Daughters of Miriam : Women Prophets in Ancient Israel

by Gafney, Wilda C.

• ISBN13: 9780800662585
• ISBN10: 080066258X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Fortress Pr

Summary

There are untold numbers of female prophets hiding in the masculine grammar and androcentric focus of the Hebrew scriptures. There are women-prophets in the communities around biblical Israel, existing for hundreds of years and even a thousand years before the Israelite and Judean prophets recorded their messages. The rabbinic and Christian fathers analyzed and found more women in the scriptures who function as prophets than the biblical authors identify. All of these female prophets have an intimate connection with the God of Israel; they express that connection by singing, dancing, drumming, speaking with and for God, waging war, performing miracles, exercising statecraft, and giving birth. Each of them is a daughter of Miriam, the mother of all women-prophets.Women prophets gave powerful voice to Yahwist faith at the formative moments in ancient Israel's development, and were expected in biblical visions of the future. Now they come to the foreground as Wilda C. Gafney explores prophetic practices in ancient Israel, different models for women's sacred roles in the Near Eastern environment, and changing understandings of women's leadership in early and rabbinic Judaism as well.

Author Biography

Wilda C. Gafney is Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Overview of Biblical Prophets and Related Roles
Definitions of Prophet	p. 23
Technical Vocabulary	p. 26
Religious Intermediaries	p. 26
Summary	p. 41
Female Prophecy around Biblical Israel
Scope and Limitations of Data	p. 49
Oracles of Female Prophets in Mari	p. 51
Female Prophets in Mari	p. 51
Assyrian (Ninevite) Oracles concerning Esarhaddon	p. 60
Assyrian (Ninevite) Oracles concerning Ashurbanipal	p. 62
Female Prophets in Nineveh	p. 63
Female Prophets in Emar	p. 66
General Observations on ANE and Israelite Female Prophets	p. 68
Summary	p. 73
Female Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures
Miriam (Miryam)	p. 76
Deborah (D'vorah)	p. 85
Huldah (Chuldah)	p. 94
HaNeviy'ah (the Anonymous Woman-Prophet)	p. 103
Daughters Who Prophesy in Ezekiel (Yecheza'el)	p. 107
Daughters Who Will Prophesy in Joel (Yo'el)	p. 110
No'adiah	p. 111
Daughters of Heman	p. 114
Summary	p. 115
Female Prophetic Guilds in Context
Musical/Funerary Guilds	p. 120
Scribal Guilds	p. 123
Summary	p. 130
Rabbinic and Christian Trajectories
Navi'/Nevi'ah in Rabbinic Texts	p. 131
Navi'/Nevi'ah in the Mishnah	p. 135
Navi'/Nevi'ah in the Midrash	p. 136
Navi'/Nevi'ah in the Talmuds	p. 139
Prophetis in Early Christian Texts	p. 147
Summary	p. 149
Prophetic Constructions
General Observations from Ancient Near Eastern and Ancient Israelite Prophetic Literature	p. 151
Prophetic Constructions	p. 152
Summary	p. 164
Abbreviations	p. 167
Endnotes	p. 169
Glossary	p. 207
Index of Scripture Citations	p. 213
Subject/Name Index	p. 219
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