Hearing God’s Voice in the House of Israel Chelsea DeArmond What does it mean to be founders of a nation chosen by God? promised land and was quickly integrated into the transjordan Power? Privilege? Pride? ’s blessing of his first four sons, tribe of .4 Before Israel left the wilderness, Moses’ blessing recorded in Genesis 49:1–12, paints a different picture of God’s indicates that was already dwindling: “May Reuben live ideal. This article will trace themes of alienation and identifica- and not die out, even though his numbers are few” (Deut. 33:6). tion to show that the integrity of the sons of Israel is challenged The alienation of , , and from the and ultimately identified by the voice—or the lack of voice—of a house of Israel grieving concubine (Gen. 35:16–22), a disgraced sister (Gen. 34), and a widowed daughter-in-law (Gen. 38). 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; Who will receive the special blessing? weapons of violence are their swords. 6 May I never come into their council; 1 Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that may I not be joined to their company— I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come. for in their anger they killed men, 2 Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. listen to Israel your father.” (NRSV) 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! The Hebrew word for blessing (berakah) is virtually an anagram I will divide them in Jacob, of the word that means both birthright and firstborn (bekorah). and scatter them in Israel. Although the firstborn son was entitled to a double portion of his father’s inheritance and a special blessing, in the blessing Ja- The blessing of the firstborn should pass to the second born son cob pronounced for his sons, the right of the primogenitor is dis- if the first is unable (or unworthy) to receive it. However, Jacob’s persed according to the degree to which each son demonstrated second and third sons received curses rather than blessings. The covenant love to others. At the point Jacob assembles his sons Hebrew word for “Cursed be” in verse 7 is the same word God together, had already received the double portion.1 The used to curse the serpent in the account of the Fall (Gen. 3:14). recipient of the special blessing had yet to be determined. Jacob’s “Cursed be . . .” also closely parallels Noah’s “Cursed be . . .” in reference to his son Ham in terms of language and con- The alienation of Bilhah and Reuben from the house sequence: the cursed sons are assigned the lowest position rela- of Israel tive to their brothers (Gen. 9:25).5 Indeed, the language suggests 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, that they have been excluded from the house of Israel altogether: my might and the first fruits of my vigor, “May I never come into their council . . . may I not be joined to excelling in rank and excelling in power. their company . . .” This curse recalls their key role in a destruc- 4 Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel tive period in Israel’s development: the rape of their sister Dinah because you went up onto your father’s bed; and the slaughter of the Shechemites. then you defiled it—you went up onto my couch! The rape of Dinah is recorded in Genesis 34:2 :“When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized Reuben’s blessing begins with an acknowledgment of his status her and lay with her by force.” Many commentators draw a paral- as firstborn. He is described as “excelling in rank and excelling in lel between Shechem’s rape of Dinah and Amnon’s rape of Tamar power.” Unfortunately, Reuben’s excellence was attained at others’ (2 Sam. 13). However, compare the responses of these men to the expense. Genesis 35:22 reveals the “other” whom Reuben violated women they violated: After Amnon raped Tamar, he was “seized for his own gain: “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and with a very great loathing for her; indeed, his loathing was even lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it.” greater than the lust he had felt for her. Amnon said to her, ‘Get In sleeping with his father’s concubine, Reuben symbolically out!’” (2 Sam. 13:15, emphasis added). After Shechem raped Di- usurped Jacob’s authority.2 Reuben chose to make his move at a nah, “his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the time when Jacob was most vulnerable: the death of his favored girl, and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father wife, . It is likely that Rachel’s maid, Bilhah, grieved her Hamor, saying, ‘Get me this girl to be my wife’” (Gen. 34:3–4, em- mistress’s death as well. Bilhah is first introduced as Rachel’s maid phasis added). Amnon’s lust became loath- (Gen. 30:3–10) and, even after she was given to Jacob as a sur- ing, while Shechem’s lust became love. rogate mother when Rachel could not conceive, her primary as- sociation was with Rachel.3 After Rachel died, Reuben’s violation CHELSEA DEARMOND is an M.A. student at intensified her alienation. Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. She is editor of Reuben’s violation disqualified him as a candidate for Israel’s Mutuality, the award-winning quarterly magazine blessing and ultimately ensured his own obscurity in the house of Christians for Biblical Equality. of Israel. The settled before crossing over into the

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 21, No. 1 ◆ Winter 2007 • 11 After pursuing Dinah and seizing her illegitimately, Shechem 9 is like a lion’s whelp; pursued her through legitimate means. Shechem’s father, Ham- from the prey, my son, you have gone up. or, made an offer that would unite the two nations in exchange He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, for Dinah as his son’s wife: “Make marriages with us; give your like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?9 daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. You shall 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,10 live with us; and the land shall be open to you; live and trade nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, in it, and get property in it.” He offered to pay whatever price until tribute comes to him; was required. When they required only one condition of him— and the obedience of the people is his. circumcision—Shechem was eager to comply. 11 Binding his foal to the vine Apart from the initial violation of Dinah, what if Israel had ac- and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, cepted Shechem’s offer? Unfortunately, Simeon and Levi did not he washes his garments in wine consider God’s desire to uphold covenant relationships (whether and his robe in the blood of grapes;11 established legitimately or illegitimately as in the covenant be- 12 his eyes are darker than wine, tween the during Joshua’s time and the Gibeonites; cf. and his teeth whiter than milk. Josh. 9). Neither did they consider Dinah’s desire. Instead, Simeon The special blessing reserved for the firstborn son was finally re- and Levi took matters into their own hands and acted out of out- ceived by the fourth—Judah. Judah’s blessing depicts him as a rage, indignation, and pride, just as Shechem had initially acted ruler in relation to his brothers and a conqueror in relation to out of his own destructive compulsions. his enemies. Unlike the curses pronounced on Judah’s three older Chopp describes rape as “the refusal of any sense brothers, Judah’s blessing does not allude to a specific historical of covenantal relationship.”6 In other words, the imposition of event. However, Judah did indeed undergo a formative challenge a covenant sign (sex) outside of the context of the covenant re- to his integrity when he was confronted by the problem of his lationship (marriage) represents a serious violation (rape). In childless daughter-in-law in Genesis 38. this sense, Shechem is also a victim of rape. Thomas Mann sum- Shortly after the time when Jacob’s sons sold their brother Jo- marizes Simeon and Levi’s deceitful response to Shechem as an seph into slavery (according to Judah’s suggestion), Judah moved exploitation of “. . . the sign of the covenant between God and away from his family and settled in the land of the Adullamites. Israel (circumcision) as a device of trickery and bloodshed.”7 The In choosing to move away from his family, settle in a foreign account begins with Shechem’s “seizing” of Dinah and ends with land, and take a Canaanite wife, his relationship to the house of Israel’s seizing of “All [Shechem’s] wealth, all their little ones and Israel was threatened. His actions identify him more with his fa- their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made ther’s brother, . The birth of Judah’s three sons also suggests a their prey” (Gen. 34:29). growing distance between Judah and his wife. Judah named their If God were to speak, what would God’s response be? If Di- firstborn son, Er. His wife named their second-born son, Onan. nah’s voice were heard, what would she say? We can only specu- By the time their third son is born, Judah is not even present for late, for neither one was considered. Perhaps Tamar’s response to his birth. His mother names him Shelah.12 Amnon’s rejection offers the most insight: “. . . Tamar put ashes on If the character of the children is any reflection of the char- her head, and tore the long robe that she was wearing; she put her acter of the parents, it seems that Judah’s relationship with God hand on her head, and went away, crying aloud as she went . . .” was also at stake during this time: “But Er, Judah’s first-born, was (2 Sam. 13:19; emphasis added). wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death” In alienating their sister and her suitor, Simeon and Levi ul- (v. 7). Er died childless, and his wife, Tamar, was his only connec- timately alienated themselves from the blessings of the covenant tion to the land of the living. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, they were born into through their ancestor . Jacob con- the souls of the dead were believed to be confined to a dismal demned their actions, which had made the entire family “odious” place called Sheol, and a man’s heirs ensured the continuation of to the Canaanites. History shows that the curse pronounced on his name among the living. The cultural mandate of levirate mar- these brothers was fulfilled and they were indeed “divided in Ja- riage, in which the man’s reproductive powers extend through his cob” and “scattered in Israel.” Levi’s portion of the promised land brother and his widow, enabled a man to produce an heir to carry was divided among the other tribes due to the priestly function on his name in Israel.13 Judah instructed his second son, Onan, to the tribe later assumed. Though the tribe of Simeon settled in “go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother- the promised land, its territory was quickly incorporated into its in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother” (v. 9). more powerful neighbor, Judah.8 Onan had the option of refusing, but this would result in pub- The identification of Tamar and Judah with the house lic humiliation and disgrace. On the other hand, if Onan fathered of Israel a child for his brother, he would be prevented from receiving his deceased brother’s inheritance. Onan accepted the levirate re- 8 Judah, your brothers shall praise you; sponsibility even though he had no intention of fulfilling the du- your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; ties; instead he practiced coitus interruptus, a primitive form of your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

12 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 21, No. 1 ◆ Winter 2007 birth control. Onan’s offense is serious enough that he also dies. sister, and daughter. These voices tested and ultimately identified Judah had much at stake: if Shelah died, Judah would be left with the character of the sons of Jacob: neither sons nor grandsons. He faced extinction. [T]he covenantal command to love has a radical horizontal When Tamar heard news of the death of Judah’s wife, she de- component. As the impartial God executes justice on behalf cided to make her move. She exchanged her widow’s clothing for of the orphan and the widow, as well as loves and provides for the disguise of a prostitute and met Judah on the roadside as he the stranger . . . so must God’s people (Deut. 10:18–19). This was on his way to sheer sheep.14 Tamar slept with her father-in- is the essence of Israel’s imatatio Dei: to embody and perform law on the condition that he leave his signet and cord and his Yahweh’s zeal for justice toward the most vulnerable.16 staff as surety of payment—all symbols of Judah’s identity. This brief bargaining is the first time the voice of a woman is heard in Notes the testing of the integrity of Israel’s sons. The second time, as we shall see, also concerns symbols of identity. 1. The challenges the individual sons face are best understood in the Three months later, when Judah was told, “Your daughter-in- context of the challenge the family of Jacob faces in the Joseph cycle law Tamar has played the whore; moreover she is pregnant as (Gen. 37:1–50:26), though I will not develop these connections here. 2. Cf. 2 Sam. 16:20–22, where Absalom pitched a tent on the roof a result of whoredom,” Judah’s immediate response was “Bring of the palace and slept with ’s concubines in front of all Israel as a her out and let her be burned” (v. 24). How convenient for Judah direct challenge to his father’s authority as king. When David returned —finally, Tamar’s “whoredom” is the perfect excuse to get rid to the palace, he continued to provide for the women, but he no longer of this woman! However, just as she is about to be burned, she associated with them. They lived the rest of their lives as widows (2 Sam. “sends word to her father-in-law.” She makes two statements and 20:2). sends three symbols along with them: “It was the owner of these 3. E.g., Gen. 30:7: “Rachel’s maid Bilhah [as opposed to “Jacob’s con- cubine Bilhah”] conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.” who made me pregnant. . . . Take note, please, whose they are, the 4. Victor P. Hamilton, The : Chapters 18–50. New signet and the cord and the staff.” International Commentary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Although Judah had the “right” and the “authority” to pro- Eerdmans, 1995), 2:647. nounce Tamar’s execution, he hears her voice and chooses to 5. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, 2:652. identify himself with her in a striking affirmation: “She is more 6. Quoted in Eric Mount, Jr., “The Currency of Covenant,” The An- nual of the Society of Christian Ethics (1996): 295–310. right than I.” William Brown describes covenant in these terms: 7. Thomas W. Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of “Covenant takes place at the crossroads of the heart and culmi- the Pentateuch (Atlanta, Ga.: John Knox Press, 1988), 64. nates in shared identity and new character.”15 Judah’s affirmation 8. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, 2:652. of Tamar signals a turning point in his character from increasing 9. Note the inclusive nature of the NRSV’s translation of the three isolation to faithful covenant keeper. terms for “lion” here as: (1) “lion’s whelp” (2) “lion” and (3) “lioness.” The woman who caused him so many problems suddenly be- 10. There is some confusion about the meaning of the phrase “until tribute comes to him” in the next stanza. A literal translation of the He- came the solution. She gave birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah— brew reads, “until Shiloh comes.” Is “Shiloh” a person, a place, or is this the mark of a special matriarch in the tradition of Rebekah—who phrase a figure of speech that is lost to modern readers? One interpreta- replaced the unrighteous sons the Lord had executed. If the char- tion of the phrase has intriguing Messianic implications: “The scepter acter of the children is any reflection of the character of the par- shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, ents, it seems that Judah’s covenant relationship with the God of until the one to whom it belongs comes, and the obedience of the people is his.” Abraham was finally established through his choice to identify 11. In light of Zech. 9:9, some commentators believe that this stanza himself with Tamar. The voice of the matriarch is heard while the also contains interesting Messianic allusions; cf. Hamilton, The Book of voices of the unrighteous heirs fade into anonymity. Genesis, 2:659–62. Tamar’s son Perez became the ancestor of a great line of kings 12. For insightful analyses of the literary clues that point to Judah’s and, ultimately, Jesus. Tamar received one of God’s promises to alienation from his family in Gen. 38, see Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Abraham: “I will make a great name for you,” for she is recorded Narrative (n.p.: Basic Books, 1981), 6; John Petersen, Reading Women’s Stories: Female Characters in the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis, Minn.: For- as an ancestor in the genealogy of the Messiah (Matt. 1:3). tress, 2004), 122–24; and Frank Anthony Spina, The Faith of the Outsider: Conclusion: God’s voice and woman’s voice Exclusion and Inclusion in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerd- mans, 2005), 38–41. The stories of Bilhah, Dinah, and Tamar represent some of the 13. Susan Niditch, “Genesis,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary, ed. most troubling passages in the Bible. Many scholars have tried to Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Ky.: Westminister/ John Knox Press, 1992), 21. justify or explain away the disturbing elements of adultery, incest, 14. Thomas Mann notes the ironic symbolization of Judah’s es- rape, and violence, while others are more comfortable excluding trangement from his family in his treatment of Tamar: “Judah has joined these texts altogether. Rather than minimizing or avoiding these in the selling of his brother as a slave, and now we find him buying his stories, balancing them with the curses and blessings pronounced daughter-in-law as a prostitute” (The Book of the Torah,67). on the perpetrators and their descendants is a better approach. 15. William P. Brown, “The Character of Covenant in the Old Testa- ment,” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics (1996): 287. Where is the voice of God in these stories? The answer is inti- 16. Brown, “The Character of Covenant,” 287. mately related to the presence or absence of the voices of mother,

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