Bente Groth and Lynn C. Feinberg
Early Israel a Look at Theories of
Origin, Family Life, Domestic Cult and Village Religion
[German]
Scholars and archaeologists have produced new theories about the
origin and background of the ancient Israelite nation. The Bible¹s version of
history is no longer taken at face value. Then who were the people who in time
conceived of themselves as belonging one people?
Many scholars now believe that at least part of the population
of Ancient Israel had its origin in Canaan and in the border zones to the North
and East.. But most concede that some tribes could have come from Sinai, and may
have experienced an escape from Egypt. Others believe the story about the exodus
to be a result of the Canaanites´own traditions around the Hyksos period
(1650-1525 BCA), possibly mixed with the suppressed memory of the religious
reforms of pharao Akhnaton. Those who believe the Bible´s story of the exodus to
be reliable, place it in the 13th century BCA, possibly under the pharaoh Merneptah. Despite conflicting views, there seems to be a common agreement that
the early Israelites were a mixed people, and that it took a few hundred years
to make the different groups and tribes into a single people with a common
identity.
Archaeology has shown that from 1200 until about 1000 BCA the
number of settlements in the highland areas of Canaan increased almost a
hundredfold. This time period seems to coincide with the time of the Judges.
There are, however, no archaeological remains that could prove that these new
inhabitants were foreign immigrants architecture and artefacts were distinctly
Canaanite in style. An enormous amount of physical labour must have been
required in order to clear the land, build terraces, and dig cisterns to make
living possible. Surveys show that there was famine, disease and warfare,
evidence of this can also be found in the early narratives of the Hebrew Bible.
A look at the possible family structure may make it easier to
understand some of the basic concepts in the Hebrew Bible regarding domestic
life. Life expectancy, especially for women, was short. There was an emphasis on
large families, since child labour was a necessity. The continuous stress on the
importance of replenishing the population through human fertility, and the
ideological sanctions to counteract barrenness in the Hebrew Bible, are
therefore quite understandable. The Hebrew Bible´s laws that are related to
sexual customs could have been intended as a way of ensuring reproduction.
The locus of power was in the home. People lived in large
household units, in compound families, which seem to have been autonomous. Such
compound families are a rare phenomenon, and emphasize the hard living
conditions, since this way of living increased the chance of survival. As men
regularly attended warfare, the women probably had to do much of the work on the
land themselves, in addition to taking care of household work, water- and food
supply. The stress on honouring both your father and your mother in the Ten
Commandments probably reflects this kind of society, where women¹s power was
equally important to men¹s.
The stories of women leaders such as Miriam, Deborah and the
women of Tekoa, who were military and religious leaders, show that women were
valued, and that leadership was indeed acceptable for some women. But what kind
of religious beliefs did women have? The Bible does not give a clear picture of women´s practices.
If as suggested, the ancient Israelites were not a homogenous
group who arrived in Canaan with their very own and very distinct desert
religion, then the belief in one god, YHWH, may not have been as all prevailing
as the Hebrew Bible wants us to believe. Introducing the one and only true god, YHWH, cannot have been an easy matter, as shown by the many narratives that
condemn people who practice what is described as «foreign» cult. Scholars have
begun to ask whether these narratives give a true picture. Egyptian and
Canaanite conceptions, including goddess worship, may have been a part of most
Israelites´ life all along and the progression towards the one and only
transcendent God only brought about as a result of a long and arduous process.
Archaeologists have found a large number of «foreign» symbols
and artifacts in Israelite settelements. Sites from the time of the kings reveal
a large numer of seals in the shape of Egyptian scarabs, dipicting Hebrew names
combined with egyptianized symbols, especially those connected with female
powers. Some seals seem to have belonged to court officals in Jerusalem.
Before Joshia´s cult reform in 622 BCA, there were shrines
dedicated to the cult of YHWH all over the country. But excavations during the
last 40 years have also brought to light cultic sites where varied practices
have taken place. Of special interest is the so called Locus E 207 in Samaria
that revealed 27 female figurines, among them a figure of Isis with the Horus
child. In a Jerusalem cave, just 300 meters form the Temple mount, dated approx.
800 BCA, 16 female figurines were found. Graves also show that the Judaites
practised an extensive burial cult that had no ground in the official religion.
The dead were buried with household utensils and working tools. The heads of the
dead were often placed on a kind of ³pillow² resembling Hathor¹s wig or the
omega sign representing rebirth.
In Kuntillet Arjud in Northern Sinai, an Israelite site from
around 800 BCA, archaeologist Zeev Meshel, in 1968, found two big terracotta
jars (pithoy) with inscriptions that contain blessings made in the name of «YHWH
and his Asherah», accompanied by typical West Semitic iconographic symbols. The
same formula has later been found on the wall of a grave in Khirbet El Qom in
Judah. Many scholars now believe that YHWH for a long period was connected with
the goddess Ashera in some way or other. Ashera is also mentioned 40 times in
the Hebrew bible. Some believe that the word a/Ashera is not referring to the Caaananite mother goddess, but to a cultic symbol of YHWH, in form of a pillar
or a holy place. Some believe that YHWH indeed was perceived as having a sort of
female consort, but that this consort was a kind of translucent emanation of the
god himself, and not an independent goddess.
Small clay figurines formed in the shape of small female figures
with a peaceful expression, almond-shaped eyes, big breasts and a pillar formed
lower body have been found all over Judah. Excavations in the City of David have
shown that a very large percentage of Judahite families had one such figure in
its possession. Many scholars connect these pillar figurines with the goddess Ashera. Perhaps it is not too far fetched to suggest that women found little
consolation in a god that, according to the Bible, promises a painful childbirth
rather than giving assistance and help like the ancient birth goddesses? Would
it be surprising if women continued to seek out fertility- or mother goddesses
during times of pregnancy, birth and sickness, in spite of the one and only male
god in the temple having forbidden such practice? Is it by chance that it is
mostly women who are accused of so called pagan religious practices, like
weaving artefacts for Asherah at the temple (2. Kings. 23:7), baking cakes for
the Queen of Heaven (Jer. 9;16-17) or crying for Tammuz (Ezek. 8:14). The
biblical writers defined all these to be foreign cults.
New discoveries, and new ways of looking at ancient texts and
artefacts, have shown that the final breakthrough of the conception of the one,
wholly transcendent male creator god may have been the result of the traumatic
experience of the exile to Babylon in the 6th century BCA, despite the idea
having been promoted long before by the prophets.
Selected bibliography:
Ackerman, Susan: And the Women Knead Dough; The Worship of
the Queen of Heaven in Sixth Century Judah in; Bach, Alice (Ed.), Women in
the Hebrew Bible, Routledge, New York, London 1999, s. 21-32.
Bird, Phyllis: The Place of Women in Israelite Cultus in;
Bach, Alice (Ed.), Women in the Hebrew Bible, Routledge, New York, London 1999,
s. 3-21.
Hestrin, Ruth:
Understanding Asherah. Exploring Semitic Iconography, in: Biblical
Archaeology Review, No. 37 1991.
Holladay, John, S., Jr.:
Religion in Israel and Judah under the Monarchy: an Explicity Archaeological
Approach, in: Miller P.; Hanson. P.; McBRide, S. (Ed.), Ancient Israelite
Religion Excavate in Honour of Frank Moore Cross, Philadelphia 1987.
Meyers, Carol: The Roots of restriction: Women in early
Israel, in: Biblical Archeologist 41, American School of Oriental Research,
University of Michigan, 1978, s. 91-103.
Olyan, Shaul, M.:
Asherah and the Cult of Yahweh in Israel, Scholars Press, Atlanta 1988.
Shanks, Herschel, Dever, William G., Halpern, Baruch, McCarter Jr., P.Kyle: The Rise of Ancient Israel, Biblical Archeological Society,
Washington D.C. 1992.
Born in Oslo, Norway in 1939, Bente Groth, has lived for many
years in Germany and Switzerland. She has also spent 18 years in Israel. She is
a religious scholar who concentrates on the origins of the religions of the
Middle East, particularly Judaism. She also teaches feminist studies at the
Institute of Cultural Studies in Oslo University. Groth has also written
numerous books and essays on Judaism.
Lynn Feinberg was born and still lives in Oslo, Norway. She
is a single mother and activist in the orthodox Jewish Community, in which her
father previously also played an important part. Feinberg is deeply involved in
Jewish issues as seen from a feminist perspective. Founder of two Rosh Chodesh
groups, she is looking for new ways to experience religion and wants more
spiritual "inclusiveness" . She studied the History of Religions - the subject
of her thesis was the relation of gender to prayer and ritual purity.
|
