Wicked days and righteous women

Abstract

While male scribes were probably responsible for collecting Israel’s traditions and composing them in written form, this article argues that the material they gathered owes much to stories passed down by women. This may especially be true of stories in which women were either victimized, on the one hand, or heroic, on the other, as well as stories that include subtle or not-so-subtle humor at the expense of men in the story. Stories of heroic women and incompetent men were more likely to have been preserved among women but were so popularly known that scribes who compiled the national/theological traditions could not ignore them. The writer’s proposal is based primarily on an observational survey of women who played a delivering role in narrative texts rather than the more obvious signs of women’s contributions in Proverbs and the Song of Songs. The courageous actions of women often occurred at pivotal points in Israel’s history, often in counterpoint to the poor or ineffective leadership of men. In those wicked days, righteous women showed the way.