Fathers and Daughters in the Hebrew BibleThe father-daughter dyad features in the Hebrew Bible in all of narratives, laws, myths and metaphors. In previous explorations of this relationship, the tendency has been to focus on discrete stories - notable among them, Judges 11 (the story of Jephthah's human sacrifice of his daughter) and Genesis 19 (the dark tale of Lot's daughters' seduction of their father). By taking the full spectrum into account, however, the daughter emerges prominently as (not only) expendable and exploitable (as an emphasis on daughter sacrifice or incest has suggested) but as cherished and protected by her father. Depictions of daughters are multifarious and there is a balance of very positive and very negative images. While not uncritical of earlier feminist investigations, this book makes a contribution to feminist biblical criticism and utilizes methods drawn from the social sciences and psychoanalysis. Alongside careful textual analysis, Johanna Stiebert offers a critical evaluation of the heuristic usefulness of the ethnographic honour-shame model, of parallels with Roman family studies, and of the application and meaning of 'patriarchy'. Following semantic analysis of the primary Hebrew terms for 'father' (אב) and 'daughter' (בת), as well as careful examination of inter-family dynamics and the daughter's role vis-à-vis the son's, alongside thorough investigation of both Judges 11 and Genesis 19, and also of the metaphor of God-the-father of daughters Eve, Wisdom and Zion, Stiebert provides the fullest exploration of daughters in the Hebrew Bible to date. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 The Father and his Daughter | 18 |
2 The Sacrificed Daughter | 72 |
3 Father Daughter and Incest | 102 |
4 God the Father and his Daughters | 166 |
Conclusion | 208 |
Bibliography | 231 |
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Common terms and phrases
abuse alongside Ammonites Amnon Ancient Ancient Rome argues Athalya Brenner biblical texts Boaz Boose brothers Carmichael child Chron context daugh Daughter Zion David depicted Deut Deuteronomy Dinah divine Exum Eyben Ezek father–daughter incest father–daughter relationships father’s Father’s House fatherhood Fathers and Daughters female feminist feminized Fuchs Gender Genesis God’s Hallett Hebrew Bible Hence honour human husband Ibid ideology Incest Taboo indicates interpretations Israel Israelite Jacob Jephthah’s daughter Jerusalem JSOTSup Judah Judges 11 Laban Lamentations Leviticus 18 Lot’s daughters Maier male man’s marriage mention metaphor Michal Mommie Dearest mother myth nakedness Naomi narrative one’s parents paternal patriarchal points prohibition prophetic protection Prov punishment rape Rashkow Rawson role Roman Society Ruth sacrifice sexual shame Shechem Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press Sirach sister social sons story Taboo Tamar tion Trible Westermarck effect wife Wöller woman women YHWH YHWH’s Zlotnick אב בת