Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in ContextThis groundbreaking study looks beyond biblical texts, which have had a powerful influence over our views of women's roles and worth, in order to reconstruct the typical everyday lives of women in ancient Israel. Meyers argues that biblical sources alone do not give a true picture of ancient Israelite women because urban elite males wrote the vast majority of the scriptural texts and the stories of women in the Bible concern exceptional individuals rather than ordinary Israelite women. Analyzing the biblical material in light of recent archaeological discoveries about rural village life in ancient Palestine, Meyers depicts Israelite women not as submissive chattel in an oppressive patriarchy, but rather as strong and significant actors within their families and society. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 The Problem of Patriarchy | 24 |
The Highland Environment of Ancient Israel | 47 |
Genesis 23 | 72 |
Genesis 316 | 95 |
The Family Household | 122 |
7 Household Functions and Female Roles | 139 |
8 Reconstructing Gender Relationships | 165 |
The Monarchy and Beyond | 189 |
Notes | 197 |
| 211 | |
| 229 | |
| 233 | |
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Common terms and phrases
activities agrarian agricultural ancient Israel androcentric anthropological appear archaeology aspects behavior biblical poetry biblical studies biblical texts Bronze Age Canaanite century Chapter childbirth complex concept context cultic cultural deal discussion domestic dynamics early Israel economic example existence exogamy family household feminist function gender Genesis 2-3 God's Gottwald Hebrew Bible hendiadys highland highland villages hill country household unit human Ibid identified individual involved Iron Age Israelite household Israelite society Israelite women labor land language literature lives male and female male dominance marriage meaning monarchy narrative noun oracle pain Palestine Palestinian passage patriarchy patrilineal patterns Pentateuch plague political population premonarchic period probably productive relationship religion religious role settlements sexual situation social scientific Song of Songs status story structure subsistence suggest tasks term terraces theological tion tive traditional translation tribal urban verb village wisdom woman word Yahweh