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Nov. 27th, 2004 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easySkipping ahead from Genesis a bit... last night Jon and I went to, of all things, a church function. For me the most interesting part of the evening (perhaps excepting seeing a barista atomising coffee) was a Gospel singer's rather beautiful renditions of Proverbs 31 and Psalm 139.
A Great Moment in Thinking occurred as I listened to the first one. "Why, that's wisdom literature!" I thought. Duh, that's why it's in PROVERBS!!! But the form is more familiar to me from Egypt or Mesopotamia, where it's usually some old Polonius chewing his son's ear about the dangers of the world and the need to be virtuous. My favourite is this Mespotamian one: "Do not marry a prostitute, whose husbands are legion... When you have trouble, she will not support you, When you have a dispute she will be a mocker. There is no reverence or submissiveness within her..."
This Proverb is rather fun in that it's advice to a king from his mum, who you really want to add "You never call!" I'll bet her comments on alcohol have been much discussed. The singer concentrated on the description of a good wife, and used the final two lines as a sort of chorus. This wife is a businesswoman, shrewd and productive. She's not just ordering around a fleet of servants, but is physically active and tough herself. She's not just entitled to praise, but her earnings as well, suggesting that she's got her own money. This is not the portait of woman's role one might expect from the Bible! (One thing I wondered about is what word is translated as "feareth", as in "God-fearing". Is this literally a state of anxiety or terror about punishment? Or is it humility, awe, respect, or even just attention to His commands? Perhaps those are just more palatable to a modern mind.)
An odd connection came to me while listening to the Psalm, in which God knows the singer through and through whether sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. In Buddhism these are the "four dignities"; it's not enough be a sitting Buddha, you have to be a walking Buddha, etc, mindful whatever you happen to be doing. I very seriously doubt there's any actual connection here; perhaps it's just a natural way of saying "everything I do".
The Psalm is extraordinarily personal - this is not some bureaucrat off in a temple, but someone extremely aware of and engaged with their deity. The only thing I can compare it to is Enheduanna's passionate lyrics about Inanna. In fact, what particularly struck me was the use of the words "knitted" and "woven" for development in utero - I couldn't help but wonder if this was a bit of leftover Goddess imagery. (In Mesopotamian imagery, the mother goddesses are potters rather than textile workers. Other versions of the Psalm have "covered" and "wrought", more masculine imagery, so I suspect this is just down to translation.)
A Great Moment in Thinking occurred as I listened to the first one. "Why, that's wisdom literature!" I thought. Duh, that's why it's in PROVERBS!!! But the form is more familiar to me from Egypt or Mesopotamia, where it's usually some old Polonius chewing his son's ear about the dangers of the world and the need to be virtuous. My favourite is this Mespotamian one: "Do not marry a prostitute, whose husbands are legion... When you have trouble, she will not support you, When you have a dispute she will be a mocker. There is no reverence or submissiveness within her..."
This Proverb is rather fun in that it's advice to a king from his mum, who you really want to add "You never call!" I'll bet her comments on alcohol have been much discussed. The singer concentrated on the description of a good wife, and used the final two lines as a sort of chorus. This wife is a businesswoman, shrewd and productive. She's not just ordering around a fleet of servants, but is physically active and tough herself. She's not just entitled to praise, but her earnings as well, suggesting that she's got her own money. This is not the portait of woman's role one might expect from the Bible! (One thing I wondered about is what word is translated as "feareth", as in "God-fearing". Is this literally a state of anxiety or terror about punishment? Or is it humility, awe, respect, or even just attention to His commands? Perhaps those are just more palatable to a modern mind.)
An odd connection came to me while listening to the Psalm, in which God knows the singer through and through whether sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. In Buddhism these are the "four dignities"; it's not enough be a sitting Buddha, you have to be a walking Buddha, etc, mindful whatever you happen to be doing. I very seriously doubt there's any actual connection here; perhaps it's just a natural way of saying "everything I do".
The Psalm is extraordinarily personal - this is not some bureaucrat off in a temple, but someone extremely aware of and engaged with their deity. The only thing I can compare it to is Enheduanna's passionate lyrics about Inanna. In fact, what particularly struck me was the use of the words "knitted" and "woven" for development in utero - I couldn't help but wonder if this was a bit of leftover Goddess imagery. (In Mesopotamian imagery, the mother goddesses are potters rather than textile workers. Other versions of the Psalm have "covered" and "wrought", more masculine imagery, so I suspect this is just down to translation.)
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Date: 2004-11-27 04:22 am (UTC)I do know that there are a number of references to Divine Wisdom semi-personified in that little cluster of Old Testament books -- Psalms, Isaiah and Job all have elements of this as well as Proverbs.
I believe the Jewish interpretative tradition identifies the figure of Wisdom with the Torah, whereas in the Christian tradition she's usually identified with the Logos -- the Word of God which became incarnate as Christ (thus adding a different spin to the whole "gender of God" debate). Saint Sophia -- who has a cathedral in Constantinople / Istanbul -- is not a dead human, like most saints (or indeed an angel, like a tiny minority of them), but this same embodiment of "Holy Wisdom".
It's a fascinating aspect of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and one I really wish I knew more about.
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Date: 2004-11-28 08:16 pm (UTC)There's an interesting thought. The whole area is pretty incestuous when it comes to religion, mythology, etc.
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Date: 2004-11-28 03:56 am (UTC)I'm a practicing pagan ... and strangely, I think that has acted to enhance my own personal experience of Christ.
Then again, my favourite scriptures are those deemed blasphemous by the Roman Catholic Church, so that kind of shoots my theory down in flames.
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Date: 2004-11-29 06:24 pm (UTC)I see this kind of thing recurring throughout the Bible, myself -- women of courage and wisdom, women of resourcefulness, being noted and celebrated. In Numbers 27:1-8, for instance, the daughters of Zelophehad (who had no sons) approached Moses and asked to be granted an inheritance of property and land so that their family name might not die out. And the Lord Himself ruled that they should have the property they asked for, and it became a standing rule for successive generations.
You'd probably also like Sheerah, the daughter of Ephraim mentioned in 1 Chronicles 7:24, "who built Lower and Upper Beth Horon as well as Uzzen Sheerah." Oh, just a piddly three cities. She must have been some woman!
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Date: 2004-11-29 08:39 pm (UTC)Bwa ha ha!
Sinny Yoony are offering a short course on Biblical Women - I'm very tempted to sign up!