The events include the secret anointing of Jehu as 'king over
Israel' and the subsequent murders of King Joram of Israel, King Ahaziah
of Judah, Queen Jezebel of Israel, 70 'sons of Ahab' (2 Kgs 10.1), 42
'brothers of Ahaziah' (2 Kgs 10.13), everyone remaining who belonged to
Ahab in Jezreel (2 Kgs 10.11) and Samaria (2 Kgs 10.17), and all the wor-
shippers, prophets and priests of Baal (2 Kgs 10.19). The account is flow-
ing in blood. All the 'heads' of state are removed and the future genera-
tions of the house of Ahab are eliminated. The throne of Israel is granted
to a new house. The Jehu revolt begins as a divinely sponsored reform
movement to remove the leaders of the house of Ahab and to avenge the
deaths of the prophets and servants of Yahweh (2 Kgs 9.7). At the end of
the bloodshed and destruction, however, is the somber notice: 'Jehu did
not turn from the sin of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to sin' (2
Kgs 10.31b). The revolt wiped away the house of Ahab, but it did not
change the heart of the nation.
Jehu's revolt also threatened the house of David. He slaughtered 42
'brothers of Ahaziah'. The number is sufficiently large to signify a com-
plete devastation of the male population of the Judean royal house and,
together with the death of Ahaziah, to create a vacuum in the leadership of
the Southern Kingdom. While the events in the Northern Kingdom are
being narrated, the reader is likely to inquire: has Jehu's revolt exceeded
its bounds, bringing not only punishment to the north but also devastation
to the south? Will the religious zeal and reform campaign carried forth in
the Northern Kingdom spread to the Southern Kingdom? Who is carrying
on the duties of the royal house while Ahaziah and his '42 brothers' are
visiting in the Northern Kingdom? Winfried Thiel suggests that 'if, during
his brief reign, Ahaziah joined Jehoram of Judah in the campaigns against
the Arameans at Ramoth-Gilead (2 Kgs 8.28), we must assume that,
already at that time, Athaliah wielded much of the power of government' .7
Unfortunately, the text makes no comment on the subject.
Missing a Link
When the story of Jehu's reign concludes and the narrative loops back in
chronological time to pick up the events in the Southern Kingdom, it is
Athaliah's name that is the center of attention. The typical Hebrew word
order is altered to bring 'Athaliah mother of Ahaziah' to prominence in the
opening verse (2 Kgs 11.1). One would also expect to find at this point the
customary regnal report synchronizing the reigns of the southern and
northern kings. Its absence highlights the crisis at hand: Athaliah's son is
dead.
The burial of Ahaziah has been previously reported in 2 Kgs 9.28,
followed by a corrected regnal notice synchronizing the beginning of his
reign to the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab (2 Kgs 9.29). However, no
indication of Ahaziah's successor is provided. The omission is striking
since the standard reporting formula for each of the Judean kings from
Rehoboam to Jehoiachin includes the notice that 'his son' succeeded him.8
The next Judean regnal notice is that of Jehoash in 2 Kgs 12.1. This,
too, is unusual since it make no mention of his father's name. Customarily
the report indicates that 'X son o/Y began to reign'.9 The variation is to
begin the regnal report immediately after the notice of the death of the
previous king, which includes the announcement that 'his son X succeeded
him'.10 The report of the accession of Jehoash fits neither of these patterns.
The awkward gap appears as if notice of Athaliah's accession to the throne
has been sliced out of the end of Ahaziah's notice in 2 Kgs 9.28. A report
on Athaliah's reign would be synchronized with the report of Jehu's
accession to power in 2 Kgs 10.28, and evaluated and concluded before
7. Thiel,'Athaliah', p. 512.
8. 1 Kgs 14.31; 15.8,24; 22.51 MT; 2 Kgs 8.24; 12.22 MT; 15.7,38; 16.20;20.21;
21.18; 21.26; 23.34; 24.6. The people of Judah ensure the succession of Azariah (2 Kgs
14.21) and Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23.30). The report for Jehoiachin indicates that he was
succeeded by his uncle (2 Kgs 24.17).
9. E.g. 1 Kgs 14.21; 22.41; 2 Kgs 8.16, 25; 14.1; 15.1, 32; 16.1; 18.1.
10. E.g. 1 Kgs 14.31; 15.8; 2 Kgs 21.18, 26; 23.30; 24.6.
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 159
argues that the Jehu account, while exaggerated, is the more historic account. He sug-
gests that 2 Kgs 11 was intended to legitimate Jehoiada's revolt against Athaliah and
the installation of Jehoash on the Davidic throne. To legitimate the murder the text
engages in character assassination, which portrays Athaliah as a 'bloodthirsty witch'.
Levin suggests parallels with the portrayal of Jezebel. The observations at the begin-
ning of this chapter concerning the depiction of Athaliah in the regnal notices similarly
point to the polemic in the way she is portrayed. Levin's examination of different
redaction levels in the chapter attempts to address when and why Athaliah's reputation
was discredited in this way.
13. M. George, 'Body Works: Power, the Construction of Identity, and Gender in
the Discourse on Kingship' (PhD Dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1995),
p. 91.
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 161
palace space,14 but also result in a different political and theological future
for the nation. The conflict between Jehosheba and Athaliah cannot be
reduced to 'biological urges', such that 'One gives in to ambition and
denies the biological urge to nurture the young; the other surrenders to the
opposite—Jehosheba selflessly offers protection to the child, in fact her
nephew'.15
The future of Judah as a 'house' linked to Yahweh through a dynastic
covenant is preserved by Jehosheba's intervention. She also serves as
caretaker for the next generation. Joash remains with her in hiding in the
temple for six years.16
14. According to the MT Jehosheba had assistance in hiding Jehoash. 2 Kgs 11.2
reads that 'they [3mpl] hid him'.
15. B.O. Long, 2 Kings (FOIL, 10; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), p. 148.
16. The location of the bedchamber in which Jehosheba hid Joash and his nurse has
been thought by some to be 'the priests' dormitory within the temple area'. See Hobbs,
2 Kings, p. 138. The text, however, locates him with Jehosheba.
17. Lowell K. Handy considers Samuel to be the only biblical child residing in a
sanctuary and finds no evidence of children living in temple complexes in Mesopota-
mian sources. He concludes that the Joash story is a 'variant of the model [of political
propaganda] which Brian Lewis has studied under the name: "Tale of the Hero Who
Was Exposed at Birth"', referring to Lewis's study of the legend of Sargon's birth that
provided legitimation for a royal usurper. See L.K. Handy, 'Speaking of Babies in the
Temple', Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies Proceedings 8 (1988),
pp. 155-65(161), and B. Lewis, The Sargon Legend: A Study of the Akkadian Text and
the Tale of the Hero who was Exposed at Birth (ASOR Dissertation Series, 4; Cam-
bridge, MA: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1980).
18. Hannelis Schulte proposes that 'Jehosheba—especially as a princess!—was a
HETIp. In this case she would have been allowed to reside in the temple compound'
('The End of the Omride Dynasty: Social-Ethical Observations on the Subject of Power
and Violence' [trans. C.S. Ehrlich]), Semeia 66 (1994), pp. 133-48 (136 n. 3). Unfortu-
nately, Schulte offers no explanation of the position and its role in the Yahweh temple. It
is not clear whether this proposal is to be analogous to the 'God's Wife' position in
Egypt or the Akkadian naditu or whether those individuals resided in the temple. It is not
162 A Woman's Place is in the House
necessary to justify Jehosheba's place in the temple, but it is important to recognize that
the temple was the place she chose to shelter the house of David.
19. Hobbs, 2 Kings, p. 138.
20. W. Brueggemann, 2 Kings (John Knox Preaching Guides; Atlanta: John Knox
Press, 1982), p. 39.
21. Hobbs, 2 Kings, p. 138.
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 163
24. The victory at Jericho came on the seventh day (Josh. 6.15).
25. The identification of Jehoiada as priest is not made until the end of v. 9. Before
that he emerges in the role of deliverer without introduction.
26. Joshua prepares the Israelites for the taking of the land by circumcising the
males (Josh. 5.2-8).
27. The Israelites followed Joshua's instructions at Jericho (Josh. 6.8).
28. Joshua arranged the priests, the warriors and the rest of the Israelites into
groups in front of and behind the ark of the covenant (Josh. 6.6-7).
29. Joshua's contingents surrounded the city of Jericho seven times (Josh. 6.15).
30. Mordecai Cogan and Hayim Tadmor favor translating 'edut as 'jewels'. This
would represent some type of royal 'insignia' presented to the king along with the
crown. The reading fits with royal garments attested in Assyrian ritual texts and avoids
the difficulty of there being no evidence in coronation ceremonies of a 'covenant docu-
ment' 'physically handed over to the king' (II Kings [AB, 11; New York: Doubleday,
1988], p. 128). But if one reads the passage without attempting to reconstruct a corona-
tion event, the symbolic significance of 'testimony', as it appears in this passage and in
the parallel passage in 2 Chron. 23.11, becomes clear. David instructs Solomon to ob-
serve this testimony as 'written in the Instruction of Moses' (1 Kgs 2.3) and in Ps. 132
Yahweh instructs David's sons to keep 'my covenant and my testimony' (v. 12). It is
precisely the restoration of this connection between the Davidic monarchy and Yah-
weh's instruction that is to be effected in 2 Kgs 11.
31. The attack on Jericho was launched with the ark of the testimony (Josh. 4.16)/
ark of the covenant (Josh. 4.18) at its center.
32. Similarly, at Jericho Yahweh declares victory to Joshua (Josh. 6.2) and Joshua
declares victory to the people (6.16) before the walls of the city have even been
breached.
33. The beginning of the end at Jericho is when 'the people heard the noise' (Josh.
6.20).
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 165
unopposed.34 Now the royal house, the king and the people are together in
Yahweh's house; only there are two kings! Athaliah 'looked and there was
the king standing by the pillar in the customary fashion' (2 Kgs 11.14).
The woman who once saw that her son had died and attempted to destroy
'the seed of the kingdom' now sees that seed alive and 'all the people of
the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets'. As the two 'kings' face each
other across the temple, it is clear that Athaliah now stands alone. The
long-standing sacral, political and dynastic power of her house has been
brought down by the people's withdrawal.
Athaliah responds by tearing her clothing and crying out. The expres-
sion of anguish and distress is akin to that demonstrated by other royalty
when confronted with a frightening realization, for example, David when
he hears of the deaths of Saul, Jonathan and Abner (2 Sam. 1.11; 3.31),
Tamar after being raped by Amnon (2 Sam. 13.19), Ahab when he hears
Yahweh's judgment on him for killing Naboth (1 Kgs 21.27), and Heze-
kiah when he hears the report of the Rabshakeh (2 Kgs 19.1). Athaliah's
actions are in keeping with the liturgical character of this battle. Clothes-
tearing is a public ritual intended to invoke divine and human sympathy
and support.35 David's men join him in tearing their clothes, Tamar is com-
forted by Absalom, Ahab's sentence is mitigated because he humbles
himself, and Hezekiah goes to the temple to inquire about how to respond
to the Assyrian threat. Athaliah stands in the Temple and tears her cloth-
34. Boundaries that function in other descriptions of the temple to divide gender
and class or separate sacred and pro fane are not strictly observed in this narrative. Both
Jehosheba and Athaliah have access to the Temple. The Temple functions as an infant
nursery. The soldiers are arranged up to the altar (11.11). The description of the temple
resembles a military camp more than the 'public, royal, and sacralized sanctuary (cf. 1
Kgs 1.50-51)' thatB.O. Long describes (2 Kings, p. 150).
Robert D. Haak reconstructs the' shoulder' (^fQ) of the temple to refer 'to the sides
of the main entrance to the temple', a position from which 'to block Athaliah's access
to the temple itself. See 'The "Shoulder" of the Temple', FT33.3 (1983), pp. 271-78
(277,278). The soldiers do not act to block her, however, since she goes to the people
in the temple, sees the king at the pillar, and is not killed on the spot so that she does
not die in the temple.
3 5. The examples provided cover a range of experiences—from victimizer (Ahab)
to victim (Tamar), formal mourning rituals (David) to outbursts of grief at bad news
(Hezekiah). The differences in meaning need to be noted. The element of intense
distress, the public audience of the behavior and the description of the behavior,
however, are the same for all the examples.
166 A Woman's Place is in the House
ing, but no one steps forward. There is no divine response, no comfort and
no mitigation.
Jehoiada instructs the commanders of the army to lead Athaliah out
along the rows. He commands that anyone following after her be killed
with the sword. No one follows.
The battle has taken place in reverse: starting with the victory, then the
acknowledgment of defeat, and now the fight. Jehoiada directs that the
deed be done outside of the Temple.35 The soldiers lay hands on her to
control her,37 but Athaliah remains in charge of herself until the end. She
goes the way of the Horses Entrance38 into the palace and is killed there.
She dies in the 'house of the king', a place she has occupied as king, queen
mother and wife, and where she has aided the house of Ahab to replace the
house of David in the land of Judah.
While Athaliah is being killed in the palace, a second battle is taking
place outside. As the house of Ahab is being emptied in preparation for the
return to sovereignty of the house of David, the house of Baal is being
emptied in preparation for Yahweh's return to sovereignty in the land.
Again preparations for this second battle involve covenanting. The king
and the people covenant to be 'the people of Yahweh' (2 Kgs 11.17). The
Baal temple and its priest Mattan are destroyed.39 Then the procession of
soldiers and 'all the people of the land' bring king Joash from the 'house
of Yahweh' to the 'house of the King' where he is seated on the throne of
36. Perhaps it is to prevent Athaliah from seeking sanctuary by the altar as Adoni-
jah did (1 Kgs 1.50), or perhaps it is to avoid bloodshed in the Temple. It may also be
to separate her from any who might come to her aid.
37. The combination C'fc? + T can refer to picking something up (e.g. Judg. 4.21,
Jael picks up a hammer), taking something (e.g. 1 Kgs 20.6, the soldiers take from
Ahab's possessions) or giving someone control (e.g. Ps. 89.26, God gives the king
control over the sea). The emphasis is on power and control.
38. Cogan and Tadmor connect the reference to the 'Horses Entrance' with the
Horses Gate of the City of Jerusalem (as in the parallel passage in 2 Chron. 23.15)
mentioned in Neh. 3.28 and Jer. 31.40. They conclude that 'through this gate, one
reached the Horses Entrance which opened directly into the royal precinct' (IIKings,
p. 130.). It is not necessary to assume 'the place of execution is ignominious' (Hobbs,
2 Kings, p. 143) since an entrance for riders could also be used for royal processions.
The text emphasizes the palace as the location of her death, not the Horses Entrance
(2 Kgs 11.16,20).
39. The move from covenant-making to destruction of the Baal Temple and the
murder of the Baal priest is consistent with the instructions Moses gives concerning the
destruction of the people of Canaan and their altars when the Israelites occupy the land
(Deut. 7.1-5).
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 167
the kings. The re-taking of the land is now complete: the foreign gods and
foreign rulers have been driven from the land, Yahweh's house is secure,40
Yahweh's choice of ruling house is re-established, and Yahweh's cove-
nant with the people and with the king is re-affirmed. The people of the
land rejoice and the city is at rest (2 Kgs 11.20).41
Though Athaliah's reign may have been sliced out of the regnal notices of
Judah, leaving a gap where Ahaziah's successor should have been named42
in order to maintain the continuity of Davidic sons on the throne of Judah,
the same set of regnal notices later signals discontinuity by making no
mention of the connection between Joash and his father. To accept the
legitimacy of Joash, the text requires the reader to deal with the illegiti-
macy of the rule of the house of Ahab in Judah. To accept the continuity
of Joash, one must struggle with the discontinuity between father and son,
T.R. Hobbs observes:
Athaliah's reign is but a brief interlude in the progress of the Davidic mon-
archy in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The queen is never given the offi-
cial trappings of monarchy by the 'deuteronomist'. Her reign ends as it
begins, in irregularity, and no attempt is made to introduce the reign or con-
clude it in a formal way.43
But Athaliah does rule the land (pKH'biJ mbd) and, though she is
excised from the King's List of Judah, she is a six-year interruption in the
'progress of the Davidic monarchy'. As John Gray notes, 'the Davidic
succession had been broken by Athaliah's usurpation, which necessitated a
formal renewal of the Davidic covenant'44 (11.17). If the 'time of Athaliah
is treated as an interregnum by Kings',45 it is a time in which the throne of
the kingdom was not occupied by David's offspring 'forever'. The
extended detail in the presentation of Jehoiada's coup emphasizes the need
to 're-take' the house and repair the break. If 'her story is told against the
background of God's eternal dynastic promise to David in [2 Kgs] 8.19',46
what is the nature of the eternal dynastic promise?
In the structure of the text, the regnal reports insist on the continuity of
the divine promise; and the narrative portrays the rupture in dynastic rule
that follows from 'walking in the ways of the House of Ahab'.
The faithfulness of Yahweh is contrasted with the unfaithfulness of the
Judean kings and the nation combined. Yahweh promised David 'your
house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you and your
throne will be established forever' (2 Sam. 7.16). What Yahweh promised,
42. After 2 Kgs 9.28. See discussion earlier in this chapter (pp. 144-45).
43. Hobbs,2Aj«g,s,p. 145.
44. J. Gray, / and Kings (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 2nd rev. edn,
1970), p. 579.
45. R.D. Nelson, First and Second Kings (IBC; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987),
p. 207.
46. Nelson, First and Second Kings, p. 207.
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 169
Yahweh has done; Yahweh has spared them from destruction (2 Kgs
8.19). But they have walked away from exclusive devotion to Yahweh. Just
how far the 'house'—king and nation—has turned away from Yahweh
remains hidden under the continuity of Davidic succession until Athaliah.
At that point it becomes clear that the royal house installed in Jerusalem
has turned against Yahweh's promise, attempting to destroy all Davidic
heirs. The whole nation is implicated through the narrative emphasis on
the length of Athaliah's reign and the extensive re-covenanting necessary
to turn their loyalties from Athaliah.
The reign of Athaliah and the re-establishment of a Davidic heir in the
royal house of Judah draw attention back to the promises made in 2 Sam.
7. Yahweh's intention is more than mere continuity in male succession. In
2 Samuel 7, it is Yahweh's intention to establish a dwelling place for 'my
people, for Israel', free from disturbance and from the 'sons of injustice'
who previously afflicted them (2 Sam. 7.10). Yahweh's promises to
David—to give you rest from your enemies (2 Sam. 7.11), to build you a
house (7.11) and to establish your offspring' s kingdom forever (7.13)—are
connected to Yahweh's protection of the people.47 Continuity in leadership
is intended to effect continuous divine care and blessings for the land.48
But continuity in leadership and care cannot survive without continuity in
the people's faithfulness to Yahweh. Yahweh's promise to David (2 Sam.
7.8-16) is not conditioned, but Yahweh pledges to enforce the conditions
that support Yahweh's promise.49
47. In Ps. 132 a similar intertwining of Davidic election ('the fruit of your womb I
will set on your throne'; v. 11) and divine protection (' [Zion' s] food I will bless and its
poor I will satisfy with food'; v. 15) is evident. The similarities are important to note,
even though the Psalm represents the covenant with David as a conditional covenant
and the oracle in 2 Sam. 7, modified by 1 Kgs 11.34-36, suggests unconditional rule
over Judah. If the Psalm represents an older tradition regarding kingship and is inde-
pendent of the traditions in the Deuteronomistic History, the persistence of the Davidic
election-divine protection theme is all the more evident. See Cross, Canaanite Myth
and Hebrew Epic, p. 97.
48. J.J.M. Roberts observes 'royal theology's claim [was] that God had chosen
David and his dynasty as God's permanent agent for the exercise of the divine rule on
earth' ('In Defense of the Monarchy', inP.D. Miller, Jr, P.D. Hanson and S.D. McBride
[eds.], Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross [Philadel-
phia: Fortress Press, 1987], pp. 377-96 [378]).
49. H.W. Wolff observes that 'when the covenant word is abandoned, the Nathan
oracle, too, is no longer in force' ('The Kerygma of the Deuteronomic Historical
Work' [trans. F.C. Prussner], in W. Brueggemann [ed.], The Vitality of Old Testament
Traditions [Atlanta: John Knox Press, 2nd edn, 1982], pp. 83-100 [86]).
170 A Woman's Place is in the House
50. 1 Kgs 11.12, 13, 32, 36; 15.4; 2 Kgs 8.19; 19.34; 20.6.
51. M. Noth, The Deuteronomistic History (trans. J. Doull, et al.; JSOTSup, 15;
Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981), p. 89.
6. Athaliah: A Queen and a King 171
ofYahweh 's loyalty to David. Moreover, in the Athaliah narrative the loss
of the house was not delayed until the culmination of the history and the
total annihilation of the nation.
The narrative of the loss and restoration of the house of David is set
apart from the continuous history of the kings of Judah by Athaliah's
exclusion from the Kings List. The story is also out of place in the overall
salvation scheme of the Deuteronomistic History. Loss and restoration of
the house occur before reformation, final judgment and disaster. The
Athaliah narrative is a salvation story within a judgment story.
Jehoiada's 're-forming' the people by pledging covenant obedience to
Yahweh and loyalty to the Davidic house pre-figures the Josianic reforma-
tion, and the seating of Joash on the throne of David anticipates Hezekiah
and Josiah, who 'did what was right in the eyes ofYahweh' (2 Kgs 12.3
MT; 18.3; 22.2). In this respect, the Athaliah narrative demonstrates the
'promise' theme of the Deuteronomistic Historian, in that '[Judah's] resto-
ration to ancient grandeur depends on the return of the nation to the cove-
nant ofYahweh and on the wholehearted return of her king to the ways of
David, the servant ofYahweh'.52 The Athaliah narrative may be useful to
the 'platform of the Josianic reform;'53 however, the focus of the Athaliah
narrative is not reform, but restoration. For six years Judah was without a
Davidic heir representing Yahweh on the throne in Jerusalem. The people
return the heir. Implicit in this action is the hope that Yahweh will provide
care and blessing through Yahweh's chosen house and that the royal house
will lead the people in faithfulness to Yahweh.
The Athaliah narrative is a story of loss and restoration set within a
story of accelerating progress toward destruction. Of that period of destruc-
tion, Ralph W. Klein observes:
Midway through the Exile God was still acting for Israel as exemplified by
the rehabilitation of Jehoiachin. The task of the hour was for Israel, as part
of her turning to Yahweh, to acknowledge God's justice, to listen to his
voice, and to do his law. And then, though Dtr even in its final form is short
The^brm of the Athaliah narrative echoes the taking of the land under
Joshua, in which total loyalty to Yahweh and the removal of all foreign
gods were the conditions for possession. The content of the narrative mod-
els covenant loyalty and loyalty to the house of David as the people's
response to domination by a foreign house. The character of Athaliah is a
warning of the power of rulers to turn the nation from Yahweh.
The purpose of this study has been to demonstrate that the royal women of
Judah are essential actors in and representatives of the Judean monarchy as
presented in the Deuteronomistic History. The regnal notices in 1-2 Kings
are a regular reminder of the presence of royal women from generation to
generation, even when the narrative does not detail their activity. The reg-
nal notices demonstrate the continuity of the divine promise to the Davidic
house and name the royal mothers of that house. The basic household unit
of the monarchy appears in each notice: father, mother and son.
Royal women of various rankings are prominent in the narrative of
Judah's monarchy, as subjects and as objects. They appear as mothers of,
wives of, and daughters of royal men. The relationship is critical to posi-
tioning the women within the royal household. This does not mean, how-
ever, that the women are necessarily under the direction of these men.
Bathsheba, for example, intercedes on behalf of Solomon and herself in
securing the promise of succession from David; she is not directed by
Solomon or David. Rizpah, Saul's concubine, is the center of a dispute and
her mourning for her sons brings about a change in kingly behavior long
after Saul's death. Royal women in Judah are identified in relationship to
royal men, but their identity and activity appear to be based on their posi-
tion within the royal household and how they choose to act in that position.
This study has examined the activity of and the actions taken against
three royal women of Judah—a daughter, a mother, and a wife who ruled
as king. The actions of each bring about significant changes in the devel-
opment of Judah's monarchy. Michal extends covenant love to David.
When Saul threatens David's life, Michal chooses loyalty to David over
loyalty to her father. Her actions preserve the very possibility of a Davidic
house. Additionally, Michal's actions turn attention to how David responds
to her loyalty. He demands her return as 'his wife' in his battle with
Ishbaal and then rejects her as 'Saul's daughter' at the entryway to his
house (2 Sam. 6.21-22). David's rejection of Michal is a problem for the
174 A Woman's Place is in the House
as objects they symbolize the royal house and, by extension, the kingdom
as a whole. When they are treated as objects, they raise the subject of the
well-being of the nation. The contested bodies of Michal, Rizpah, Bath-
sheba and the ten concubines of David cohere with the conditions in the
nation. The behavior of the nation may also be aligned with these royal
women, as in the case of Maacah and of Athaliah.
The house to be preserved and disciplined by Yahweh is a royal
household. Collectively and individually, from generation to generation,
its members are to function in accordance with Yahweh's intentions and to
bring Yahweh's blessings to the land. The stability of the royal house is
connected to the stability of the nation. As the regnal notices report, the
faithfulness of the royal house is representative of the faithfulness of the
whole nation. As goes the royal house, so goes the nation. At the con-
clusion of Judah's existence as a nation, the royal household—king and
queen mother—lead the procession of captives to Babylon (2 Kgs 24.15).
The goals of this study have been quite modest, namely, to demonstrate
the functioning of royal women within the narrative account of the Judean
royal household. The readings from the biblical text echo many of the pat-
terns of royal women's involvement in the historical data from Judah's
neighbors. While the Deuteronomistic History contains features common to
other ancient Near Eastern royal stories such as temple building, the selec-
tion of a younger son over an older, divine sonship, and god-directed mili-
tary victories, the theme of the royal house persists throughout the genera-
tions of that 'history' and the words, feelings, actions and influences of
royal women are woven into that narrative. In the Deuteronomistic History
the legitimacy of women's participation in the monarchy is not dependent
upon a divine goddess counterpart to Yahweh; it is as part of the composi-
tion, accountability and continuity of the royal house.
The royal women of Judah are diverse in ranking, character and con-
duct; nevertheless they are an integral part of the 'nature of sovereignty'
presented in the Deuteronomistic History. This study concludes that royal
women cannot be properly understood apart from the functions of the
house in which they participate. Nor can that house—and the divine prom-
ise made to it—be understood apart from serious recognition of these royal
women.
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Proche-Orient Antique, pp. 189-201.
Wiseman, D., The Vassal-Treaties ofEsarhaddon (London: Harrison & Sons Ltd, 1958).
Wolff, H.W., 'The Kerygma of the Deuteronomic Historical Work' (trans. F.C. Prussner), in
W. Brueggemann (ed.), The Vitality of Old Testament Traditions (Atlanta: John Knox
Press, 2nd edn, 1982), pp. 83-100.
Yadin, Y., 'The "House of Ba'al" of Ahab and Jezebel in Samaria and that of Athaliah in
Judah', in R. Moorey and P. Parr (eds.), Archaeology in the Levant: Essays for Kathleen
Kenyan (Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1978), pp. 127-35.
188 A Woman's Place is in the House
Ziegler, N., Florilegium Marianum IV: La population feminine despalais d'apres les archives
royales de Man: Le harem de Zimri-Lim (Paris: Societe pour 1'etude du Proche-Orient
Ancien, 1999).
—'A Questionable Daughter-in-Law', JCS 51 (1999), pp. 55-58.
INDEXES
INDEX OF REFERENCES
BIBLE
ARM 4 23 17.241 32
10.4 42 4.6-7 23 17.314 32
10.14 37,62 5 23 17.325 32,33
10.18 31 17.352 20,36
10.26 27 HSS 17.367 20
10.32 26 14.584.17 33 19.70 17
10.36 36 1957.1 29,30
10.37-43 36 KTU
10.38 44 4.135 33 SAA
10.42 44 4.143 32 1.31 33
10.74 64 4.244 32 1.63 33
10.95 25 1.240 33
10.100 42 KUB 2.8 49
10.114 38 21.38 38 3.34 33
10.115 93 22.70 41,45 4.142 33
10.126 31 5.32 33
10.129 37,62 M 5.251 33
10.130 62 8161 92 6.81 33
10.133 31 6.90 33
10.134 37 ND 6.93 33
10.136 32 2307 34 6.94 33
10.160 38 2703 34 6.95 34
13.26.9 63 6.251 35
21.104 44 RS 6.252 35
11.732 31 7.48 41
ARMT 16.146 30 7.115 31
10.31.9 26 16.157 35 7.130 35
10.74.13-14 27 16.161 30 7.131 35
10.74.22-23 27 16.197 32 7.132 35
10.98 25 16.270 30 7.175 42
16.276 21 10.16 46
CTH 16.348 35 10.17 39
42 17, 132 17.35 20 10.109 46
51 19 17.82 30 10.244 39,46
52 46 17.86 32 11.221 36
17.102 32 13.154 39
EA 17.133 38 9.1.1 42
1 23 17.159 29 9.1.8 42
3 23 17.208 32
INDEX OF AUTHORS
Abdallah, F. 37 Dahood,M.J. I l l
Aboud, J. 2,29,32,69 Dalley, S. 34,35,52
Abramsky, S. I l l Davies, P.R. 8
Ackerman, S. 75, 76, 111, 112, 156 Dietrich, M. 32,33
Ahlstrom, G.W. 74 Driver, S.R. 136
Albright, W.F. I l l Dubisch, J. 11
Alter, R. 117, 125 Durand, J.-M. 1,24-27,52,63-66,93
Anderson, A.A. 107
Andreasen, N.E.A. 74 Edel,E. 28
Artzi,P. 37,50 Eskenazi, T.C. I l l
Exum,J.C. 91, 128, 129
Bailey, R.C. 129, 131 Fales,F.M. 31,35,36,41,42
Bal, M. 8,9 Fewell, D.N. 126, 127
Bardet, G. 37 Finkelstein, I. 8
Barnett,R.D. I l l , 112 Fisher, L.R. 30
Batto, B.F. 1, 17, 24, 38, 44, 50, 52, 63, Foucault, M. 3, 4
64
Beckman, G. 19,23,38,46,48,132 Gardiner, A. 52
Ben-Barak, Z. 49, 76-78, 83, 85, 103 George, M.K. 160
Biga,M.G. 31 Goedicke, H. 53
Bin-Nun, S.R. 2, 16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 40, Gordon, C.H. 18
41,44-48,75-79,81,83,89,90 Cost, R. 59,60
Biran, A. 8 Gotze, A. 1
Botte"ro, J. 64 Gray,J. 168
Brosius, M. 66-68 Grayson, A.K. 57,80
Brueggemann, W. 113, 115, 118, 126, Gunn, D.M. 126, 127
129, 133, 162 Guterbock, H.G. 23, 50, 89
200 M. Daniel Carroll R., David J.A. Clines and Philip R. Davies (eds.), The Bible in
Human Society: Essays in Honour of John Rogerson
201 John W. Rogerson, The Bible and Criticism in Victorian Britain: Profiles ofF.D.
Maurice and William Robertson Smith
202 Nanette Stahl, Law and Liminality in the Bible
203 Jill M. Munro, Spikenard and Saffron: The Imagery of the Song of Songs
204 Philip R. Davies, Whose Bible Is It Anyway?
205 David J.A. Clines, Interested Parties: The Ideology of Writers and Readers of
the Hebrew Bible
206 M0gens Miiller, The First Bible of the Church: A Plea for the Septuagint
207 John W. Rogerson, Margaret Davies and M. Daniel Carroll R. (eds.), The Bible
in Ethics: The Second Sheffield Colloquium
208 Beverly J. Stratton, Out of Eden: Reading, Rhetoric, and Ideology in Genesis 2-3
209 Patricia Dutcher-Walls, Narrative Art, Political Rhetoric: The Case ofAthaliah
and Joash
210 Jacques Berlinerblau, The Vow and the 'Popular Religious Groups' of Ancient
Israel: A Philological and Sociological Inquiry
211 Brian E. Kelly, Retribution and Eschatology in Chronicles
212 Yvonne Sherwood, The Prostitute and the Prophet: Hosea's Marriage in
Literary- Theoretical Perspective
213 Yair Hoffman, A Blemished Perfection: The Book of Job in Context
214 Roy F. Melugin and Marvin A. Sweeney (eds.), New Visions of Isaiah
215 J. Cheryl Exum, Plotted, Shot and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical
Women
216 Judith E. McKinlay, Gendering Wisdom the Host: Biblical Invitations to Eat and
Drink
217 Jerome F.D. Creach, Yahweh as Refuge and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter
218 Harry P. Nasuti, Defining the Sacred Songs: Genre, Tradition, and the Post-
Critical Interpretation of the Psalms
219 Gerald Morris, Prophecy, Poetry and Hosea
220 Raymond F. Person, Jr, In Conversation with Jonah: Conversation Analysis,
Literary Criticism, and the Book of Jonah
221 Gillian Keys, The Wages of Sin: A Reappraisal of the 'Succession Narrative'
222 R.N. Whybray, Reading the Psalms as a Book
223 Scott B. Noegel, Janus Parallelism in the Book of Job
224 Paul J. Kissling, Reliable Characters in the Primary History: Profiles of Moses,
Joshua, Elijah and Elisha
225 Richard D. Weis and David M. Carr (eds.), A Gift of God in Due Season: Essays
on Scripture and Community in Honor of James A. Sanders
226 Lori L. Rowlett, Joshua and the Rhetoric of Violence: A New Historicist Analysis
227 John F.A. Sawyer (ed.), Reading Leviticus: Responses to Mary Douglas
228 Volkmar Fritz and Philip R. Davies (eds.), The Origins of the Ancient Israelite
States
229 Stephen Breck Reid (ed.), Prophets and Paradigms: Essays in Honor of Gene M.
Tucker
230 Kevin J. Cathcart and Michael Maher (eds.), Targumic and Cognate Studies:
Essays in Honour of Martin McNamara
231 Weston W. Fields, Sodom and Gomorrah: History and Motif in Biblical
Narrative
232 Tilde Binger, Asherah: Goddesses in Ugarit, Israel and the Old Testament
233 Michael D. Goulder, The Psalms ofAsaph and the Pentateuch: Studies in the
Psalter, III
234 Ken Stone, Sex, Honor, and Power in the Deuteronomistic History
23 5 James W. Watts and Paul House (eds.), Forming Prophetic Literature: Essays on
Isaiah and the Twelve in Honor of John D. W. Watts
236 Thomas M. Bolin, Freedom beyond Forgiveness: The Book of Jonah Re-
examined
237 Neil Asher Silberman and David B. Small (eds.), The Archaeology of Israel:
Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present
238 M. Patrick Graham, Kenneth G. Hoglund and Steven L. McKenzie (eds.), The
Chronicler as Historian
239 Mark S. Smith, The Pilgrimage Pattern in Exodus
240 Eugene E. Carpenter (ed.), A Biblical Itinerary: In Search of Method, Form and
Content. Essays in Honor of George W. Coats
241 Robert Karl Gnuse, No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel
242 K.L. Noll, The Faces of David
243 Pfenning Graf Reventlow (ed.), Eschatology in the Bible and in Jewish and
Christian Tradition
244 Walter E. Aufrecht, Neil A. Mirau and Steven W. Gauley (eds.), Urbanism in
Antiquity: From Mesopotamia to Crete
245 Lester L. Grabbe (ed.), Can a 'History of Israel' Be Written?
246 Gillian M. Bediako, Primal Religion and the Bible: William Robertson Smith
and his Heritage
247 Nathan Klaus, Pivot Patterns in the Former Prophets
248 Etienne Nodet, A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the
Mishnah
249 William Paul Griffin, The God of the Prophets: An Analysis of Divine Action
250 Josette Elayi and Jean Sapin, Beyond the River: New Perspectives on Trans-
euphratene
251 Flemming A. J. Nielsen, The Tragedy in History: Herodotus and the Deuterono-
mistic History
252 David C. Mitchell, The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme
in the Book of Psalms
253 William Johnstone, 1 and2 Chronicles, Volume 1:1 Chronicles 1-2 Chronicles
9: Israel's Place among the Nations
254 William Johnstone, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Volume 2: 2 Chronicles 10-36: Guilt
and Atonement
255 Larry L. Lyke, King David with the Wise Woman ofTekoa: The Resonance of
Tradition in Parabolic Narrative
256 Roland Meynet, Rhetorical Analysis: An Introduction to Biblical Rhetoric
257 Philip R. Davies and David J.A. Clines (eds.), The World of Genesis: Persons,
Places, Perspectives
258 Michael D. Goulder, The Psalms of the Return (Book V, Psalms 107-150):
Studies in the Psalter, IV
259 Allen Rosengren Petersen, The Royal God: Enthronement Festivals in Ancient
Israel and Ugarit?
260 A.R. Pete Diamond, Kathleen M. O'Connor and Louis Stulman (eds.), Troubling
Jeremiah
261 Othmar Keel, Goddesses and Trees, New Moon and Yahweh: Ancient Near
Eastern Art and the Hebrew Bible
262 Victor H. Matthews, Bernard M. Levinson and Tikva Frymer-Kensky (eds.),
Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East
263 M. Patrick Graham and Steven L. McKenzie, The Chronicler as Author: Studies
in Text and Texture
264 Donald F. Murray, Divine Prerogative and Royal Pretension: Pragmatics,
Poetics, and Polemics in a Narrative Sequence about David (2 Samuel 5.17-
7.29)
265 John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan
266 J. Cheryl Exum and Stephen D. Moore (eds.), Biblical Studies/Cultural Studies:
The Third Sheffield Colloquium
267 Patrick D. Miller, Jr, Israelite Religion and Biblical Theology: Collected Essays
268 Linda S. Schearing and Steven L. McKenzie (eds.), Those Elusive Deuterono-
mists: 'Pandeuteronomism' and Scholarship in the Nineties
269 David J.A. Clines and Stephen D. Moore (eds.), Auguries: The Jubilee Volume of
the Sheffield Department of Biblical Studies
270 John Day (ed.), King and Messiah in Israel and the Ancient Near East: Pro-
ceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar
271 Wonsuk Ma, Until the Spirit Comes: The Spirit of God in the Book of Isaiah
272 James Richard Linville, Israel in the Book of Kings: The Past as a Project of
Social Identity
273 Meir Lubetski, Claire Gottlieb and Sharon Keller (eds.), Boundaries of the
Ancient Near Eastern World: A Tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon
274 Martin J. Buss, Biblical Form Criticism in its Context
275 William Johnstone, Chronicles and Exodus: An Analogy and its Application
276 Raz Kletter, Economic Keystones: The Weight System of the Kingdom ofJudah
211 Augustine Pagolu, The Religion of the Patriarchs
278 Lester L. Grabbe (ed.), Leading Captivity Captive: 'The Exile' as History and
Ideology
279 Kari Latvus, God, Anger and Ideology: The Anger of God in Joshua and Judges
in Relation to Deuteronomy and the Priestly Writings
280 Eric S. Christiansen, A Time to Tell: Narrative Strategies in Ecclesiastes
281 Peter D. Miscall, Isaiah 34-35: A Nightmare/A Dream
282 Joan E. Cook, Hannah's Desire, God's Design: Early Interpretations in the
Story of Hannah
283 Kelvin Friebel, Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's Sign-Acts: Rhetorical Nonverbal
Communication
284 M. Patrick Graham, Rick R. Marrs and Steven L. McKenzie (eds.), Worship and
the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of John T. Willis
285 Paolo Sacchi, History of the Second Temple
286 Wesley J. Bergen, Elisha and the End ofProphetism
287 Anne Fitzpatrick-McKinley, The Transformation ofTorahfrom Scribal Advice
to Law
288 Diana Lipton, Revisions of the Night: Politics and Promises in the Patriarchal
Dreams of Genesis
289 Jose Krasovec (ed.), The Interpretation of the Bible: The International Sym-
posium in Slovenia
290 Frederick H. Cryer and Thomas L. Thompson (eds.), Qumran between the Old
and New Testaments
291 Christine Schams, Jewish Scribes in the Second-Temple Period
292 David J.A. Clines, On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays, 1967-
1998 Volume 1
293 David J.A. Clines, On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays, 1967-
1998 Volume 2
294 Charles E. Carter, The Emergence ofYehud in the Persian Period: A Social and
Demographic Study
295 Jean-Marc Heimerdinger, Topic, Focus and Foreground in Ancient Hebrew
Narratives
296 Mark Cameron Love, The Evasive Text: Zechariah 1-8 and the Frustrated
Reader
297 Paul S. Ash, David, Solomon and Egypt: A Reassessment
298 John D. Baildam, Paradisal Love: Johann Gottfried Herder and the Song of
Songs
299 M. Daniel Carroll R., Rethinking Contexts, Rereading Texts: Contributions from
the Social Sciences to Biblical Interpretation
300 Edward Ball (ed.), In Search of True Wisdom: Essays in Old Testament
Interpretation in Honour of Ronald E. Clements
301 Carolyn S. Leeb, Away from the Father's House: The Social Location ofna 'ar
and na 'arah in Ancient Israel
302 Xuan Huong Thi Pham, Mourning in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew
Bible
303 Ingrid Hjelm, The Samaritans and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis
304 Wolter H. Rose, Zemah and Zerubabbel: Messianic Expectations in the Early
Postexilic Period
305 Jo Bailey Wells, God's Holy People: A Theme in Biblical Theology
3 06 Albert de Pury, Thomas Romer and Jean-Daniel Macchi (eds.), Israel Constructs
its History: Deuteronomistic Historiography in Recent Research
307 Robert L. Cole, The Shape and Message of Book III (Psalms 73-89)
308 Yiu-Wing Fung, Victim and Victimizer: Joseph's Interpretation of his Destiny
309 George Aichele (ed.), Culture, Entertainment and the Bible
310 Esther Fuchs, Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative: Reading the Hebrew
Bible as a Woman
311 Gregory Glazov, The Bridling of the Tongue and the Opening of the Mouth in
Biblical Prophecy
312 Francis Landy, Beauty and the Enigma: And Other Essays on the Hebrew Bible
313 Martin O'Kane (ed.), Borders, Boundaries and the Bible
314 Bernard S. Jackson, Studies in the Semiotics of Biblical Law
315 Paul R. Williamson, Abraham, Israel and the Nations: The Patriarchal Promise
and its Covenantal Development in Genesis
316 Dominic Rudman, Determinism in the Book of Ecclesiastes
317 Lester L. Grabbe (ed.), Did Moses Speak Attic? Jewish Historiography and
Scripture in the Hellenistic Period
318 David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX 56-66
319 Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffman (eds.), Creation in Jewish and
Christian Tradition
320 Claudia V. Camp, Wise, Strange and Holy: The Strange Woman and the Making
of the Bible
321 Varese Layzer, Signs of Weakness: Juxtaposing Irish Tales and the Bible
322 Mignon R. Jacobs, The Conceptual Coherence of the Book ofMicah
323 Martin Ravndal Hauge, The Descent from the Mountain: Narrative Patterns in
Exodus 19-40
324 P.M. Michele Daviau, John W. Wevers and Michael Weigl (eds.), The World of
the Aramaeans: Studies in Honour of Paul-Eugene Dion, Volume 1
325 P.M. Michele Daviau, John W. Wevers and Michael Weigl (eds.), The World of
the Aramaeans: Studies in Honour of Paul-Eugene Dion, Volume 2
326 P.M. Michele Daviau, John W. Wevers and Michael Weigl (eds.), The World of
the Aramaeans: Studies in Honour of Paul-Eugene Dion, Volume 3
327 Gary D. Salyer, Vain Rhetoric: Private Insight and Public Debate in Ecclesiastes
328 James M. Trotter, Reading Hosea in Achaemenid Yehud
329 Wolfgang Bluedorn, Yahweh Verus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the
Gideon-Abimelech Narrative
330 Lester L. Grabbe and Robert D. Haak (eds.), 'Every City shall be Forsaken':
Urbanism and Prophecy in Ancient Israel and the Near East
331 Amihai Mazar (ed.), with the assistance of Ginny Mathias, Studies in the
Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan
332 Robert J.V. Hiebert, Claude E. Cox and Peter J. Gentry (eds.), The Old Greek
Psalter: Studies in Honour of Albert Pietersma
333 Ada Rapoport-Albert and Gillian Greenberg (eds.), Biblical Hebrew, Biblical
Texts: Essays in Memory of Michael P. Weitzman
334 Ken Stone (ed.), Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible
335 James K. Bruckner, Implied Law in the Abrahamic Narrative: A Literary and
Theological Analysis
336 Stephen L. Cook, Corrine L. Patton and James W. Watts (eds.), The Whirlwind:
Essays on Job, Hermeneutics and Theology in Memory of Jane Morse
337 Joyce Rilett Wood, Amos in Song and Book Culture
338 Alice A. Keefe, Woman's Body and the Social Body in Hosea 1-2
339 Sarah Nicholson, Three Faces of Saul: An Intertextual Approach to Biblical
Tragedy
340 Philip R. Davies and John M. Halligan (eds.), Second Temple Studies III: Studies
in Politics, Class and Material Culture
341 Mark W. Chavalas and K. Lawson Younger Jr (eds.), Mesopotamia and the Bible
343 J. Andrew Dearman and M. Patrick Graham (eds.), The Land that I Will Show
You: Essays on the History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in
Honor ofJ. Maxwell Miller
345 Jan-Wim Wesselius, The Origin of the History of Israel: Herodotus' Histories as
Blueprint for the First Books of the Bible
346 Johanna Stiebert, The Construction of Shame in the Hebrew Bible: The
Prophetic Contribution
347 Andrew G. Shead, The Open Book and the Sealed Book: Jeremiah 32 in its
Hebrew and Greek Recensions
348 Alastair G. Hunter and Phillip R. Davies, Sense and Sensitivity: Essays on
Reading the Bible in Memory of Robert Carroll
350 David Janzen, Witch-hunts, Purity and Social Boundaries: The Expulsion of the
Foreign Women in Ezra 9—10
351 Roland Boer (ed.), Tracking the 'Tribes ofYahweh': On the Trail of a Classic
352 William John Lyons, Canon and Exegesis: Canonical Praxis and the Sodom
Narrative
353 Athalya Brenner and Jan Willem van Henten (eds.), Bible Translation on the
Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Authority, Reception, Culture and
Religion
354 Susan Gillingham, The Image, the Depths and the Surface: Multivalent
Approaches to Biblical Study
356 Carole Fontaine, Smooth Words: Women, Proverbs and Performance in Biblical
Wisdom
357 Carleen Mandolfo, God in the Dock: Dialogic Tension in the Psalms of Lament
359 David M. Gunn and Paula N. McNutt, 'Imagining' Biblical Worlds: Studies in
Spatial, Social and Historical Constructs in Honor of James W. Flanagan
361 Franz V. Greifenhagen, Egypt on the Pentateuch's Ideological Map: Construct-
ing Biblical Israel's Identity