Journal of Biblical
Literature 17 (1898) 111-48.
Public
Domain.
Woman in the Ancient Hebrew Cult.
PROF. ISMAR J. PERITZ.
1.
Introduction. Current View of Woman's Relation to the
Cult.
THE
opinion has found considerable currency that woman, on
account
of her sex, was disqualified to perform the duties of
the
religious cult among the Hebrews; that in the absence of males
in
the family, the cult of the deceased could not be perpetuated.
The
chief representatives of this view are Stade, Schwally, Benzinger,
and
Nowack. Benzinger (Hebraische Archaologie,
p. 140) has given
it
amplest expression; and, in order to have it clearly before us, I
quote
his words in full: “Noch an einem anderen Punkt zeigt sich
die
Inferioritat der Frau deutlich: die Frau war nicht fahig zur Ausu-
bung
des Kultus. Die Sitte der Schwagerehe setzt die Anschau-
ung
voraus, dass Frau and Tochter nicht im Stande sind, den
Kultus
des Toten zu pflegen. Aus demselben Grund kam ihnen
nur
ein sehr beschranktes Erbrecht zu, ebensowenig wurden der
Frau
nach dem Tod kultische Ehren zu teil. Nur als Ehefrau war
ihr
eine gewisse Teilnahme am Kulte des Mannes gestattet. Bis
auf
den heutigen Tag hat sich bei den Juden these Vorstellung
erhalten:
die Frauen durfen dem Gottesdienst in der Synagoge
anwohnen,
die Madchen sind davon ausgeschlossen. Nicht minder
wird
im Islam die Frau als unfahig zur Kultusubung betrachtet.
Dass
schon fruhe einze ne Frauen als Prophetinnen auftreten, ist
eine
Ausnahme, welche die Regel bestatigt."
Nowack (Hebraische Archaologie i. 344 f., 348) is less sweeping
in
his statements, but also affirms that the levirate law had for its
main
object to provide male descent for the dead, because woman
was
unqualified to participate in the cult; that this disqualification
also
lay at the basis of the Hebrew laws of inheritance; and that
112 JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
only
the son, or the nearest male, and not the female, was qualified
to
transmit the cult of the testator.
The expression of this view reaches,
it seems to me, the strangest
height,
when Schwally (ZATW. xi. 176 ff.)
endeavors to explain the
word
rkAzA,
‘male,’ as connected with Myhlx MweB; ryKiz;hi, 'to call
in
cult upon God,' and meaning therefore first 'a cultic person,'
then,
on the assumption, according to the view in question, that this
cultic
person can be in all Israelitish and Semitic antiquity only a.
man,
meaning, secondly, 'a male.' This sexual meaning was then,
thirdly,
transferred from men to animals, and reached the highest
point
of development in the Arabic and Aramaic in the meaning,
fourthly,
"das mannliche Glied." Leaving out of consideration the
assumption
as to cult, such a view of an etymological development
from
a distinct spiritual meaning to the lowest physical will never
commend
itself as an improvement on the older view represented by
Gesenius,
s.v.
None of the three authorities
mentioned seems to speak from
independent
investigation of the subject of woman's relation to the
Hebrew
or Semitic cult. All three are evidently dependent upon
Stade,
and simply follow him.
Stade reaches his conclusion in a
peculiar manner. He is dealing
with
the Hebrew family in pre-prophetic time, and he finds in the
customs
of mourning evidences of a cult of the dead and indica-
tions
of ancestor-worship. He concludes from these indications that
ancestor-worship
was a prime factor in the formation of the ancient
Israelitish
family. Here he begins to call attention to similarities in
the
organization of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Indian families,
and
to draw parallels between them and the Semitic. The ancient
Indo-Germanic
family was a "Cultgenossenschaft," held together by
the
common bond of worship of the ancestors of the family, whose
altar
is the family altar, and whose priest is the father and the lord
of
the house. This cult explains the most ancient laws of the people.
Can
similar ancient Hebrew laws find a similar explanation? In
answering
this question affirmatively Stade proceeds to instance the
law
of inheritance. This law among the ancient Hebrews, as among
the
ancient Greeks and Romans, was originally that of agnates. In
ancient
asserts
that wherever this law of inheritance is found, the ground for
it
is that only the son, or the nearest male relative, taking his place
as
the heir, can perpetuate the cult of the testator (Geschichte i.
388-391).
PERITZ
: WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 113
It is important to observe that Stade's
conclusion, denying woman
her
share in the ancient Hebrew cult, is not based upon any direct
evidence
derived from the Old Testament itself, but upon a remote
and
supposed analogy which connects a question of cult with that of
the
law of inheritance, and upon an utter disregard of all phenomena
in
the Old Testament that may point the other way.
The connection of the law of
inheritance with the admission to the
cult,
and the explanation of the former from this source, are entirely
forced
and unsatisfactory. That the inheritance in old
restricted
to agnates is true enough (Nowack, Arch.
i. 348f.); but
we
may well ask whether there is not a simpler explanation of the
fact.
The weakness of Stade's position becomes very apparent when,
in
his attempt to support his view of the dependence of the right to
inherit
upon admission to the cult, he refers to Gen. 15. 2f as the
solitary
evidence. Now, the ancient custom that in default of a son
the
slave of the master becomes heir may prove that Abraham had
no
son, but how it can prove that Eliezer was the last representative
of
the family cult, save on the assumption of that which Stade endeav-
ors
to prove, I cannot see.
But the fact of woman's exclusion
from the Hebrew laws of inheri-
tance
does not need explanation from her relation to the cult. There
is
a better way. W. Robertson Smith mentions a similar law among
the
Arabs. Smith shows that antique Arab society had its basis not
in
the patriarchal authority, the family, but in the stock or kinship
tribe,
an organization that has for its object offence and defence, and
that
the whole law of the old Arabs resolves itself into a law of war,
in
which blood-feud, blood-wite, and booty are the points on which
everything
turns. The law of inheritance there follows the law of
booty.
The tribe owned the property of which the individual had
only
a usufruct, and which fell to be divided after his death like the
spoils
of war. The right of inheritance belonged to the active mem-
bers
of the tribe. This explains the relation of woman to the law of
inheritance,
and is in accordance with the old law of
by
Smith, in which women were excluded from inheritance on the
principle
that "none can be heirs who do not take part in battle,
drive
booty, and protect property." See W. R. Smith, Kinship and
Marriage, pp. 33-58, and his note
on " Law of Inheritance," p. 263.
Now, it is a well-recognized fact
that the affinity in social organi-
zation
and ancient law is far greater between the Arabs and the
Hebrews
than between the Semites and the Greeks and Romans.
And
so woman's exclusion from inheritance finds here, it seems to
114 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
me,
a natural, reasonable, and more direct explanation, and does not
need
the assumption that woman was excluded from the ancient
Hebrew
cult. It thus appears that the current opinion on woman's
relation
to the Hebrew cult is by no means based upon a special and
direct
investigation of the subject. This phase of Hebrew antiquity
has
so far received no critical treatment.1 Because in later Levitical
legislation
man is made prominent in the cult, and later Judaism has
in
Herod's
woman
from reading the Shema' and the ritual of the phylacteries
(Berakoh 33), and in the Middle Ages
woman was relegated to the
galleries
of the synagogues,2 and Jewish men now pray "Blessed
art
thou, Lord, our God, King of the world, that thou hast not made
me
a woman" (Hebrew Prayer Book:
part of the daily morning
prayer),
and because Islam excludes woman from the cult, it has
been
taken for granted that this exclusion was from the beginning
a
distinctive feature of Semitic cult. The facts on the subject, as
contained
in the Old Testament, and supplied by other Semitic
religions,
have not been collected and squarely looked in the face.
To
supply this evident lack is the object of this essay. My method
of
treatment is to collect, arrange, and explain some of the more
prominent
facts in regard to woman's position in other Semitic
cults
in general, but more especially, all the facts bearing upon
woman's
position in the ancient and later Hebrew cult as contained
in
the Old Testament. The conclusion to which the facts thus
treated
have led me, if I may here anticipate, is that the Semites
in
general, and the Hebrews in particular, and the latter especially
in
the earlier periods of their history, exhibit no tendency to dis-
criminate
between man and woman so far as regards participation in
religious
practices, but that woman participates in all the essentials
of
the cult, both as worshipper and official; and that only in later
time,
with the progress in the development of the cult itself, a ten-
dency
appears, not so much, however, to exclude woman from the
cult,
as rather to make man prominent in it.3
1 Schechter, in his Studies in Judaism, under the caption, “Woman
in
and
Synagogue," touches lightly, and in a popular way, upon some of the
surface
facts
of the subject. His essay cannot be regarded as a critical contribution to
the
subject, and in fact he does not lay claim to such a contribution. See p. 313-
2 Cf.
3 I hope, at some future time,
as a second part of the subject, to treat fully of
the
causes of woman's later inferior position in the cult, and her final,
apparently
entire,
exclusion from it.
PERITZ
: WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 115
2. Woman in Other Semitic Cults.
That we have reason to look to other
Semitic cults for light has
been
fully demonstrated by the researches of W. R. Smith, embodied
in
his Religion of the Semites. The
fundamental institutions of the
Israelites
had a common origin with those of the other Semitic
peoples.
The relation of woman to the other Semitic cults has
therefore
a vital bearing on our question, and must all the more
receive
some attention, since Schwally (ZATW.
xi. 178) claims that
"im
israelitischen, uberhaupt im ganzen semitischen Altertum," man
only
possessed the qualification to perform independently the duties
of
the religious cult.
1. Woman in the Arabic Cult.
Islam is no such ancient nor
unadulterated source as to supply
much
that is helpful in the investigation of the early Hebrew cult.
It
is far different with pre-Islamic, Arabic heathenism. Here we
may
well go with confidence for analogies and explanations. We are
not,
therefore, like Benzinger, so much concerned with the relation of
woman
to the cult of Islam as with her relation to the cult of Arabic
heathenism.
Fortunately, meagre as the source in general is, it
yields
material enough to leave beyond any question woman's rela-
tion
to Arabic cult. The facts, as collected mainly from Wellhausen's
Reste arabischen Heidentumes, lead to the conclusion
that this rela-
tion
is one of almost perfect parity with that of man, there being not
the
slightest indication that the question of sex from a religious point
of
view ever comes into consideration.
(I) Female Divinities. -- Female divinities are numerous, and
play
a very important role in Arabic heathenism. The Jinns even
were
mostly feminine (Wellh., Heid., p.
135). Local divinities of
mitic
goddess (p. 70).
Noah,"
was worshipped by the Beni Hamdan, and in the form of a
woman;
so a late tradition says, which, however, according to Well-
hausen,
is not reliable (p. 16). According to Epiphanius the worship
of
Dhu IShara was associated with that of his virgin mother (p. 46).
Shams
was a goddess (p. 56). But chief of all are "the three daughters
of
Allah," the goddesses Al Lat, Manat, and Al ‘Uzza, whose worship
possessed
more vitality and importance than that of all the male
divinities,
Allah only excepted. All
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OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
devoted
to them, the polemic against them in the Koran being but a
small
part of the evidence of this fact (p. 21ff., p. 71). A religion
that
pays such homage to female divinities is not likely to discrimi-
nate
against woman in matters of cult; at any rate only the most
positive
testimony can carry any weight in the matter.
(2) Women as Devotees.--Women frequented the places of wor-
ship.
At the annual Hajj at
were
present (p. 85). The reference in Yaqut to the backs of the
women
jostling at Dhu lKhalasa is an indication in what throngs
the
women attended the sanctuaries (Wellh., p. 43; Smith, Kinship,
p.
295).
But the women's devotion was not confined
to simple attendance
they
brought their votive offerings. There is ancient testimony to
the
fact that the women worshipped Al 'Uzza "daily with sacrifices
and
gifts" (Wellh., p. 37 ; cf. also pp. 112, 101).
The two principal acts of Arabic
worship, the 'stroking' (ta-
massuh), and (most important
of all) the tawaf, or act of
encircling
the
sacred stone, were participated in by the women as well as by
the
men (Wellh., pp. 52, 105f., 118).
In the cult of the dead the women
had even more than their share.
It
was theirs to chant the rhythmical dirge; the institution of the
professional
mourning men is later than that of the mourning women
(p.
160).4 The regulation that woman during the period of her
purification
must not approach the sanctuary (pp. 52 and 118) is
but
the evidence of the single exception that proves her inclusion in
the
cult. For an interesting story of the conversion of a Dausite and
his
wife, illustrating many points of the intimate association of man
with
woman in religion, see Wellh., Heid.,
p. 45.
(3) Woman as Cultic Official.--Arabic heathenism had two chief
cultic
officials: sadin (temple watchman),
or hajib (doorkeeper), the
temple
servant or priest, and kahin, seer,
prophet. In the latter
class
women are numerous (Wellh., p. 130); but of the woman
sadin there is not a single
instance that I can find. But this fact
finds
a simple explanation as soon as the nature of the office is
examined.
The sadin was not a priest whose
specific prerogative it
was
to officiate at the altar. Such an
official the Arabs never had.
He
was not needed for sacrificing, and, though the sacred lot was in
his
keeping, and he, in general, officiated at the casting of the sacred
4 Circumcision was practised,
among some tribes, upon girls (p. 154f., 168).
But
this custom, found also among certain uncivilized tribes in
one
feature in the consecration of all the members of the tribe to the deity.
PERITZ
: WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 117
lots,
even that could be done without him (Wellh., p. 129). The
sadin or hajib, as the names indicate, was the watchman, the door-
keeper
of the sanctuary. Arabic nomadic life had given a peculiar
form
of duty to this office. In general the sanctuaries did not
wander
with the tribes, but remained stationary; but there are cases
where
the idol did share in the nomadic life, and was carried into
battle
like the ark of Jahveh (Wellh., pp. 18 and 129). Cases of
theft
of idols, even, are not unheard of (p. 18). The sadin became
in
this manner the resident, the defender, and, in time, the actual
possessor
of the sanctuary. By a natural law of selection, the office
of
watcher, protector, and possessor would fall to man and not to
woman.
The absence of woman from this office cannot therefore be
taken
as implying a discrimination against woman in reference to the
cult.
This view is confirmed by the fact
that woman was not excluded
from
the office of kahin, which carried
with it far greater cultic
significance.
This significance becomes all the more apparent when
the
original position of the kahin is
recognized. There is every
reason
for accepting the conclusion of W. R. Smith, Wellhausen, and
most
moderns, that the office of the sadin
was originally included in
that
of the kahin, which corresponded very
nearly to that of the
early
Hebrew kohen. In course of development
the kahins branched
off
from the general priestly body, carrying with them the principal
part
of its duty and the ancient title of honor, and leaving behind
them
a class of officials who sank into mere aeditui
(Wellh., p. 134;
W.
R. Smith, Journal of Philology xiii.
278). The kahin therefore
was
originally the great official of the cult, and women, as stated, are
frequently
found holding this office.
It thus appears that the testimony
of Arabic heathenism on woman's
relation
to the cult is comprehensive, clear, and uniform. Whether
as
divinity, devotee, or cultic official, woman shares cultic duties with
man,
and in matters of religion there is no sign of any discrimination
against
her on account of her sex.
2.
Woman in Assyro-Babylonian, Phoenician,
and other Semitic
Cults.
Babylonian and Assyrian cults do not
furnish altogether as safe a
basis
for comparison with the Hebrew cult as that of Arabic heathen-
ism.
Babylonian and Assyrian religions, as is generally held, are
syncretistic,
mixed with non-Semitic elements, and developed under
physical
and moral conditions different from those which determined
118 JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
the
Hebrew development. This is in great measure true also of the
Phcenician
cult--a result due, no doubt, to its close relation to the
Assyro-Babylonian.
One feels the need, therefore, of caution in
the
use of material from these sources. Yet there are certain general
features
which recur with striking uniformity in all parts of the Se-
mitic
field, as W. R. Smith has said (Rel. of
Sem., p. 14 ff.). The rela-
tion
of woman to the cult, it may be safely asserted, is one of these.
As
my purpose is simply to allow a side light from this direction to fall
upon
the main question, it will not require an exhaustive treatment.
(i) Female Divinities.--It will not be necessary to name all of
the
numerous female divinities of the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon.
As
the representative of them all, we may call to mind the Babylo-
nian
Ishtar, who was venerated as the mother goddess, the queen,
head
and firstborn of all gods. (Cf. W. R. Smith, Rel., p. 56 ff.)
Among
the other female divinities may be named Damkina, Nana,
Nin-gal,
Gula, Anunit, and Zarpanit. In pairs often occur the divini-
ties:
as, Bel and Belit; Ea and Damkina.
The Phoenicians have by the side of lfb a tlfb, both distin-
guished
by many additional names, expressing either attributes or
names
of cities devoted to their worship. Besides, they worshipped
trtwf, Astarte, the great Semitic goddess, and
tnt,
Tanith. Cf.
Baethgen,
Beitrage, pp. 29, 31, 26 ff. ;
Baudissin, PRE3. s.v.
Astarte,
Baal;
Pietschmann, Geschichte d. Phoenizier,
p. 182 ff.
The Moabites worshipped by the side
of wmk
an wmk rtwf
who
was most probably a female divinity. (Cf. Baudissin, PRE3.
ii.
150, 156, and Baethgen, pp. 14, 256.) To her Mesha, according
to
his inscription, devoted the Israelitish captives. Cf. the inscrip-
tion
of King Mesha on the Moabite stone, 1. 17.
The Aramaeans worshipped by the side
of Hadad the female divin-
ity
Atargatis, who was the great Syrian goddess, even outranking
Hadad.
Cf. Baethgen, 68, 74.
(2) Women as Devotees.-- It would be safe to let this question
rest
on a priori grounds: that cults which
pay such homage to
female
divinities cannot discriminate in matters of cult against the
female
sex. But there is all the direct testimony that is needed.
Woman's
intimate relation to the divinity finds expression in some of
the
female names, viz. trqlmtmx and trqlmtm, “Handmaid
of
Melkart"; trqlmtH, “Sister
of Melkart”; trqlmnH, ”Grace
of
Melkart"; cf. Euting, Sammlung
Karthag. Inschriften, 153, 320,
213,
165, quoted by Baethgen, p. 21 ; so also trtwftmx ( CIS.
46),
tklmtH
(CIS. 231), tklmfn (CIS. 41).
PERITZ
WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 119
But
the most abundant evidence we find in the Old Testament
itself
in the numerous allusions to woman's participation in foreign
cults,
of which I treat further on. See p. 120.
(3) Woman as Cultic Official.--Meissner, in his Beitrkge zum
altbabylonischen
Privatrecht
(pp. 8 and I I I, § 12), speaks of financial
functions
of priests and priestesses, the latter's official position in the
temple
being indicated by SAL (or UD) Samas; cf. also Peiser,
Babylonische Vertrage d.
Berl. Mus.,
pp. xvii-xxix.
There were priestesses of Ishtar at
Uruk (cf. Jeremias, Izdubar-
Nimrod, p. 59 f.).
Prophetesses, who tell the messages
of the gods, are mentioned in
connection
with the 'seers' in the text of Gudea. Cf. Amiaud, "The
Inscription
of Telloh," Records of the Past,
New Series, i. 42, ii. 78.
To
the same class of officials belong, most probably, also the
priestesses
or prophetesses whose names are attached to the oracular
responses
of Istar of Arbela. Cf. Pinches, "The Oracle of Istar of
Rel., p. 195
These scattered references have led
me to go carefully through
Delitzsch's
Assyrisches Handworterbuch in quest
of designations of
these
female officials. To give this subject the thorough treatment
it
needs would require too, long a digression, and I therefore present
these
designations in a simple alphabetical order:--
(1)
uhatu, eine weibliche Hierodule,
naher Dienerin der Gottin Istar von Erech.
They
appear also as "Klagefrauen beim Tammuz-Fest" (Del., p. 41).
(2)
epistu, fem. of part, episu, Hexe (p. 119).
(3)
asiptu, fem. of asipu, Beschworer (p. 247).
(4)
zirznasitu, ein Epitheton, bez. Name
der Zauberin oder Hexe (p. 264).
(5)
harimtu auch harmatu, eine weibliche Hierodule, naher Dienerin der Gottin
Istar'zu Erech (p. 290).
(6)
kassaptu, fem. of kassapu, Zauberin, Hexe (p. 360).
(7)
mahhutu, fem. of mahhu, der von Ekstase befallene, von Sinnen seiende
(vgl. fGAwum;), Prophet, Wahrsager, ma<ntij, bez. Prophetin (p. 397).
(8)
kadistu (gadistu), Hierodule, eine dem Dienste der Gottin Istar geweihte
and
dadurch entweihte
the
Zauberin and Hexe (p. 581).
(9)
sabratu, fem. of sabru, eine best. Berufsart, viell. Magier, Seher (p. 639).
On woman's position as official in Phoenician
cult, the Eshmun-
azar
inscription furnishes a word that is of the highest import. The
Sidonian
king, naming his mother, calls her not only trtwfmx, but
he
designates her also trtwf tnhk, the feminine form of Nhk,
found
here for the first time. Cf. CIS. 3,
l. 14 f.
120 JOURNAL
OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
3.
Old Testament References to Woman's
Relation to other Semitic
Cults.
As furnishing us with a view of the
relation of woman to other and
especially
Semitic cults, the allusions in the Old Testament must not
be
overlooked. These allusions cover two points: (I) The worship
of
strange gods by devotees who were either Canaanites or immi-
grants
on Israelitish soil, and (2) the worship of strange gods by the
Hebrew
women themselves. The chief means by which the first
could
establish itself alongside of the Hebrew cult was intermarriage.
As
Professor
recognition
of one another's religion, and was naturally followed by
participation
in the cultus" (Judges, p. 83).
Hence, the result of
such
unions is uniformly stated to have been the establishment of the
foreign
cult (cf. Ju. 3:5f. 1 Ki. 11:1-8). But our chief interest here lies
in
the intense zeal which the strange wives of the Hebrews mani-
fested
in the observance and propagation of their native cults. Here,
of
course, Jezebel will first come to mind.5 But that she was by no
means
the only instance can be easily gathered from such notices as
that
which speaks of Solomon's readiness to provide the means for
the
worship of his "strange wives which burnt incense and sacrificed
unto
their gods " (1 Ki. 11:8), and more still from the numerous Deu-
teronomic
passages which ascribe the spread of idolatry to these
intermarriages,
and strictly forbid them on that ground (Ex. 34:15f
Dt.
7:3f; Jos. 23:12f) . It will be seen that these facts gathered from
the
Old Testament confirm the view arrived at from the more direct
sources,
that woman's part in the other Semitic cults was intensely
active.
But this activity was not confined
to non-Hebrew women. Even
before
Jezebel, Maacah, the mother of Asa (1 Ki. 15:13), had mani-
fested
her zeal for the Canaanitish cult of Astarte (cf. Stade, Gesch.
i.
355 ; Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 218 ;
Baudissin, PRE3. s.v.
Astarte,
Aschera)
by erecting to her worship a tclpm, which was probably
nothing
else than an hrwx, which Asa in the progress of a religious
reformation
hews down, and burns in the valley of the Kidron, and
at
the same time punishes his mother's idolatrous tendencies by
depriving
her of the rank of the queen-mother. As the Jezebel of
the
southern kingdom appears Athaliah, probably Jezebel's daughter
(cf.
Stade, Gesch. i. 524, note 2). That
her zealous endeavor to
establish
the Phoenician cult on Judoean soil was not void of suc-
5 Cf. 1 Ki. 16:31ff. 18:4,
13, 19; 19:2; 2 Ki. 3:13; 9:22b.
PERITZ
: WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 121
cess
is evident from the bitterness with which she is mentioned (cf.
2
Ki. 8:18, 26f; 2 Chr. 21:6; 22:2f; 24:7).
In the time of the prophet Jeremiah (7:18;
44:15ff) the Hebrew women
vied
with one another in their devotion to the Assyrian cult of Ishtar,
whom
they worshipped under the name of Mymwh tklm (cf. Bau-
dissin,
PRE3. s.v. Astarte),
claiming it to be a well-established cult,
the
practice of which had always been a source of prosperity, and its
neglect
the cause of adversity (44:17f.). One feature of the cult is
characteristically
feminine: while the children gather wood, and the
fathers
kindle the fire, the women knead the dough, and bake the
cakes
in the moon-shaped form to portray the goddess (cf. v. Orelli),
Jeremia, on 44:19; Wellhausen, Heid., p. 38 f.) .
To this cult most probably belongs the reference
2 Ki. 23:7b, where
the
Massoretic Mytb might well be corrected (on the basis of Cod.
Alex.
xettieim=Myytk probably for Myntk) to tOnTIKu
(Lucian
stola<j), tunica (cf. Klostermann in
loc.), pointing to an activity on
the
part of some of the women (perhaps the tvwdq) in providing
garments
probably used in the act of the worship of Astarte; for the
custom
of changing garments in preparation for the approach of the
divinity,
and of priests supplying such garments, finds illustration in
other
cults (cf. Wellh., Heid., pp. 52, 106;
Gen. 35:2; 2 Ki. 10:22). This
explanation
of the passage, it seems to me, will furnish the best
answer
to Stade's rather too ready expedient that the second half of
the
verse is a "naive Glosse eines Spateren " (Gesch. i. 653, note 4).
To Ezekiel (8:14) we are indebted for the bare
mention of the
Hebrew
women's devotion to the worship of Tammuz.6 The phrase-
ology
with which he describes the worship, "there sat the women
weeping
for Tammuz," leaves its identity with that of Adonis under
his
Babylonian name, the characteristic of which was lamentation,
without
a doubt (cf. Baudissin, Studien i.
35, 3ooff.).
Woman's part as devotee in the worship of Melek,
the sacrificing
of
children in the
Ahaz,
and reached frightful dimensions in the dark days of the
seventh
century,7 is not directly stated in the Old Testament. Pro-
fessor
xvi.
163), cites a passage from Plutarch (De
Superstitione, c. 13),
6 That Zechariah's "mourning for
Hadadrimmon " (Zech. 12:11) has no
connection
with Tammuz or Adonis worship has been shown by Baudissin
(Sludien
i. 295 ff.).
7 Cf. W. R. Smith, Encycl. Brit9. xvi. 696; Stade, Gesch. i. 609 f.; Driver,
Deut., p. 222 f.
122 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
according
to which the Carthaginians used to sacrifice their own
children,
and those who had no offspring of their own used to buy
children
from the poor, and slaughter them, as if they were lambs or
birds.
At these sacrifices the mother stood by, unmoved, without a
groan.
That there was also no distinction of sex in that cult as far
as
the victim itself was concerned is evident from the recurring
phrase
"to make one's son or daughter to pass through the fire to
Moloch"
(2 Ki. 23:10; Jer. 32:35, etc.). There is sufficient reason to
suppose,
then, that the general terms "children of
"inhabitants
of
prophets
condemning the practice include both men and women.
(Cf.
Jer. 32:32; Ez. 16:2ff, and compare Jer. 19:13 with 44:15.)8
It appears then that the facts thus collected
from the Old Testa-
ment
on woman's relation to the foreign cults give very clear testi-
mony,
and that it is throughout to the effect that woman, whether
native
or Hebrew, shared in all the religious activities, and often
excelled
in manifesting religious zeal. Well might the Deuteronomic
lawgiver,
aware of woman's religious interest and zeal, provide the
most
drastic measures for its destruction (cf. Dt. 13:7-12(6-11); 17:2-5).
3. Woman as Devotee in the Jahveh Cult.
I.
The Presence of Women at the Sanctuary
and Religious
Gatherings.
Hannah and Peninnah, as also the daughters of
Elkanah, were
accustomed
to go up to the yearly religious gathering before Jahveh
in
is
indicated in the question which the husband of the Shunamite
woman
asks: "Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? it is neither
new
moon, nor sabbath" (2 Ki. 4:23) . The rape of the Shilonite
maidens
is planned in expectation, and carried into effect in the
realization,
of the fact of the presence of the daughters of
the
annual feast of Jahveh (Ju. 21:6-25). At the feast that David
makes
in honor of the removing of the ark of Jahveh, the religious
character
of which is confirmed by the offering of sacrifices, women
are
present (2 S. 6:19). The legislation of Deuteronomy definitely
8 As the Philistine religion seems to have
been strongly influenced by Semitic
religions
(cf. Baethgen, Rel., p. 65), it is
not altogether irrelevant to call attention
to
the fact that, little as is known of the Philistine Dagon cult (cf. Baudissin,
PRE3. s.v. Dagon), it is
nevertheless evident from Ju. 16:23ff. that men and women
alike
mingled in the temple precincts and participated in the festive
occasions.
PERITZ:
WOMAN IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW CULT. 123
provides
for woman's presence at the sanctuary at festal seasons
(Dt.
12:12, 18; 14:26; 15:20; 16:11, 14).9 In like manner, at that great religious
gathering,
the reading of the law, in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah,
woman
appears side by side with man in all the solemnity and joy of
the
occasion (Neh. 8:2, 3; 12:43)
2. Woman's
Participation in the Sacrificial Meals.
There is full evidence that women were by no
means mere idle
spectators
at these religious gatherings, but that, on the contrary, they
shared
in every important cultic act. Chief among these were the
sacrificial
meals. When Elkanah sacrifices he gives to his wives and
daughters
"portions " (1 S. 1:4).10 If it were certain that rpwx in
2
S. 6:19 and its parallel I Chr. 16:3 means "a good piece of flesh,"
A.V.,
or "a portion of flesh," R.V., as some ancient versions render
it,
and as may well be expected here to complete the triad of such
festival
occasions, bread, flesh, and wine,11 it might furnish another
instance
in earlier times of woman's participation in the sacrificial
meal.
But the text is altogether too uncertain.12 But we have by no
means
need to depend upon uncertain data. The Deuteronomic
legislation
is as full as it is explicit upon woman's participation in the
sacrificial
meals and leaves it beyond any question. Regulating what
was
no doubt an antique custom, it specifies in a number of distinct
passages
that at the great sacrificial feast at the central sanctuary
woman
is to have her share (Dt. 12:12; 14:22-29; 15:19-23; 16:9-12,13-15).
An
important illustration on a large scale, that this custom existed not
simply
in law but in actual practice, even in post-exilic times, is
furnished
by the sacrificial meal at the publication of the law in the
time
of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh. 12:43)
Additional evidence of a similar character comes
to us from a
somewhat
different source. The Levitical legislation is much con-
cerned
with the disposition of that part of the sacrifice which fell to
the
priest. The material is divided into Mywdq wdq and wdq.
9 In view of this definite
provision, the regulation “Three times a year shall
all
thy males appear in the presence of Jahveh" (Ex. 23:17; 34:23; Dt. 16:16),
can
not
possibly imply the exclusion of woman. But more on that subject below.
10 The word hnm is a technical term almost
exclusively used of the portion of
sacrifice
that falls to the priest, or of the sacrificial meal that falls to the wor-
shipper
(Ex. 29:26; Lev. 7:33; 8:29; 2 Chr. 31:19; 1 S. 9:23). When in later usage
the
term is widened to cover portions of other meals, the festival character of the
meal
is still apparent (Neh. 8:10, 12; Esth. 2:9; 9:19, 22).
11 Cf. Klostermann, Samuelis, in loc.
12 Cf. Driver, Text of Samuel, p. 207 f.
124 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE.
The
first class may be eaten by the male members of the Aaronic
family
only; the second class may be eaten by the female members
as
well (Lev. 10:12-15; 22:1-16; Nu. 18:8-19).
The question, why in the later
legislation
the women of priestly families were excluded from sharing
in
the most holy things, need not detain us at this point. The fact
that
they were permitted to share in the holy things, which was
strictly
forbidden to outsiders,13 is in line with the fact of their sharing
in
the sacrificial heals in general.
Woman's participation in the festal meals has,
of course, always
been
recognized; but its relation to her position in cult has so far
not
been deemed worthy of notice. The tendency has been to speak
of
these sacrificial meals, either in a general way, as of a ‘family’
feast,
without recognizing specially, or else ignoring, the female ele-
ment,
or else as of 'feasts' without any
particular religious signifi-
cance
(Keil, Deut., 359 f.; Oehler, O. T. Theology, Engl. Transl.,
p.
291; Driver, Deut., p. 143; Benz., Arch., 438 ; Nowack, Arch. ii.
213).
Woman's share in them clearly defined, it is yet necessary to
call
attention to and emphasize the cultic significance of these sacri-
ficial
meals.
Eating as an act of worship in connection with
sacrifice is a familiar
fact
in Semitic as well as in other religions. W. R. Smith has made
it
probable14 that Semitic religion, as it appears in historical times,
is
founded
on the conception of kinship between the god and the wor-
shipper,15
and the leading idea in the animal sacrifices of the Semites
is
that of an act of communion in which the god and his worshipper
unite
by partaking of the flesh and blood of a sacred victim.16 This
idea
finds its fullest expression in the Hebrew ritual. As is known, a
distinction
is made there between sacrifices which are wholly made
over
to the god and sacrifices which the god and the worshipper share.
To
the latter class, with which we are mostly concerned, belonged
the
MyHbz
and Mymlw,
that is, all the ordinary festal sacrifices,
vows,
and free-will offerings, of which the deity received the blood
and
the fat of the intestines, while the rest was left to the worshipper
for
a social feast.
The participation in these sacrificial meals, it
is to be noticed, is
hedged
about with severe restrictions, and invested with the utmost
13 Cf. Lev. 22. This stands out all the
more clearly when the exceptions are
taken
into account; viz., when the priest's daughter had married a stranger, or