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Women of the Bible Women of the Bible Susanna Pastor Ritva Williams May 2016 THE STORY BEHIND THE TEXT The story of Susanna is preserved only in Greek manuscripts. There do not seem to be any Hebrew originals which is why it is not included in the Protestant Old Testament (based on the Hebrew Bible). The story is found in: • the Septuagint (LXX), i.e. the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and related texts that was made in Alexandria, Egypt during the reign of King Ptolemy II (r. 285-246 BCE). It became the common version of the HB/OT available in the ancient world. Its the version quoted by the Apostle Paul and other NT authors. In the LXX, the story of Susanna is tacked on to the end of the book of Daniel. • Theodotion, a Greek speaking Jewish scholar, writing about 150 CE, revised the LXX including an expanded story of Susanna at the beginning of the book of Daniel, as a kind of introduction to the character of Daniel. This is the version we have. The story of Susanna is best read as edifying fiction and/or as a symbolic narrative, i.e. it is meant to teach a lesson about individual behavior and/or community values. The word “susanna” in Hebrew means lily. During the Persian period Judean coins often depicted a lily — the lily of Jerusalem — a symbol for the Judean community as a whole. THE STORY IN THE TEXT • The story is set in Babylon, suggesting that the readers is to imagine these events occurring during or, most likely, after the Babylonian Exile (597-539 BCE). The Jewish community is presented as a semi-autonomous self-governing group that have their own courts. READ VERSES 1-14 • Who are the main characters? What do we learn about them? • The quote in verse 5 is presented as a saying of the Lord. This saying is not found in the OT but check out Jeremiah 23:14-15 and 29:20-23. What did these sayings of the Lord mean in Jeremiah’s context? • What is the situation that is developing around Susanna? !1 READ VERSES 15-27 • How do the elders entrap Susanna? What choice is she given? • What commandment are the elders violating in their pursuit of Susanna? See Exodus 20:17. • Why does it mean death for Susanna if she gives in to the elders? See Leviticus 20:10 & Deuteronomy 22:22. • What does she choose to do? Why is this her best/only option? See Deuteronomy 22:23-24. • How do the elders respond? READ VERSES 28-45 • The elders order Susanna to be unveiled. In the LXX version she is stripped naked in accordance with ritual Jewish law — see Ezekiel 16:37-39 and Hosea 2:3-10. What is the point of this unveiling? • The elders place their hands on Susanna’s head, not in an act of blessing, but in an act of condemnation — see Leviticus 24:14. • Who defends Susanna? Why? READ VERSES 46-64 • How does Daniel expose the elders as liars? • Why do Susanna’s parents and husband rejoice? • What might we learn from this story? • If Susanna is a symbol for the Jewish community in the Diaspora, what does this story suggest are its main problems? !2.
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  • Scenes from the Old Testament Susanna and the Elders 6 March
    Scenes from the Old Testament Susanna and the Elders 6 March 2016 The Dean of St Edmundsbury Daniel 13 The man that looks on glass, on it may stay his eye Or if he pleaseth, through it pass, and then the heavens espy. The stained glass in St Edmundsbury Cathedral is largely Victorian – good quality, of course; but not the old mediaeval images that throughout Suffolk were destroyed by William Dowsing and his iconoclastic crew in the seventeenth century. They rampaged through village and church, smashing that which was idolatrous to their eyes, seeking the purity of clear glass, unadulterated by corrupting images, to mediate the pure gospel, now revealed in plain English. At the Cathedral one window remains of mediaeval origin. You’ll see it as you enter, straight ahead of you, in the South West corner. The bottom half shows the story of Susanna and the elders, or judges, who falsely accuse her of adultery. It’s a story from the thirteenth chapter of Daniel, which you’ll find in the Apocrypha, that selection of books that isn’t found in Protestant versions – literally, the hidden Bible. Nevertheless, it’s a story that is familiar throughout the history of visual art. It gave artists the opportunity to please their patrons, after all, with a biblical character, a very delicate woman and beauteous to behold, suggestively, provocatively portrayed, washing herself, naked. A virtuous, married woman; her virtue and unattainability intensifying her allure, of course. A story for the responsible elders of any age: a reminder to keep their attention pure, even as they are titivated; not to succumb to the temptations of lust, of easy gratification.
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  • The Three Additions to Daniel: a Study
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  • Daughters in the Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament
    5743 Received: Feb 14, 2020 / Accepted: Mar 26, 2020 / Published: Jun 26, 2020 VERBUM VITAE • 37/2 (2020) 297-310 ISSN 1644-856 / e-ISSN 2451-280X / DOI 10.31743/vv.5743 Received: Feb 14, 2020 / Accepted: Mar 26, 2020 / Published: Jun 26, 2020 Daughters in the Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament MICHAŁ WOJCIECHOWSKI Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0002-5658-7512 Abstract: The instances where daughters are mentioned in the Greek books of the Old Testament are not numerous. They are interesting, however, and deserving of exegesis and interpretation. In Tobit and Ben Sira their relationship to fathers are stressed and this aspect is of importance, whether those relationships are good or strained. If the texts are compared with the Hebrew Bible, more light is thrown on the personalities of the daughters, and they are valued more highly. Some influence of the Greek civilization can be presupposed here. A link with the Mediterranean culture of honor and shame can also be traced, especially in Ben Sira. Keywords: Daughter, Women in the ancient world, Father, Bible, Septuagint, Apocrypha, Deuterocanon- ical books, Tobit, Susanna, Ben Sira, Sirach, Anthropology, Family, Family values. This article concerns mainly women and could be seen as inspired by feminist stud- ies, although in this contemporary approach women are only rarely seen as daugh- ters. Moreover, being a daughter implies a relationship in a family, with mother, fa- ther and their other children, and also a place in a society. Therefore, examining this matter is nearer to the social scientific and anthropological approach to the biblical studies.
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    Esther and the Politics of Negotiation: An Investigation of Public and Private Spaces in Relationship to Possibilities for Female Royal Counselors The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Hancock, Rebecca. 2012. Esther and the Politics of Negotiation: An Investigation of Public and Private Spaces in Relationship to Possibilities for Female Royal Counselors. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9560823 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA © 2012 Rebecca Susanne Hancock All Rights Reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Jon D. Levenson Rebecca S. Hancock Esther and the Politics of Negotiation: An Investigation of Public and Private Spaces in Relationship to Possibilities for Female Royal Counselors ABSTRACT The primary question that this dissertation seeks to answer is, “How might we characterize the narrative depiction of Esther’s political involvement in the affairs of the Persian state?” Many scholars have tried to answer this question with regard to how typical or exceptional Esther is vis-à-vis portrayals of other biblical women: Does Esther represent an aberration from gender norms or an embodiment of male patriarchal values? The project undertaken here is to challenge the way in which the entire question has been framed because underlying it is a set of problematic assumptions. The results of the question framed thus can only lead to more interpretive difficulties, either denying the commonalities between Esther and other biblical women, or ignoring the dynamics at play when the very same descriptions are used of men.
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  • The Code of Canon Law and the Scripture
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  • The History of Susanna [In Daniel] Set Apart from the Beginning of Daniel, Because It Is Not in the Hebrew, As Neither the Narration of Bel and the Dragon
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