| DESCRIPTION | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language: | Hebrew | ||||||||||||
| Medium: | ostracon (pottery) | ||||||||||||
| Size: | 11.14 centimeters high 10.55 centimeters wide Length: |
8 lines of writing | Genre: |
Legal Petition | Approximate Date: |
9th—7th centuries BCE | Place of Discovery: |
unknown | Date of Discovery: |
unknown | Current Location: |
private collection of | Shlomo Moussaieff (London, England) |
| TRANSLITERATION |
TRANSLATION (adapted from Shanks [1997]) יב[ר]כך יהוה בש[ל]ם ואת ישמ
| 1 |
May Yahweh bless you with peace. And now, | ע אדני ה[שר] את אמת[ך] מת |
2 |
let my lord, the prince, hear your servant: My | אישי לא בנם והיה ידך |
3 |
husband is dead, (having left) no children. And may your hand be | אמי ונתת ביד אמתך את ה |
4 |
with me; and may you place in your servant's hand the | נחלה אשר דברתה לאמס |
5 |
property/inheritance which you promised to 'Amasyahu. | יהו ואת שדה ההתם אש |
6 |
But regarding the wheatfield which | ר בנאמה נתתה לאח |
7 |
is in Na'amah: you have granted it to his | יו |
8 |
brother. | |
| DISCUSSION QUESTIONS |
|
1. What was the social position of widows in the ancient Mediterranean?
Why did they have such a difficult time with legal issues? 2. Why was a childless widow in a particularly precarious position? Compare Genesis 30:1-8. 3. What would have motivated this widow to put her petition in written form? 4. What does this petition imply about the widow's situation that she would have to petition an official to arbitrate a family matter? 5. Compare and contrast the situation of the widow in this document with the situation of the widow in Jesus' parable (Luke 18:1-8). With the widow from Shunem helped by Elisha (2 Kings 8:1-6). With the widow Babatha and her son Jesus in the "Babatha Archives." 6. How might the issue of so-called "levirate" marriage come into play in this situation (see Deuteronomy 25:5-6)? What circumstances might have discouraged a relative from fulfilling a levirate obligation? 7. Is it clear whether the "property/inheritance" (Hebrew: nachalah) is the same as the wheatfield? In other words, is the widow requesting the wheatfield? Or is she clarifying that the brother-in-law was already granted the field, and she is due other property? 8. What were the lines of inheritance articulated in the Bible? Compare the discussion in Hanson (1990). 9. Click here to see a later Roman document of a widow's legal complaint (3rd century). |
| SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY |
|
Bordreuil, Pierre, Felice Israel, and Dennis Pardee. "Deux Ostraca
Paleo-Hebrew de la Collection Sh. Moussaieff." Semitica 46
(1997) 49-76 + Plates 7-8. Bordreuil, Pierre, Felice Israel, and Dennis Pardee. "King's Command and Widow's Plea: Two New Hebrew Ostraca of the Biblical Period." Near Eastern Archaeology 61 (1998) 2-13. Fensham, F. C. "Widow, Orphan, and the Poor." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21 (1962) 129-39. Gottwald, Norman K. "The Plot Structure of Marvel or Problem Resolution Stories in the Elijah-Elisha Narratives and Some Musings on Sitz im Leben." In The Hebrew Bible in Its Social World and in Ours, 119-30. Semeia Studies. Atlanta: Scholars, 1993. Hiebert, Paula S. "Whence Shall Help Come to Me?": The Biblical Widow." In Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, edited by Peggy L. Day, 125-41. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989. Hoffner, Harry A. "Almanah." In Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament 1:287-91. Ed. G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren. Trans. J. T. Willis. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977. Hanson, K. C. "The Herodians and Mediterranean Kinship. Part 3: Economics." Biblical Theology Bulletin 20 (1990) 10-21. Kalmin, Richard. "Levirate Law." In Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman, 4:296-97. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Shanks, Hershel. "Three Shekels for the Lord. Ancient Inscription Records Gift to Solomon's Temple." Biblical Archaeology Review 23.6 (1997):28-32. [30, 32] |
Return to West Semitic Documents
Return to Israel in the Time of Kings
Return to K. C. Hanson's HomePage