Customer Reviews

Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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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....

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.

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.

The author has a lot of knowledge of what she is talking about and she did a lot of reasearch into this book.I found it interesting in parts. The best parts of the book was chapters four and five. I found this to be the best part of the book.I found it interesting how she combined the Jewish tanakh and how she used the christain bible and compared the two. She made comments about the Jewish teaching of the talmud and other Jewish books. It was a good read.