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Sex and Slaughter in the Tent of Jael Ii Iii i Sex and Slaughter in the Tent of Jael ii iii Sex and Slaughter in the Tent of Jael A Cultural History of a Biblical Story z COLLEEN M. CONWAY 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Conway, Colleen M., author. Title: Sex and slaughter in the tent of Jael: a cultural history of a biblical story/Colleen M. Conway. Description: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, [2016] |?2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016006303 | ISBN 9780190626877 (hardback: alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Judges, IV-V—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Jael (Biblical figure) | Sisera (Biblical figure) Classification: LCC BS1305.52 .C66 2016 | DDC 222/.3206—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006303 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v To Hendrikus Boers and Carol Newsom With deep appreciation vi vii Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi 1. Introduction: A Cultural History of Jael and Sisera 1 2. Ancient Stories of Jael and Sisera: The Biblical Versions 11 3. Problem Solving in Ancient Retellings of Jael and Sisera 27 4. From Allegory to Morality: Jael and Sisera Go Public 43 5. Painting Jael and Sisera in the Renaissance 68 6. Motives for Murder in Nineteenth- and Early- Twentieth- Century Cultural Performances of Jael and Sisera 90 7. Jael Rides the Second Wave of Feminism 120 8. Gender and Cultural Memory in A. S. Byatt’s “Jael” 146 9. Old Tales in New Forms: Reflections on a Cultural History of a Biblical Story 161 Notes 171 Bibliography 199 Index of Scriptural Citations 209 Index of Subjects 211 viii ix List of Figures 4.1 Erhard Schön’s woodcut series of The Twelve Exemplary Women of the Old Testament. The Illustrated Bartsch. Vol. 13. 120. 50 4.2 Nicolaas Braeu after a drawing by Hendrick Goltzius, c. 1586— in or after c. 1600. The Illustrated Bartsch 115, Part 1. Image courtesy of Rijks Museum: http:// hdl.handle.net/ 10934/ RM0001.collect.87188. 52 4.3 Maarten de Vos: Women of the Old Testament, Philip Galle © Trustees of the British Museum. 54 4.4 Lucas van Leyden, From Small Power of Women, ca. 1517. Rogers Fund, 1922, Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org). Accession Number: 22.10.6. 56 4.5 Jaël en Sisera, printmaker Jan Saenredam after a drawing by Lucas van Leyden. The Illustrated Bartsch, Vol. 4. 107. http:// hdl.handle.net/ 10934/ RM0001.COLLECT.169468. 58 4.6 Jael printmaker Philips Galle After a drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck, c. 1560—c. 1570. Digital Image Courtesy of Rijks Museum. http:// hdl.handle.net/ 10934/ RM0001.COLLECT.322875. 59 4.7 Dirck Volckertz Coornhert, Jael slaying Sisera. Etching, engraving (1522–1590). After a drawing by Maarten Heemskerck. The Power of Women, 1551. Bequeathed by the Rev. R. E. Kerrich 1872. © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK/Art Resource, New York. 60 x x List of Figures 4.8 Jael, from Pierre Le Moyne, Galier des Femmes Fortes. Engraved by Abraham Bosse after Claude Vignon, 1647. From Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989. p. 169. 63 5.1 Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri) (follower of), Italian, 1581– 1641. Jael and Tisseran, 17th century. Brown ink wash and opaque watercolor over graphite. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, 1963.24.210. 74 5.2 Jacopo Amigoni, Jael and Sisera, 1789. 2015 © Photo Archive— Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. 78 5.3 Artemisia Gentileschi, Jael and Sisera © Szépművészeti Múzeum/Museum of Fine Arts. 80 5.4 Rembrandt van Rijn, Jael and Sisera, [WA1950.51] © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. 85 5.5 Jael and Sisera 2, Marcelle Hanselaar 2008, print © The Trustees of the British Museum. 88 xi Acknowledgments Writing a book that engages such wide-ranging areas of research requires a bit of audacity and a lot of assistance. I had many practical and theoretical questions along the way and sought help from many colleagues and friends. Tim Beal has been supportive of my work in big and small ways, from beginning to end, and I thank him for that. Along the way, conversations with other colleagues have been clarifying and motivat- ing. Thanks to Brennan Breed, David Clines, Cheryl Exum, David Gunn, Marcelle Hanselaar, Dara Kiese, as well as others that I’m sure I’m for- getting. Several of my Seton Hall University colleagues stepped in with translation help: Fred Booth, Mike Mascio, and Isaam Aburaya. Seton Hall granted me a sabbatical leave and a course release, thereby allowing me the time to complete the project. And, as any faculty member knows, the ongoing support of department colleagues is no small thing. I am espe- cially grateful to Tony Sciglitano and KC Choi for their friendship and continual support of my scholarship. During the course of my research, several sections of the Society of Biblical Literature gave me a platform to present my work including: Use, Impact and Influence of the Bible; Bible and Visual Culture; Feminist Interpretations; Feminist Hermeneutics; Gender, Sexuality and the Bible. I appreciated these opportunities and was especially helped by the accom- panying conversation and questions from various astute listeners. Thanks also to the good people at Oxford University Press who brought the book to completion. In particular, thanks to Cynthia Read, for seeing potential in the book and to Gina Chung, for answering many questions about manuscript preparation. As always, deep gratitude goes to my spouse, David Carr. His support throughout my latest writing adventure has been unwavering. His will- ingness to read multiple drafts of chapters and to talk about murderous women over glasses of wine is apparently indefatigable. David’s advice was xii xii Acknowledgments always sage, even if I did not always follow it. I should also mention that not only did David track down images and permissions when my own energy was flagging, he even turned over his own laptop for me to use in the final week of the project after two different hard drives failed under my fingertips. True love, indeed. Finally, this book is dedicated to two of my former professors, Hendrik Boers and Carol Newsom. Years ago Hendrik shepherded me through my first book on the relationship biblical women and men, and I’m sorry he’s not still alive to read my most recent one. I think he would have enjoyed reading about Jael and Sisera, although I’m sure he would have wanted me to include the operas. Carol was the first teacher to ask me to read criti- cal theory alongside biblical scholarship. She has continued to teach me through her own work, long after my graduate school days. Most of all, as she does with so many of her former students, Carol has continued to sup- port my scholarship throughout my career in many formal and informal ways. I thank her for that. January 2016 xiii Sex and Slaughter in the Tent of Jael xiv 1 1 Introduction A Cultural History of Jael and Sisera this book Was prompted by a story, a picture, and a phrase. The story is about death. A woman named Jael invites a man named Sisera into her tent. After giving the man a drink, she drives a tent peg through his head. It is an old story found in two different versions in the bibli- cal book of Judges. The picture is a sixteenth- century rendition of this deadly encounter drawn by a Dutch artist, Martin van Heemskerck, and etched by Dirk Coornhert (see Figure 4.7). The phrase, which I first saw printed under this same image, is “Moral Examples/From the Power of Women (1551).” I first encountered this Dutch print and its accompanying phrase while searching for an image of Judges 4– 5 to capture my students’ attention. I wanted to pique their interest in these biblical chapters, as well as in the early history of Israel. That may have happened. What I know happened was that this picture of an impressively chiseled Jael captured me. So also did the caption underneath the muscle- bound woman. Why “The Power of Women” in 1551? To the twenty-first- century feminist ear that sounds quite celebratory, but what did it mean in 1551? And what “moral example” was offered by this scene of a warrior woman engaged in a grisly killing of a sleeping man? And to whom? At this point, it is tempting to speak of how my encounter with this Dutch print sent me on a journey, and to speak of my travels with Jael and Sisera “through the centuries.” Indeed, the journey metaphor has 2 2 Sex and slaughter in the tent of Jael proved useful to more than one scholar who has followed a biblical figure or story into diverse byways through the history of the Western world.1 And it is true that for the past several years, I have sought Jael and Sisera far beyond the book of Judges.
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