Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (review)

Abstract

134 SHOFAR by the patriarchal rules, her "going out" contributed to the brothers' perversely acquiring material rewards. The Dinah story itself is analyzed in Chapter 4 with a view to assessing its use of the circumcision motif and Dinah's misfortune in encountering dangers outside the house. Redactors adjusted the Genesis stories to new ideological cOmponents working toward national permanence and commitment that was lacking in the Hebrews' more nomadic culture. The final chapter attempts to analyze the Dinah affair by the method of comparative, midrashic, and intertextual evaluation. Sheres states that there is no attempt to characterize historically the contemporary problems facing Israel and its neighbors. However, she argues that while the idea of covenant laid out the grounds for a superb philosophy of dialogue and understanding, it also encouraged questionable positions about morality and political behavior impacting on Jews and Western civilization alike. The author calls for a consideration of Dinah in a new light, as an active political figure who tried to steer the Hebrews away from brutal confrontations . Dinah's "going out" must be understood as wise and desirable, serving as a model for many Israeli women who struggle to form a coherent political, pacifistic group with an agenda of Palestinian accommodation. For Ita Sheres, Dinah becomes the prototype of other Hebrew women who have followed her footsteps and tried to mature independently of males and more inclusive of other people (p. 116). "Dinah's 'going out' fits the taxonomy of inclusion and mutuality, and in that perspective her ideal, unredacted story should be the parable for our time" (p. 125). In the Appendix the textual clues for retrieving the unredacted version of the Dinah story are presented. Valuable scholarly notes along with indices of texts and names provide valuable resources for an inquiry into issues involVed in the study of the Dinah story. This book will be valuable to students, professors, and informed readers who are interested in possible Biblical underpinnings for contemporary history. Betty Jane Lillie Athenaeum of Ohio Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel, edited by Peggy L. Day. Minneapolis : Fortress Press, 1989. 209 pp. $12.95. The authors of the twelve essays in this book share a belief that past studies of women characters in the Bible have evaluated biblical literature in light of present-day values on women's experience. They assert that such research can result in ahistorical, ethnocentric perspectives on gender; the Volume 10. No.1 Fall1991 135 danger of such work is that Western images of women and men are transposed to a text from a non-Western society, thereby posing a barrier to understanding the biblical experience. While such an approach is valid for theological interpretation, explains editor Peggy L. Day in her introductory essay , it can obscure other possible readings that areavailable through the application of alternative methodologies from the social sciences, literary criticism , etc. This volume addresses gender-related topics in the Hebrew Bible, without bringing contemporary feminist theological concerns to the text. Jo Ann Hackett, in "Rehabilitating Hagar: Fragments of an Epic Pattern ," compares the conflict between Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21 with a similar pattern in stories from Canaan and Mesopotamia and argues that the biblical author intends for the reader to sympathize with Hagar, a foreign slave woman, the underdog in the narrative. In "The Woman in Ancient Examples of the Potiphar's Wife Motif, K2111," Susan Tower Hollis also discerns a pattern connecting the biblical text to ancient Near Eastern counterparts. She discovers that the so-called evil woman in these narratives brings about a positive transformation in the male hero of the story. Susan Niditch's analysis of "Eroticism and Death in the Tale of Jael" uncovers that Israel is identified with Jael, the more vulnerable character, and that the text emphasizes the victory of the marginal over the powerful. Peggy L. Day, in "From the Child is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah's Daughter," argues for a woman's life-cycle ritual behind Judges 11:29-40. Phyllis Bird, "'To Play the Harlot': An Inquiry into an Old Testament Metaphor," studies the words of Hosea and contends that in ancient Israel the cultic role...