~ ele be rane wie . = capers x - EF Eh eS TE a 3 7 : a — ON ee Pe eee en Mannan Oi SE eRe A Ny ek 8 LS Pn oh Pe Fee 2 $ ears : aoa rd a 2 adh gi a8 A, = Sanne Aceh Be malin Sak ACER eo st CR Fag arin PAT FI AAP i as ON AEM re ei Ora Pant ia i ea Tre tpg 9 gm FRR 7 SP Pa Piet 88 aa tn Stn Sema oa OR Bei DR Nene ae AF ot. SR ins ee RTT BS) 4 rato eer t eee, We et eS YOR ea MED ITS Ha RN a Aah A ont Sait ante iS et ae Sree Tt tte all eae ae: fa nat Mian. Ph dete pte Serie ante licen 26 Cae heaps ooceaee apache ees Anutnodpiamcnihntag, t 2 Sek Tee FR, ikon ete Eden Rahat th aE De Oe Ce et as nuns capa nics ; Shee LHL Nee ee Men atoll TO oe Wie ts TS OCR ROA Hel a i web. ene an Sete a etn Rt NAR. ant ete a aise a taaet ae Late Stl enie di ahenlge y * ; . : ass = is pe eee vorvreanoetgeh ware . is % - 44 " ‘ Cinngiita abate Oe gia Se a. em (at Fal TO ew ‘ot Fag erin OM Ta nde Maat ea ana teen eee wt . -, te Me > Te aa cdletactiaed aon ct valle G aN ie Siaie ee od GE AE elit Toto nok cameintiedt: te ose Fire AB crt ianl ath S Pacha Sac WSR ms Sed BE ee ihe lie CES Sam oot ee : < id Sieh th Seah tes tom a3 semen nets a rene ar caine oF ys MF Rate eh Tene nina Dy tr seemtagsie abn Baal eg ttn Shs yee” ‘ ‘ . va ‘ rer ( ute Ded. re Sed ts ieee ee a Rae BNE PEAR a ty Sep Panne ge ne TS = 5: - Be eet I St RR Se PE Sati edo Career ity S a ga) Ae eV Ne RATS Thea Hoh a tet heel 2 en eo ee ee Ip aoe. re PS ee ra sda siapoe Se ee ee satay bese iake erg coe ies eRe arn oe pce peaeeenier nes rpremieareinele pee eainnd eo airtel ieehincio wt ee ae anes “ 1 tig Pein hel ines mie ee Sarat sore > ROS Bie Rites pees -. it aoa we sigh BF PRE ce it GOO ae OS a PS © lly a> me EM gi Ath aah er all atone sncah eo! en RE soodisemaes ne hoSendern SSR Re Sole Piel ae Ie in) ete RARE Pe ett aks ET mc MSS Rm a tte treat tey te es a ee ae es Sea a el ete tee Barts. Flngpel peti siedibnaentnc yp edectie ht lolita tiie ik elle Nn tie ce Ph ee a ee ee eT ee a Pr Teetten ees wee ae ae ~ gl ons gt le - oe ieee ne ae eee ee ae eee Oe the Pal Fm islet. Aa Hee a = ieee ode ge peebeet mania atieete ae ih Nelieaedirmainabaatintin tah et ee, ae ¥ x n * E : z Phehees ARR See eM GIS POSE Wi EST Tipe tone 2 BSD Nee Sop ey RS uebritinds adie eaenaes * SY - x ree “1 anes Sr: ADRs » ¥ pas Se Women of the Bible THE LIBRARY OF THE UMIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS [IRIAM AND HER MAIDENS IN TRIUMPH 3y William Hensel Women of the Bible THEIR SERVICES IN HOME AND STATE BY ANNIE RUSSELL MARBLE THE CENTURY Co. NEW YORK & LONDON | Copyright, 1923, by Tue Century Co. Printed in U. S. A. WOMEN OF THE BIBLE To L. CLARK SEELYE, D.D., LL.D. PRESIDENT OF SMITH COLLEGE: 1873-1910 WHOSE GUIDANCE INSPIRED HIS STUDENTS TO LOVE THE BIBLE AND HIGH IDEALS, WHOSE FRIENDSHIP HAS BEEN A BENEDICTION IN THEIR LIVES: THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE Tess chapters are an inadequate expression of many years of Bible study and teaching, and of the pleasurable incentive given to such re- search by a class of young women. No attempt is made to discuss, or even to suggest, any theological questions nor to stress any doctrinal creeds. The effort of the author has been to vitalize women who are mentioned in biblical literature, as fully as is possible from historical sources and sympathetic imagination. Some of them belong to definite periods of history ; others are, perhaps, creations of myth and poetic story. Whatever may be the type, it has been the purpose of this book to make them somewhat more real and to accentuate their humanity in its relation to their own times and to ours. Less familiar biblical references and quotations from other sources are cited in the Notes and Bibliography. The author would express thanks to the editors of ‘‘The Congregationalist’’ for permis- Vii Vill PREFACE sion to reprint certain portions of these chap- ters. Thanks are given to the librarians in New York, Boston, and Worcester, and at Willams College, who have assisted the author in re- search. Deep appreciation is due to the helpful services of Rev. Robert W. McLaughlin, D.D., in revision of text. To the publishers, Hough- ton, Mifflin Company, Dodd, Mead & Company, Charles Scribner’s Sons, King-Richardson Co., Harcourt, Brace & Co., and Boni & Liveright, acknowledgment is made for permission to use literary extracts as noted in the text. ANNIE RussELL Marsie. Worcester, Massachusetts, October 1, 1923. CONTENTS CHAPTER I Intropuction; THE Story or Eve Il Tur Hesrew Woman in Her Home” III WHrveESs OF THE BIBLE: Some oF THEM WERE WISE AND SOME WERE FOOLISH IV Moruers 1n ISRAEL V WomMEN IN Patriotic AND RELIGIOUS SERVICE . VI Frienps AND Co-WORKERS BIBLIOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATIONS Miriam and her maidens in triumph Jephthah’s daughter Deborah, a prophetess Hannah, Eli and the infant Samuel Salome, daughter of Herodias Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz . Ahab and Jezebel The charity of Dorcas Frontispiece FACING PAGE 36 72 13 160 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION; THE STORY OF EVE OMEN of the Bible—not Heroines nor Martyrs—are the subjects of these stud- ies. Some of them have been revered as saints; others have been acknowledged as_ sinners. Some of them have been called ‘‘ wise women’’; others have been examples of sinful foolish- ness: contrast Deborah and Huldah with Zeresh, wife of Haman, and Gomer, wife of Hosea. A few of these women bore large share in political and religious crises; the majority of them were home-makers, sometimes in nomadic tents, sometimes in walled cities. Through modern eyes, with historic background, we would seek to visualize certain types and indi- viduals of ‘‘the eternal feminine’’ as recorded in biblical history, legend, song, and story. Seeking to avoid the too general mistake of ‘treading back’’ into their lives the standards : 4 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE and customs of far later periods, we would recognize their essential qualities of woman- hood, with varied environment, in the days of clans and prophets, in the time of one monarchy and the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, in the lifetime of Jesus and his apostles. Among these women were heroic patriots, like Miriam, Deborah, Esther, and Judith; their suc- cessors have been Joan of Arc, Florence Night- ingale, and Edith Cavell. Some of these women —like Abigail, wife of David, and the Shunam- mite friend of Elisha, like Anna, the aged prophetess, and Priscilla, the co-worker with Paul—possessed The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength and skill. - Other women of Hebrew history were domi- nated by evil impulses, and their names have be- come signals of social menace—Jezebel and Athaliah, Delilah and Herodias. To ‘‘the young man void of understanding,’’ the ‘‘clamorous and wilful woman’’ of the old proverb-maker is still ‘‘in the streets, now in the broad places, and lieth in wait at every corner.’’ It is as true to- day, as it was a thousand years before Jesus came, that ‘‘A worthy woman is the crown of INTRODUCTION; THE STORY OF EVE 5 her husband. But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.’’ In history of past and present, there are records of scores of women of strong influence for good or evil; there are millions of ‘‘just ordinary women,’’ as they have been called in depreciation—mothers, wives, sisters, daugh- ters, nurses, friends, and co-workers—who have formed the sure, potent background of home and state among primitive and civilized peoples. They have seemed negative and inarticulate, in contrast with their more pronounced ‘‘sisters’’; but, like so many of the finest things in life, they have been ‘‘revealed in expressive silence.’’? In biblical narrative, brief space has been accorded some of these faithful, ‘‘ordinary’’ women, like Leah and Jochebed, like Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, and ‘‘ Naaman’s little maid,’’ like Dor- cas and Lydia and ‘‘the elect lady’’; but their quiet influence, in varied forms of service, can- not be lightly regarded by thoughtful mothers, teachers and social workers of the twentieth century. ‘*The perfect woman’’ belongs to the realm of poetry; her photography is as idealistic in the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs as it is in the familiar lines by Wordsworth. Super-men and 6 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE super-women are neither alluring nor convince- ing, in modern judgment. To the Hebrew writers, woman was often difficult to interpret; even to our own day she is sometimes called “‘an unsolved riddle.’’? Much of the difficulty arises from the effort to differentiate too strongly the two sexes. While it is true that ‘‘male and female created He them,’’ yet humanity, with its mixed good and evil, with its contradictions and varied aspirations, is the basic quality of men and women alike. It will be the effort of these pages to reveal the Hebrew father and mother, son and daughter, in domestic and racial traits, emphasizing the general influences of the women in education, household management, hospi- tality, prophetic. inspiration, and industry, dur- ing periods of moral and religious elevation and decline. The Story of Eve The Hebrews delighted in stories and myths. They have often been called, in history, ‘‘the childlike race.’? To the legendary and mythical tales, told to generations of children from the folk-lore of Egypt, Chaldea, and other primitive peoples, they gave a new meaning, a racial inter- INTRODUCTION; THE STORY OF EVE 7 pretation, blending the spiritual with the sensu- ous. Just as they appropriated the tribal god, Yahweh, and extended his dominance of mingled severity and benignity over their increasing clans, so they adapted many of the ancient legends to their own early history, and used them as moral and religious lessons. It is im- possible to locate, chronologically, some of these old-time stories that were ‘‘written down’’ by later scribes, but we may easily imagine the reiteration of the tales of Eve and Adam, of Noah and the ark, of Samson and David, of Sol- omon and the Queen of Sheba. However one may prefer to interpret the old story of Eve, whether as myth, allegory, or ser- mon, Eve is Woman. As the Hebrew writers have retold this story of ‘‘the first man and woman in the garden,’’ they have portrayed in Hive many of the generic qualities of woman- hood through the ages. She is alluring and per- suasive; she is curious and ambitious for knowl- edge and possession. She is guided by intui- tions, not by reason. She paid the price of her impulses as the repentant wife, the burden-bear- ing Mother of All Living. She paid the price of her venturesome defiance of fixed laws just as her modern daughters, in real life, fiction, and 8 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE drama, have suffered the penalties of disobedi- ence of accepted standards. In the character of Eve, in Bible story and Milton’s adaptation in ‘‘Paradise Lost,’’ one recognizes womanhood with strong, elemental desires, with compelling ambition, but also with faith that this ambition, gratified, would increase her usefulness to man: not death, but life Augmented, opened eyes, new hopes, new joys, Taste so divine, that what of sweet before Hath touched my sense, flat seems to this and harsh. On my experience, Adam, freely taste And fear of death deliver to the winds. Raphael, in his ‘‘ Consequences of the Fall,’’ has created an Eve that is not romantic but weary at the spinning-wheel, while Adam is tilling the soil ‘‘amid thorns and thistles.’’ The modern doctrine of work, as a ‘‘blessing not a doom,”’ the eager response to the challenge to conquer and to utilize all elements of earth, air, and sea, tend to reduce our sentimental pity for these ex- iles from the Garden of the Gods. The chas- tening of Eve’s character, through travail and anxiety, seems to be dramatic and spiritual com- pensation. In the story of this primal woman, as in the life-stories of to-day, there is the ques- tion of justice: why was ive more severely re- INTRODUCTION; THE STORY OF EVE 9 proached, more heavily punished than Adam? The ‘‘double standard’’ of judgment upon man and woman for offenses existed in the mythical days of Eve; it has not been changed wholly by the centuries of advancement toward sex equal- ity. The Eve of the third chapter of Genesis was not a slave of man but his equal in privi- leges and responsibilities. Here is a composite picture of young womanhood with its daring and zeal, of maturity with its mingled experiences of pain, sorrow, and service—a picture that is es- sentially true of womanhood of every century. CHAPTER II THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME O the Hebrew woman ‘‘home’’ was a word of deep affection and significance. This was true, in general, from the days of the pio- neer nomad, Abraham, and his wife, Sarah, who emigrated from the valley of the Euphrates into Palestine some time between 3000 and 2000 B.c., to the later eras of cities and villages, with their sharp social distinctions in Christ’s time. The foundation of the Hebrew nation rested upon family life, in spite of periods of excessive polygamy and outside, demoralizing influences. As one reads the Bible stories and records, or the Apocrypha, Josephus, and other early nar- rators of Hebrew history, one receives a firm impression that Hebrew women shared with the men in the privileges as well as the dangers and responsibilities of the life of the household, tribe, or walled city. In the earlier period, when the Hebrew immigrants, seeking better pastur- age and wider opportunities, left their kinsfolk, : 10 THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 11 the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, and immigrated into Palestine, living in caves and tents, their life was unlike that of the average *fcaveman’’ and ‘‘cavewoman.’’ Mutual_re- spect and administration of the home are sug- gested in the patriarchal family of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel were ‘‘married lovers’’ during the years of primitive and pastoral life. Granted that later narrators have touched these early portraits with romance, granted always that the women were of Oriental standards and untrained minds, yet the status of women during these pioneer times seems to have surpassed, in many ways, that among the Babylonians and Chaldeans; it was more akin to that of the Egyptian women. During the period of the clans before and after the Exodus, following the uncertain period of bondage in Egypt, children often bore the names of the mother’s family rather than the . father’s; there were clans of Leah and Rachel, of their handmaids, Zilpah and Bilhah. Names of mothers, as well as fathers, were given in the genealogy of the kings of Judah and Israel. Mothers seemed to have priority of choice in the names of children. I. J. Peritz cites statistics 12 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE thus: ‘‘of forty-four cases of naming children in the Old Testament, four were ascribed to God, fourteen to men and twenty-six to women.’’ The stories of Abraham’s protection of Sarai in Higypt, from the lustful admiration of the king—and its reiteration in the recital of Isaac and Rebekah—are in marked contrast with the custom of certain Arabian nomads, continued to later times, when a husband of a beautiful wife would place her and her tent at the disposal of his guest. The honor of women, especially in the days of pastoral life and tribal leadership, was maintained. It has pleased biblical narra- tors to emphasize the beauty of the Hebrew maidens and matrons. Sarah was ‘‘very fair to look upon’’; Re- bekah is described in the same words, and Rachel ‘‘was beautiful and well favored’’; Tamar, the unfortunate daughter of David, aroused the passions of her brother by her beauty, just as Bath-sheba had ensnared the lust of her father, King David. In the days of the judges and the kings, the home did not lose its vital influence. Deborah, prophetess and military leader, was mentioned first as wife. The Shunammite woman, whose care and foresight sustained Elisha in his days eS eee eee ee aaa Sa aaa THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME = 18 of travel and service, was a model executive in her home, caring for the health and comfort of her household and the prophet. Abigail, wife of the churlish Nabal, and later wife of David, was the acknowledged administrator of a large estate, with thousands of sheep and goats, with stores of grain and raisins and figs. When David threatened retribution for Nabal’s ugly inhospitality, the young serving-man appealed to his mistress; ‘‘Now therefore know and con- sider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow, that one cannot speak to him.’’ There are suggestions of the congenial home and affection of husband and wife in the lives of the prophets Isaiah and Kizekiel; by contrast is the symbolic but forceful picture of the tragedy due to the infidelity of Gomer, wife of Hosea. In the New Testament story, the home is in the foreground: the home of Joseph and Mary at Nazareth, the marriage at Cana, the practical comforts and spiritual comradeship of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus at Bethany, and the inspiring, helpful atmosphere of that ‘‘abode’’ of Paul at Corinth, with Aquila and Priscilla, tent-makers and Christian teachers, WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Periods of Domestic Decadence and Polygamy Without question women were more highly regarded in the earlier days of clans and the later time of Christ than in the intervening periods of domestic decadence. Sometimes this lapse was due to excess of wealth and large harems, sometimes to intermarriage with hea- then wives, sometimes to voluptuous influences which preceded the Captivity under Nebuchad- nezzar in 586 z.c., or to the rigid laws and lax morals among the Pharisees just before the coming of Jesus. Never were women treated with such chivalry and intellectual respect as by the Great Teacher of Christianity ; his words and acts have created a status for world wom- anhood which has reacted upon the Jewish do- mestic life, as well as that of other nations. Hebrew women brought upon themselves many of the evidences of social decadence by their idleness, vanity, and loose morals. Isaiah, who knew well the women of wealth and station in the days of Uzziah, Ahaz, Jotham, and Heze- kiah, kings of Judah, sounded his challenge: ‘‘Rise up, ye women that are at ease, and hear THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 15 my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. For days beyond a year shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come... . They shall smite upon the breasts for the pleas- ant fields, for the fruitful vine.’’ With more vehemence did Amos, the herdsman prophet, and Hosea of the city, in the same general pe- riod, upbraid the women of Judah and Israel for their excessive vanity and lewdness: ‘‘They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and pop- lars and terebinths, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters play the har- lot, and your brides commit adultery.’’ To Isaiah we are indebted for one of the most in- teresting, detailed pictures of the vain women of his day and their apparel: ‘‘ Because the daugh- ters of Zion are haughty, and walk with out- ‘stretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the heads of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents; the pendants, and the bracelets, and 16 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE the mufflers; the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the rings and the nose jewels; the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels; the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils.’’ With truthful words has Charles Foster Kent characterized polygamy as a deteriorating fac- tor: ‘‘Throughout Israelitish history many of the worst evils that have afflicted the state pro- ceeded from the harem.’’ In justice to the Jews, and their excess of polygamous conditions at certain periods, two points should be em- phasized. Their neighbors were peoples that ac- cepted and practised polygamy, or plurality of wives, with greater sensuality than was often found among the Hebrews. W. H. Bennett, writing in Hastings’s Bible Dictionary, lays stress upon the fact that ‘‘polygamy makes each mother much more important to her own chil- dren than their father is.’’ Among the Hebrews the concubine, or handmaid who was admitted as wife of her mistress’s husband, was treated with consideration; she could not be sold into slavery. Although the earlier heroes, like Abra- ham, Jacob and Moses, had more wives than one, polygamy was permitted, not encouraged by the THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 17 religious leaders. During the days of nomadic settlements, when the desire was to increase the number of ‘‘.J ehovah’s chosen people,’’ the addi- tion of women, as wives and concubines, served both for reproduction and protection. During the sojourn in Egypt there is no evidence of polygamy among the Hebrews. The tendency of the Levitical laws was toward the abolish- ment of ‘‘many wives’’ rather than their in- crease. As the Hebrews conquered their neigh- boring tribes, like the Amalekites, Amorites, and other peoples generally classified as Canaanites or Philistines, they intermarried in spite of de- crees against such sacrilege, and the ‘‘many Wwives’’ increased under the judges and the kings. Gideon ‘‘had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten’’ from his ‘‘many wives.’’ Mention is made, with implied reproach, of the son, Abimelech the conspirator, as the son ‘‘of his concubine that was in Shechem.”’’ David’s harem included many foreign wives; such were the mothers of Absalom and Reho- boam. Both David and Solomon chose this method of increasing their political influence, but the historical recorders never approved of the result upon the purity of life and religion of the people. Not easily forgotten are the later 18 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE influences of the heathen queens, Jezebel and Athaliah, and the degrading worship of the god Astarte. The dramatic, harrowing story in the last chapters of Judges, which has been called the Outrage of Gibeah, is a sad commentary ‘upon the treatment of women on two occasions. The first part of the tale—possibly a folk-story —tells of the outrage and maltreatment, until she died, of the concubine of a certain Levite of Ephraim. Seeking hospitality in Gibeah of the Benjamites, this horrible calamity befell the woman at the hands of ‘‘certain base fellows.’’ As if in apology or defense of the Israelites, the chronicler adds: ‘‘And it was so that all who saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Kgypt unto this day: consider it, take counsel, and speak.’’ Even more brutal is the sequel, in this time of ‘‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’’ Dividing the body of his dead concubine into twelve pieces, the Levite sent these ‘‘throughout all the borders of Israel,’’ soliciting codperation in punishment for the Benjamites. The battle raged fiercely, their towns were ravaged and their men of valor fell, twenty and five thousand men. Moreover, the men of Israel had sworn THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME =§ 19 at Mizpah, ‘‘saying, There shall not any of us vive his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.’’ The tribe was faced with extermination, but the vow must be observed; recall the final act in this legendary drama, comparable to the rape of the Sabine Women: ‘‘And they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin... . And the children of Benjamin did so. . . and built the cities and dwelt in them.”’ Sharp and severe were the revenges upon those who defiled the purity of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, and Tamar, the daughter of David. Not alone individuals suffered for such crimes, but whole communities, like that of Shechem, were made captive, according to the biblical story. Thus by deed and law did the religious leaders among the Hebrews seek to purify the domestic atmosphere. In Levitical decrees both man and woman committing adul- tery, if the woman is the wife of another, ‘‘shall die.’? The woman guilty of infanticide, and the daughter of a priest who ‘‘played the harlot,’’ 20 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE were to die by burning or stoning. On the other hand, women were protected against false wit- ness by their husbands regarding their chastity ; if the charge was true, the woman must die by stoning; if the husband had falsefied, he must pay a heavy fine to the father of the damsel; he must be ‘‘chastised’’ and live with his wife ‘‘all his days.’’ A man who seduced a damsel ‘‘in the field,’? where she could not summon help, was sentenced to die. Divorce was permitted to a man if his wife ‘‘shall find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her’’; for this cause he may give her ‘a bill of divorcement’’ and she may marry again but never remarry her first husband. These Levitical laws, and others, were abused and transgressed, as is evident in the records in Kings and Chronicles and the prophecies of Jeremiah, Micah, and Malachi, as well as in the words of Jesus, in response to the foolish ques- tions of the Pharisees, ‘‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?’’ There is a significant sentence in the gentle, firm answer of Jesus to this question, and the later one about the command of Moses and the ‘‘bill of divorcement’’; ‘‘He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 21 away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so.’?’ While polygamy was permitted and practised during a large part of Hebrew history, careful provision was made for the pro- tection of captive women who were made con- cubines, for ‘‘secondary wives’’ and their chil- dren. They could be given their freedom, but they could not be sold for money ‘‘as a slave.’’ Dr. Alfred Edersheim, in ‘‘Sketches of Jewish Social Life,’’ has stressed this point of legal justice, saying, ‘‘The tendency of Mosaic legis- lation was in the direction of recognizing the rights of woman with a scrupulousness which reached down even to the Jewish slaves and a delicacy that guarded her most sensitive feel- ings.’’ Equality of Women Social Rather than Legal In spite of such direct testimonies to the safe- guarding of womanhood among the Hebrews, and the potent influences of certain women upon civic and religious life at varied periods, admit- ting that such recognition was far in excess of that of contemporaneous peoples of Arabia and Assyria, the conviction remains that the equal- ity was social and domestic rather than legal. 22 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE The father was the acknowledged ruler of the family. He was ‘‘the head’’ in business and religious affairs. The words of Jehovah to Eve were verified: ‘‘he [thy husband] shall rule over thee.’’ The father’s domination included his wife and all her possessions, the children, sons and daughters-in-law, and all members of the household. He could sell his children into slavery, if so inclined, but there are few indi- eations of such tyranny. The personal belong- ines of his wife, or wives, and of his children were his by legal right. It is doubtful if the woman could hold property, or transact busi- ness, with legal approval. The eldest son suc- ceeded his father as ‘‘head’’ of the family, but he was enjoined to care for his mother and sisters. As in all Oriental and many European coun- tries, in the past, the bride was sought for the eldest son by the latter’s father. From several incidents, it is clear that the bride’s consent was asked, especially if she was to leave her home, as in the case of Rebekah. Without doubt, the mother shared in these conferences and nuptial plans. Thus did Rebekah urge Isaac to send Jacob to her own kindred to find a fitting wife. An interesting side-light upon a daughter’s THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 23 courage and independence is found in the few ' verses about Achsah, the daughter of Caleb. When her father gave her in marriage to Othniel, as a reward of the young man’s valor in battle, Achsah was not wholly satisfied with her dowry of a certain field; she made a visit to her father and made her request, in a tone of _ dominant will, ‘‘And she said, Give me a bless- | ; | : | ing; for that thou hast set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.’’ Surely, there was sometimes a spirit of adventure as well as submission among these Hebrew women! Certain refusals were per- mitted to the wives, according to later rabbini- cal writings, if the ‘‘terms’’ offered by the hus- bands were too onerous; or, again, ‘‘A man could not oblige his wife to follow him if he moved either from a township to a town or the reverse,’’ says Dr. Edersheim. Respect and Affection in the Home Although the father was supreme over. his household, just as Yahweh or Jehovah was both ruler and father of his people, the home-rela- tions were those of reciprocal affection and responsibility. No Levitical law was more rig- 24 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE idly enforced than the fifth. The sons and daughters must respect, obey, and care for their parents to the end of their lives. This duty, required and fulfilled, has given, to the Jews of all time, a status of family honor and sus- tenance. Said the older writer, ‘‘A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children. . . . He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.’’ Later interpreters have assured us that this word ‘‘rod’’ is symbolic rather than literal, the meaning being that children should be re- strained and controlled. Said the more gra- cious Teacher, ‘‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’’ ‘‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord’’ was an admonition of earlier and later preachers; it had a corollary in the words of the apostle, ‘‘Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.’’ These reflections of Hebrew domestic codes contain many a nug- get of truth and helpfulness for this later day of relaxed authority in the home. There is a ring of challenge and uplift in such words as these: ‘‘Ye shall fear every man his mother and THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 25 his father; and ye shall keep my sabbath: I am Jehovah your God,”’ Within the typical home there was mutual love and its courteous expressions. Fathers kissed their sons as well as daughters, in greet- ing and on festivals. To the sons and daughters alike was the command, ‘‘Honor thy father and thy mother . . . keep the commandment of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thy heart.’’ It is noteworthy that the mother as well as the father is included in these admonitions; often the mother has priority of mention. In Talmudic times daughters were deplored, especially as ‘‘the first-born’’; one may readily understand this feeling in view of the religious and legal status of the eldest son. In truth, in every land and every age, there is open or latent rejoicing at the birth of a ‘‘man-child’’ to young parents. Childlessness was considered a curse as well as a sorrow; witness the prayers of many women in their sterility, from Sarah, Rachel and Hannah to Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. In sincere reflection of the He- brew love of home and children, the Psalmist wrote: 26 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; And the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; They shall not be put to shame, When they speak with their enemies in the gate, While the marriage festival was the most im- portant social event in a Hebrew clan or city— and its varied features are well depicted in the Song of Songs—the feast and rejoicing on the eighth day after the child’s birth were of vital significance. They combined the social and reli- gious elements. Then the boy was circumcised; then the child was named. The next event was the offering of purification when a son was forty days old, or when a daughter was eighty days old; if the first-born was a son, five shekels was the money offering. The offerings were first- year lambs or pigeons or turtle-doves, according to the financial condition of the father and mother. On Sabbath eve the devout Hebrew gathered his family for special instruction and blessings, and for a festival of food and song. Women had part in the Temple services, al- though they must not approach beyond the Court of Women, in Herod’s rebuilt Temple, THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 27 ‘‘except for sacrificial purposes.’’ Against the wall of the colonnade, which was about the court, were placed the thirteen chests or ‘‘trum- pets,’’ for contributions. Says Dr. Edersheim: ‘‘Into Trumpet III those women who had to bring turtle-doves for a burnt and a sin-offer- ing dropped their equivalent in money, which was daily taken out and a corresponding num- ber of turtle-doves offered. . . . Into this trum- pet Mary the mother of Jesus must have dropped the value of her offering when the aged Simeon took the infant Saviour ‘in his arms and blessed God.’’’ Many were the feasts which were shared by both men and women, with the children included in the religious ser- vices. These varied at different periods of his- tory, and during the time of heathen worship they were neglected; but a summary of them would recall such occasions as the Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, in our April and October respectively, Feasts of Trumpets and of Dedi- eation in the autumn, and the Feast of Purim, after the heroic deed of Esther, late in the winter. Not alone in religious festivals did the women take part but, even more often and with greater freedom, in the festivals of harvest and vintage 28 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE and on anniversaries of great or romantic events in Hebrew history. Josephus para- phrased a biblical passage when he wrote: ‘‘Now the women were an occasion of Saul’s envy and hatred to David for they came to meet their victorious army with cymbals and drums, and all demonstrations of joy, and sang thus: The wives said, That Saul hath slain his many thousands of the Philistines. The virgins re- plied, That David hath slain his ten thousands. ’’ Yearly the maidens assembled to sing their La- ment for Jephthah’s daughter; again, they re- called the friendship of David and Jonathan in an ode or elegy which has become a part of world-poetry. In the earlier days the wells to which the maidens came ‘‘to draw water’’ were the gathering-places for social delight and gos- sip; in later times, the ‘‘gates of the city,’’ in the walled towns, served the same forum for the exchange of news and greetings at the evening hour. The Song of the Well, commemorative of the pilgrimage of the Israelites under Moses from Oboth to Pisgah, with special gratitude for the well at Beer, was, doubtless, one of the familiar odes to later days: : : ' | : : : THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 29 Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: The well which the princes digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre, and with their staves. The freedom of the women, both in secular and religious celebrations, was more natural and less dangerous in the earlier days than in those of decadent morality. The intrusion of vo- luptuous rites into heathen worship, which sup- planted the purity of Mosaic religion, the in- creased numbers of harlots and foreign women without protectors in the streets during the days of Jeroboam, Ahab, and other kings of weak resistance to idolatry, brought reactions upon the Hebrew home that tended toward greater restrictions for the women. As the Pharisees came into being as a sect, with their intolerant rites, it was decreed that women must go to the synagogue through ‘‘back streets’’ in some com- munities, lest they might distract the men from the holy meditations. Jesus brought his chal- lenge to such bigots and restored freedom to women in large measure by preaching to both men and women in the streets, on the hillsides, and even in Solomon’s Porch. He sought to restore, also, the status of woman in the home, 30 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE not as servile worker nor a pampered, idle mem- ber of a harem, but sharer with her husband in the demands and rewards of family life. Food, Furniture, and Domestic Customs In general environment the home of the Hebrew woman was almost literally ‘‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’’ Palestine, in the southern part of Syria, about as large as the State of Massachusetts, is a country of rolling | hills, fertile valleys, and waters that abound in fish. On the trade-route from Arabia to Egypt, it was mentioned as early as 2600 B.c. in the bio- graphy of Uri, an Egyptian officer under Pepi I of the sixth dynasty. . Just when the families or clans (called by their neighbors Hebrews, or ‘from beyond the river’’) began their immi- grations into this fine agricultural and pastoral land is still disputed. Certain it is that by 1200 B.c. the scattered families had become united into a nation, with neighbors like the Phenicians and Egyptians and Chaldeans of established civilization and sundry tribes, probably: kin of the Hebrews, sometimes sharing pasturage in a friendly manner, sometimes fighting and _pil- laging their outposts like the Moabites, the Edo- mites, the Amorites, and the Philistines. On the THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 31 hills and in the Valley of Esdraelon grazed sheep and herds of cattle. The women shared in tending the sheep during this pastoral period. There was abundance of ‘‘butter of kine,’’ of grain and corn, of lentils and beans and millet and wheat and barley, as the years passed with success in agriculture. Vineyards flourished ; the land was rich in figs, grapes, and olives, pomegranates and dates, wild honey and savory _ herbs. In the Sea of Galilee and small streams were fish of many kinds. One may readily imagine that to the Israelites, after the years of bondage and the forty years (by biblical com- putation) of wandering in the wilderness, this was indeed ‘‘the promised land,’’ ‘‘the land of plenty,’’ the ‘‘land of rich harvests and water- springs.’’ The tents covered with skins of goats, and huts of the patriarchal period and the wilder- ness sojourn, gave place to ‘‘goodly cities,’’ with gates of brass and iron, with walls and watch-towers. Even in the days of tribal in- dependence, when Gideon and Barak and Jeph- thah, the ‘‘men of valor,’’ were tribal leaders, the Hebrew men and women were guarding their homes, ‘‘their little ones,’’ their flocks and herds. When Rachel carried away, hidden in 32 her sack, the household gods from Laban’s fire-. side to establish her own, though they may have been heathen emblems, she revealed the instinc- tive love of true womanhood for the symbols of her own hearth and home. Lot’s wife has been denounced as disobedient and defiant to the angel when she looked back upon the blazing ruins of Sodom, but the folk-tale has another interpretation: she may have craved one last look at her own abandoned home and hearth. Upon these hearths the Hebrew women cooked; in later times they had portable stoves of iron filled with hot coals and earthen ovens with a variety of pots and kettles. Far into the later history, ‘‘the pot was boiled over the fire of thorn bushes.’’ The Hebrew woman in the days of social righteousness, took pride in mak- ing her ‘‘wheaten cakes’’ and her unleavened bread, whatever might be her social rank. Cook- ing and dressing meat was an art with the Hebrew woman, from the time of Sarah and Abigail to that of the sister of Lazarus. The daughter of David, the fair, unfortunate Tamar, who was seduced by her brother, ‘‘took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.’? When Samuel remon- strated with the people against their desire for WOMEN OF THE BIBLE THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 33 a king, rather than a prophet of Jehovah as their leader, he portrayed the possible evils which might befall under a monarchy and said, ‘*And he will take your daughters to be per- fumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.’’ The implication was not that such crafts were degrading but that they might have to be per- formed in a harem, or at the caprice of a king, rather than in a home. During periods of luxury, cooking fell into disrepute and was relegated to slaves but it was revived among the Jews after their return from _ captivity. For cooking and other household needs, various utensils are mentioned in the Bible. First, there are the pitchers, useful and graceful in design, that have become a boon to modern artists and dramatic directors. ‘‘To draw water from the well’’ was an honored task, _ from the days of Rebekah and the daughters of Jethro to those of the woman of Samaria. It is somewhat disillusioning to find that some of these pitchers were ‘‘skin bottles’? without beauty; others were of pottery. As has been suggested, the women gathered at the wells, at the cool hour of the day, both to fill their pitchers for household use—sometimes for the animals also—and to exchange the news of the 34 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE day. Such news might be some small domestic | incident; it might be some event of tribal or | communal interest; it might be the impressions of some travelers as they passed over the trade- routes through the villages and hamlets of Pal- estine. Here, also, they sang their songs, per- haps to the accompaniment of the lute or timbrel played by one of the company of women. In imagination, as well as in art, one may picture a group of these Hebrew maidens and younger matrons, with their dark eyes and hair, their clear olive skins, their loose, graceful garments and bright head-veils, balancing the pitchers upon their shoulders, as they talked with gay voices and sang joyful songs. There were occa- sions when they were serious and sad. When their fathers and brothers were away at war, they must stimulate each other with courage; they must prepare for defensive warfare, if necessary, to save their homes and cities with the same patriotic zeal that inspired Deborah or Jael, the ‘‘wise woman of Abel,’’ or Judith of Bethulia. Should the issue be one of victory | for the Hebrews, the women would hasten to the gates of the city, watching for the approach of the victors with emotional joy and ardor to THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME = 35 share in the ‘‘spoils of war,’’ should they bring back jewels and rich garments. Mention is made of ‘‘earthen vessels,’’ pots for water and oil, kneading troughs, basins and pans, bowls, wooden spoons and mortars. The work of the handmill—the incessant toil of grinding corn—was often performed by slaves or prisoners of war. Women were not exempt from the task, however, as is indicated by the reference of Jesus to the ‘‘two women... grinding at the mill, one is taken, and one is left.’’ Gathering and carrying firewood upon their heads was another feminine task. Baskets of many kinds and uses are enumerated among the common articles of the household and vine- yards. In the days of David and Solomon and the later years of wastefulness and ease, the social classes were sharply drawn; the very poor lacked the comforts of life, while the rich used vessels of gold and silver, candlesticks and lamps of pure gold, couches of ivory and richly wrought draperies. The first houses were tents and huts, or crude structures of clay, brick, and stone. Here was the home even more truly than in the later times of ivory palaces and ‘‘cedar chambers painted with vermilion.’’ There were 36 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE courtyards and latticed windows, and upper chambers in the houses of the prosperous. The roof was generally flat, affording a place for prayer, for sleeping in warm weather, and for drying flax, wool, and vegetables. When Rahab hid the spies that were sent forth by Joshua, she ‘‘brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.’’ Furniture in earlier periods was restricted to mats of goats’ hair or of skins, straw mat- tresses, folding and portable ‘‘tables’’ of skin, and low ‘‘stools’’ of leather and wood. In later times there were importations from Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Rome of divans and couches of gold, ivory, and silver, chests, cab- inets, and tables and many another ‘‘fleshpot”’ from beyond the Nile or the Euphrates. Crude lamps of baked clay, with wicks of flax and olive- oil as fuel, were used by the poorer people through the centuries, while the wealthy had candlesticks of bronze, silver, brass, and gold, sometimes standing four feet high. Hospitality and Education In every era of Hebrew history, hospitality was emphasized and enjoined. Such was a By permission of American Tissot Society JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER By J. James Tissot THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME = 37 legacy from the Bedouin days. Before there were traveled roads and inns, each clan wel- comed any passers-by with their caravans or singly. In large tents there were always apart- ments for guests. The angel visitors at the tent of Abraham received a typical greeting of hospitality. At times of festivals, like those of the harvest, vintage, or sheep-shearing, or on the days of religious feasts, the roads were thronged with pilgrims. It was the pride of each tribe or settlement to see that the roads were safe for the traveler, safe from overhang- ing branches, refuse or pitfalls, and from rob- bers. In the Song of Deborah, one notes among the complaints against Sisera, the marauding captain of the king of Canaan who ‘‘oppressed”’ the Israelites: In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways. Women cooperated with the men in offering to the stranger-guests the best comforts of their homes, attractive food, water for their feet, clean garments, and gracious words. In the days of Jesus it was customary to hang a cur- tain in front of the door of a house to indicate that there was room within for guests. To the 38 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Great Teacher and his apostles, many women showed true hospitality: Martha and Mary of Bethany, Joanna and Mary, mother of Mark, Lydia of Thyatira, and many others who fol- lowed the examples of the mother and sister of Laban, the daughters of Jethro, the wife of Manoah, and the Shunammite friend of Elisha. Every Jewish father who failed to teach his son a trade was condemned ‘‘as if he had brought him up to be arobber.’’ There seem to have been no specific directions for the edu- cation of girls, but they were taught many prac- tical crafts, as well as household accomplish- ments. Cooking, weaving, spinning, dyeing, ‘‘fashioning’’ of garments, grinding grain and preparing vegetables and fruits for later use, tending, feeding, and watering the cattle and sheep, assisting in sowing and reaping the har- vests, caring for the children and managing the slaves and household servants—such were the usual educational courses of the Hebrew girls. To these must be added music and dancing, especially for religious and patriotic festivals. Instruments as well as voice were included in the musical instruction, for the Hebrew women, as well as the young men, were skilled with the THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME — 39 harp and lute, the drum and cymbal, the timbrel and the psalteries, or lyres. The Jewish race have ever been fond of music and gifted in its production, from the days of Miriam and Jeph- thah’s daughter to the modern representatives, Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer. They have lacked interest and skill in sculpture and painting until later days; possibly the explanation has weight, that such is the result of the Mosaic prohibition against the making of ‘‘any graven image.”’ Some intellectual training was given to the girls. They must have been taught weights and measures and medium of exchange in later times, in order to administer the affairs of the household. They were not ‘‘sent to school’’ as were the boys, after the age of twelve, but they were taught the ‘‘Scriptures,’’ the laws, pray- ers, psalms, and religious antiphonals. The fact that the Hebrew child was not weaned until two or even three years of age enabled the mothers to have vital influence in forming habits of their children, in teaching them re- ligious memory-verses, in telling them folk- tales and racial legends of lifelong influence. Lessons of reverence, obedience, industry and thrift, hospitality and kindness, loyalty and in- 40 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE tegrity—such were the vital text-books that educated the Hebrew girl, as well as the boy, in the home that stood for social welfare. There is one portrayal of an ideal home-maker in biblical lore. It is the familiar recital of ‘‘the words of King Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.’’ Later scholars have asserted that King Lemuel was a descendant of Massa of the stock of Ishmael, and that the biblical passage belongs to the Greek period of later Old Testament history and influence. Whatever may be its chronology, it reveals, in poetic yet forceful words, the embodiment of the cherished attributes of womanhood among the Jews. What were the qualities of this wife and mother? Loyalty and steadfastness of purpose, strength and dignity, honor for her husband and care for her children, so that they ‘‘rise up, and call her blessed.’’ She was industrious with hand and brain, far-sighted and efficient: She riseth also while it is yet night, And giveth food to her household, And their tasks to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it; With the fruit of her hand she planteth a vineyard. To these traits of mental and physical prowess she added certain graces of character: THE HEBREW WOMAN IN HER HOME 41 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; Yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household; For all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh for herself carpets of tapestry ; Her clothing is fine linen and purple. True to the demands of her home, she becomes, also, a helpmate to her husband by her own skill: She maketh linen garments and selleth them, And delivereth girdles unto the merchant. This chosen woman is a fine type of Hebrew womanhood at its highest. She is a helpful, loyal wife, a wise mother, a generous mistress and benefactor,.a successful ‘‘business wo- man,’’ and a religious influence in home and community, ‘‘a woman that feared Jehovah.’’ Does she not fulfil nearly all the aspirations of the well balanced home-maker of the twentieth century? CHAPTER III WIVES OF THE BIBLE: SOME OF THEM WERE WISE AND SOME WERE FOOLISH HE Hebrews regarded marriage as far more than physical self-gratification, as it was among other early peoples. There are proofs of mutual respect and love in the homes of the patriarchs, the prophets, the kings, and the common people of every century of their history. In spite of excess of polygamy at varied times, the ideal of love was never lost, never wholly stained. Recall the question of Elkanah to Hannah, his childless wife, as she mourned: ‘‘Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am I not better to thee than ten sons?’’ Effusive in Oriental sensuousness and imagery, the Song of Songs, whether regarded as ro- mance or symbolism, is a vivid, authentic pic- ture of fervent love between a beautiful maiden and her royal lover. The woman may have been Abishag, the fairest Shunammite maiden that 42 WIVES OF THE BIBLE 43 could be found to ‘‘minister’’ to David in his old age, and to become the cause of jealousy between his sons afterward. She may have been only a nameless, typical maiden from the hills, accompanied by her peasant friends from the village, yearning for her vineyards and fig- trees, overcome by the splendors of court life, yet yielding to pure passion for her royal lover. In any interpretation, the reader finds here, not alone a graphic portrayal of wedding customs among the Hebrews and Syrians—the love- songs, the homage to bride and groom, the feasts and gaiety, the delights of nature—but he reads, also, the poetic, sincere pledge of loyalty of the wife to her ‘‘beloved’’: Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm ; For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah. Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned. Malachi, in symbolic words, reproached any man who would ‘‘deal treacherously’’ with his com- 44 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE panion, with the wife of his covenant and his youth.’’ Jesus spoke admonitions to marital faithfulness. Ringing down the ages have come his potent words: ‘‘What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.”’ With all due recognition of possible evils which may result from the custom of parents’ selection of wives for their sons and daughters, one must admit that, in general, the marriages were more stable than in these later days of freedom, often of recklessness, of personal choice and resultant ‘‘misfits’’ and easy divorce. The betrothal, among the Hebrews, was a re- ligious obligation; it was not valid unless the prospective bride gave her consent. If a minor —a girl under twelve years and a day—was un- worthily betrothed or ‘‘given away”’’ by her father, she could insist upon a divorce. In rabbinical writings it was said that a man mar- ried for one of four reasons, ‘‘passion, wealth, honour or the glory of God.’’ The first type of wedlock produced ‘‘stubborn and rebellious sons’’; the second bred lazy, voluptuous chil- dren like those of Eli; the third type was that of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehoram and Athaliah, and led to fatal results of heathendom; the fourth brought happiness like that of the patriarchs, WIVES OF THE BIBLE 45 or Boaz and Ruth. ‘‘Mixed marriages’’ were frequent for political purposes—alliances be- tween Palestine, Egypt, Phenicia, and Canaan —hbut they were deplored; in apostolic writings, ‘‘mixed marriages’’ between Christians and ‘‘unbelievers’’ were sometimes reproved. Marriage was a religious obligation to Je- hovah’s ‘‘chosen people.’’ Only physical in- ability, extreme poverty, or special aptitude for temple service could excuse celibacy. Betroth- als were accompanied, in later days, by written contracts and gifts. The father had to provide a dowry for his daughters. The marriage fes- tival lasted for a week, with much feasting and flow of wines; sometimes, in periods of moral decadence, it was an occasion of debauch. The parable of the Ten Virgins reflected a cus- tom of long standing, the carrying of lamps with oil, upon long staves, as a part of the bridal pro- cession. Marriage was a favorite symbol with Hebrew writers, especially the prophets, as ex- pression of the intimate, honored relation be- tween Jehovah and his chosen people. Many safeguards existed against immoral marriages; while the law was observed, there were prohibi- tions against marriage with defectives, minors, aud those of too close consanguinity and similar 46 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE unfitness. The Hebrews knew and emphasized many laws of hygiene in their purifications and other rites. Coming down to periods of relaxed morals and bigotry, one finds records of the most absurd cases where the biblical phrase, ‘Sif she fails to find favor in his sight,’’ was used as basis of divorce. ‘‘Going about with loose hair,’’ spinning in the street, talking too familiarly with men, ill treatment of a hus- band’s relatives in his presence, ‘‘bawling so loudly that the neighbors would hear her in the adjoining house,’’ were among the ‘‘causes for a divorce.’’ The wife could ask for a separation from a husband who was afflicted with ‘‘a loath- some disease’’; she might even extend her ob- jection to living with him if he was ‘‘engaged in a disagreeable or dirty trade, such as that of a tanner or coppersmith.’’ The husband could control his wife’s property and even her gains after marriage. In later days education for women, especially instruction in writing, light- ened these restrictions and gave the women equality. ‘‘Woman’s place,’’ however, was gen- erally restricted to the home, to household man- agement, hospitality, and the training of chil- dren. WIVES OF THE BIBLE Wives of Lot and Potiphar Individual wives of biblical literature may be grouped, with elasticity, under the general classes of wise and foolish. As in all normal human beings, both extremes were found in many women, but, judged by their specific traits and influences, certain of them were much wiser than were others. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and many more of the most familiar characters will be considered in the chapter upon Mothers, for thus their major qualities were revealed. If we include legends with his- tory, we recall two pioneer women with foolish qualities, as tradition has estimated them, Lot’s wife and the wife of Potiphar. The biblical story of Noah and the Flood tells very little about Noah’s wife except that she was the mother of three sons and some daughters and that she went with them and the animals into the ark. Persistent and amusing traditions have said that Noah’s wife was essentially feminine in her love of gossip; that she delayed the en- trance of the family into the Ark because she wished to talk longer with her women-friends, 48 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE her ‘‘gossips,’’ and that she was unwilling to leave behind her household goods. Lot’s wife has been used as a ‘‘fearful ex- ample’’ of disobedience and unbelief. This has been the interpretation by artists, notably Ru- bens in his ‘‘Flight of Lot,’’ where an angel warns her of her fate while she, with clasped hands, has a look of sad longing, as she passes through the gates of Sodom. Above her an evil spirit hovers, looking angrily at the angel and awaiting an opportunity to turn the face of Lot’s wife back toward her home. In Raphael’s familiar painting, and that by Corot, she has already taken her backward look and is changed into a pillar of salt. Paul Veronese, with simi- lar motive, adds an angel to conduct Lot’s two daughters safely out of the city, hurrying them forward towards Zoar. Salt clefts, often six hundred feet high, are found for many miles at the southwest of the Dead Sea. Undoubtedly myth, superstition, and history are commingled in this story of the destruction of Sodom and the tragedy of Lot’s wife. Was she one of ‘‘the wicked daughters of Sodom’’ before her mar- riage? Was her disobedience due, in part, to emotional distress and. feminine craving, a strong impulse to take a last look at her home? WIVES OF THE BIBLE 49 One must not condemn this woman too severely. Was Lot superior to his wife? He would sacri- fice the purity and honor of his daughters to save the angel visitors from violence. Were the daughters superior, who seduced their drunken father and bore children by him? It is ex- plained that such an act was imperative to pre- vent the extermination of the race. Altogether, this is a grim, dramatic tale of prehistoric days. Potiphar’s wife is far more recognizable as a type. She is the bold, lustful, cruel woman of every age. As wife of the prime minister, she was evil in mind and morals. She used her social and political influence to endanger the life of a young man who was ‘‘comely and well- favored’’ because he appealed to her lust. Jose- phus, who gives the story in much detail, says of Potiphar’s wife, ‘‘she was fallen in love with him both on account of the beauty of his body and his dexterous management of affairs.’’ This historian says also that Potiphar ‘‘was chief cook to King Pharaoh,’’ that he had bought and educated Joseph, when his brothers sold him in captivity at seventeen years of age. Failing of her design and desire, Potiphar’s wife was cruel in her revenge. It brought 50 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Joseph to prison and to a fortunate issue for him; it might have caused his death had Poti- phar been more savage in his retaliation, or more sure that the charges of his wife were justified. Possibly her husband knew her weak passions and was lenient toward Joseph. The resistance and moral purity of the young man, surrounded by moral pollution, and with polit- ical honors as a possible recompense for yield- ing, emphasize Joseph’s finer strain of idealism. He was a worthy son of Rachel and Jacob, at his highest manliness; he was a true grandson of the faithful idealist, Isaac. One queries what were the qualities of the woman whom Joseph chose for his wife, the mother of his two sons, Kijphraim and Manasseh. Zipporah, Wife of Moses, and Her Family In contrast with these two wives, accounted as foolish or wicked, was Zipporah, the wife of Moses, the daughter of Jethro, high priest of Midian. Again, from Josephus we learn that the Midianite women were the ‘‘handsomest, decked and trimmed to the highest degree,’’ upon another occasion. We know more about Jethro, or Raguel, than about his daughter from biblical records, but it is safe to assume that WIVES OF THE BIBLE ol she was attractive, loyal, and helpful to her father and husband, a good mother of her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. The meeting of this maiden and Moses was romantic. Jethro owned large estates and flocks. He had seven daughters who came to the stream near his home, to fill their troughs with water daily for the cattle. Shepherds often drove them away. Thither came Moses, who had fled into Midian after he had attacked two Egyptians for mal- treating Hebrew workmen. He drove away the troublesome shepherds, ‘‘delivered them out of the hands of the shepherds.’’ Here is a delight- ful picture of pastoral chivalry! Moses gained the gratitude of their father and was given Zip- porah as his wife. In this new home, where Moses was received and called ‘‘an Egyptian,’’ he ‘‘was keeping the flock of Jethro’’ when the miraculous commission came to him, from the burning bush, to deliver the Israelites from their bondage and to lead them back to Palestine. It is doubtful if Zipporah was with Moses in Egypt during the periods of the plagues, although she was brave and faithful, as is shown in the incident of the circumcision of her son. She was probably with her father in Midian during these years and until after the Exodus. A little UNIVERSITY OF [ILLINOIS LIBRARY a2 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE later, after the ‘‘fall of manna,’’ Jethro came to Moses, accompanied by Zipporah and their two sons. Moses met them near Mount Sinai, where his vision had come to him. To the biblical account is added, by Josephus, the statement that Moses here ‘‘made a feast and offered sacrifice’? on this reunion with his family. Bernardino Betto of the Umbrian School has painted this scene in ‘‘The Journey of Moses”’ in frescoes of Sistine Chapel. An interesting side-light upon Jethro is the part played by him when he came to the camp of Moses in the wilderness, with his daughter and grandsons, and observed the heavy task that Moses was performing. Jethro advised wisely —and Moses accepted his counsel—when he planned for the Israelites the court of counsels and judges which became the foundation of Mosaic administration. ‘‘And when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he did to the people [in judgment from the morning until the eve- ning] he said . . . The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee: thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be WIVES OF THE BIBLE o3 with thee: be thou for the people to God-ward, and bring thou the causes unto God: and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. More- over thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers | of fifties, and rulers of tens. . . . And they _ Judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes _ they brought unto Moses, but every small matter _ they judged themselves.’’ After Moses ‘‘let his father-in-law depart’’ into his own land, Zipporah probably remained with her husband and sons. There is no men- tion of her death. Possibly it was before the lapse of Moses, when he took ‘‘a Cushite -woman’’ for his wife, and thus aroused the re- sentment of Aaron and Miriam; one would like to believe that Zipporah was dead at this time. There was, however, a tradition that the ‘‘ Ethio- pian wife’’ of Moses had been married to him before he fled from Egypt into Midian, as ‘‘the term of agreement’’ with the Ethiopian king for peace when Moses was waging battle with him in behalf of Pharaoh. Another side-light, which 54 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE emphasizes the gifts of this family of Jethro and Zipporah, is found in the later effort of Moses to retain as his companion Hobab, the son of Jethro and brother of Zipporah: ‘‘And Moses said unto Hobab.. . . We are journeying unto the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good... . And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shalt be to us instead of eyes.’’ The Wives of Samson Several generations after the death of Moses, when the judges were the religious and military leaders of the Israelitish tribes, there was a sad woman, the wife of Manoah, of the family of the Danites. Like Sarah before her time and Hannah afterward, she longed for a child. In her brooding there came to her an angel who promised that she should bear a son who should be a Nazarite, and who should ‘‘begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.’’ She must not drink wine nor strong drink, nor eat anything that was ‘‘unclean,’’ for this son was WIVES OF THE BIBLE DO _ to be ‘‘dedicated’’ to Jehovah, so said the angel- _ visitor who called himself ‘‘wonderful.’’ Many _ are the stories that have been told about this son, Samson, and his matchless strength and _ clever riddles. He was the Hebrew prototype of the Greek Heracles in strength and cunning. This man, who could rend a lion that roared _ against him ‘‘as he would have rent a kid’’ by the strength of his bare hands, was a giant phys- _ ically but a dwarf in his will-power and moral _ resistance. His mother must have been per- _ plexed and worried if she endeavored to make ' the prophecy of the angel tally with the char- acter of her son. He did, however, become a fighter against the Philistines. His marriage was a disappointment to his parents, for he ‘‘went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in _ Timnah of the daughters of the Philistine. And _ he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore _ get her for me to wife. Then his father and his ' mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she 56 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE pleaseth me well.’’ It was on the way to Tim- | nah to conclude the plans for the marriage that Samson slew the lion. His parents ceased to. dissuade him from his choice, for ‘‘he sought an occasion against the Philistines.’’ This wife of Samson must have been alluring in speech as well as features, for ‘‘he talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.’’ Then he made a wedding feast lasting seven days, to which thirty companions, young men of the Philistines, came. To them, as a form of entertainment, he spoke the riddles about the lion and the honey that he had found and eaten from its carcass. To the Hastern peoples, a riddle is a vital matter; it must be solved, or the honor of the contestants is lost. And Samson had promised, to these young men, thirty pieces of linen garments and thirty changes of raiment if they could guess the riddle in seven days of the feast. Then appeal was made to Samson’s wife—an appeal of forceful warning, for if she should not ‘‘entice’’ her husband and thus de- clare the riddle, she and her father’s house would be burned. With typical mode of attack | for certain women, she entered upon her part of the plot to save these men from humiliation. She wept and reproached him, declaring, ‘‘ Thou WIVES OF THE BIBLE o7 dost but hate me, and lovest me not.’’ One’s sympathy goes out to Samson as the story pro- | gresses. It would be hard for any bridegroom to withstand such incessant appeals: ‘‘And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.’’ This wife of Samson must have popu- larized tears as a woman’s weapon for future ages. Dramatic was the sequel of this tale. Ang- ered, Samson took vengeance upon the men of Ashkelon, and then returned to his father’s house. He seemed, however, to yearn after his weeping, alluring wife. Again he went down, in the time of the wheat harvest, with a kid, ' to see and enjoy his wife; but she had been given to one of the ‘‘companions.’’ Suavely her father told his excuse; ‘‘I verily thought _ that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her.’’ Not so easily was Samson sat- isfied ; with firebrands between the tails of three hundred foxes, he set fire to the standing grain and the olive-yard of the Philistines, and had 08 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE his revenge. The wife and her father became the victims, in turn, of the wrath of the Philis- tines and were burned; in retaliation, Samson ‘‘smote them hip and thigh with a great slaugh- ter.’’ One might surmise that this giant Nazarite would learn his lesson and avoid seductive women, but twice«he was victimized by them again. Once he was surrounded and attacked, while he was with a harlot at Gaza; it was then that he carried off the bars and ‘‘doors of the gate of the city’’ up to the top of Mount Hebron in his muscular arms. The third Samson tale is the most familiar because of the wily woman, Delilah, in the Valley of Sorek, another woman whom he ‘‘loved’’ and who ‘‘sold him to the Philistines for eleven hundred pieces of silver,’’ that were promised to her severally by ‘‘the lords of the Philistines.’’ In literature Delilah shares with Vivian the reputation of the deceit- ful, seductive woman. She was keen as well as intriguing. It was a contest of wits, as well as love-tokens, between the man and woman until ‘it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed unto death. And he told her all his heart.’’ = ee ee eee eaeEEeEeEeem WIVES OF THE BIBLE 59 There is no biblical authority for Milton’s characterization of Delilah returning to Sam- son, in his prison-house and blindness, offering to atone for her faithlessness. ‘‘Samson Agon- istes’’ reveals a strong man, able to see at last that he has been seduced, that Delilah is un- trustworthy. The character of his father is another triumph for the poet. She is seemingly repentant in her first words: I was a fool, too rash and quite mistaken, In what I thought would have succeeded best. Let me obtain forgiveness of thee, Samson; Afford me place to show what recompense Towards thee I intend for what I have misdone, Misguided ;—though sight be lost, Life yet hath many solaces, enjoyed Where other scenes want not their delight.— I to the lords will intercede, not doubting Their favorable ear, that I may fetch thee From forth this loathsome prison-house to abide With me, where my redoubled love and care With nursing diligence, to me glad office May ever tend about thee to old age With all things grateful cheered, and so supplied, That what by me thou hast lost thou least shalt miss. When she is repulsed, her pleading denied, then she shows the venom of her nature, al- 60 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE though she ascribes her deed to patriotism to her Philistine people, declaring that she will be ranked, in heroic memory, beside Jael, who with inhospitable guile, Smote Sisera sleeping through the temples nailed. The chorus sounds the true character of Delilah, as she departs: She ’s gone, a manifest serpent by her sting Discovered in the end, till now concealed. Three Wives of David: Michal, Abigail, and Bath-sheba Three of the many wives of David stand forth with marked, varied personalities. Michal was ‘‘the wife of his youth.’’ She was one of the daughters of Saul; her sister’s name was Merab. When David, as a shepherd-lad, went up to the court of Saul to play upon the harp or lute, to soothe the mentally distraught condition of the excitable king, it may have been Michal and her maidens who ‘‘stood about’’ and were amazed at the beautiful youth and his magical music. Josephus arouses one’s amused query by his description of the appearance of David as a youth: ‘‘He appeared to be of a yellow complexion, of a sharp sight, and a comely per- WIVES OF THE BIBLE 61 son in other respects also.’? There are other interesting comments by Josephus upon this wife of David and her confessed love for the humble peasant lad. Anticipating a later period, evidently, the historian asserts that ‘‘Saul heard this gladly, as intending to make use of it as a snare against David, and he hoped that it would prove the cause of destruction and of hazards to him.’’ Without question this king’s daughter ‘‘loved David.’’ She was a brave girl, with initiative and daring, with an equally strong resentment, in later life, of her husband’s attitude toward her and his kingship. Few young wives of her time, especially of royal blood, would have ven- tured to defy their fathers and to save their husbands by such a clever ruse as she invented when Saul, angered because ‘‘all Israel and Judah loved David,’’ determined to have him captured and killed in his home with Michal. The story is familiar, how she urged David to listen to her, how she let him down through the window, declaring, ‘‘If thou save not thy hfe to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be slain.’’ Then, with inventive acumen, she placed, in his bed, the teraphim, or household gods, and a pillow of goats’ hair at the head and covered this with 62 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE the bedclothes. Again, Josephus makes an in- genious interpretation; he says that she put in the bed a goat’s liver; then ‘‘she made the leap- ing of the liver, which caused the bed-cloaths to move also, that David breathed like one that was asthmatic.’’ Michal’s courage lasted until her father faced her with a question of her dis- obedience, and then she gave the excuse of self- defense; such a lie would not seem disloyal to a woman of that time and standards. She was brave and resourceful. Saul had his revenge, however, and married Michal to Paltiel, the son of Laish, while David was away on military exploits, strengthening himself with the tribes so that he might become king. After he was acclaimed as King of Israel, following the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, Abner, the cousin of Saul and a captain in his army, revolted and sought to join forces with David. Then David made a fixed condition say- ing, ‘‘ Well; I will make a league with thee: but one thing I require of thee, that is, thou shalt not see my face, except thou first bring Michal, Saul’s daughter, when thou comest to see my face.’’ So she was taken from her husband and returned to David as his wife. A tribute to her attractiveness and fine character is found in the 63 vivid picture of this scene: ‘‘And her husband [Paltiel] went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return: and he returned.’’ It would be gratifying to believe that David’s deep love for Michal and her reciprocal affec- tion for him brought about this return and a happy issue. Unfortunately, one must confess that David had enough of shrewdness to realize that if Michal, Saul’s daughter, was reinstated in his home—or his harem, as it was by that time—he would thereby increase his claims to the throne of Judah and his popularity among Saul’s allies. The result was not romantic. Michal was now one of several wives. Per- haps her love for David had waned; perhaps she loved Paltiel better, for he was a faithful lover-husband. An incident that has been much discussed showed her antipathy to David when she thought he was lowering his dignity as a king. When, after the conquests by David, the ark was brought back into Jeru- salem from Baale-judah, David’s emotional and religious ecstasy exceeded ordinary expression. He led the rejoicing in a riotous dance. Michal saw him ‘‘leaping and dancing before Jehovah,’’ and ‘‘she despised him in her heart.’’ With WIVES OF THE BIBLE 64 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE dignity and resentment she taunted him with ‘‘unecovering’’ himself ‘‘in the eyes of the hand- maids of his servants, as one of the vain fel- lows shamelessly uncovereth himself!’’ It would seem that Michal should be respected for this evidence of refined womanhood; but the Hebrew historian was on the side of David and of his explanation that his dance was ‘‘before Jehovah,’’ and the punishment was recorded: ‘¢And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.’’ Other traditional and historical narrators, including Josephus, say that she had five children, as wife of Paltiel. Josephus softens her words of rebuke to David. There has been difficulty in reconciling this statement of Michal’s sterility with the story of Rizpah and her tragic watch over the unburied bodies of her two sons and of five sons of Michal, daughter of Saul. Probably these were the sons of Merab, the elder daughter of Saul; Merab was the wife of Adriel and these are called the ‘¢five sons of Michal whom she bare to Adriel.’’ Into the life of David while he was a free- lance, an ancient Robin Hood, before the days of his kingship, there came another woman of fine character and strong influence. Abigail, the wife of Nabal, and later wife of David, is one eee eee SE >a WIVES OF THE BIBLE 65 of the most convincing, heroic women of biblical history. Nabal, whose possessions were in Car- mel, was a ‘‘very great’? man in wealth; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats and corresponding estates and vineyards. David and his men had encamped near by and had protected Nabal’s flocks and herds from ma- rauders in a time of famine. Now the sheep- shearing was at hand; David sent his men to ask for some supplies: ‘‘Give, I pray thee, whatso- ever cometh to thy hand, unto thy servants, and to thy son David.’’ It was a courteous request, considering the service rendered. Nabal was not alone a dullard, whose name signified fool or folly, but he was churlish and a drunkard. Abigail must have already deplored her mar- riage and tried to make amends for his stupid- ity and ‘‘evil doings.’’ Insulting was the an- swer which he sent back to David, asking ‘‘ Who is David? There are many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are?’’ When this reply, and David’s preparations for retaliation, were reported to Abigail, she igtt® 66 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE showed her ‘‘good understanding’’; she acted decisively. She had mental astuteness as well as ‘‘a beautiful countenance’? and charm. Equipped with two hundred loaves, two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain and one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, she mounts upon her ass and departs for David’s tent, with an escort of her ‘‘young men.’’ She might have sent these supplies by a messenger, but she knew the value of a per- sonal appeal. David, still cherishing resent- ment and ready to seize Nabal’s possessions, sees Abigail and goes out to meet her. Pros- trating herself before him—the woman of wealth, beauty, and dignity before the untitled, youthful warrior—she offers to take the blame and the punishment for her husband. This may have been ‘‘good policy’’; it may have been a woman’s genuine self-sacrifice. She does not hesitate, however, to admonish David to be leni- ent for his own future memories. Admitting that her husband’s name indicates his character, his folly, and assuring David that she did not see the young men whom he sent for the sup- plies, she thus indicates that she was, generally, WIVES OF THE BIBLE 67 the administrator of the estate. Prophesying that David will soon be made a ‘‘lord,’’ with the aid of Jehovah, she urges upon him forgiveness for Nabal’s churlishness, for he will be glad, ‘‘when he shall be appointed prince over Israel,’’ that he has not avenged himself nor ‘*shed blood without cause.’’ Abigail, the gracious and far-seeing, the woman of keen mind and discriminating words, returns with the assurance of protection. She returns to a drunken husband. The next morn- ing, when Nabal is somewhat sober, she tells him her story with courage and determination. The sequel is satisfying to romantic fancy. Nabal becomes ill, probably from paralysis; he lives only ten days, and David soon sends for Abigail to come to his tent as his wife. This marriage brought to David much wealth and political strength, for Abigail was of the hoyse of Caleb. Unfortunately, for unalloyed ro- mance, the narrator adds, ‘‘David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives.’’ Abigail bore children; the first, named Chileab, probably died, as no later mention is made of him. Both Ahinoam and Abigail, with their sons and daughters, were 68 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE taken captives by the Amalekites but were res- cued by David after a battle and lived to share his kingdom and fame. Sharply contrasted with Abigail was Bath- sheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. For her sake, or because of her extraordinary beauty and its reaction upon the king, David committed the ‘‘sin’’ which has always been regretted as the ‘‘blot on his scutcheon.’’ Josephus tries to relieve the harshness of any judgment upon David by reiterating that ‘‘he was otherwise naturally a righteous and a religious man, and one that firmly observed the laws of our fa- thers.’’ Moreover, Bath-sheba was ‘‘one of ex- traordinary beauty, and therein surpassed all other women, so that he was overcome by her beauty.’’? The Bible story is frank in certain features of this episode in the life of the war- rior-king, for it happened in his earlier man- | hood. Other historians, with Marjorie Strachey | in her romance, ‘‘David, Son of Jesse,’’ have amplified the earlier stages of the intrigue, the | effort to conceal the fact of their adultery (for Bath-sheba might suffer death if it were known) | and the yet more direful condition of her preg- | nancy while her husband was away, fighting for David. Although a Hittite, Uriah was a friend | WIVES OF THE BIBLE 69 as well as neighbor to David. David might have spared his life, had Uriah gone to his own home and his wife, when he returned for a short respite from the war. He refused, however, to desert the other armor-bearers who were sleep- ing in front of David’s house. The plot to place Uriah in the battle-front so as to insure his death was discussed and executed by Joab, who henceforth knew the guilty secret of David and Bath-sheba. When Nathan, the prophet, brought home to David the enormity of his crime in the tender story of the ‘‘one ewe lamb,’’ and when the first child born of this wedlock died, David showed his deeper, more religious nature. Na- than seemed to have become an adviser of Bath-sheba when, in later years, she extorted from the aged David a promise that her son Solomon should succeed to the throne over his elder brother. Solomon, whose birth-date was about 1035 B.c., showed signs of wisdom and resource in his youth. ‘‘Nathan felt that Solo- mon was his special ward from birth,’’ says Dean Farrar, and so he helped Bath-sheba to gain her ambition. He adds, ‘‘To Bathsheba | must have fallen the chief share in the education of her child and it is impossible to suppose that her influence could have been very good.”’ WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Wives of Solomon and Jeroboam I At casual thought, it would seem as if Solo- mon should have been the son of the wise, effi- cient Abigail rather than of the beautiful, per- suasive, but weak Bath-sheba. He increased all the wealth and glory that had been his father’s; he increased, also, the size of his harem. The exact number of David’s wives is not recorded ; he had seven that are mentioned by name, with ‘¢many more wives and concubines.’’ The wives of Solomon are estimated in the hundreds, if we accept biblical records and the words of Josephus, who gives the ageregate as seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Many of these women were kept in the luxurious harem for political purposes; they chronicled the king’s alliances with Sidonians and Tyrians, with Ammonites and Edomites. It was a de- pressing period for free, normal home life, the reign of the rich and wise Solomon. Even if an extra cipher has been added to the number and even if the figures should be seventy wives and thirty or eighty concubines, one does not query why it was written of Solomon, ‘‘his wives turned away his heart after other gods.’’ WIVES OF THE BIBLE 71 The marvel is that he kept his sanity and phys- ical well-being as long as he was able to reign. Such ‘‘enervating self-indulgence,’’ as Dean Farrar has well phrased it, would create less surprise and censure in Solomon’s day than in ours, but even then it was deplored by Hebrew writers of later years. The wife who held first place, chronologically and socially, was the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, on account of an ‘‘affinity’’? which Solomon wished to make with this country. He brought her with great pomp ‘‘into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Jehovah.’’ We know nothing about this queen, but it is safe to assume that she was well educated, as the Egyp- tian princesses were for that time, that she maintained her position of rank and influence throughout her life. She came to Solomon while he was young and aspiring. His aspira- tions were not alone for more material glory, nor for a larger kingdom, for the people already were millions, but for ‘‘an understanding heart to judge,’’ the ability to ‘‘discern between good and evil.’’ Browning has used the records of Solomon’s rich garments of Tyrian dyes, made 12 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE from the sea-shell, and the dazzling covers upon his throne for two stanzas in his poem, ‘‘ Popu- larity’’: Enough to furnish Solomon Such hangings for his cedar-house, That, when gold-robed he took the throne In that abyss of blue, the Spouse Might swear his presence shone Most like the centre-spike of gold Which burns deep in the bluebell’s womb What time, with ardors manifold, The bee goes singing to her groom, Drunken and overbold. Solomon was a drastic monarch, in spite of his wisdom and discretion; his divided kingdom, after his death, suffered from his deeds of cruelty, in spite of, his prayer for ‘‘an under- standing heart.’’ One of his first deeds was to have his half-brother, Adonijah, the true heir to David’s throne, killed. The excuse given was that Adonijah desired to marry the beautiful Abishag, the last, futile concubine of his father David. Bath-sheba had proffered the request to Solomon at the urgent desire of Adonijah; this showed the persuasive power accredited to Bath-sheba. Solomon, however, refused to consider such amarriage. His political sagacity 1e TN nm . Wy ie A PROPHETE ‘* by Jenn ORAH, 2 2 DEI Drawing WIVES OF THE BIBLE 73 knew that such an alliance would strengthen the claims of Adonijah for the throne, for to marry his father’s concubine might be re- garded among royalty as a means of estab- lishing a claim to the throne. So Adonijah must die. It has always been a question whether the Song of Songs was written to commemorate the love of the beautiful Shunammite maiden for her royal lover. Then Joab must be put out of the path of Solomon; it was one of the last com- mands of David to Solomon, to ‘‘remembér’’ what Joab had done in enmity toward David and that he had caused the death of Abner. The admonition was framed in smooth words, but its intent was plain: ‘‘Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to Sheol in peace.’’ It will be recalled that Joab was the nephew and captain of David, that he was the man chosen by the king to cause the death of Uriah, husband of Bath-sheba, that both David and Bath-sheba lived with the fear and suspicion of Joab ever before them. Joab’s death, by order of Solomon, was a relief to Bath-sheba in her old age. The tendencies to idolatry in the later life of Solomon, because of his efforts to please his ‘fmany wives’’ and to establish altars for the 74 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE worship of their ‘‘strange gods’’—for Astarte of the Sidonians and Chemosh of the Moabites and Mileom of the Ammonites—brought about the revolt of the people and the rebukes of the prophets of Jehovah. To this idolatry his son Rehoboam added a refusal to listen to the advice of the older men and a determina- tion to become even more severe in regard to taxes and burdens upon the people than his father had been. He listened to the young men and proclaimed their bold, merciless threats: ‘‘My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”’ In these later days, it is interesting to record this revolt of the people from monarchical tyranny, the decree against the ‘‘house of David’? by the ten tribes of Israel and the selec- tion of Jeroboam as their king. Jeroboam was an Ephraimite, the son of Ne- bat, a servant of Solomon. His mother’s name is given as ‘‘Zeruah, a widow.’’ Jeroboam was ‘Ca mighty man of valor’’; Solomon had given him command of repairing ‘‘the breach in the city of David.’? While he was at work, Ahijah, the prophet, appeared to Jeroboam; he rent his garment into ten pieces and thus symbolized the t ( I. WIVES OF THE BIBLE 15 ‘‘ten tribes of Israel’? over which Jeroboam should rule. When Solomon heard of this, he tried to kill Jeroboam and to appoint his son Rehoboam as king over all the tribes, but the people revolted, as we have seen. Then Jero- boam, with prophetic advice as his guide, failed to follow the true course; he instituted priests, ‘‘whosoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places’’; and he made ‘‘molten images.’’ He feared that un- less he should establish altars for worship of Jehovah the people would return to Jerusalem and to Rehoboam and the tribes of Judah. This distrust brought down upon Jeroboam a punish- ment that sorely afflicted his wife and home. There is no mention of the name of Jero- boam’s wife, but he had a gon, Abijah. This boy fell ill, and the king knew that he could not ask the help of the prophet Ahijah in bringing about the cure of his son, for a doom had already been pronounced upon ‘‘the house of Jeroboam”’ be- cause of his unlawful sacrifices and priesthoods. So the king commanded his wife to disguise herself and take ten loaves and cakes and a eruse of honey and go to Shiloh to ask the prophet’s help in saving the life of their child. She was not to reveal her identity to the i 76 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE prophet, who was now ‘‘blind with age”’ and would not recognize her. ‘‘And Jehovah said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to inquire of thee concerning her son; for he is sick; thus and thus shalt thou say unto her; for it will be, when she cometh in, that she will feign herself to be another woman.”’ The reader’s sympathy goes out to this obe- dient, afflicted wife of Jeroboam. Perhaps_she had advised her husband in his political and re- ligious ambitions that caused his downfall; perhaps she was wholly innocent. In any case, her story is a sad one. To this heart-sick mother were spoken the severe words of doom: ‘therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jero- boam every man-child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth away dung, till it be all gone. _, . Arise thou therefore, get thee to thy house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.’? This seems, to modern judgment, a cruel treatment of a heartbroken mother. Ap- parently the child was not very young, for the prophet says that ‘‘all Israel shall mourn for —— eee Eee eeeoeeeSO -_ ee eee WIVES OF THE BIBLE 77 him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.’’ Per- chance, this ‘‘good thing’’ was his inheritance from his obedient mother. Brief but tense is the closing sentence of her story: ‘‘And Jero- boam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah; and as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.’’ This scene has been painted, with insight, by G. Grenville Manton. Wives of Job and the Prophets A single, expressive characterization tells all we know about the wife of Job. It comes early in the poetic drama of this ‘‘man who was per- fect and upright’’ but who was tested, in his patience and faith in Jehovah, by rending dis- asters, losses of estate, children, friends and health. It was after the death of his sons and daughters, as well as his loss of cattle, it was after the loathsome, painful disease had come upon him, that his wife said unto him, ‘‘Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die.’’ If one visualizes this poem, this ‘‘Hipic of the Inner Life,’’ as Prof. Genung well calls it, one may understand the distress of 18 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Job’s faithful wife, who had shared his grief at earlier losses and now sees him, as ‘‘he sat among the ashes, in dire agony from the sole of his foot unto his crown.’’ It is much easier for a woman to suffer pain than to watch an- other whom she loves in such distress. The words of despair are wrung from her heart. Job’s answer is significant: ‘‘Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’’ Such was the grim philosophy and unwavering faith of this dra- matic hero, ‘‘greatest of all the children of the east.’ The significance of the answer, however, is in the implied compliment to Job’s wife, that she did not, generally, speak as ‘‘one of the foolish women’’ spoke. She had been a true helpmeet in the days of prosperity; she must not fail in adversity; she must keep faith with God. If one follows, in imagination, the sequel of this poetic story, itis gratifying to believe that Job’s wife lived to enjoy, with him, the renewed flocks and herds of fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. We would like to imagine this faithful wife as the mother of his WIVES OF THE BIBLE 19 seven sons and three daughters: ‘‘And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job.’’ Passing down, in memory, through succes- Sive generations one recalls the years of Heze- kiah, ‘“‘the good king of Judah,’’ and his prophet-adviser, Isaiah; approximately the dates are from 725 to 696 .3.c. The mother of Hezekiah was Abijah, the daughter of Zecha- riah. One queries if her influence was exerted in changing the tide of affairs in the kingdom of Judah. His father, Ahaz, became an idolater in his later life and was denounced, but Hezekiah, to the end of his reign of twenty- nine years, ‘‘did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done.’’ Hezekiah summoned the people to ‘‘keep the passover’’; he abolished idolatry and tried to prepare the people to re- sist the menace of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, who had ‘‘entered into Judah and en- camped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself.’’? But the people of Judah, under command of the king and nobles, cut off the water-supply from the fountains and | brooks and saved Jerusalem in spite of the taunts and threats of the Assyrians. ‘And 80 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.’? Their prayers were answered; Sennacherib and his warriers were slain—a miraculous event as told in Scriptural narra- tive—and Jerusalem was saved: familiar are the lines of description by Byron: Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay wither’d and strown. Isaiah, this friend of Hezekiah and of his son, Manasseh, was a man of the city. Josephus calls him ‘‘by the confession of all a divine and wonderful man in speaking the truth.’’ He was well educated, as is evident from the fact that he ‘‘wrote down’’ his words; and his words have been ranked as among the finest in world literature. He was prosperous and knew intimately the manners and modes of life of those of high rank, as he shows in his denun- ciations of drunkenness, vanity, and extrava, gance. In symbolism, he clothed himself in sack- cloth and poor garments, like a captive, as he taught the people of the need of uprightness if they would escape captivity by the Assyrians. He was an astute adviser of Hezekiah when the ——— ee — —- WIVES OF THE BIBLE 81 king might have sold the freedom of Judah to the Assyrian. There was a rabbinical tradition that Isaiah was cousin of King Uzziah, in the last year of whose reign the ‘‘call’’ came to the prophet to leave his home of plenty and ease and to go forth to warn the people. There is biblical suggestion that his wife was a ‘‘proph- etess’’ in her own individuality as well as ‘‘wife of the prophet.’? From implication one as- sumes that she had made a happy home for Isaiah in Jerusalem; they had two sons, at least. He named one of his sons, Shear-jashub, mean- ing, ‘‘A remnant shall return,’’ from the Cap- tivity, which he foresaw and foretold. The sec- ond son bore a yet longer, more significant name, ‘*Maher-shalal-hash-baz,’’ meaning, ‘‘For be- fore the boy shall know how to ery, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away be- fore the king of Assyria.’’ The capture of Samaria in 722 s.c. was the fulfilment of this prophecy. Gomer, daughter of Diblaim and wife of Ho- sea, is one of the most despised women of the Bible; she was both foolish and wicked. Hosea _ and Amos were contemporaries of Isaiah, al- | though they were older. Amos, the herdsman 82 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE of Tekoa, spoke his visions of what would befall both Israel and Judah ‘‘in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.’? Hosea, a city man, extended his laments and appeals through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, as well as Jeroboam in Israel. It is difficult always to separate the literal from the symbolic in the Book of Hosea. It is clear, however, that personal experiences of domestic tragedy formed the motive of many of his moods of despair, forgiveness, and renewed dis- tress at the unfaithfulness of his wife as well as his people. When Hosea married Gomer, he dared to hope that she would make him a happy home, for he was an affectionate hus- band, with high ideals for his family. Her fidelity was brief, however, and she fled with her paramour, leaving her husband and chil- dren. She was placed on sale as a common slave, but Hosea bought her and brought her back to her home. Several times he tried to re- cover faith in her, but his patience was tested to the point of despair. Finally he adopted a paternal attitude toward his erring wife—wife no longer, but protected from further disasters. In his prophecy are revelations of the sharp i li ili ities ia ae te =- 6" Fr oer. WIVES OF THE BIBLE 83 social distinctions in Israel, the low moral stand- ards of both men and women, their idolatry, in- fidelity, and rebellion. Falsehood and thieving, adultery and drunkenness, scoffings and bribery —such are the sins of social life found in Israel, especially in cities. In the writings of this subjective prophet there are passages of force- ful denunciation, others of intense pathos, and, finally, sentences of rare beauty and undying love. Probably the various portions of the book cover a period from 748 to 734.3.c. As the earlier prophet Joel had foreseen the forgive- / ness and pity of Jehovah for the sins of the _ people, so Hosea, using his own domestic sor- | Tows as a lesson, emphasizes the tender and pitiful attitude of Jehovah toward the weak, backsliding ‘‘children of Israel.’’ In a very brief paragraph in the prophecy , of Ezekiel we read of the death of his wife, as a ‘‘sign’’ of the death of Judah. Ezekiel was a son of the priest, Buzi, and was carried away captive to Babylonia with King Jehoiachin in 597 n.c. He lived near the river Chebar and uttered and wrote his messages for more than | twenty years. Many of the passages are real poems; within these are found some of the familiar and tender phrases that are generally 84 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE associated with later writings, as ‘‘Jehovah, the kind shepherd,’’ ‘‘showers of blessing,’’ ‘a new heart,’’? and other indications of the gentle manliness of this prophet. Of the death of his wife he writes with deep, restrained sorrow and affection: ‘‘Also the word of Je- hovah came unto me, saying, Son of Man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet thou shalt neither mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind thy headtire upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake unto the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.’’ The Wife of Naaman, the Syrian Captain The wife of Naaman, the captain of Syria, whose leprosy was cured by Elisha, is not defi- nitely outlined in the Bible. She was ‘‘waited upon’? by the ‘‘little maid’’ who is the heroine of this interesting story. Apparently the wife | did not report directly to her husband the words _ of hopeful suggestion that were spoken to her by her handmaid. The narrative says: “And | WIVES OF THE BIBLE 85 one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden that is of the land of Israel.’? What were the traits of this Syrian woman, wife of the commander-in-chief of the army, we must surmise. She had wealth and rank. Her pride must have suffered, even if she lacked deep affection for her husband, be- cause of his loathsome illness. Acting upon this inference, John Drinkwater has given to Naa- man’s wife a cold, proud character, in his dramatic narrative, ‘‘The Maid of Naaman’s Wife’’:1 Then one day when the fans moved, and she stood Ministering with her perfumes at the couch, Her mistress, with eyes that meant the cronen was nothing Said, ‘‘Is it not grievous that my lord goes thus?”’ And the maid felt the colour at her throat Flow round her neck and flood up to her temples, But knowing, feared not, or put her fear aside, And said, ‘‘Would God my lord were in Samaria, To seek Elisha there, a prophet, lady, Whom God hath taught to cure whom he will cure.’? After Naaman has been told of the possible cure and has started upon his journey to Sa- ***Preludes,’’? by John Drinkwater, 1923. By permission of Houghton Mifflin Co 86 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE maria, the poet adds a few lines of character analysis : And Naaman’s wife saw how again might come Her mastery among the women of Syria. Yet was the little maid her hatred now, Lest of her word should come this resurrection. Jealousy would be a natural attribute in the nature of this arrogant Syrian woman. The final picture of her restored rank but unrespon- sive heart is graphic; it follows the return of Naaman: And all the city rang upon his coming, The king and his estate, people and priests, And soldiers glad of their old captain again, And matrons with their girls, and the rich merchants, All shouted, Naaman, Naaman, through the streets. And Naaman’s wife stood at the king’s right hand, Her slave-borne canopy coloured and spangled, While the great fans beat upon her pride again, And Naaman in plumes and plate and mail Again was master of the Syrian hosts. Vashti and Zeresh in the Book of Esther In addition to the patriotic heroine, Esther, who will be recalled in a later chapter, there are two wives of distinctive interest in the Esther story. Vashti, the deposed queen, beau- tiful wife of Ahasuerus in his palace at Shushan, i] ¥ [ : 4, ‘| OO Se a ara eee WIVES OF THE BIBLE 87 is a woman of challenging personality. The king had given a feast for. seven days, using his gold cups adorned with precious stones. ‘Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Ahasuerus.’’ When the king, inflamed with drink and passion, sent for her to come to his feast, that the nobles, so ealled, might gloat upon her beauty and her grace, Vashti showed her self-respect by refusal. Says Josephus: ‘‘But she, out of regard to the laws of the Per- sians, which forbid the wives to be seen by strangers, did not go to the King.’’ This does not minimize her courage in refusing the king’s command. When he sent eunuchs she persisted in her declination until the king was so irritated ‘‘that he brake up the entertainment.’’ Vashti was a woman of spirit and intelligence. She had won the love of the king, for he was deeply grieved after he had consented to have her deposed and punished for her disobedience. He could not sleep because of his remorse. He _ realized that Vashti had humiliated him in his proud boastfulness, and he questioned ‘‘the seven princes of Persia and Media’’ regarding the best course to pursue. Their advice, ex- pressed by one of their number, Memucan, was 88 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE that she should be deposed and severely dealt with, because ‘‘this deed of the queen will come abroad unto all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be re- ported.’’ It is amusing to read these words of fear of Persian women, on the part of the men. The ‘princesses of Persia and Media’”’ might ‘savy the like unto all the king’s princes,’’ said the stern advisers. So the decree went forth, the unalterable ‘‘law of the Medes and the Persians.’? If the result proved what the princes hoped, then ‘Call the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small.’’ In contrast with Vashti, the queen of good judgment and independence, was Zeresh, the wife of Haman the Agagite, the chief lord in the court of Ahasuerus after the dethronement of Vashti and the choice of Esther. All made obeisance to him, for such was the decree of the king; his head was turned by flattery; the only person who failed to ‘¢bow down and wor- ship him’’ was Mordecai the Jew, the uncle of Esther. The vanity of Haman caused his doom; his wife, Zeresh, hastened its coming. There are Zereshes in every land and century; they fatter their husband’s self-conceit, and they lack insight and foresight. When Haman came 89 WIVES OF THE BIBLE to his wife, with the complaints about Mordecai, he received, from her and his friends, not advice but more flattery. After listening to his boasts, they urged him to erect a gallows, fifty cubits high, on which Mordeaci should be hanged. So Zeresh sent Haman forth, with assurance of her belief in his vanity: ‘‘go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet.’’ Then the tide turned. With the irony of fate, upon the gallows prepared for Mordecai, Haman was brought to death. The king, in his wakeful hours, had been rereading the services done to him by Mordecai when there had been a plot against the king; Esther had interceded with courage and success for the lives of the Jews whom Haman would destroy, and she had brought about the condemnation of Haman. Again, he returned to Zeresh for help. He told her ‘‘every thing that had befallen him,’’ but she was powerless to aid him; she could only grieve and lament. Her opportunity had come and gone when she fostered her husband’s van- ity and foolish ambition. In his drama, ‘‘Esther,’’ Racine gives a prominent place to Zeresh in the last two acts. She urges Haman to put aside his resentment against Esther and Mordecai to ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee EE eeeeEEEEOeeeEEEEeEeEeEeEeEeEeeEeEeeEeEeeEeEeEeEeEeeEeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeeEeEeEeEeEeEeeEeEeEeEeEEeEeeEeEeEeEeEeeeEeEeEeEeEeEeelee 90 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE List to the counsel of a wife who fears Thy rashness. By the sacred bond between us, Conceal, my lord, this wrath that blinds thy judg- ment ; Clear from thy brow that frown of discontent ; Reproaches and complaints no king can bear. ... Oft has an insult borne without resentment Served as a stepping-stone to highest honors. It may not be too irrelevant to recall, in con- nection with the stories of these two Persian women, an unbiblical incident recorded by J O- sephus, and found also in Esdras of the Apoc- rypha, of another Persian feast, when Darius entertained the rulers of Medes and the to- parchs of India and Ethiopia and the armies of 127 provinces. They drank and slept, but the king, wakeful, commissioned four ouards to make separate orations upon the subject: Which was the strongest—Wine, King, Woman, or Truth. To the winner he would give a purple robe. Zerubbabel, governor of the Jews under Darius, and now one of the king’s body-guards, responded for woman. The information upon contemporaneous ideas of women’s influence is most interesting: Said Zerubbabel: ‘‘Wine is strong, as is the King also, whom all men obey ; but Women are superior to them in power, for WIVES OF THE BIBLE 91 it was a woman that brought the King into the world; and for those that plant the vines and make the wines there are women who bear them, and bring them up: nor indeed is there anything which we do not receive from them; for these women weave garments for us, and our house- hold affairs are by their means taken care of and preserved in safety; nor can we live sep- arate from women. . . . We also leave father and mother and the earth that nourishes us, and frequently forget our dearest friends for the sake of women; nay, we are so hardy as to lay down our lives with [sic] them. . . . Do not we take pains and endure a great deal of trouble and that both by land and sea, and when we have procured somewhat as the fruit of our labours, do we not bring them to the women, as to our mistresses, and bestow them upon them. Nay, I once saw the king who is lord of so many people, smitten on the face by Apame, the daughter of Rabsases Themasius, his concubine, and his diadem taken away from him and put upon her own head, while he bore it patiently; and when she smiled, he smiled, and when she was angry, he was sad; and ac- cording to the change of her passions, he flat- tered his wife’s and drew her to reconciliation 92 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE by the great humiliation of himself to her, if at any time he saw her displeased at him.’’ In spite of such an eloquent—and _ anticlimac- teric—defense of women, Truth was the winning element in this contest, because ‘‘all things else that have any strength are mortal and short- lived but truth is a thing that is immortal and eternal.’’ Susanna, the Chaste, Brave Wife of Joacim In the Apocrypha are at least two women who are noteworthy in Jewish history or tradi- tion, Judith of Bethulia and Susanna. The former will be discussed in the group of ‘Women in Patriotic Service.’?’ Susanna was the wife of Joacim of Babylon. She was very beautiful; her husband was rich and influential; she was chaste and courageous. It is a some- what salacious tale in the first chapters of ‘The History of Susanna’’—that of the two el- ders, or judges, who fell in love with this woman in her garden and threatened her with death unless she would yield to their lustful demands. According to the narrative, they discovered by chance their common desire for her, but they were in collusion in trying to force her at her bath. Susanna was pure in impulses, and she EEE —- we. — Pe po _ ee = WIVES OF THE BIBLE 93 was fearless in courage; ‘‘she was taught ac- cording to the law of Moses.’’ When these two men, ‘‘appointed of the ancients of the people to be the judges,’’ confronted her at her bath, in her garden, and gave her the choice of yield- ing or false accusation which might mean death, Susanna said, ‘‘I am straitened on every side; for if I do this thing, it is death unto me; and if I do it not, I cannot escape your hands. It is better for me to fall into your hands and not do it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.’’ She came to her trial with her parents and her children. False witnesses declared that she had been seen under a tree in her garden, consorting with a young man, while her maids were at a distance. Susanna affirmed her innocence and called upon God to bear her witness. Then Daniel, as a young man, came forward, declar- ing, ‘‘I am clear from the blood of this woman.”’ He was permitted to examine the two witnesses separately; they disagreed regarding the kind of tree in question—one said it was ‘‘a mastick tree’’; the other declared it was ‘‘a holm tree.’’ Susanna was cleared of guilt and restored to her position of honor in the home and community. Notable paintings by Rubens and Rembrandt, Vandyke and Veronese and, others have fa- 94 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE miliarized us with this story of ‘‘Susanna at the Bath,’’ beautiful and chaste, and the gross and sensual judges and accusers who contrasted so sharply with her. Mariamne, the Maccabean Wife of Herod Approaching the Christian era we find our attention challenged by a group of women that are generally called Herodians. Linking the history of the Maccabees, that family of priestly lineage that freed the Jews from Syrian bond- age about 166-161 3.c., with the coming of Jesus, is the tragic narrative of Herod the Great. Herod was an Idumean; he flattered Rome to strengthen his power over the Jews. He usurped the kingdom from the Hasmoneans and, to appease them, he married their niece, Mariamne. She was granddaughter of Hyr- canus, the high priest, and a Maccabean prince. She was born about 56 B.c.; so she was only fourteen when she was married to this cruel, low-minded man, but she seemed to love him. Her mother, Alexandra, who was keen in politi- cal affairs and much more popular with the people than was her husband, King Alexander, regarded this betrothal with conflicting emo- tions. Alexandra had no respect for Herod, WIVES OF THE BIBLE 95 but she intended to use him for political ends. Herod had cast off his first wife, Doris, when he married Mariamne; with the help of two Roman legions he captured Jerusalem; then be- gan his dastardly career of murdering all his opponents among the Hasmoneans, beginning | with Aristobulus, the brother of Mariamne, whom he had made high priest at her request, and ending with his wife and her two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. This last act so | affected Augustus that it called forth from him | the remark that ‘‘he would rather be one of | Herod’s swine than one of his sons.”’ It would be unjust to emphasize the cruelty and | intrigue of Herod and to omit all mention of the public buildings that showed his civic ambition | —the palaces, theaters, and amphitheaters, and finally, the restored or rebuilt Temple. He was proud of Mariamne’s beauty; tradition says he sent to Mark Antony a picture of her that be- / came an influence to draw away the Roman leader from the snares of Cleopatra. Mariamne / was a true wife to Herod, so far as the histo- | rians record; she was the mother of five children | ineleven years. At times she joined her mother, Alexandra, in intrigues to increase the favor of their family at the expense of Herod. Herod 96 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE became incensed and embittered; in a fit of rage he decided to have Mariamne put to death. No sooner was the deed done, however, than he was wild with grief and remorse. In her memory he built one of the three beautiful towers in the walls of Jerusalem. His lament for her has been put into verse by Byron: And is she dead? And did they dare Obey my frenzy’s jealous raving? My wrath but doomed my own despair: The sword that smote her ’s o’er me waving. Stephen Phillips, in his drama, ‘‘Herod,’’ has many effective passages, notably the indignation of the queen when she discovers that Herod has cruelly murdered her brother, Aristobulus: * MARIAMNE. I am come From young Aristobulus that was murdered. HEROD. Murdered? MARIAMNE. Or taken as we take a dog And strangled in that pool whose reeds I hear Sighing within my ears until I die. You like a tiger purred about me: oh! 1Used by permission of Dodd, Mead & Co. WIVES OF THE BIBLE 97 Your part it was to soothe and hush me while He gasped beneath their hands—your hands— O yes, You were not near, ’t was yours to kiss and lie— But none the less your hands were round his throat, Oniiars <<. You! You—a sudden thing sprung up in the night— To dip your hands in our most ancient blood! That he should perish by an Idumean! HERrop. I stand where I have climbed, and by your side I could not leave him—’t was not for myself I struck, but for the State—’t was for Judea! And for the throne—your throne—your throne— MARIAMNE. O glib! The assassin first, and now the orator! _ Misfortunes followed rapidly for Herod, after the murder of Mariamne and her sons; finally, terrible disease and constant terror lest he should lose his kingdom of Judea brought him to the frenzied condition he had reached when Jesus was born. So he ordered the murder of all the male children, that he might not lose his | crown to the mysterious ‘‘ King’ that was fore- told and had been already found and honored. WOMEN OF THE BIBLE The Wife of Pilate Herod died in the years 4-3 B.c., a few months after the birth of Jesus. In 30 a.p., approxi- mately at that date, Jesus was brought to trial before Pilate, who had been procurator of Judea for three or four years. Pilate’s wife was a Roman, Claudia Procula, according to the Gos- pel of Nicodemus. Perhaps she was inclined to accept the teachings of Christ; perhaps she thought of the dream of Calpurnia the night before the murder of Cesar. Whatever may have been the cause, she had a troublesome dream the night before Jesus was brought to trial. As her husband ‘‘was sitting on the judg- ment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.’’ She was sensitive, sympa- thetic, apprehensive; she was anxious to save her husband from making a judgment fatal for himself and the condemned man. It would have been well for Pilate’s reputation in history if he had listened to the advice of his wife. She was, doubtless, of a higher social rank than Pilate; she was allowed, by a special permit of Ti- —— Se eer WIVES OF THE BIBLE 99 berius, to accompany Pilate to Palestine when he became procurator, says Papini. She, like the keener-minded Roman women of her day, was interested in various ‘‘cults’’ and new ideas of philosophy and religion. That she was so emphatic in calling Jesus ‘‘that righteous man’’ would indicate that she had listened to him, or heard much about him, and had decided that he was guiltless and honorable. Pilate, however, uses the same phrase when Jesus, clad by Herod in a white robe, as mockery for his kingship, is returned to him; he was anxious to have nothing to do with this righteous man,’’ but he dared not face the multitude when, to his surprise, they clamored to have Barabbas, an infamous robber, released to them and Jesus crucified. So Pilate washed his hands and said, ‘‘I am inno- cent of the blood of this righteous man; see ye to it.’”’ Claudia Procula was stronger in char- acter than was her husband, if we may judge by the narrative; she was earnest, intuitive, and cons¢ientious. The Wives of Felix and Festus: Drusilla and Bernice Agrippa I had two daughters who exerted some influence upon the political history of 100 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE their times through their marriages. Drusilla was the younger; when she was six years old she was betrothed to the son of Antiochus, king of Commagene, but he refused to be circumcised, so there was no marriage. At fourteen, she was married to Azizus, king of Hmesa, who was circumcised reluctantly that he might gain this political connection. The marriage was un- happy. Then Felix, a freeman, became procu- rator of Palestine about 53 a». The beauty of Drusilla appealed to him, and he made overtures to her through Simon, a Cyprian magician. Felix was a Gentile, without rank, but Drusilla married him and was with him when Paul was | on trial. Felix was the Roman governor who listened so sincerely to Paul’s defense against the charge of insurrection and the exposition of ‘‘the Way.’’? Felix delayed decision until Ly- sias, the chief captain, should appear, but he | instructed that Paul should ‘‘have indulgence; and not to forbid any of his friends to minister unto him.’’ Moreover, with Drusilla, who must have shared his interest, Felix called for Paul ‘Cond heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus.’? The story relates that, when Paul ‘‘reasoned of righteousness and self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and WIVES OF THE BIBLE 101 answered, Go thy way for this time; and when J have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me.’’ We do not know Luke’s authority for the next statement that Felix ‘‘hoped that money would be given him of Paul; wherefore also he sent for him the oftener and communed with him.’’ Was Drusilla sincere in her interest in this apostle, or was she, also, sharing the hope of a bribe from Paul or his friends? One cannot tell, but it is significant that ‘‘graft’’ at that time was openly admitted. Felix, as governor, was succeeded by Festus at the end of two years, and the opportunity of Felix and Drusilla, ‘‘the more convenient season’’ to hear and accept the teaching of Paul was gone. Bernice, or Berenice, as it is sometimes writ- ten, the elder sister of Drusilla, was more ad- venturesome and tainted in reputation. Both women were beautiful, although Josephus says that Drusilla ‘‘did indeed exceed all other wo- men in beauty.’’? There was sharp rivalry be- tween the sisters and bitter jealousy on the part of Bernice, because of the social position of the wife of the Roman governor of Judea, held by her sister. Bernice’s first husband was Herod, king of Chalcis, who died; he was also her uncle. For a time she remained a widow but was ac- 102 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE cused of immoral relations with her brother, Agrippa II. When the people were aroused, and cried out at Bernice in the street, ‘‘Shame! Shame!’’, she married Polemo IJ, King of Cicilia, in self-defense; he became a Jew in religion that he might marry her. She deserted him, however, and returned to her brother at Cesarea. She was with him, and came into the council-room with him ‘‘with great pomp,’’ when Paul was called before Agrippa as a prisoner. About 66 a.p., when Florus was pro- curator and was cruelly oppressing and killing many Jews, Bernice appeared as a suppliant at Jerusalem, sending a message to him to spare the Jews. She was, says Josephus, ‘‘perform- ing a vow’’ which she had made because of some severe illness that had come upon her. Barefoot and with shaven head, she begged for mercy for her people, but she was repulsed. Her own life was in danger for a time until her brother appeared and made the famous oration in behalf of the Jews that has been recorded by Josephus. When Bernice was already a woman of middle age but still beautiful, she had a tumultuous love-affair with the Emperor Titus at Rome. WIVES OF THE BIBLE 103 Although she was much younger than he, she lived with him for many years, with intervals of separation, and she cherished the hope that he would marry her and make her empress. But if it was his own desire to do so, he was prevented by resentment of the Roman people against Bernice. Her ‘‘shady past’’ was inti- mated in certain references in Juvenal’s ‘‘Satires.’’ This chapter in her life-story has been used effectively by Racine in his familiar play, and its later adaptation by John Mase- field. The intense emotionalism of Bernice is reflected in her farewell to Titus, before her banishment from Rome. It was a dramatic career, this of Bernice, sister of Agrippa II. When she listened with her brother to Paul’s virile defense, which was almost an accusation of the Jews, did she share in Agrippa’s feeling, ‘‘ Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian’’? Unsettled is the inter- pretation of this sentence, whether it be sin- cerity or satire, but Bernice was _ present and must have appreciated the eloquence of the apostle, for she was a woman of keen mind and ambition, in spite of her loose morality. WOMEN OF THE BIBLE Sapplira, the Wife of Ananias Many were the wives of apostolic days who shared the work and sufferings of the first mis- sionaries; these will be considered as ‘‘ Friends and Co-workers’’ in a later chapter. In con- trast with them was Sapphira, the ill-fated wife of Ananias. She was the victim of divided allegiance, as truly as were the characters in John Galsworthy’s play, ‘‘Loyalties.’’ Should she be loyal to her husband or to the church and apostles? The community of goods had been adopted, as a temporary measure, by the early Christians. She and her husband had promised to abide by this code. They failed first when they sold their land ‘‘and kept back part of the price.’’ Whether it was greed or personal need that caused the deception, we are not told; the presumption is in favor of avarice. They were untrue to the brotherhood; then they told deliberate lies about the price. The imme- diate death which came upon each of them was interpreted as punishment. There are certain interesting implications about Sapphira which arouse discussion. Was she part-owner, with her husband, of the land? Was she ‘‘privy”’ to the false deal? She, apparently, made no WIVES OF THE BIBLE 105 remonstrance. Could she have instigated the deception? She followed her husband, three hours after his report to the apostles, and she told ‘a glib lie without hesitation. Was she a weak-willed woman, dominated by her hus- band’s commands? She was the victim of mixed motives, like many men and women of to-day, who desire a reputation for generosity yet have a selfish ambition which is more compelling. The strange sequel of the story must have been a wholesome lesson to the young Christians of the value of integrity as a fundamental virtue. Consideration for Widows Among the Oriental peoples, widows have had a sad life, full of loneliness and dangers. In the periods of social betterment, the Hebrews showed a respect for womanhood far in advance of their neighbors and this was extended to the treatment oi widows. The law provided for consideration and care by the state for widows, if the families lacked financial means. Said the Levitical law: ‘‘Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shalt give it unto the Levite, to the so- 106 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE journer, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled.’’ ‘‘Learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow,’’ was the exhortation of Isaiah. ‘‘A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation,’’ said the Psalmist. ‘‘Honor widows that are widows in- deed. But if any widow hath children or grand- children, let them learn first to show piety to- wards their own family, and to requite their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God,’’ was Paul’s message to Timothy. There are a few recorded examples of the ap- plication of this consideration for widows. A notable instance is the appeal of ‘‘a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets’’ —who has been described by Josephus as the widow of Obadiah, Ahab’s steward—to Elisha when she was tormented by her husband’s credi- tors and was threatened with bondage for her two children. It is an interesting tale of the prophet’s courteous words and practical, mirac- ulous helpfulness to the distressed widow. The increase of that ‘‘vessel of oil’? has passed down to history as a Providential aid for true- hearted women in distress. It is implied that WIVES OF THE BIBLE 107 the woman had some good qualities of adminis- tration and thrift, for the prophet’s final words to her were, ‘‘Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons of the rest.’’ Jesus was, at all times, gentle with widow- hood in his words and acts. One of the most beautiful and appealing’ passages in the New Testament is the story of the raising from the dead of the son of the widow of Nain. As Jesus approached the gate of the city of Capernaum the son was carried through for burial: his mother walked beside the bier weeping. Jesus ‘‘had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.’’ With swift, quiet touch, He awak- ened the dormant spirit of the boy, who then arose. Note the last, expressive sentence. ‘‘ And he gave him to his mother.’’ It was not strange that ‘‘great fear,’’ as well as rejoicing, came upon the people, as they saw this marvel of Omnipotence, performed without any display or lengthy words. This recalls the similar deed by Elijah for the poor widow at Zarephath. The widow whose ‘‘two mites’’ appealed to Jesus as the epitome of true benevolence and sacrifice has been immortalized in literature. Jesus was sitting down ‘‘over against the treasury.’’ He had been teaching his disciples 108 WOMEN OF THE BIBLE and the people of the hypocrisy of the ‘‘scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and to have salutations in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and chief places at feasts; they that devour widows’ houses, and for a pre- tence make long prayers.’’ While he sat there, watching the ‘‘multitude cast money into the treasury,’’ doubtless he saw many of them with ‘long robes’’ and false hearts and ostentation as they dropped in their large coins. Then came ‘Ca poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing.’’ Often, in life, one finds an unexpected relief from the insincerity and affec- tation of the ‘‘multitude’’; one sees, as did Jesus, the simple act of true religion performed by an obscure person. It is a blessing when such an experience comes; it seems to restore the balance of perspective on life as a whole. So Jesus felt, as he called his disciples to share his appreciation of real self-sacrifice and service, and spoke the words that have become an in- spiration through the ages: ‘‘ Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury: for they did cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.’’ Perhaps it seemed improvident to be so gener- WIVES OF THE BIBLE 109 ous, but the words doubtless were hyperbolic, that the lesson might be the more impressive to his hearers. Richard Crashaw, in his ‘‘Di- vine Epigrams,’’ has poetized ‘‘The Widow’s Mites’’: Two mites, two drops, yet all her house and land, Fall from a steady heart, though trembling hand; The other’s wanton wealth flames high and brave, The other cast away—she only gave. CHAPTER IV MOTHERS IN ISRAEL HE familiar expression, ‘‘Mothers in Israel,’? was no mere phrase of pleasant sound in Hebrew history. It expresses the fun- damental aspiration of every true home-maker of the Hebrew people; to ‘‘become a mother of men from the Lord’’ was the goal of family life. Childlessness might mean loss of respect in the clan. Rachel lamented to her husband, ‘