K. C. Hanson
Resources for Chapter 2
Kinship in Ancient Israel
The first key issue of Israelite kinship issues is gender. In this patriarchal society, male and female roles were sharply differentiated, as were there social expectations and dress. Genealogies were ancient lists that articulated a family's or an individual's honor; these can be unilineal (following one descendant per generation) or segmented (following multiple descendants per generation). These genealogies are based on principles of desent: patrilineal (following only male links) matrilineal (following only female links), or cognatic (combining both male and female links to one's ancestors). The marriage pattern followed throughout the Middle East for centuries has been endogamy—marriage between close relatives (usually paternal cousins, but other cousins and relations as well). The "gifts" surrounding a marriage in the ancient world included "dowry" (the property a bride's family provides the bride or the couple), "indirect dowry" (property the groom's family provides the bride or couple), and "bridewealth" (the property a groom's family gave to the bride's family). |
FULL-TEXT ARTICLES ON THE WEB
Blane W. Conklin,
"Arslan Tash I and other Vestiges of a Particular Syrian Incantatory Thread,"Biblica 84 (2003) 89–101.
Abstract: The first part of this article is a new translation and interpretation of the first incantational plaque from Arslan Tash in northern Syria. Each of the three succeeding sections identifies and discusses elements of this incantation that find resonance in texts from Ugarit, Egypt, and the Hebrew Bible, respectively. At Ugarit we find texts predating Arslan Tash which describe incantational activity involving Horon and the Sun-deity, both of whom are present in the Arslan Tash text, and who have similar roles in the two traditions. Horon is also present in Egypt during the last centuries of the city of Ugarit, and is there also associated with the Sun-deity and performs similar functions as at Arslan Tash. In the Passover account of Exod 12 there are several elements in common with Arslan Tash, albeit in the distinctive form that might be expected in the theological and literary tradition of the Hebrew Bible.
K. C. Hanson, "BTB Reader's Guide: Kinship"Biblical Theology Bulletin 24 (1994) 183–94.
Abstract: The social domain of kinship covers a broad range of institutions: genealogy and descent, marriage and divorce, and dowry-systems and inheritance. Because kinship in the ancient Mediterranean impacted virtually every part of life and every other social domain, it is fundamental for readers of the Bible to have a solid grasp of how kinship functioned in these cultures. While one might assume that "family" is a straightforward concept determined by biology, it is, in fact, a social construction. Kinship studies provide analytical frameworks within which to interpret the biblical texts that assume the reader's knowledge of kinship transactions. This "Reader's Guide" introduces the secondary literature most helpful in beginning kinship analysis of these biblical texts.
Antje Labahn and Ehud Ben-Zvi,
"Observations on Women in the Genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9,"Biblica 84 (2003) 457–78.
Abstract: These observations address the construction of women and their roles in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9. References to women in these chapters construed them as fulfilling a variety of roles in society, and characterized and identified them in various ways. To be sure, the genealogies reflected and reinforced the main construction of family and family roles in a traditional ancient near eastern society. But, numerous references in these genealogies indicated to the early (and predominantly male) readers of the book that ideologically construed gender expectations may and have been transgressed in the past and with good results. By implication, these references suggested to the readers that gender (and ethnic) boundaries can and even should be transgressed on occasion, with divine blessing, and resulting in divine blessing.
Nadav Na'aman,
"Death Formulae and the Burial Place of the Kings of the House of David,"Biblica (2004) 245–54.
Abstract: The article re-examines the death formulae of the kings of Judah, in particular those of the kings from Hezekiah onward. It is suggested the kings of Judah in the tenth-eighth centuries BCE were buried in the palace, and that Hezekiah transferred the burial place of the kings of Judah to a new site (the garden of Uzza) outside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah’s decision to transfer the burial place might have been influenced by the admonitions and possible pressure of the temple priests, who felt that the burial in the palace defiled the adjacent temple (see Ezek 43:7-9). The change in the closing formulae of the late kings of Judah should be explained on the basis of the reality of the late monarchical period and the objectives of the authors of the Book of Kings, and in no way indicates an early edition of the Book of Kings as some scholars suggest.
Sylvia Schroer,
"Gender and Iconography from the Viewpoint of a Feminist Biblical Scholar,"Lectio difficilior (2008) 25pp.
Abstract: On the one hand, as a biblical scholar and theologian, I cannot do without images as sources, because while the Bible is an important, but insufficient base for the reconstruction of ancient Israelite or early Jewish and early Christian women’s history, for some periods, there are virtually no extrabiblical textual sources from Palestine/Israel, but there are image sources. On the other hand, biblical texts, with their own and particular intentions and perspectives, can question, complement or elucidate the pictures and their symbolism. For the different points of toching points or distances between bible and image, image and bible, I would like to introduce three examples: goddess worship, mobility and lamentation of the dead, which are, in my opinion, especially elucidating with regard to gender research.
Francesca Stavrakopoulou,
"Exploring the Garden of Uzza: Death, Burial and Ideologies of Kingship," Biblica 87 (2006) 1–21.
Abstract: The Garden of Uzza (2 Kgs 21:18, 26) is commonly regarded as a pleasure garden in or near Jerusalem which came to be used as a royal burial ground once the tombs in the City of David had become full. However, in this article it is argued that the religious and cultic significance of royal garden burials has been widely overlooked. In drawing upon comparative evidence from the ancient Near East, it is proposed that mortuary gardens played an ideological role within perceptions of Judahite kingship. Biblical texts such as Isa 65:3-4; 66:17 and perhaps 1:29-30 refer not to goddess worship, but to practices and sacred sites devoted to the royal dead.
Terry G. Wilfong,
"Women in the Ancient Near East: A Select Bibliography of Recent Sources in The Oriental Institute Research Archives" (1995)
ANCIENT TEXTS AND INTERPRETATIONS
Manumission and Bridewealth Contract between Gilben, Eliawa, and Burianu: Ugarit (14th century B.C.E.?)
Quit Claim after Divorce for Peu and Mibtahiah: Judeans in Elephantine (440 B.C.E.)
Marriage Contract for Herakleides and Demetria: Egyptians (310 B.C.E.)
Marriage Contract for Shelamzion and Judah: Judeans in Nabatea (128 CE)
PHOTOS
Oven (Douglas E. Oakman)
Olive Press
(Douglas E. Oakman)
Quotations from Ancient Sources
|
for Chapter 1 |
for Chapter 3 |
for Chapter 4 |
|
for Chapter 5 |
for Chapter 6 |
for Chapter 7 |
Return to Israel in the Time of Kings HomePageLast Modified: 7 October 2009