'Manoah Promptly Followed His Wife' (Judges 13.11) On

'MANOAH PROMPTLY FOLLOWED H I S WIFE' (JUDGES 13.11) ON THE PLACE OF THE WOMAN IN BIRTH NARRATIVES

Yairah Amit

1. Introduction The description of the man walking behind his wife in Judg. 13.11 has been the subject of various interpretations. From strict adherence to the immediate sense of the biblical text (peshat), seeking to explain the text in terms of the situation, to a metaphoric understanding, which seeks out the meaning hidden behind the account. According to the first interpretation, Manoah followed his wife because 'she is the one who knows the way'.1 Despite Manoah's entreaty that the man of God make another appearance, the angel was sent to the woman: 'and the angel of God came to the woman again. She was sit- ting in the field and her husband Manoah was not with her' (Judg. 13.9). Since it was the woman and not Manoah who knew where the angel was waiting, it is only natural that Manoah followed in her footsteps. According to the second interpretation, 'followed' should not be understood as merely following her physically but rather in the sense of 'guided by her words and her counsel' (b. Ber. 61 a ) . Rabbi Nachman goes even further in concluding from this description that 'Manoah was a simple man' (b. Ber. 61a). It would seem that these two interpretive perspectives are not mutually exclusive and, moreover, that the description of Manoah physically following his wife is only one of the ways in which this birth narrative emphasizes the Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 1EBSCO. Y Publishing. Kaufmann : eBook ,Collection The Book (EBSCOhost) of Judges - printed (Hebrewon 12/3/2017 ;5:43 Jerusalem PM via EASTERN: Kiryat SeferKENTUCKY, 1962) UNIV. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 AMIT Manoah Promptly Followed his Wife 147 centrality of the woman. Examination of other birth stories reveals additional devices employed to attain the objective of assigning inferior status to the father while emphasizing the centrality of the woman. In concluding this article I shall suggest a reason for this literary construction, which is typical of birth narratives.

2. The Centrality of the Woman in the Story of the Birth of Samson The figures of Manoah and his wife in the story of the birth of Samson are drawn with the systematic minimalization of the image of the father. This technique requires that the image of the father be present throughout the narrative. Accordingly, not only is the father not shunted off to the sidelines of the plot, he plays a central role in it. Still, at different stages of the description, the author uses various devices to diminish his importance and to represent him as inferior to his wife. The narrative begins with an expositional presentation of the heroes: Manoah and his wife Qudg. 13.2). Already at this stage, the narrator takes pains to detract from the image of Manoah by adding the unnecessary indefinite article 'ehad:1 There was a certain man from Zorah, of the stock [nnstfca] of Dan, whose name was Manoah'.2 Thus the author hints to the reader that

1. The phrase There was a certain man...whose name was../ appears again only in the exposition of the story of the birth of Samuel (1 Sam. 1.1). In these two cases the indefinite article inn does not convey either a number or the anonymity of the subject; therefore it seems superfluous. Regarding the special function of this indefinite article in emphasizing the inferior status of the father in these two birth stories, see Y. Amit, ''There Was a Certain Man whose Name Was...": An Editorial Variation and its Purposes' (Hebrew), Beit Miqra 3/102 (1985), pp. 388-99. 2. Y. Zakovitch (The Life of Samson [Judges 13-16]: A Critical- Literary Analysis [Hebrew; J e r u s a l e m : Magnes, Hebrew University, 1982], pp. 23-24) points to three more ways, used by the author, to minimaliz e the image of Manoah: his tribe, Dan, is mentioned as a family and not as a tribe; his genealogy is not mentioned; his name, Manoah, appears as Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. theEBSCO las tPublishing detail i:n eBook the Collectionpresentation (EBSCOhost). I t - iprinteds also on astonishin 12/3/2017 5:43g PM tha viat EASTERNthe name of theKENTUCKY mothe UNIVr is missing. According to the Rabbis her name was AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 148 A Feminist Companion to Judges Manoah, mentioned by name, who is of the family of Dan from the city of Zorah, is only one of the people, a personality of no special importance, colorless and marginal. Further on an unusual situation takes shape: an angel of God reveals himself to the woman twice even though, the second time, the request that he appear again has come from Manoah, and we would therefore expect the angel to appear to the one who had summoned him. As it turns out, in order to meet the waiting angel Manoah is obliged to walk behind his wife, who has hurried to fetch him (v. 10). Furthermore, unlike his wife, who immediately realized that the messenger who had come to her was not an ordinary person: 'he looked like an angel of God, very frightening../ (v. 6), Manoah is depicted as a skeptical person, altogether lacking in sensitivity. The woman asserts that because of the exceptional appearance of the man of God, she did not dare to ask him the regular questions which are usually asked when one meets a stranger, such as where do you come from, or what is your name. Manoah, on the contrary, as though unaware that it was an angel of God standing before him, interrogated the guest closely, with the aim of revealing who he was. It should also be observed that even though the messenger reached Manoah only after the latter directed an appeal to God, so that there was reason to think he was God's messenger, Manoah still did not welcome him as a guest nor even blessed him but, instead, immediately began his interrogation: 'Are you the man who spoke to my wife?... What rules shall be observed for the boy?' (vv. 11-12).] The suggested feast, 'Let us detain you and prepare a kid for you', comes only afterwards at a point in the course of events where it serves the investigation by examining how someone 'suspected' of being an angel would react to the offer of a meal.2 Even though the guest, like other angels,

Zelalponit, see b. B. Bat 91 a and L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1968), VI, pp. 204-206 nn. 111-12. 1. For a detailed discussion of the stages of this investigation see Y. Amit, The Book of Judges: The Art of Editing (Hebrew; Jerusalem: Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. MosaEBSCOd BialikPublishing, 1992) : eBook, ppCollection. 274-81 (EBSCOhost). - printed on 12/3/2017 5:43 PM via EASTERN 2KENTUCKY. Th eUNIV use of the meal motif as a sign of the messenger's divinity is AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 AMIT Manoah Promptly Followed his Wife 149 refused to eat, Manoah did not desist and continued with a question typical of encounters with angels: 'What is your name? We should like to honor you when your words come true'.1 However, it is worth noting that despite the active part played by Manoah in handling the interrogation, he does not steal the limelight from his wife. On the occasion of her first meeting with the angel, the woman had been enjoined to observe certain prohibitions during her pregnancy and she was given instructions about caring for the child who would be born (vv. 4-5). Now, when Manoah asks what they should do with the coming child, the angel merely repeats how the woman should act.2 Finally, Manoah brings what is necessary for the feast, and the guest—like the angel who appeared to Gideon—transforms it into a sacrifice and disappears in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife fall on their faces to the ground. But it would seem that even at the moment they were kneeling down, Manoah still harbored doubts, and it was only when the guest finally disappeared that he was convinced that the guest was indeed an angel of God. When Manoah realizes this, he reacts with the fear which is typical of those who have seen the face of God and says to his wife: 'We shall surely die, for we have seen a divine being' (v. 22).3 And, in contrast to Moses, Gideon, Isaiah and Ezekiel who, following the divine revelation, received the reassurance of God or his messenger, Manoah was obliged to make do with the sensible explanation of his wife: 'Had the LORD meant to take our lives, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and meal offering from us, nor let us see all these things; and He would not have made such an announcement to us' (v. 23). In this story, the task of reassuring the one who has seen God's face is transferred from God to the sensitive woman, who analyzes the situation logically. Manoah has no choice but

to be found in the story of the appointment of Gideon (Judg. 6.18-19) and in Tobias 12. 1. Cf. Gen. 32.30; and see Exod. 4.13-15. 2. Some scholars prefer the version of LXXB and V, which read the third person (tissamer), with the boy as subject. Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 3EBSCO. CfPublishing. Gen .: 32.31eBook Collection; Exod. (EBSCOhost)3.6, 24.11 - ,printed 33.20 on; 12/3/2017Lev. 16.2 5:43; JudgPM via .EASTERN 6.22; 1 Kgs 19.13KENTUCKY; and UNIV see also Isa. 6.5; Tob. 12.16-17. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 150 A Feminist Companion to Judges to accept the sober and reasonable explanation of his wife. Manoah the unreceptive skeptic is thus shaped in opposition to his wise and understanding wife. He is revealed to be of little faith and lacking the intuitive sense his wife possesses. The juxtaposition of Manoah and his wife leads to a recognition of the former's inferiority. It is interesting that like Amram, the father of Moses, Manoah receives compensation in the description of Josephus Flavius. The latter notes that Manoah was 'among the most notable of the Danites and without question the first in his native place'.1 But the attempt to credit Manoah with any posi- tive attributes only accentuates his inferior position in the biblical narrative: in that account Manoah is only a 'certain man', and if he possesses any special quality at all, it is expressed in his obliviousness to what is happening. This overshadowing of the father is unique to the birth narrative, and there is no hint of it in what is described later, when the narrator again mentions the father and mother of Samson (14.2, 3a, 4, 5) or the father alone (3b, 10, and see also 16.31).

3. Centrality of the Woman in Other Birth Narratives The phenomenon of the centrality of the woman is conspicuous in two other biblical narratives.

The Story of the Birth of Moses The story of the birth of Moses opens by introducing the father: 'A man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman' (Exod. 2.1-2a).2 From this point onward, the narrator disregards the existence of the father and focuses exclusively upon the deeds of the mother: and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker

1. Josephus, Ant., 5.8.2-3 and see C.F. Burney, The Book of Judges (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1970 [1903,1918]), p. 340. 2. The word 'certain7 appears in the new JPS translation for this passage. However, I have deleted it here in order to stress the difference Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. betweeEBSCO nPublishing the openin : eBookg Collection of this (EBSCOhost)story an -d printed the storieon 12/3/2017s of 5:43the PM birt via hEASTERN of Samson andKENTUCKY Samuel UNIV. See also n. 1 on p. 147. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 A MIT Manoah Promptly Followed his Wife 151

basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile (vv. 2b-3). The child's mother again appears later in the story, when she is summoned to nurse the child and, finally, after the child has grown up, she brings him to the daughter of Pharaoh. The efforts of post-biblical sources to expand the role of the father and the information about him only emphasize the unexpected design of the biblical narrative which tends to circum- scribe the father's role. If not for this manifest tendency, these sources would not be so concerned with filling the gaps in the account of the character and deeds of the man from the house of Levi. The Septuagint affords the father a more active role by means of the plural conjugation it employs in vv. 2-3: 'and when they saw how beautiful he was, they hid him for three months. When they could hide him no longer...' Josephus expands the place and role of the father by describing him as one who was 'a Hebrew of noble birth' who showed concern for his people, prayed, and was rewarded by a revelation in his dream. Josephus does not stop with the plural language of the Septuagint but also attributes to Amram the decision: 'to commit the salvation and protection of the child to Him../ Moreover, the parallels which exist between the story as told by Josephus Flavius and what is found in the Midrashim which are available to us indicate that his story is faithful to the spirit of the Midrashic tradition which prevailed in his day and even afterwards.1 Therefore we can say that, contrary to later traditions, the biblical narrative of the birth of Moses confines the role of the father to marriage and procreation.2 From the perspective of the reader, the father is an anonymous figure at this stage, an unknown man from the house of Levi. And since, in the course of the story, he will not receive further mention, his status is of

1. See LXX version to vv. 2-3; Philo, Vit. Mos., 1.2.5-4.12; Josephus, Ant., 2.9.3-4. On the importance of Amram in post-biblical l i t e r a t u r e see Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 2.4 ('Moses in Egypt'), pp. 258-65, esp. nn. 27, 28, 30 of vol. V (pp. 394-95). 2. The act of procreation is not mentioned explicitly but it can Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. be EBSCOseen Publishing from th: eBooke sequenc Collectione (EBSCOhost)of 'wen -t printedand married...conceived'on 12/3/2017 5:43 PM via EASTERN. Cf. Jub. 47.1-9KENTUCKY. Se eUNIV also Exod. 2.21-22, 6.20, 23, 25; Hos. 1.3; 2 Chron. 11.18-20, etc. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 152 A Feminist Companion to Judges little significance. The plot of the story emphasizes the role of the mother and the sister. From the special fate of Moses, who was spared what had been decreed for all male Hebrew infants at that time—'Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile' (Exod. 1.22)—we learn that Moses was spared by the will of God, and because of His protection, he was allowed to grow up alongside his mother and in the house of Pharaoh.1 Josephus Flavius relates that 'once again did God plainly show that human intelligence is worth nothing, but that all that he wills to accomplish reaches its perfect end...'2

The Narrative of the Birth of Samuel In the story of the birth of Samuel too, the figure of Elkanah is fashioned in the shadow of the suffering, vow and faith of his wife Hannah. Contrary to Isaac (Gen. 25.21), Elkanah does not appeal to God to bring an end to his wife's barrenness, but appears to have made peace with reality and is amazed and cannot comprehend why his wife is suffering, saying to her: 'Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?' (1 Sam. 1.8).3 After the birth of Samuel, he obeys Hannah in all that is relevant to the destiny of the child. She decides when the vow is to be fulfilled: 'When the child is weaned, I will bring him. For when he has appeared before the LORD, he must remain there for good' (v. 22). I t is she who brings the child to the temple and hands him over to Eli the priest (vv. 24-2S).4 The place of God in all that

1. For analogies to the miraculous rescue of the future leader in the future see M. Greenberg, Understanding Exodus (New York: Behrman House, 1968), p. 30. 2. Josephus, Ant., 2.10.4; cf. Philo, Vit. Mos., 1.4.12, who explains the fact that the sister, Miriam, waited to see the child's future as sign of God's providence: 'All this being brought about in my opinion, by the providence of God watching over the child'. 3. See Y. A m i t , '"Am I Not More Devoted to You than Ten Sons?" (1 Sam. 1.8)—Male and Female Interpretations', forthcoming in A feminist Companion to Samuel, Kings and the Chronicler (ed. A. Brenner; Sheffield: JSOT Press). 4. The connection between the mother and child is prominent in B Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. LXXEBSCO; als Publishingo see th: eeBook interpretatio Collection (EBSCOhost)n of O.K - printed. McCarter on 12/3/2017, 1 5:43Samuel PM via (ABEASTERN; Garden CityKENTUCKY, NY: UNIVDoubleday, 1980), pp. 57-58. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 AMIT Manoah Promptly Followed his Wife 153 has to do with the child is emphasized in this story by various devices: (1) Inclusion of the expression 'and the LORD remembered her' (v. 19) in close proximity to the mention of the pregnancy (v. 20), underscores God's role in the birth. Elkanah is of course the child's progenitor: 'Elkanah knew his wife Hannah' (v. 19); still, Hannah conceived by virtue of the intervention of the divine memory as well.1 (2) The midrashic derivation of Samuel's name: 'I asked the LORD for him' (v. 20) also emphasizes the link between Samuel and God.2 (3) The development of the plot, in which Samuel is first lent to his mother by 'God until his dedication to the temple and is afterwards dedicated to God for all the days of his life, also con- tributes to strengthening the triple link between the mother, the son and God while the father, who here too is only 'a certain man' (1 Sam. 1.1), is shunted off to the sidelines.

On the Inevitable Presence of the Figure of the Father in Biblical Birth Narratives The ancient Israelite narrative, which was not created in a vacuum, was, in the nature of things, confronted by the motifs and themes that prevailed in the literature around it. In the mythological story of the marriage of sons of God to daughters of man and the birth of giants or heroes (Gen. 6.1-4),3 we find a

1. The sequence of the clauses in vv. 19-20 strengthens the connection between the memory and the pregnancy, see Gen. 30.22. It is possi- ble that the words 'at the turn of the year' in v. 20 are out of place in MT; see LXX and S.R. D r i v e r , Notes on the Hebrew Text and Topography of the Books of Samuel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), p. 16. In many translations it is corrected without note, as for example in the new JPS translation: 'Elkanah knew his wife Hannah and the LORD r e m e m b e r e d her. Hannah conceived, and at the turn of the year bore a son../ 2. On the problem of the relationship between the name and its meaning, and whether this story was originally a part of the cycle of Samuel stories, see Y. A m i t , '"He is Lent to the Lord": The Tightening Hint—An Editing Device' (Hebrew), Beit Mikra 4/91 (1982), pp. 238-43. 3. See the critical commentaries to the book of Genesis, which f o l - Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. lowEBSCO th ePublishing early : interpretatioeBook Collection (EBSCOhost)n of th e- printedPseudepigraph on 12/3/2017 5:43a PMan viad EASTERNpart of the midrashiKENTUCKY cUNIV literature. The history of the problem is discussed in detail in AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 154 A Feminist Companion to Judges trace of the struggle against the tradition about the existence of marvellous creatures, whose birth entailed a sort of infusion of divine being and an interaction of the earthly and heavenly worlds. By including this story, which opens the chapter about the Flood, the biblical redactor(s) express(es) opposition to any attempt to represent a human hero as resulting from the merging of the corporeal with a divine being. The biblical tradition, in an attempt to separate itself from mythical culture, announces that this possibility came to an end in the era preceding the flood; and that the only remnant of that age are Noah and his family, who are neither giants nor heroes. It would seem that an echo of this struggle is also to be found in the birth stories which open the accounts of the deeds of a number of biblical heroes. The narra- tors of these tales took it upon themselves not to speak of a god- progenitor; thus they needed to include a father-sire. On the other hand, there was an obvious tendency to reduce the figure of the procreating father, whether by accentuating his absolute dependence upon God above or by emphasizing the role of the woman. Thus for example, when Rachel appeals to Jacob 'Give me children, or I shall die', he becomes angry and replies: 'Can I take the place of God, who has denied you fruit of the womb?' (Gen. 30.1-2). This dialectical juxtaposition of the role of God with the procreative role of the man-father results in the tendency of the birth narratives to minimalize the importance of the father and present him as secondary to the mother. This hierarchical weave of characters, which accentuates the cooperation between the mother and God in bringing about the appearance of the chosen son, is indeed reminiscent of the ancient tradition, but displaces any hint of a possibility that divinity played any corporeal role in the birth of the hero.1 It is

U. Cassuto, The Episode of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man (Gen. 6.1-4 [1942/3])' (Hebrew), in Biblical and Canaanite Literature: Studies on the Bible and the Ancient Orient, I (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1972), pp. 98-107. 1. Y. Zakovitch's view (The Life of Samson [Judges 13-16]: A Critical- Literary Analysis [Hebrew; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1982], pp. 19-84 [14-84]) is different. He finds hints of this tradition in the story of the birth of Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. SamsonEBSCO Publishing. But se: eeBook Amit Collection, 'Th (EBSCOhost)e Life o- fprinted Samson on 12/3/2017' (Hebrew) 5:43 PM via, TarbitzEASTERN 54.2 (1985)KENTUCKY, pp .UNIV 299-305. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098 AMIT Manoah Promptly Followed his Wife 155 hardly surprising that the desire to link the actions of an impor- tant figure with divine intervention led to the increased evoca- tion of such motifs as that of the barren woman, so prevalent in biblical literature, whose barrenness provides the occasion for such intervention.1 Minimalizing the importance of the figure of the father is the biblical response to the possibility of absolute disregard for that figure, which is inherent in myth. The Bible does not deprive the father of the right to procreate. Its way is more subtle than that: it employs stylistic and literary means to push the father to the sidelines, while retaining his natural role as a father-progenitor. The tendency toward demythologization in biblical literature, evident in this technique, assigns procreation to the father and, at the same time, emphasizes that the son is chosen and preferred by God. The refined and subtle ways in which the Bible achieves such demythologization find expression in the birth narratives considered.

4. Two Examples of Non-Biblical Birth Narratives The ancient narrative about the birth of Sargon, King of Akkad2 and the much later story of the birth of Jesus (Mt. 1, and com- pare with Lk. 1.26-38) testify to the existence of an ancient and persistent tradition which tends to belittle the status and importance of the natural father in the birth of the chosen son. In the ancient narrative Sargon asserts that he did not know his father at all. Joseph, the father of Jesus, referred to as the 'husband of Mary from whom Jesus, called the Messiah, was born', was even denied the right to be called the siring father; the narrator of the later account states explicitly that Mary was made preg-

1. For this subject see also S. Thompson, Motif Index of Folk-literature (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger International, 1956); D.1925, T. 548, M. 311; F.R.R.S. Raglan, The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth and Drama (New York: Vintage Books, 1956), p. 173; R.C. T h o m p s o n , Semitic Magic, Its Origins and Development (New York: Ktav, 1971), pp. 77-78. The idea that the guidance of God lies behind unexpected happenings is also expressed by other motifs, for example, the success of the youngest son. Copyright © 1993. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted Copyright © under U.S. or applicable copyright law. 2EBSCO. J.BPublishing. Pritchar : eBookd Collection (ed.), Ancient(EBSCOhost) Near- printed Eastern on 12/3/2017 Texts 5:43 RelatingPM via EASTERN to the Old TestamentKENTUCKY UNIV (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1955), p. 119. AN: 378477 ; Klein, Lillian R., Brenner, Athalya.; Feminist Companion to Judges Account: s8356098