Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel [Paperback]

Wilda C. Gafney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

There are untold numbers of female prophets hiding in the masculine grammar and androcentric focus of the Hebrew scriptures. There are women-prophets in the communities around biblical Israel, existing for hundreds of years and even a thousand years before the Israelite and Judean prophets recorded their messages. The rabbinic and Christian fathers analyzed and found more women in the scriptures who function as prophets than the biblical authors identify. All of these female prophets have an intimate connection with the God of Israel; they express that connection by singing, dancing, drumming, speaking with and for God, waging war, performing miracles, exercising statecraft, and giving birth. Each of them is a daughter of Miriam, the mother of all women-prophets.

Women prophets gave powerful voice to Yahwist faith at the formative moments in ancient Israel s development, and were expected in biblical visions of the future. Now they come to the foreground as Wilda Gafney explores prophetic practices in ancient Israel, its near eastern environment, and early and rabbinic Judaism as well.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wilda C. Gafney is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Scripture and Homiletics at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Fortress Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080066258X
• ISBN-13: 978-0800662585
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a biblical scholar, Episcopal priest and seminary professor. I publish as Wilda and Wil Gafney. I have taught Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, Womanist, Feminist and Post-Colonial Biblical Studies for the past seven years at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
My scholarship includes prophecy and prophetic literature, rabbinic (Tanaaitic) literature, Ancient Near Eastern religious (especially prophetic and women's vocational) literature and traditional and contemporary midrash - biblical interpretation.
My personal love for vampire literature intersects with my professional biblical scholarship in my note in the Peoples' Bible on the Lilith who appears in Isaiah 34:14. She is regarded as the mother of vampires in later medieval midrash, but Isaiah had a much older night-stalking creature in mind...
Please feel free to visit my faculty page and blog at: http://ltsp.edu/people/wgafney. (You'll have to copy and paste.)
And here is the address to blog I kept during my months living in Jerusalem, http://jerusalm40daysnights.blogspot.com/.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Feminism and translation, April 13, 2008

By 

Truth teller - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel (Paperback)

The author is certainly readable and follows accepted academic standards for citations, etc. Her thesis is that certain Hebrew plural pronouns and verbs POSSIBLY indicate both females and males in translation. She cites the accepted knowledge about prophetic ministries of both sexes in non-Hebraic cultures of the pre-Israelite ANE. Her introductory commentary on feminist interpetations is quite current and most clear. She promotes a "flexible interpretation" (p.18) of scripture, as well as interpretations about the practicioners of "non-sanctioned inquiry techniques" (p. 24). Much of her thesis rests upon her particular translation abilities and interpetations, and her identification of nuances not evident to Hebraists in the last several centuries. In NIV Ex 38:8 we read "8 They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting." The author translates "women" as "warriors" and is certainly not ambiguous in asserting: "In keeping with the martial range of tz-b-' and the desert-sanctuary context, I translate hatzov'ot asher tzaue'v as 'the women-warriors stationed'" (p.154). On the same page, the author claims: "I found it highly likely that their mirrors, mar'ot, were used a signaling devices in combat, making the women a Bronze Age Signal Corps.." If the author's conclusions from the tenuous premises arouse you, then you will undoubtedly like this book. If they don't, then....

5.0 out of 5 stars Daughters of Miriam, March 29, 2010

By 

K. Jones "Bible Enthusiast" (Claremont, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel (Paperback)

This is an excellent book. It gives a good overview of women prophets in Hebrew scriptures and also in the wider Ancient Near Eastern Environment. The book is well documented and provides great bibliographical resources for those wanting to pursue further research.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, February 15, 2010

By 

Carly "Ketzirah (PeelaPom)" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel (Paperback)

This book is a great read for anyone looking to expand their understanding of women's roles in Ancient Israel. While Rev. Gafney is Christian, I found her to be completely non-dogmatic. I was actually very surprised to learn she is Christian and not Jewish, based on her writing in this book.

As a Kohenet ([...]), this book fit beautifully into the teachings of my religious order and expanded my understanding of certain areas of the text we had studied.

I recommend this book to anyone Jewish or Christian looking to explore women's roles and traditions in the Torah.