Women in Hebrew and

Ancient Near Eastern Law

VAYETSE

and he went out

Gen. 28:10-32:2, Hos. 11:7-14:9

Jn. 1:19-51

Israel the center of the world Genesis 28

10 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

Where is the place of the Dream?

*Bet-El or Moriah

Ascending and Descending in the Ancient world

12 He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis 1:1

"In the beginning YHVH created the heavens and the

earth";

Sumerian Idea of the Heavenly Ladder

1. ANE people believed that Mesopotamia was the center and the cradle of humanity and their god was the creator of humans.

2. They believed their area was the gateway to heaven.

3. Their belief in the power of their god to take them to heaven

Psalms 89: 1 <<A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.>> I will sing of the loving

kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 2 I indeed declare, "Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them." 3 "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, 4 'I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations.'" Selah. 5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh; your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh, 7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him? 8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you? Yah, your faithfulness is around you.

Temples, mountains, gardens and rivers

In the ancient near east the cosmic warrior-god, after defeating the powers of chaos, would create the world and build his earthly house, the temple. Just as the abyss, the deepest deep, was the place for Chaos and Death, so God's temple belonged on the high mountain.[54] In ancient Judah the "mountain" (actually little more than a hill) and the location of the Temple was Zion (Jerusalem), the navel and center of the world (Ezekiel 5:5 and 38:12). The Psalms describe God sitting enthroned over the Flood (the cosmic sea) in his heavenly palace (Psalm 29:10), the eternal king who "lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters" (Psalm 104:3) - an image which recalls the Mesopotamian god Ea who places his throne in Apsu, the primeval fresh waters beneath the earth, and the Canaanite god El, described in the Baal cycle as having his palace on a cosmic mountain which is the source of the primordial ocean/water springs.

In ancient Near Eastern cosmology the point where heavenly and earthly realms join is sometimes depicted as an earthly "garden of God", associated with the temple and royal palace.[57] Ezekiel 28:12-19 places the garden in Eden on the mountain of the gods;[58] in Genesis 2-3 Eden's location is more vague, simply far away "in the east",[59] but there is a strong suggestion in both that the garden is attached to a temple or palace.[60] In Jerusalem the earthly Temple was decorated with motifs of the cosmos and the Garden,[61] and, like other ancient near eastern temples, its three sections made up a symbolic microcosm, from the outer court (the visible world of land and sea), through the Holy Place (the visible heaven and the garden of God) to the Holy of Holies (the invisible heaven of God).[62] The imagery of the cosmic mountain and garden of Ezekiel reappears in the New Testament Book of Revelation, applied to the messianic Jerusalem, its walls adorned with precious stones, the "river of the water of life" flowing from under its throne (Revelation 22:1-2).

Reason for Window of the Ark of Noah in the Roof

Genesis 6:16

You shall make a roof in the ship, and to a cubit shall you finish it upward (heaven). You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it

with lower, second, and third levels.

*The ancient world believed in the struggle of the gods of nature and this is where the Greek mythology comes from.

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:4

They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth."

Deuteronomy 4:

31 for Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been [any such thing] as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?

33 Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

Creator of Heaven and Earth

Genesis 14:

22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

23 that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'

Genesis 28

13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.

14 Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 28:17 He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is

none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven.“

Zec 14: 1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

Nederim

Genesis 28:

20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

21 So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Brief Recap of Resources often Cited when Investigating

ANE Cultures

Nuzi - an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of Kirkuk in modern Iraq.

Excavations were carried out at Nuzi by American teams from 1925 to 1933. The

major find was more than 5,000 family and administrative archives spanning six

generations, ca. 1450-1350 BC. They deal with family customs and the social,

economic, religious and legal institutions of the Hurrians. The Nuzi texts have

played a major role in the comparitive study of the Tanak since the early 20th

Century. As land could not be legally sold but only inherited , Nuzi had an

institution of psuedo-adoption, whereby one was adopted by presenting his or her

“father” a gift which was in fact the purchase price. The practice of indenture is

also attested. An individual pledged to serve a family for a period of time after

which he was free; in return, the family of the indentured person gained acces to

various resources. A numbe of institutions existed at Nuzi which are generally

analogous to those in early Israelite Society,including levirate marriage, a system

of bridewealth and dowry, and the formal adoption of daughters in the absence

of male offspring. The Nuzi marriage contracts,adoptions,and herding

agreements provide important comparative material for interpreting the

patriarchal narratives, especially those pertaining to Jacob and Laban. Moreover

the Nuzi texts allowed a father to provide security for his daughters by selling

them into adoption for purposes of marriage. Exodus 21:7-11 somewhat

resembles the Nuzi texts in that it allows for a father to sell his daughter to a

buyer who was then required to see that she was married. The adoption of the

daughter however is never mentioned in the biblical text.

Nuzi - an ancient Mesopotamian city southwest of Kirkuk in modern Iraq.

Excavations were carried out at Nuzi by American teams from 1925 to 1933. The

major find was more than 5,000 family and administrative archives spanning six

generations, ca. 1450-1350 BC. They deal with family customs and the social,

economic, religious and legal institutions of the Hurrians. The Nuzi texts have

played a major role in the comparitive study of the Tanak since the early 20th

Century. As land could not be legally sold but only inherited , Nuzi had an

institution of psuedo-adoption, whereby one was adopted by presenting his or her

“father” a gift which was in fact the purchase price. The practice of indenture is

also attested. An individual pledged to serve a family for a period of time after

which he was free; in return, the family of the indentured person gained acces to

various resources. A numbe of institutions existed at Nuzi which are generally

analogous to those in early Israelite Society,including levirate marriage, a system

of bridewealth and dowry, and the formal adoption of daughters in the absence

of male offspring. The Nuzi marriage contracts,adoptions,and herding

agreements provide important comparative material for interpreting the

patriarchal narratives, especially those pertaining to Jacob and Laban. Moreover

the Nuzi texts allowed a father to provide security for his daughters by selling

them into adoption for purposes of marriage. Exodus 21:7-11 somewhat

resembles the Nuzi texts in that it allows for a father to sell his daughter to a

buyer who was then required to see that she was married. The adoption of the

daughter however is never mentioned in the biblical text.

Hurrian - a Caucasoid people, who spoke a Language Isolate of the Ancient Near East who lived in Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age. The largest and most influential partly Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni, though the Mitanni were an Indo-European speaking people who formed a ruling class over the Hurrians. Knowledge of Hurrian culture relies on archaeological excavations at sites such as Nuzi and Alalakh as well as on cuneiform tablets, primarily from Hattusa (Boghazköy), the capital of the Hittites, whose civilization was greatly influenced by the Hurrians. Tablets from Nuzi, Alalakh, and other cities with Hurrian populations (as shown by personal names) reveal Hurrian cultural features even though they were written in Akkadian. Hurrian cylinder seals were carefully carved and often portrayed mythological motifs. They are a key to the understanding of Hurrian culture and history

Jacob did not go to the same place of the Vow

Genesis 33:

18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.

19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.

Laban did not have Boys up to this point

Genesis 29:6

And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.

Laban apparently had no sons when Jacob first joins his household (Gen. 29). Laban's sons were presumably born between that time and twenty years later (Gen. 31: 41) when they are first mentioned (Gen. 31: 1).

Laban agrees to give a daughter in marriage to Jacob (Gen. 29: 19). Our thesis that Laban simultaneously adopted Jacob is borne out by a remarkable similarity with the Nuzi tablet.

Genesis 29:

14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. 15 ¶ And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be? 16 And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. *READ page 624 of Civilizations of the Ancient Near

East

NEUFELD, Ancient Hebrew Marriage Laws, 56

Neufeld will serve as a basis of discussion. He states: The main characteristic of an errebu marriage was that a father who had no son but only a daughter or daughters selected a husband for his daughter upon the basis that his son-in-laws should enter his house and continue his family as a true son. In effect the father-in-law "adopted“ him. He goes on to point out: Although the man was adopted and became a resident member of his wife's family, he was not immediately released from the obligation to discharge the mohar (bride-payment). The difference between this and the mohar marriage lay in the fact that the discharge was effected by service; and the actual marriage w as not fully established until after the expiration of the period of service equivalent to the mohar.

An old Babylonian text often thought to support the notion of errebu marriage is the Laws of Eshnunna #25, which A. Goetze

translates as follows:

If a man offers to serve in the house of (his) father-in-law and his father-in-law takes him in bondage but (nevertheless) gives his daughter to [another man], then the father of the girl shall refund the bride-money which he received two fold

Adoption of a man as “son” and “son-in-law”

There are a few extant texts where a man was adopted as a son and then required to marry the adopter’s daughter. In most of these documents, a clause was included that states the adopted son-in-law may not take another wife if his first wife bears him no children. With the inclusion of this clause, the adopter intends for his property to pass to his own daughter’s children, not to a strange woman’s children. Most of these types of adoptions are from the tablets from the Nuzi and Arrap¡a areas, some examples are given below.

Adoption tablet of Paitilla son of Naitesub; He gave his son Arimmatka for adoption to Gillipukur son of anatu. Moreover Gillipukur gave his daughter Taduni in marriage to Arimmatka. Thus (declares) Gillipukur: I have adopted Arimmatka. My lands, my buildings, my earnings—he shall have joint ownership of them. With my daughter Arimmatka shall bear the feudal duties of the field

If to Gillipukur should be born a son of his own from his wife he shall be chief heir and shall receive his inheritance share of land. If Gillipukur should not have a son of his own, my daughter shall divide with Arimmatka. If Arimmatka is the chief heir he shall receive a double share. Arimmatka shall receive a share of the buildings and land. If Taduni bears a son and Arimmatka nevertheless takes another wife then he shall take those belongings which are his and go out of the house.

Another example,

In this tablet the adopter after declaring the adoption of a son-in-law and the marriage to his daughter, was aiming to assure the non-alienability of his property after his death. So that all of it would be inherited eventually by his own grandchildren.

1 Ch 2:34-35

34 Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha.

35 And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife; and she bare him Attai.

THE STORY OF JACOB

AND

LABAN IN THE LIGHT OF THE NUZI TABLETS 1

BY CYRUS H. GORDON

Adoption tablet of Naswi son of Arsenni; he adopted Wullu son of Pu¡isenni. As long as Naswi lives Wullu shall give him food and clothing. When Naswi dies, Wullu shall be the ewuru heir. If Naswi should have a son of his own, then said son shall divide equally with Wullu. However the son of Naswi shall receive the gods of Naswi. But if Naswi should not have a son of his own then Wullu himself shall receive the gods of Naswi. Furthermore, he has given his daughter Nu¡uya as a wife to Wullu. If Wullu takes another wife he shall forfeit the fields and houses of Naswi. Whoever violates the agreement shall pay 1 mina of silver and 1 mina of gold.

Genesis 30: 37 Jacob took to himself rods of fresh poplar, almond, plane tree,

peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

38 He set the rods which he had peeled opposite the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

39 The flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled, and spotted.

40 Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the streaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and didn't put them into Laban's flock.

41 It happened, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;

42 but when the flock were feeble, he didn't put them in. So the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.

43 The man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

Epigenetics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In biology, and specifically genetics, epigenetics is the study of heritablechanges in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence – hence the name epi- (Greek: επί- over, above, outer) -genetics. It refers to functionally relevant modifications to the genome that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence. Examples of such modifications areDNA methylation and histone modification, both of which serve to regulate gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence. These changes may remain through cell divisions for the remainder of the cell's life and may also last for multiple generations. However, there is no change in the underlying DNA sequence of the organism; instead, non-genetic factors cause the organism's genes to behave (or "express themselves") differently. There are objections to the use of the term epigenetic to describe chemical modification of histone since it remains unknown whether or not these modifications are heritable.

Figure 1: Genetically identical, epigenetically

different

These three mice are genetically identical. Epigenetic differences, however, result in vastly different phenotypes.

Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners?

Genesis 31:

14 Rachel and Leah answered him, "Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15 Aren't we accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money.

16 For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do."

The Basis of Israelite Marriage at 41-46 (cited in note 6) and Westbrook, Property and the Family at 149-50, 157-58 (cited in note 3). Westbrook points out that there is "repeated evidence" in cuneiform law that a daughter could inherit from her father's estate. Id at 158-64.

Next quote on next slide

According to Genesis 31:14-16, Rachel and Leah evidently expected to receive an inheritance from their "father's house" even though he also had sons. (31:1). Possibly daughters did inherit under Syrian law, at least if they were older than their brothers. It has been suggested that pursuant to practices attested at Nuzi, Laban had adopted Jacob, and that this relationship is in the background of their property transactions and other dealings. The women's complaint that their father, Laban, had been "using up the money given for us" (31:15) could refer to their dowry, which may have been in addition to their expected inheritance.

Genesis 31:19

And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen

the images that were her father's.

Teraphim and Family Gods In some of the archives from the mid-second millennium B.C., legal documents allow us to see how the family gods figured in the inheritance. At Nuzi, several texts indicate that the principal heir received the family gods. In texts from Emar one document suggests that the household gods were not to be given to a man outside the family. Rachel would have no right to this portion of the inheritance, nor would Jacob. Laban is logically distressed over this breach of inheritance practices as well as concerned that the care of the ancestors will be jeopardized by the loss of the images. "The family gods were not only the tie between the family unit and its property but also the very heart of the family."1 We can therefore conclude that Rachel’s interest in the terapîm has more to do with family and inheritance than with the issue of worshiping other gods. The spirits of the ancestors were not substitute deities, though some uses of them were certainly proscribed in ideal Yahwism as it eventually took shape.

PART OF THE ARTICLE FOUND IN THIS WEBSITE: http://www.koinoniablog.net/2009/03/teraphim-and-family-gods.html

Genesis 31:

34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. Laban felt about all the tent, but didn't find them.

35 She said to her father, "Don't let my lord be angry that I can't rise up before you; for the manner of women is on me." He searched, but didn't find the teraphim.

Sidney Smith, "What Were the Teraphim? ", Journal of Theological Studies, XXXIII, 1932, pp. 33-36.

Rachel's theft of the gods (Gen. 31: 19, 30-35), however, is unmistakably paralleled.4 Naiwi stipulates that if he should beget a son, that son and not his adopted son is to take his (Naswi's) gods. The gods apparently constituted the title to the chief inheritance portion and leadership of the family. Because Laban had meanwhile begotten sons, Jacob had no right to Laban's gods and Laban's indignation (Gen. 31: 30) is justified.

Genesis 31:43

Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine: and what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?

Why did Laban made that statement?

THE STORY OF JACOB AND LABAN IN THE LIGHT OF THE NUZI TABLETS 1 CYRUS H. GORDON

The following words of Laban are intelligible only if understood as being addressed to Jacob in the latter's capacity of Laban's adopted son (not son-in-law !): "The daughters are my daughters and the sons are my sons and the flocks are my flocks and whatever thou seest is mine" (Gen. 31: 43). Laban was to exercise patriarchal authority over all his children and grandchildren as long as he lived. Jacob, as Laban's adopted son, and Jacob's wives, children and flocks belonged to Laban. Laban had every right to punish Jacob for running away and stealing members of Laban's household but Laban chose to be lenient for religious (Gen. 31: 24, 29) as well as personal (Gen. 31: 43) reasons.