Wisdom as a Woman of Substance: A Socioeconomic Reading of Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31

180 Pages·2001·8.58 MB·English

by  Christine Roy Yoder

Christine Roy Yoder
Wisdom as a Woman of Substance
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Herausgegeben von
Otto Kaiser
Band 304
W
DE
G_
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
2001
Christine Roy Yoder
Wisdom as a Woman of Substance
A Socioeconomic Reading of
Proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31
w
DE
G
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
2001
© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI
to ensure permanence and durability.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Yoder, Christine Roy:
Wisdom as a woman of substance : a socioeconomic reading of
proverbs 1-9 and 31:10-31 / Christine Roy Yoder. - Berlin ; New
York : de Gruyter, 2001
(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ;
Bd. 304)
Zugl.: Princeton, NJ, Univ., Diss., 2000
ISBN 3-11-017007-8
© Copyright 2001 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Berlin.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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sion in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Germany
Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin
Printing and Binding: Hubert & Co., Göttingen
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Otto Kaiser, editor of BZAW, for his
acceptance of this manuscript for the series and to Mr. Klaus Otterburig
of Walter de Gruyter and Co. for his supervision of its publication.
This monograph is a slightly revised version of a doctoral
dissertation by the same title that I submitted to the faculty of Princeton
Theological Seminary in the spring of 2000. I am profoundly indebted
to my thesis advisor, mentor, and teacher, C. L. Seow. His love of
wisdom inspired my own and his gifts of time, knowledge, and
creativity have been truly extravagant. I wish to thank the other
members of the dissertation committee, Katharine Doob Sakenfeld and
Dennis T. Olson, for their questions and helpful suggestions. F. W.
Dobbs-Allsopp also offered invaluable critique of the first chapter.
I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and students at
Columbia Theological Seminary and for the opportunities I have had to
present portions of this work for their review. I am particularly
indebted to Kathleen M. O'Connor for her willingness time and again
to listen, read, and challenge, and to Walter Brueggemann for his
encouragement and wise counsel. Tempie Alexander assisted with
preparation of the bibliography and the list of abbreviations. My
student assistants, Jonathan Kaplan and Rick Olson, helped with the
bibliography and with proofreading. I am thankful to David G. Forney
for his work to make the manuscript camera-ready and to Eugene H.
Lovering for his preparation of the indexes.
A note of appreciation is due to my colleague and friend, William S.
Campbell. The journey from the classroom to our dissertation defenses
to the present has been a far richer one for his companionship. I am
deeply thankful to my parents, Arthur and Sara Roy, for their ongoing
support and encouragement, for inspiring in me a love for learning that
continues to unfold in surprising and wondrous ways.
Finally, and most importantly, there is my husband, Reinald. With
love and overwhelming gratitude, I dedicate this work to him.

Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ν
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER ONE: Linguistic Evidence and the Dating of Proverbs 1-9
and 31:10-31
A. Introduction 15
B. A Reconsideration of Linguistic Evidence 18
C. Features of Late Biblical Hebrew 20
D. Foreign Influence 24
1. Aramaisms 24
2. Absence of Grecisms 32
E. Orthography 35
F. Summary 38
CHAPTER TWO: A Study of Women in the Socioeconomic Context
of Proverbs 1 -9 and 31:10-31
A. Introduction 39
B. The Business of Marriage 49
C. "Women's Work" 59
D. Summary 71
CHAPTER THREE: More Valuable than Corals: Wisdom as a Woman
of Substance in the Socioeconomic Context of Proverbs 1-9 and
31:10-31
A. Introduction 73
B. A Socioeconomic Reading of the Woman of Substance
(Proverbs 31:10-31) 75
viii Contents
C. The Woman of Substance and Woman Wisdom:
Lexical and Thematic Parallels 91
D. Wisdom as a Persian-Period Woman of Substance 93
E. Women and Instruction in Proverbs 1 -9 and 31:10-31 102
CONCLUSION 111
BIBLIOGRAPHY 115
INDEX OF ANCIENT TEXTS 143
INDEX OF AUTHORS 162
List of Abbreviations
1963 G. G. Cameron. "New Tablets from the Persepolis
Treasury." JNES 24 (1965): 167-92
4Q102 Proverb fragment from Qumran Cave 4 (=4QProva)
4Q103 Proverb fragment from Qumran Cave 4 (=4QProvb)
11Q5 Psalms Scroll3 from Qumran Cave 11 (=1 lQPsa)
AB Anchor Bible Commentary
ABD D. N. Freedman et al., eds. The Anchor Bible Dictionary.
6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992
AfO Archiv für Orientforschung
AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures
ANEP J. B. Pritchard. The Ancient Near East in Pictures
Relating to the Old Testament: Second Edition with
Supplement. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1969
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
AOS American Oriental Series
ASORMS American Schools of Oriental Research Monograph
Series
ATNS J. B. Segal. Aramaic Texts from North Saqqära. London:
Egypt Exploration Society, 1983
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BE The Babylonian Expedition of the University of
Pennsylvania, Series A: Cuneiform Texts
Bib Biblica
BibOr Biblica et orientalia
BKAT Biblischer Kommentar, Altes Testament
BL Η. Bauer and P. Leander. Historische Grammatik der
hebräischen Sprache des Alten Testaments. Hildesheim:
G. Olms, 1962
BM Tablets in the collections of the British Museum, London
BOR Babylonian and Oriental Record
BRev Bible Review
χ List of Abbreviations
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft
CahRB Cahiers de la Revue biblique
Camb J. N. Strassmaier. Inschriften von Cambyses, König von
Babylon (529-521 v. Chr.). Babylonische Texte VIII-IX.
Leipzig: Pfeiffer, 1890
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series
CBS Tablets in the Collections of the Babylonian Section of
the University Museum, Philadelphia
CD Cairo Genizah copy of the Damascus Document from
Qumran
CG C. S. Clermont-Ganneau. Etudes d'archeologie Orientale.
2 vols. Paris: E. Bouillon, 1880-97
CIS Corpus inscriptionum semiticarum
CSSH Comparative Studies in Society and History
CT Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British
Museum
CT J Calvin Theological Journal
CTU M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartin. The Cuneiform
Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other
Places (KTU, 2d ed.). Abhandlungen zur Literatur Alt-
Syrien-Palästinas und Mesopotamiens 8. Münster: Ugarit,
1995
Cyr J. N. Strassmaier. Inschriften von Cyrus, König von
Babylon (538-529 v. Chr.). Babylonische Texte VII.
Leipzig: Pfeiffer, 1890
Dar J. N. Strassmaier. Inschriften von Darius, König von
Babylon (521-485 v. Chr.). Babylonische Texte X-XII.
Leipzig: Pfeiffer, 1892
DJD Discoveries in the Judean Desert
Dtr Deuteronomistic History
EBH Early Biblical Hebrew
ETL Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses
Fort. Persepolis Fortification Text
FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature
GKC E. Kautzsch, ed. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Translated
by A. E. Cowley. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1980
HAT Handbuch zum Alten Testament
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs