The Women of Asherah: Weaving Wickedness in 2 Kings 23:7
In this essay, I examine a long-standing crux interpretum in 2 Kgs 23:7 that reads, “And he tore down the homes of the male prostitutes, which were in the temple of Yhwh; where the women were weaving there בּתִָּים for the Asherah.” Though a number of proposals have been offered for understanding th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Catholic Biblical Association of America
[2021]
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| In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2021, Volume: 83, Issue: 2, Pages: 208-219 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Könige 2. 23,7
/ Temple
/ Prostitution
/ Spiders
/ Fraud
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament |
| Further subjects: | B
Entrapment
B Deception B Sexuality B double entendre B spider |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this essay, I examine a long-standing crux interpretum in 2 Kgs 23:7 that reads, “And he tore down the homes of the male prostitutes, which were in the temple of Yhwh; where the women were weaving there בּתִָּים for the Asherah.” Though a number of proposals have been offered for understanding the crux, most have opted for an ad sensum interpretation that renders בָּתִּים as a curtain, tent, vestment, or other woven object that one might find in a sacred precinct. Nevertheless, I submit that, while the passage indeed describes the role that women played in producing textiles for the Asherah cult, the pervasive association of weaving with spiders also evokes a widespread androcentric stereotype that associates weaving women with female sexuality, deception, and entrapment. In turn, this enables us to understand בּתִָּים as idiomatic for “webs.” |
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| ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2021.0045 |