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Then God said:
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and
the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures
that crawl on the ground." God created man in his
image; in the divine image he created him; male and
female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile
and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things
that move on the earth." God also said: "See, I give you
every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that
has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the
animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living
creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants
for food." And so it happened. God looked at everything he
had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning
followed - the sixth day. [GEN 1:26-31]
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD
God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various
birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he
would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its
name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the
air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable
partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up
its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the
rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the
man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called
'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his
wife, and the two of them become one body. The man and his wife
were both naked, yet they felt no shame. [GEN 2:18-25]
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that
the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God
really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the
garden?" The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of
the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit
of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall
not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent
said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows
well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and
you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad."
The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the
eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its
fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was
with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were
opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig
leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they
heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the
breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from
the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The LORD God then
called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He
answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid,
because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked,
"Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from
the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man
replied, "The woman whom you put here with me - she gave me
fruit from the tree, so I ate it." The LORD God then asked
the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman
answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."
Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have
done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from
all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you
crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while
you strike at his heel." To the woman he said: "I
will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall
you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your
husband, and he shall be your master." To the man he
said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from
the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, Cursed be
the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its
yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it
bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By
the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until
you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For
you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return." [GEN 3:1-19]
This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God; he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and named them "man."
[GEN 5:1-2]
When God saw how corrupt the earth had become, since all
mortals led depraved lives on earth, he said to Noah: "I have
decided to put an end to all mortals on earth; the earth is full
of lawlessness because of them. So I will destroy them and all
life on earth. I, on my part, am about to bring the flood (waters)
on the earth, to destroy everywhere all creatures in which there
is the breath of life; everything on earth shall perish. But with
you I will establish my covenant; you and your sons, your wife and
your sons' wives, shall go into the ark. Of all other living
creatures you shall bring two into the ark, one male and one
female, that you may keep them alive with you. Of all kinds of
birds, of all kinds of beasts, and of all kinds of creeping
things, two of each shall come into the ark with you, to stay
alive." This Noah did; he carried out all the commands that God
gave him. [GEN 6:12-13,17-20,22]
For forty days and forty nights heavy rain poured down on the
earth. On the precise day named, Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and
Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of Noah's sons had
entered the ark, together with every kind of wild beast, every
kind of domestic animal, every kind of creeping thing of the
earth, and every kind of bird. Pairs of all creatures in which
there was the breath of life entered the ark with Noah. Those that
entered were male and female, and of all species they came, as God
had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in. The flood continued
upon the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they
lifted the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The swelling
waters increased greatly, but the ark floated on the surface of
the waters. [GEN 7:12-18]
There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to
sojourn there, since the famine in the land was severe. When he
was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know
well how beautiful a woman you are. When the Egyptians see you,
they will say, 'She is his wife'; then they will kill me, but let
you live. Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that
it may go well with me on your account and my life may be spared
for your sake." When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw
how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her,
they praised her to Pharaoh. So she was taken into Pharaoh's
palace. On her account it went very well with Abram [Taken
from GEN 12:10-16]
Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he
settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he stayed in Gerar, he said
of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech,
king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a
dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die
because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband."
Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord, would
you slay a man even though he is innocent? He himself told me,
'She is my sister,' and she herself also stated, 'He is my
brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands." God
answered him in the dream: "Yes, I know you did it in good
faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me;
that is why I did not let you touch her. Therefore, return the
man's wife - as a spokesman he will intercede for you - that your
life may be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that
you and all who are yours will certainly die." [GEN 20:1-7]
Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to
Abraham playing with her son Isaac; so she demanded of Abraham:
"Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is
going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!" Abraham
was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael.
But God said to Abraham: "Do not be distressed about the boy
or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter
what she is asking of you; for it is through Isaac that
descendants shall bear your name. As for the son of the slave
woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is
your offspring." [GEN 21:9-13]
Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the LORD had
blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the senior servant of
his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put
your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD,
the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure
a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom
I live, but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred to
get a wife for my son Isaac." The servant asked him:
"What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land?
Should I then take your son back to the land from which you
migrated?" "Never take my son back there for any
reason," Abraham told him. "The LORD, the God of heaven,
who took me from my father's house and the land of my kin, and who
confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give
this land to your descendants' - he will send his messenger before
you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there. If the woman is
unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But
never take my son back there!" So the servant put his hand
under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this
undertaking. The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and
bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the
city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. Near evening, at the time when
women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well
outside the city. Then he prayed: "LORD, God of my master
Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal
graciously with my master Abraham. While I stand here at the
spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw
water, if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may
drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to
your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon
for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have
dealt graciously with my master." [GEN 24:1-14]
Rebekah said to Isaac: "I am disgusted with life because
of the Hittite women. If Jacob also should marry a Hittite woman,
a native of the land, like these women, what good would life be to
me?" Isaac therefore called Jacob, greeted him with a
blessing, and charged him: "You shall not marry a Canaanite
woman! Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother's father
Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the
daughters of your uncle Laban. May God Almighty bless you and make
you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of
peoples. May he extend to you and your descendants the blessing he
gave to Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where
you are staying, which he assigned to Abraham." Then Isaac
sent Jacob on his way; he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of
Bethuel the Aramean, and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob
and Esau. Esau noted that Isaac had blessed Jacob when he sent him
to Paddan-aram to get himself a wife there, charging him, as he
gave him his blessing, not to marry a Canaanite woman, and that
Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.
Esau realized how displeasing the Canaanite women were to his
father Isaac, so he went to Ishmael, and in addition to the wives
he had, married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael
and sister of Nebaioth. [GEN 27:46, 28:1-9]
Then Leah's maidservant Zilpah bore a second son to Jacob; and Leah said, "What good
fortune!" - meaning, "Women call me fortunate." So she named him Asher.
[GEN 30:12-13]
Thus the man grew increasingly prosperous, and he came to own
not only large flocks but also male and female servants and camels
and asses. [GEN 30:43]
"If my ancestral God, the God of Abraham and the Awesome One of
Isaac, had not been on my side, you would now have sent me away
empty-handed. But God saw my plight and the fruits of my toil, and
last night he gave judgment." Laban replied to Jacob:
"The women are mine, their children are mine, and the flocks
are mine; everything you see belongs to me. But since these women
are my daughters, I will now do something for them and for the
children they have borne. Come, then, we will make a pact, you and
I; the LORD shall be a witness between us." Then Jacob took a
stone and set it up as a memorial stone. [GEN 31:42-45]
When Esau looked about, he saw the women and children.
"Who are these with you?" he asked. Jacob answered,
"They are the children whom God has graciously bestowed on
your servant." [GEN 33:5]
Dinah, the daughter whom Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to
visit some of the women of the land. When Shechem, son of Hamor
the Hivite, who was chief of the region, saw her, he seized her
and lay with her by force. Since he was strongly attracted to
Dinah, daughter of Jacob, indeed was really in love with the girl,
he endeavored to win her affection. Shechem also asked his father
Hamor, "Get me this girl for a wife." Meanwhile, Jacob
heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah; but since his
sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he held his peace
until they came home. Now Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out
to discuss the matter with Jacob, just as Jacob's sons were coming
in from the fields. When they heard the news, the men were shocked
and seethed with indignation. What Shechem had done was an outrage
in Israel; such a thing could not be tolerated. [GEN 34:1-7]
They carried off all their wealth, their women, and their
children, and took for loot whatever was in the houses. [GEN
34:29]
Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite to recover the
pledge from the woman; but he could not find her. [GEN 38:20]
The king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was
called Shiphrah and the other Puah, "When you act as midwives
for the Hebrew women and see them giving birth, if it is a boy,
kill him; but if it is a girl, she may live." The midwives,
however, feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt had
ordered them, but let the boys live. So the king summoned the
midwives and asked them, "Why have you acted thus, allowing
the boys to live?" The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The
Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are robust and
give birth before the midwife arrives." Therefore God dealt
well with the midwives. The people, too, increased and grew
strong. And because the midwives feared God, he built up families
for them. [EX 1:15-21]
Now a certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman,
who conceived and bore a son. Seeing that he was a goodly child,
she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer,
she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and
putting the child in it, placed it among the reeds on the river
bank. His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what
would happen to him. Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to
bathe, while her maids walked along the river bank. Noticing the
basket among the reeds, she sent her handmaid to fetch it. On
opening it, she looked, and lo, there was a baby boy, crying! She
was moved with pity for him and said, "It is one of the
Hebrews' children." Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter,
"Shall I go and call one of the Hebrew women to nurse the
child for you?" "Yes, do so," she answered. So the
maiden went and called the child's own mother. Pharaoh's daughter
said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will
repay you." The woman therefore took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who
adopted him as her son and called him Moses; for she said, "I
drew him out of the water." [EX 2:1-10]
"Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to
go unless he is forced. I will stretch out my hand, therefore, and
smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there. After that
he will send you away. I will even make the Egyptians so
well-disposed toward this people that, when you leave, you will
not go empty-handed. Every woman shall ask her neighbor and her
house guest for silver and gold articles and for clothing to put
on your sons and daughters. Thus you will despoil the
Egyptians." [EX
3:19-22]
The prophetess Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her
hand, while all the women went out after her with tambourines,
dancing [Taken from EX 15:20]
The LORD also told him, "I am coming to you in a dense
cloud, so that when the people hear me speaking with you, they may
always have faith in you also." When Moses, then, had
reported to the LORD the response of the people, the LORD added,
"Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and
tomorrow. Make them wash their garments and be ready for the third
day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai
before the eyes of all the people. Set limits for the people all
around the mountain, and tell them: Take care not to go up the
mountain, or even to touch its base. If anyone touches the
mountain, he must be put to death...." Then Moses came
down from the mountain to the people and had them sanctify
themselves and wash their garments. He warned them, "Be ready
for the third day. Have no intercourse with any woman." [Taken
from EX 19:9-15]
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not
covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his
ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him." [EX 20:17]
The LORD, your God, you shall worship; then I will bless your food and drink, and I will remove all sickness from your midst; no woman in your land will be barren or miscarry; and I will give you a full span of life.
[EX 23:25-26]
When the whole Israelite community left Moses' presence,
everyone, as his heart suggested and his spirit prompted, brought
a contribution to the LORD for the construction of the meeting
tent, for all its services, and for the sacred vestments. Both the
men and the women, all as their heart prompted them, brought
brooches, earrings, rings, necklaces and various other gold
articles. Everyone who could presented an offering of gold to the
LORD. Whoever could make a contribution of silver or bronze
offered it to the LORD; and everyone who happened to have acacia
wood for any part of the work, brought it. All the women who were
expert spinners brought hand-spun violet, purple and scarlet yarn
and fine linen thread. All the women who possessed the skill, spun
goat hair. The princes brought onyx stones and other gems for
mounting on the ephod and on the breastpiece; as well as spices,
and oil for the light, anointing oil, and fragrant incense. Every
Israelite man and woman brought to the LORD such voluntary
offerings as they thought best, for the various kinds of work
which the LORD had commanded Moses to have done. [EX 35:20-22,24-29]
"Bezalel, therefore, will set to work with Oholiab and
with all the experts whom the LORD has endowed with skill and
understanding in knowing how to execute all the work for the
service of the sanctuary, just as the LORD has commanded."
Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and all the other experts
whom the LORD had endowed with skill, men whose hearts moved them
to come and take part in the work. They received from Moses all
the contributions which the Israelites had brought for
establishing the service of the sanctuary. Still, morning after
morning the people continued to bring their voluntary offerings to
Moses. Thereupon the experts who were executing the various kinds
of work for the sanctuary, all left the work they were doing, and
told Moses, "The people are bringing much more than is needed
to carry out the work which the LORD has commanded us to do."
Moses, therefore, ordered a proclamation to be made throughout the
camp: "Let neither man nor woman make any more contributions
for the sanctuary." So the people stopped bringing their
offerings; there was already enough at hand, in fact, more than
enough, to complete the work to be done. [EX 36:1-7]
The bronze laver, with its bronze base, was made from the
mirrors of the women who served at the entrance of the meeting
tent. [EX 38:8]
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: When a woman
has conceived and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for
seven days, with the same uncleanness as at her menstrual period.
On the eighth day, the flesh of the boy's foreskin shall be
circumcised, and then she shall spend thirty-three days more in
becoming purified of her blood; she shall not touch anything
sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification
are fulfilled. If she gives birth to a girl, for fourteen days she
shall be as unclean as at her menstruation, after which she shall
spend sixty-six days in becoming purified of her blood." [LEV 12:1-5]
You shall not have intercourse with a woman and also with her
daughter, nor shall you marry and have intercourse with her son's
daughter or her daughter's daughter; this would be shameful,
because they are related to her. [LEV 18:17]
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is
an abomination. [LEV 18:22]
"A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortune-teller
shall [receive the prescribed punishment]..." [Taken from LEV 20:27]
[Note: Under Mosaic law, capital punishment was applied in such
cases.]
While the land has its sabbath, all its produce will be food equally for you yourself and for your male and female slaves, for your hired help and the tenants who live with you, and likewise for your livestock and for the wild animals on your land.
[LEV 25:5-6]
"If, with all this, you still refuse to be chastened by me
and continue to defy me, I, too, will defy you and will smite you
for your sins seven times harder than before. I will make the
sword, the avenger of my covenant, sweep over you. Though you then
huddle together in your walled cities, I will send in pestilence
among you, till you are forced to surrender to the enemy. And as I
cut off your supply of bread, ten women will need but one oven for
baking all the bread they dole out to you in rations - not enough
food to still your hunger." [LEV 26:23-26]
"Male and female alike, you shall compel them to go out of the
camp; they are not to defile the camp in which I dwell." [NUM
5:3]
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD,
he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged."
[NUM 5:5-7]
The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and tell
them: If a man's wife goes astray and becomes unfaithful to him by
having intercourse with another man, though her husband has not
sufficient evidence of the fact, so that her impurity remains
unproved for lack of a witness who might have caught her in the
act; or if a man is overcome by a feeling of jealousy that makes
him suspect his wife, whether she was actually impure or not: he
shall bring his wife to the priest and shall take along as an
offering for her a tenth of an ephah of barley meal. However, he
shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense over it, since it is
a cereal offering of jealousy, a cereal offering for an appeal in
a question of guilt. The priest shall first have the woman
come forward and stand before the LORD. In an earthen vessel he
shall meanwhile put some holy water, as well as some dust that he
has taken from the floor of the Dwelling. Then, as the woman
stands before the LORD, the priest shall uncover her head and
place in her hands the cereal offering of her appeal, that is, the
cereal offering of jealousy, while he himself shall hold the
bitter water that brings a curse. Then he shall adjure the woman,
saying to her, 'If no other man has had intercourse with you, and
you have not gone astray by impurity while under the authority of
your husband, be immune to the curse brought by this bitter water.
But if you have gone astray while under the authority of your
husband and have acted impurely by letting a man other than your
husband have intercourse with you' - so shall the priest adjure
the woman with this oath of imprecation - 'may the LORD make you an
example of malediction and imprecation among your people by
causing your thighs to waste away and your belly to swell! May
this water, then, that brings a curse, enter your body to make
your belly swell and your thighs waste away!' And the woman shall
say, 'Amen, amen!' The priest shall put these imprecations in
writing and shall then wash them off into the bitter water, which
he is to have the woman drink, so that it may go into her with all
its bitter curse. But first he shall take the cereal offering of
jealousy from the woman's hand, and having waved this offering
before the LORD, shall put it near the altar, where he shall take
a handful of the cereal offering as its token offering and burn it
on the altar. Only then shall he have the woman drink the water.
Once she has done so, if she has been impure and unfaithful to her
husband, this bitter water that brings a curse will go into her,
and her belly will swell and her thighs will waste away, so that
she will become an example of imprecation among her people. If,
however, the woman has not defiled herself, but is still pure, she
will be immune and will still be able to bear children. This, then, is the law for jealousy: When a woman goes
astray while under the authority of her husband and acts impurely,
or when such a feeling of jealousy comes over a man that he
becomes suspicious of his wife, he shall have her stand before the
LORD, and the priest shall apply this law in full to her." [NUM 5:11-30]
While Israel was living at Shittim, the people degraded
themselves by having illicit relations with the Moabite women.
[NUM 25:1]
"When a woman, while still a maiden in her father's house,
makes a vow to the LORD, or binds herself to a pledge, if her
father learns of her vow or the pledge to which she bound herself
and says nothing to her about it, then any vow or any pledge she
has made remains valid. But if on the day he learns of it her
father expresses to her his disapproval, then any vow or any
pledge she has made becomes null and void; and the LORD releases
her from it, since her father has expressed to her his
disapproval. If she marries while under a vow or under a
rash pledge to which she bound herself, and her husband learns of
it, yet says nothing to her that day about it, then the vow or
pledge she had made remains valid. But if on the day he learns of
it her husband expresses to her his disapproval, he thereby annuls
the vow she had made or the rash pledge to which she had bound
herself, and the LORD releases her from it. The vow of a widow or
of a divorced woman, or any pledge to which such a woman binds
herself, is valid. If it is in her husband's house that she
makes a vow or binds herself under oath to a pledge, and her
husband learns of it yet says nothing to express to her his
disapproval, then any vow or any pledge she has made remains
valid. But if on the day he learns of them her husband annuls
them, then whatever she has expressly promised in her vow or in
her pledge becomes null and void; since her husband has annulled
them, the LORD releases her from them. Any vow or any pledge
that she makes under oath to mortify herself, her husband can
either allow to remain valid or render null and void. But if her
husband, day after day, says nothing at all to her about them, he
thereby allows as valid any vow or any pledge she has made; he has
allowed them to remain valid, because on the day he learned of
them he said nothing to her about them. If, however, he
countermands them some time after he first learned of them, he is
responsible for her guilt." These are the statutes which the
LORD prescribed through Moses concerning the relationship between
a husband and his wife, as well as between a father and his
daughter while she is still a maiden in her father's house. [NUM 30:4-17]
Besides those slain in battle, they killed the five Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba; and they also executed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword. But the Israelites kept the women of the Midianites with their little ones as captives, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as spoil,
while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments.
[NUM 31:8-10]
When Moses and the priest Eleazar, with all the princes of the community, went outside the camp to meet them, Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the clan and company commanders, who were returning from combat.
"So you have spared all the women!" he exclaimed. "Why, they are the very ones who on Balaam's advice prompted the unfaithfulness of the Israelites toward the LORD in the Peor affair, which began the slaughter of the LORD'S community."
[NUM 31:13-16]
"You saw no form at all on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be strictly on your guard, therefore,
not to degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or a woman,
of any animal on the earth or of any bird that flies in the sky, of anything that crawls on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth."
[DEUT 4:15-18]
'Take care to keep holy the sabbath day as the LORD, your God,
commanded you. Six days you may labor and do all your work; but
the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may
be done then, whether by you, or your son or daughter, or your
male or female slave, or your ox or ass or any of your beasts, or
the alien who lives with you. Your male and female slave should
rest as you do. For remember that you too were once slaves in
Egypt, and the LORD, your God, brought you from there with his
strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the LORD, your God,
has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.' [DEUT 5:12-15]
'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not
desire your neighbor's house or field, nor his male or female
slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything that belongs to him.' [DEUT
5:21]
"As your reward for heeding these decrees and observing
them carefully, the LORD, your God, will keep with you the
merciful covenant which he promised on oath to your fathers. He
will love and bless and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of
your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain and wine and
oil, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks, in the
land which he swore to your fathers he would give you. You will be
blessed above all peoples; no man or woman among you shall be
childless nor shall your livestock be barren." [DEUT 7:12-14]
You shall make merry before the LORD, your God, with your sons
and daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as with the
Levite who belongs to your community but has no share of his own
in your heritage. [DEUT 12:12]
These you must eat before the LORD, your God, in the place he
chooses, along with your son and daughter, your male and female
slave, and the Levite who belongs to your community; and there,
before the LORD, you shall make merry over all your undertakings.
[DEUT 12:18]
"If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to
you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you
shall dismiss him from your service, a free man. When you do so,
you shall not send him away empty-handed, but shall weight him
down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine
press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has
bestowed on you. For remember that you too were once slaves in the
land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you. That is why I
am giving you this command today." [DEUT 15:12-15]
"You shall count off seven weeks, computing them from the
day when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. You shall
then keep the feast of Weeks in honor of the LORD, your God, and
the measure of your own freewill offering shall be in proportion
to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you. In the
place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place of
his name, you shall make merry in his presence together with your
son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who
belongs to your community, as well as the alien, the orphan and
the widow among you. Remember that you too were once slaves in
Egypt, and carry out these statutes carefully." [DEUT 16:9-12]
"You shall celebrate the feast of Booths for seven days,
when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor
and wine press. You shall make merry at your feast, together with
your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and also the
Levite, the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your
community. For seven days you shall celebrate this pilgrim feast
in honor of the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses;
since the LORD, your God, has blessed you in all your crops and in
all your undertakings, you shall do nought but make merry. Three times a year, then, every male among you shall appear
before the LORD, your God, in the place which he chooses: at the
feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks, and at the feast
of Booths. No one shall appear before the LORD empty-handed, but
each of you with as much as he can give, in proportion to the
blessings which the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you." [DEUT 16:13-17]
"If there is found among you, in any one of the
communities which the LORD, your God, gives you, a man or a woman
who does evil in the sight of the LORD, your God, and transgresses
his covenant, by serving other gods, or by worshiping the sun or
the moon or any of the host of the sky, against my command; and
if, on being informed of it, you find by careful investigation
that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has
been committed in Israel: you shall bring the man (or woman) who
has done the evil deed out to your city gates and [apply the
prescribed punishment]." [Taken from DEUT 17:2-5] [Note:
Under Mosaic law, capital punishment was applied in such cases.]
'Is there anyone who has betrothed a woman and not yet taken her
as his wife? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and
another take her to wife.' [DEUT 20:7]
"A woman shall not wear an article proper to a man, nor
shall a man put on a woman's dress; for anyone who does such
things is an abomination to the LORD, your God." [DEUT 22:5]
"If a man, after marrying a woman and having relations
with her, comes to dislike her, and makes monstrous charges
against her and defames her by saying, 'I married this woman, but
when I first had relations with her I did not find her a virgin,'
the father and mother of the girl shall take the evidence of her
virginity and bring it to the elders at the city gate. There the
father of the girl shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to
this man in marriage, but he has come to dislike her, and now
brings monstrous charges against her, saying: I did not find your
daughter a virgin. But here is the evidence of my daughter's
virginity!' And they shall spread out the cloth before the elders
of the city. Then these city elders shall take the man and
chastise him, besides fining him one hundred silver shekels, which
they shall give to the girl's father, because the man defamed a
virgin in Israel. Moreover, she shall remain his wife, and he may
not divorce her as long as he lives. But if this charge is
true, and evidence of the girl's virginity is not found, they
shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father's house and
there her townsmen shall [apply the prescribed punishment],
because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness
in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your
midst." [Taken from DEUT 22:13-21] [Note: Under Mosaic law, capital
punishment was applied in such cases.]
"If a man is discovered having relations with a woman who
is married to another, both the man and the woman with whom he has
had relations shall [receive the prescribed sentence]. Thus shall you purge the evil from your
midst." [DEUT 22:22] [Note: Under Mosaic law, capital punishment
was prescribed in such cases.]
"But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your
God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I
enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and
overwhelm you: ... The LORD will send you back in galleys to
Egypt, to the region I told you that you were never to see again;
and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as
male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer." These
are the words of the covenant which the LORD ordered Moses to make
with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the
covenant which he made with them at Horeb. [DEUT 28:15,68-69]
Let there be, then, no man or woman, no clan or tribe among
you, who would now turn away their hearts from the LORD, our God,
to go and serve these pagan gods! Let there be no root that would
bear such poison and wormwood among you. [DEUT 29:17]
When Moses had written down this law, he entrusted it to the
levitical priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
and to all the elders of Israel, giving them this order: "On
the feast of Booths, at the prescribed time in the year of
relaxation which comes at the end of every seven-year period, when
all Israel goes to appear before the LORD, your God, in the place
which he chooses, you shall read this law aloud in the presence of
all Israel. Assemble the people - men, women and children, as well
as the aliens who live in your communities - that they may hear it
and learn it, and so fear the LORD, your God, and carefully
observe all the words of this law. Their children also, who do not
know it yet, must hear it and learn it, that they too may fear the
LORD, your God, as long as you live on the land which you will
cross the Jordan to occupy." [DEUT 31:9-13]
Then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent out two spies from
Shittim, saying, "Go, reconnoiter the land and Jericho."
When the two reached Jericho, they went into the house of a harlot
named Rahab, where they lodged. But a report was brought to the
king of Jericho that some Israelites had come there that night to
spy out the land. So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order,
"Put out the visitors who have entered your house, for they
have come to spy out the entire land." The woman had taken
the two men and hidden them, so she said, "True, the men you
speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from. At
dark, when it was time for the gate to be shut, they left, and I
do not know where they went. You will have to pursue them
immediately to overtake them." Now, she had led them to the
roof, and hidden them among her stalks of flax spread out
there. [JOSH 2:1-6]
Joshua directed the two men who had spied out the land,
"Go into the harlot's house and bring out the woman with all
her kin, as you swore to her you would do." The spies entered
and brought out Rahab, with her father, mother, brothers, and all
her kin. Her entire family they led forth and placed them outside
the camp of Israel. The city itself they burned with all that was
in it, except the silver, gold, and articles of bronze and iron,
which were placed in the treasury of the house of the LORD.
Because Rahab the harlot had hidden the messengers whom Joshua had
sent to reconnoiter Jericho, Joshua spared her with her family and
all her kin, who continue in the midst of Israel to this day. [JOSH 6:22-25]
Then were read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book of the law. Every single word that Moses had commanded, Joshua read aloud to the entire community, including the women and children, and the strangers who had accompanied Israel.
[JOSH 8:34-35]
Furthermore, Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of
Machir, son of Manasseh, had had no sons, but only daughters,
whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. These
presented themselves to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua, son of Nun,
and to the princes, saying, "The LORD commanded Moses to give
us a heritage among our kinsmen." So in obedience to the
command of the LORD a heritage was given to each of them among
their father's kinsmen. Thus ten shares fell to Manasseh apart
from the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond the Jordan, since these
female descendants of Manasseh received each a portion among his
sons. The land of Gilead fell to the rest of the Manassehites. [JOSH 17:3-6]
But Barak answered her, "If you come with me, I will go;
if you do not come with me, I will not go." "I will
certainly go with you," she replied, "but you shall not
gain the glory in the expedition on which you are setting out, for
the LORD will have Sisera fall into the power of a woman." So
Deborah joined Barak and journeyed with him to Kedesh. Barak
summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh, and ten thousand men
followed him. Deborah also went up with him. [JUDG 4:8-10]
Blessed among women be Jael, blessed among tent-dwelling women.
[JUDG 5:24]
Abimelech proceeded to Thebez, which he invested and captured.
Now there was a strong tower in the middle of the city, and all
the men and women, in a word all the citizens of the city, fled
there, shutting themselves in and going up to the roof of the
tower. Abimelech came up to the tower and fought against it,
advancing to the very entrance of the tower to set it on fire. But
a certain woman cast the upper part of a millstone down on
Abimelech's head, and it fractured his skull. He immediately
called his armor-bearer and said to him, "Draw your sword and
dispatch me, lest they say of me that a woman killed me." So
his attendant ran him through and he died. [JUDG 9:50-54]
There was a chieftain, the Gileadite Jephthah, born to Gilead
of a harlot. Gilead's wife had also borne him sons, and on growing
up the sons of the wife had driven Jephthah away, saying to him,
"You shall inherit nothing in our family, for you are the son
of another woman." So Jephthah had fled from his brothers and
had taken up residence in the land of Tob. A rabble had joined
company with him, and went out with him on raids. [JUDG 11:1-3]
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah, it was his
daughter who came forth, playing the tambourines and dancing. She
was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said, "Alas,
daughter, you have struck me down and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract."
"Father," she replied, "you have made a vow to the
LORD. Do with me as you have vowed, because the LORD has wrought
vengeance for you on your enemies the Ammonites." Then she
said to her father, "Let me have this favor. Spare me for two
months, that I may go off down the mountains to mourn my virginity
with my companions." "Go," he replied, and sent her
away for two months. So she departed with her companions and
mourned her virginity on the mountains. At the end of the two
months she returned to her father, who did to her as he had vowed.
She had not been intimate with man. It then became a custom in
Israel for Israelite women to go yearly to mourn the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite for four days of the year. [JUDG 11:34-40]
There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no
children. An angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to
her, "Though you are barren and have had no children, yet you
will conceive and bear a son. Now, then, be careful to take no
wine or strong drink and to eat nothing unclean. As for the son
you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for
this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb. It is he who
will begin the deliverance of Israel from the power of the
Philistines." [JUDG 13:2-5]
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there one of the Philistine
women. On his return he told his father and mother, "There is
a Philistine woman I saw in Timnah whom I wish you to get as a
wife for me." His father and mother said to him, "Can
you find no wife among your kinsfolk or among all our people, that
you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised
Philistines?" But Samson answered his father, "Get her
for me, for she pleases me." Now his father and mother did
not know that this had been brought about by the LORD, who was
providing an opportunity against the Philistines; for at that time
they had dominion over Israel. [JUDG 14:1-4]
Once Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a harlot and visited
her. Informed that Samson had come there, the men of Gaza
surrounded him with an ambush at the city gate all night long. And
all the night they waited, saying, "Tomorrow morning we will
kill him." Samson rested there until midnight. Then he rose,
seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, and tore
them loose, bar and all. He hoisted them on his shoulders and
carried them to the top of the ridge opposite Hebron. After that
he fell in love with a woman in the Wadi Sorek whose name was
Delilah. The lords of the Philistines came to her and said,
"Beguile him and find out the secret of his great strength,
and how we may overcome and bind him so as to keep him helpless.
We will each give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." [JUDG 16:1-5]
And the elders of the community said, "What shall we do
for wives for the survivors? For every woman in Benjamin has been
put to death." [JUDG 21:16]
But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Wherever you
die I will die, and there be buried. May the LORD do so and so to
me, and more besides, if aught but death separates me from
you!" Naomi then ceased to urge her, for she saw she was
determined to go with her. So they went on together till they
reached Bethlehem. On their arrival there, the whole city was
astir over them, and the women asked, "Can this be
Naomi?" But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi.
Call me Mara, for the Almighty has made it very bitter for me. I
went away with an abundance, but the LORD has brought me back
destitute. Why should you call me Naomi, since the LORD has
pronounced against me and the Almighty has brought evil upon
me?" Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite
daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau
of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley
harvest. [RUTH 1:16-22]
Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter! Do not go to
glean in anyone else's field; you are not to leave here. Stay here
with my women servants. Watch to see which field is to be
harvested, and follow them; I have commanded the young men to do
you no harm. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the
vessels the young men have filled." Casting herself prostrate
upon the ground, she said to him, "Why should I, a foreigner,
be favored with your notice?" Boaz answered her: "I have
had a complete account of what you have done for your
mother-in-law after your husband's death; you have left your
father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come
to a people whom you did not know previously. May the LORD reward
what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the LORD,
the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for
refuge." [RUTH 2:8-12]
Boaz ate and drank to his heart's content. Then when he went
and lay down at the edge of the sheaves, she stole up, uncovered a
place at his feet, and lay down. In the middle of the night,
however, the man gave a start and turned around to find a woman
lying at his feet. He asked, "Who are you?" And she
replied, "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your
cloak over me, for you are my next of kin." He said,
"May the LORD bless you, my daughter! You have been even more
loyal now than before in not going after the young men, whether
poor or rich. So be assured, daughter, I will do for you whatever
you say; all my townspeople know you for a worthy woman." [RUTH 3:7-11]
Boaz took Ruth. When they came together as man and wife, the
LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son. Then the women
said to Naomi, "Blessed is the LORD who has not failed to
provide you today with an heir! May he become famous in Israel! He
will be your comfort and the support of your old age, for his
mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to
you than seven sons!" [RUTH 4:13-15]
Hannah rose after one such meal at Shiloh, and presented
herself before the LORD; at the time, Eli the priest was sitting
on a chair near the doorpost of the LORD'S temple. In her
bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously, and she made
a vow, promising: "O LORD of hosts, if you look with pity on
the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget
me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the
LORD for as long as he lives; neither wine nor liquor shall he
drink, and no razor shall ever touch his head." As she
remained long at prayer before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth,
for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her
voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk, said to her,
"How long will you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up
from your wine!" "It isn't that, my lord," Hannah
answered. "I am an unhappy woman. I have had neither wine nor
liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the LORD. Do not
think your handmaid a ne'er-do-well; my prayer has been prompted
by my deep sorrow and misery." Eli said, "Go in peace,
and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of
him." She replied, "Think kindly of your
maidservant," and left. She went to her quarters, ate and
drank with her husband, and no longer appeared downcast. Early the
next morning they worshiped before the LORD, and then
returned to their home in Ramah. When Elkanah had relations
with his wife Hannah, the LORD remembered her. She conceived, and
at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since
she had asked the LORD for him. [1SAM 1:9-20]
Meanwhile the boy Samuel, girt with a linen apron, was serving
in the presence of the LORD. His mother used to make a little
garment for him, which she would bring him each time she went up
with her husband to offer the customary sacrifice. And Eli would
bless Elkanah and his wife, as they were leaving for home. He
would say, "May the LORD repay you with children from this
woman for the gift she has made to the LORD!" The LORD
favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave birth to three more
sons and two daughters, while young Samuel grew up in the service
of the LORD. [1SAM 2:18-21]
When Eli was very old, he heard repeatedly how his sons were
treating all Israel (and that they were having relations with the
women serving at the entry of the meeting tent). So he said to
them: "Why are you doing such things? No, my sons, you must
not do these things! It is not a good report that I hear the
people of the LORD spreading about you. If a man sins against
another man, one can intercede for him with the LORD; but if a man
sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they
disregarded their father's warning, since the LORD had decided on
their death. Meanwhile, young Samuel was growing in stature and in
worth in the estimation of the LORD and of men. [1SAM 2:22-26]
Afterward Samuel commanded, "Bring Agag, king of Amalek,
to me." Agag came to him struggling and saying, "So it
is bitter death!" And Samuel said, "As your sword
has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless
among women." Then he cut Agag down before the LORD in
Gilgal. [1SAM 15:32-33]
At the approach of Saul and David (on David's return after
slaying the Philistine), women came out from each of the cities of
Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with tambourines,
joyful songs, and sistrums. The women played and
sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his
ten thousands." Saul was very angry and resentful of the
song, for he thought: "They give David ten thousands, but
only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the
kingship." (And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.)
[1SAM 18:6-9]
But Saul was extremely angry with Jonathan and said to him:
"Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own
shame and to the disclosure of your mother's shame, you are the
companion of Jesse's son?" [1SAM 20:30]
David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling
to meet him and asked, "Why are you alone? Is there no one
with you?" David answered the priest: "The king gave me
a commission and told me to let no one know anything about the
business on which he sent me or the commission he gave me. For
that reason I have arranged a meeting place with my men. Now what
have you on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can
find." But the priest replied to David, "I have no
ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained
from women, you may eat some of that." David answered the
priest: "We have indeed been segregated from women as on
previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men
are consecrated - even for a secular journey. All the more so
today, when they are consecrated at arms!" [1SAM 21:2-6]
There was a man of Maon who had property in Carmel; he was very wealthy, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At this time he was present for the shearing of his flock in Carmel. The man was named Nabal, his wife, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but Nabal himself, a Calebite, was harsh and ungenerous in his behavior.
[1SAM 25:2-3]
David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites,
Girzites, and Amalekites-peoples living in the land between Telam,
on the approach to Shur, and the land of Egypt. In attacking the
land David would not leave a man or woman alive, but would carry
off sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and clothes. On his return he
brought these to Achish, who asked, "Whom did you raid this
time?" And David answered, "The Negeb of Judah," or
"The Negeb of Jerahmeel," or "The Negeb of the
Kenites." But David would not leave a man or woman alive to
be brought to Gath, fearing that they would betray him by saying,
"This is what David did." This was his custom as long as
he lived in the country of the Philistines. And Achish trusted
David, thinking, "He must certainly be detested by his people
Israel. I shall have him as my vassal forever." [1SAM 27:8-12]
When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was dismayed and
lost heart completely. He therefore consulted the LORD; but the
LORD gave no answer, whether in dreams or by the Urim or through
prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman
who is a medium, to whom I can go to seek counsel through
her." His servants answered him, "There is a woman in
Endor who is a medium." So he disguised himself, putting on
other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the
woman by night, and Saul said to her, "Tell my fortune
through a ghost; conjure up for me the one I ask you to." But
the woman answered him, "You are surely aware of what Saul
has done, in driving the mediums and fortune-tellers out of the
land. Why, then, are you laying snares for my life, to have me
killed?" But Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD
lives, you shall incur no blame for this." Then the woman
asked him, "Whom do you want me to conjure up?" and he
answered, "Samuel." When the woman saw Samuel, she
shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have
you deceived me? You are Saul!" [1SAM 28:5-12]
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and
cherished, separated neither in life nor in
death, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions! Women of
Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and in
finery, who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.
"How can the warriors have fallen - in the thick of the
battle, slain upon your heights! I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother! most dear have you
been to me; More precious have I held love for you than love for
women." [2SAM 1:23-26]
Enraged at the words of Ishbaal, Abner said, "Am I a dog's
head in Judah? At present I am doing a kindness to the house of
your father Saul, to his brothers and his friends, by keeping you
out of David's clutches; yet this day you charge me with a crime
involving a woman!" [2SAM 3:8]
At the turn of the year, when kings go out on campaign, David
sent out Joab along with his officers and the army of Israel, and
they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. David, however,
remained in Jerusalem. One evening David rose from his siesta and
strolled about on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a
woman bathing, who was very beautiful. David had inquiries made
about the woman and was told, "She is Bathsheba, daughter of
Eliam, and wife of (Joab's armor-bearer) Uriah the Hittite."
Then David sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he
had relations with her... But the woman had conceived, and sent
the information to David, "I am with child." [Taken from 2SAM 11:1-5]
Then Joab sent David a report of all the details of the battle,
instructing the messenger, "When you have finished giving the
king all the details of the battle, the king may become angry and
say to you: 'Why did you go near the city to fight? Did you not
know that they would shoot from the wall above? Who killed
Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal? Was it not a woman who threw a
millstone down on him from the wall above, so that he died in
Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' Then you in turn shall say,
'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.'" [2SAM 11:18-21]
When Joab, son of Zeruiah, observed how the king felt toward
Absalom, he sent to Tekoa and brought from there a gifted woman,
to whom he said: "Pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning
apparel and do not anoint yourself with oil, that you may appear
to be a woman who has been long in mourning for a departed one.
Then go to the king and speak to him in this manner." And
Joab instructed her what to say. So the woman of Tekoa went to the
king and fell prostrate to the ground in homage, saying,
"Help, your majesty!" The king said to her, "What
do you want?" She replied: "Alas, I am a widow; my
husband is dead. Your servant had two sons, who quarreled in the
field. There being no one to part them, one of them struck his
brother and killed him. Then the whole clan confronted your
servant and demanded: 'Give up the one who killed his brother. We
must put him to death for the life of his brother whom he has
slain; we must extinguish the heir also.' Thus they will quench my
remaining hope and leave my husband neither name nor posterity
upon the earth." The king then said to the woman: "Go
home. I will issue a command on your behalf." The woman of
Tekoa answered him, "Let me and my family be to blame, my
lord king; you and your throne are innocent." Then the king
said, "If anyone says a word to you, have him brought to me,
and he shall not touch you again." But she went on to say,
"Please, your majesty, keep in mind the LORD your God, that
the avenger of blood may not go too far in destruction and that my
son may not be done away with." He replied, "As the LORD
lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground." The
woman continued, "Please let your servant say still another
word to my lord the king." He replied, "Speak." So
the woman said: "Why, then, do you think of this same kind of
thing against the people of God? In pronouncing as he has, the
king shows himself guilty, for not bringing back his own banished son."
[2SAM 14:1-13]
Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel Beth-maacah.
Then all the Bichrites assembled and they too entered the city
after him. So David's servants came and besieged him in Abel Beth-maacah.
They threw up a mound against the city, and all the soldiers who
were with Joab began battering the wall to throw it down. Then a
wise woman from the city stood on the outworks and called out,
"Listen, listen! Tell Joab to come here, that I may speak
with him." When Joab had come near her, the woman said,
"Are you Joab?" And he replied, "Yes." She
said to him, "Listen to what your maidservant has to
say." He replied. "I am listening." Then she went
on to say: "There is an ancient saying, 'Let them ask if they
will in Abel or in Dan whether loyalty is finished or ended in
Israel.' You are seeking to beat down a city that is a mother in
Israel. Why do you wish to destroy the inheritance of the
LORD?" Joab answered, "Not at all, not at all! I do not
wish to destroy or to ruin anything. That is not the case at all.
A man named Sheba, son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim
has rebelled against King David. Surrender him alone, and I will
withdraw from the city." [2SAM 20:14-21]
Later, two harlots came to the king and stood before him. One
woman said: "By your leave, my lord, this woman and I live in
the same house, and I gave birth in the house while she was
present. On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave
birth. We were alone in the house; there was no one there but us
two. This woman's son died during the night; she smothered him by
lying on him. Later that night she got up and took my son from my
side, as I, your handmaid, was sleeping. Then she laid him in her
bosom, after she had laid her dead child in my bosom. I rose in
the morning to nurse my child, and I found him dead. But when I
examined him in the morning light, I saw it was not the son whom I
had borne." The other woman answered, "It is not so! The
living one is my son, the dead one is yours." But the first
kept saying, "No, the dead one is your child, the living one
is mine!" Thus they argued before the king. Then the king
said: "One woman claims, 'This, the living one, is my child,
and the dead one is yours.' The other answers, 'No! The dead one
is your child; the living one is mine.'" The king continued,
"Get me a sword." When they brought the sword before
him, he said, "Cut the living child in two, and give half to
one woman and half to the other." The woman whose son it was,
in the anguish she felt for it, said to the king, "Please, my
lord, give her the living child - please do not kill it!" The
other, however, said, "It shall be neither mine nor yours.
Divide it!" The king then answered, "Give the first one
the living child! By no means kill it, for she is the
mother." When all Israel heard the judgment the king had
given, they were in awe of him, because they saw that the king had
in him the wisdom of God for giving judgment. [1KGS 3:16-28]
King Solomon loved many foreign women besides the daughter of
Pharaoh (Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites),
from nations with which the LORD had forbidden the Israelites to
intermarry, "because," he said, "they will turn
your hearts to their gods." But Solomon fell in love with
them. He had seven hundred wives of princely rank and three
hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart. When Solomon
was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his
heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his
father David had been. [1KGS 11:1-4]
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned
to the child's body and he revived. Taking the child, Elijah
brought him down into the house from the upper room and gave him
to his mother. "See!" Elijah said to her, "your son
is alive." "Now indeed I know that you are a man of
God," the woman replied to Elijah. "The word of the LORD
comes truly from your mouth." [1KGS 17:22-24]
A certain woman, the widow of one of the guild prophets,
complained to Elisha: "My husband, your servant, is dead. You
know that he was a God-fearing man, yet now his creditor has come
to take my two children as his slaves." "How can I help
you?" Elisha answered her. "Tell me what you have in the
house." "This servant of yours has nothing in the house
but a jug of oil," she replied. "Go out," he said,
"borrow vessels from all your neighbors - as many empty
vessels as you can. Then come back and close the door on yourself
and your children; pour the oil into all the vessels, and as each
is filled, set it aside." She went and did so, closing the
door on herself and her children. As they handed her the vessels,
she would pour in oil. When all the vessels were filled, she said
to her son, "Bring me another vessel." "There is
none left," he answered her. And then the oil stopped. She
went and told the man of God, who said, "Go and sell the oil
to pay off your creditor; with what remains, you and your children
can live." [2KGS 4:1-7]
One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of
influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he
passed by, he used to stop there to dine. So she said to her
husband, "I know that he is a holy man of God. Since he
visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and
furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that
when he comes to us he can stay there." Sometime later Elisha
arrived and stayed in the room overnight. Then he said to his
servant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite woman." He did so,
and when she stood before Elisha, he told Gehazi, "Say to
her, 'You have lavished all this care on us; what can we do for
you? Can we say a good word for you to the king or to the
commander of the army?'" She replied, "I am living among
my own people." Later Elisha asked, "Can something be
done for her?" "Yes!" Gehazi answered. "She
has no son, and her husband is getting on in years."
"Call her," said Elisha. When she had been called, and
stood at the door, Elisha promised, "This time next year you
will be fondling a baby son." "Please, my lord,"
she protested, "you are a man of God; do not deceive your
servant." Yet the woman conceived, and by the same time the
following year she had given birth to a son, as Elisha had
promised. [2KGS 4:8-17]
Elisha once said to the woman whose son he had restored to
life: "Get ready! Leave with your family and settle wherever
you can, because the LORD has decreed a seven-year famine which is
coming upon the land." The woman got ready and did as the man
of God said, setting out with her family and settling in the land
of the Philistines for seven years. At the end of the seven years,
the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went out
to the king to claim her house and her field. The king was talking
with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God. "Tell me,"
he said, "all the great things that Elisha has done."
Just as he was relating to the king how his master had restored a
dead person to life, the very woman whose son Elisha had restored
to life came to the king to claim her house and field. "My
lord king," Gehazi said, "this is the woman, and this is
that son of hers whom Elisha restored to life." The king
questioned the woman, and she told him her story. With that the
king placed an official at her disposal, saying, "Restore all
her property to her, with all that the field produced from the day
she left the land until now." [2KGS 8:1-6]
After eating and drinking, he said: "Attend to that
accursed woman and bury her; after all, she was a king's
daughter." [Taken from 2KGS 9:34]
He tore down the apartments of the cult prostitutes which were
in the temple of the LORD, and in which the women wove garments
for the Asherah. [2KGS 23:7]
They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their
fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not
seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether
small or great, whether man or woman. They swore to the LORD with
a loud voice, with shouting and with trumpets and horns. All Judah
rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart
and sought him with complete desire, so that he was present to
them. And the LORD gave them rest on every side. [2CHRON 15:12-15]
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