Essays on Judaism in the Pre-Hellenistic Period by Joseph Blenkinsopp

Author:Joseph Blenkinsopp
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

3The Identity of the “Outsider Woman”

We now need to take a closer look at the identity of the woman who is the antithesis of Wisdom in Proverbs 1–9 against this background. Finding an appropriate translation term for the Hebrew terms has not proved to be an easy task. Consider the following attempts: “strange, stranger” (KJV), “alien, forbidden” (JPS), “adulteress, loose” (REB, NRSV), “adulteress, wife of another” (NAB). The Hebrew terms are ʼiššâ zārâ (Prov 2:16; 7:5) or simply zārâ (5:3,20) and nokriyyâ (2:16; 5:20; 6:24; 7:5). Whether used as substantive or adjective both are negative, defining the person in question out of a normative category or group. They occur more often than not in parallelism (2:16; 5:10,20; 6:24; 7:5), though zārâ can have a broader range of connotation than nokriyyâ. It can indicate an outsider vis-à-vis a married couple (Ezek 16:12; Prov 5:17), or a kinship group (Deut 25:5; Prov 5:10), or the zārâ can be a foreign woman (Isa 1:7; Jer 3:13, etc) or a stranger, a person unknown (Prov 11:15; 14:10). In ritual texts the zār is the layman, the non-priest or non-Levite (Exod 30:33; Lev 22:10–13; Num 1:51, etc), and the ʼělohîm zārîm are alien deities, deities other than Yahveh God of Israel (Deut 32:16; Ps 44:21; 81:10, etc).355 The social status of the woman is therefore determined with reference to a particular social configuration to which society, a particular society, assigns a normative character. The most basic instantiation would be a prostitute or a married woman in search of sexual adventure outside of marriage; or, as McKane put it, “any woman outside of the conventions”.356 While the female personification is a composite of different images, the common representations of prostitute (6:26; 7:10) and unfaithful spouse are much in evidence and sometimes combined. In most of the passages dealing with the Outsider Woman she is represented as married, either explicitly (2:16–1; 7:19) or by implication, as in the contrast between consorting with the Outsider Woman and fidelity to one’s wife (5:3–23), and in the warning about the same consequences which are likely to follow from sleeping with a neighbour’s wife (6:29–35). The point is also made by presenting the Woman Wisdom as “more precious than pearls” (3:15), which seems to have been a conventional way of praising a wife’s excellence (cf. 31:10). The avoidance of prostitutes and unattached women is, of course, a standard piece of advice to young males about to be launched on a career, often urged on basically prudential grounds. Take this example from ancient Mesopotamia:

Do not marry a prostitute, whose husbands are legion,

a temple harlot who is dedicated to a god,

a courtesan whose favours are many.

In your trouble she will not support you,

in your dispute she will be a mocker.357

The same injunction is delivered by Ben Sirach, the Polonius of ancient Judaism, in terms no less pedestrian:

Do not go near a loose woman, or you will fall into her snares.

Do not dally with a singing girl, or you will be caught by her tricks.

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