Determining the authorship of the books
of the Bible is a difficult task for several reasons. In the first
place, many of the books do not actually say who wrote them and so
one must rely on clues within the texts themselves. And even where
the authorship is apparently given in the title, that may only
indicate that the person named was the major character in the book.
For example, look at the Books of Moses or the Psalms of David. The
Hebrew word translated “of” can indicate “by,” “concerning,”
or “in the tradition of.” (Longman) In addition, it may even have
the meaning “in honor of.”
The other major issue is in regard to
the sources utilized in the composition of a book. Should we consider
the author to be the one who was a character in a narrative, the
person who first transmitted the story orally, the one who reduced
the events to writing, the person who compiled the various sources
together, or the final editor who may have “updated” the document
in various ways? And those who feel that each book of the Bible has
but one author would do well to see what the biblical texts
themselves actually say regarding the matter. For the purpose of this
short essay, I will just be considering any indications that some
women were involved in one way or another in the composing of the
Bible, starting with the Old Testament.
The Song of Miriam (Exodus 15:20-21)
This is a good example to lead off with
since the text unambiguously ascribes the song to Miriam, the older
sister of Moses and a leader of the Israelites at the time along with
him and Aaron. Branch notes that “Miriam was the first of many
Israelite women who sang and danced as they welcomed warriors home
from battle (see Judg 5:1,28; 11:34; I Sam 18:6-7; Ps 68:25).” Some
of these examples will be discussed below.
As M.J. Evans says, “there is no
doubt that the societies described within the Pentateuch were
patriarchal. Most of the material was written by men and presents a
male perspective.” Nonetheless, “Women were involved in musical
aspects of worship (Ex 15:20-21)...This is the only reference to
Miriam in the book of Exodus, and she is presented in this instance
very briefly as a musician and worship leader.”
The Song of Deborah (Judges 5)
After introducing Deborah in the
previous chapter as a powerful leader in the Israelite community who
functions almost as General Barak's commander-in-chief, it is no
surprise to see her taking the lead in the actual composition of
Judges 5.
Knauth says this poem is “judged by
scholarship to be among the oldest texts in the Bible.” In the same
vein, Sparks feels that Judges 5 is “one of the primary biblical
sources for this early period [Iron Age]” and “widely believed to
be one of the oldest portions of the Hebrew Bible.”
Cundall states: “The Song of Deborah
is one of the finest examples of an ode of triumph preserved in
Israelite literature and it is generally agreed that it is
contemporary with the events it describes...The authorship of the
poem is also a matter of conjecture. The first verse describes it as
the song of Deborah and Barak but in verse 12 both of the principals
are addressed directly. That fact is not decisive, however, since
direct allusions to the author by name occur in other ancient near
Eastern texts...who better than Deborah would be fitted to describe
the event, to pass judgment on the non-participating tribes and to
express praise to the Lord for his intervention.?”
Gray similarly notes that the opening
verse is “ascribing the hymnic elements to Deborah, with the
secondary addition of and Barak the son of Abinoam.”
The female characters in the story itself are highlighted with Barak
taking a back seat to the actions of Jael, who makes the enemy
general Sisera look like a weak coward in comparison to that clever
and decisive woman. And the most notable artistic touch in the whole
poem is the imaginative way the author presents an almost
stream-of-consciousness portrayal of Sisera's mother as she waits
anxiously for her son to return from battle while her
ladies-in-waiting try to console.
These touches are tip-offs that the
actual author of the poem is a woman. But if that is so, why is Barak
seemingly listed as a co-author? D.K. Campbell states, “The song of
victory was written by Deborah (5:7,12) and sung by Deborah and Barak
on the same day God gave Israel victory of his enemies.”
The Book of Ruth
Note the way that the male characters
in this short story seem to disappear soon after they are introduced,
including three husbands and the nearest relative-redeemer. Only Boaz
remains, and he just seems to be around long enough to sire a son. He
too is not even found in the final scene of the women of the town
blessing Ruth and even naming her son, instead of that privilege
being given to Boaz.
Tiemeyer: “Even though one concern of
the book is indeed the need for a male heir to preserve the family
patrimony, the book highlights the courage, independence and devotion
of Ruth and Naomi, and its focal point is their struggle to survive
successfully in a man's world. Throughout the narrative the women
take the initiative, thus shaping their own destiny despite living in
a patriarchal world.” Tiemeyer notes that “van Dijk-Hemmes
suggest the possibility that although the final literary product was
penned by a male author, the underlying oral tradition is 'the
collective creation of women's culture.'...the Ruth and Naomi story
belongs to the repertory of a female storyteller.”
E.E. Campbell takes a somewhat
different approach to the problem of authorship: “In my judgment,
the attempt to find and trace the themes of various stages of the
story's development has proved to be rather a blind alley in Ruth
research...no linguistic datum points unerringly toward a late date
[of composition]...The language of Ruth is language of the monarchic
period, tinged with the archaic.” Hubbard similarly concludes that
“the hunt for literary precursors to Ruth has apparently bagged no
game.”
Finally, Campbell goes out on a limb to
state, “In the complete absence of firm evidence, I risk here
proposing two possible groups [for the story-teller], one the country
Levites and the other the 'wise women' who appear in a couple of old
narratives [such as Judges 5:29-30; II Samuel 14:1-20; 20:14-22].”
The Song of Hannah (I Samuel 2:1-10)
“This poem...is usually reckoned to
be either an already existing hymn which Hannah made her own, or a
later composition put into her mouth by a compiler after her time.”
But other scholars see archaic touches in these verse. And since no
one can be sure of the dating, “why could Hannah not have expressed
her joy in this way, adapting for her purposes the poetic phraseology
of early Israel?” (Baldwin)
In agreement with this opinion, F.
Murphy says, “This poem fits its context in several ways,” which
she then proceeds to outline.
Tsumura: “The song is not a prayer of
supplication but a psalm of thanksgiving. In fact...it is really a
song of praise, or a hymn to the God who reverses human fortunes by
his mighty power. As Labuschagne says,...the song fits excellently in
the mouth of Hannah as a woman involved in an unequal struggle.”
Provisionally we
may date the Song of Hannah to the monarchal period, perhaps as early
as the ninth or late tenth century. “ However, “the little hymn
is fitting enough on Hannah's lips.” (McCarter)
Tsumura says, “But, whatever its
original life situation may be, the Song fits well into the story of
Hannah.”
As to the importance of this song:
Watts says, “The song expresses her
traditional piety and models it for readers who find themselves in
similar situations.” It also finds new life in the NT as Mary
adapts it for her Magnificat (See post on “Did Mary Write the
Gospel of Luke?”).
Scholars such as Enns note how this
hymn fits with David's song of II Samuel 22:1-51 to form “a
theological frame to 1-2 Samuel.”
And A.E. Hill similarly states that
the “double citations to an 'anointed one' at the beginning and end
of the narrative frame the books of Samuel. This prompts Childs to
observe, 'The focus on God's chosen king, his anointed one, David,
appears right at the outset, and reveals the stance from which the
whole narrative is being viewed.”
“Saul has killed his thousands,
David his ten thousands” (I Samuel 18:6-7; 21:11; 29:5)
Tsumura echoes what has been said and
demonstrated above: “Women in Israel celebrated a victory with
singing and dancing and instruments (Exod. 15:20; Judg. 11:34).”
Therefore, it is highly likely that this short poem was composed by
one of them. Baldwin notes, “The jingle was not meant to be
derogatory to Saul in the process of celebrating the outstanding
bravery of David, but, in the light of Samuel's rejection of Saul;,
the words seemed to point to David as his replacement.”
We might question Baldwin's words since
they seem to place David on a higher plane than Saul. However, we
should view it as a simple example of the type of poetic form called
identical parallelism in which the same basic idea is given in each
line. Thus, the overall meaning would be taken by the original
audience as meaning, “Our two leaders have decimated the enemy”
and nothing more. It really doesn't matter since I would be willing
to bet that Saul would have been just as upset on hearing it if they
had sung “David has killed his thousands and Saul his ten
thousands.”
The Book of Esther
In many woman's Bible studies, this
book is paired with Ruth. But although there are prominent female
protagonists in both works, Esther has quite a different tone to it.
The major factor differentiating it from the Book of Ruth is the way
Esther comes off as almost a pawn of the male actors in the story.
The whole tenor of the book has a masculine feel to it. Thus, I do
not know of even any feminist Bible critics who ascribe any of this
book's composition to a woman.
Proverbs 1-9
“A number of mainly feminist scholars
argue in favor of female authorship of Proverbs 1-9 and/or a female
identity of the wisdom teacher in the same text. In view of the
references to the teachings of the mother (Prov 31:20), the advice to
listen to a mother's instruction (e.g. Prov 1:8; 23:22-25), and the
teaching of Lemuel's mother (Prov 31:1), male authorship of the
entire book of Proverbs need not be taken for granted.” (Tiemeyer)
The Words of King Lemuel (Proverbs
31)
One would think that the authorship of
Proverbs was a given since the superscription to the book says that
the proverbs were “of” Solomon. But as mentioned in the opening
section of this essay, the word “of” can have various meanings.
Ross states, “Those who feel Solomon
wrote the whole book frequently assumed that Agur (30:1) and Lemuel
(31:1) were pseudonyms of Solomon.” But if that unlikely scenario
were true, it would mean that 31:1-9 was actually written by
Bathsheba of all people! Not exactly a known fount of wisdom.
This and other factors causes Longman
to say that “the book occasionally mentions others who have
contributed to the making of the final product...Thus, at best,
Solomon was responsible for only part of the book, not the whole
composition.”
It seems much more likely to take the
superscription to Proverbs 31at its face value, as do most
commentators, and ascribe the “oracle” of vv. 1-9 to the mother
of an otherwise unknown king named Lemuel. Farmer notes: “The
opening words, 'What, my son? What, son of my womb?' (v. 2) sound
very much like a mother scolding her child.”
But what about the remainder of
Proverbs 31? Farmer says, “Interpreters argue over whether this
acrostic poem should be considered part of Lemuel's mother's advice
or whether it is an independent (and thereby presumably 'Israelite')
composition.” Waltke, in partial answer to this question points out
that if Proverbs 30:10-31 is not written by Lemuel using the words of
his mother, “it is a unique orphan in Proverbs – that is, it
lacks a superscription ascribing its authorship.” Kitchen similarly
treats all of Proverbs to that source.
The Song of Songs
Of all the books
in the Old Testament, this is the one which has the greatest claim to
have been written wholly or substantially by a woman. After citing
several powerful reasons why Solomon was probably not the author of
the book, Longman concedes that it is not inconceivable, however,
that he wrote one or two of the poems in the book at most. Longman
appends an impressive list of Bible scholars, both male and female,
who assign a woman author for the book.
Some of the
reasons behind this strong opinion include the number of verses
spoken by the women (61 out of 117), not including those spoken by
the woman's chorus called “the daughters of Jerusalem,” a
realistic feminine tone to the book, and the known tradition of women
in the Bible who sing (as demonstrated above).
Trible
notes, “Of the three speakers, the woman is the most prominent. She
opens and closes the entire Song, her voice dominant throughout.”
“There is much positive to be said about Song
of Songs from a feminist
perspective. In no other biblical book are female characters given so
much voice, and in no other book is women's sexuality described in
such a positive light.” (Tiemeyer)
As supporting
evidence, Tiemeyer mentions “poetic descriptions of a man's body,
feminine aspects of the portrayed ways of life...being referred to,
the use of the narrative “I” denoting the female love, the
unusually high ratio for the Bible of female speakers, women
referring to each other as beautiful, lack of inequality of strength
between the male and the female characters, and the fact that the
woman usually takes the initiative.”
I would add, as my
own subjective observation, that the parallel dream sequences in Song
3:1-5 and 5:2-8 concerning the woman missing her lover, wandering
around the streets at night, and being harassed by the watchmen
guards seem to almost demand an woman author.
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