There is no end to the ink that has been spilled over the issue of gender roles in the Bible and in the church. Claude Mariottini, an Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at Northern Seminary, makes an entrance into the field with his recent work Ancient Israel’s Women of Faith: A Survey of the Heroines of the Old Testament. The book is divided into six parts, with part one dealing with the role of women in Israelite society. Part two covers women prophets and part three addresses mothers in Israel. Part four touches on the challenging issue of abused women; part five addresses women of distinction, and the book closes with a section on non-Israelite women.
Mariottini approaches the text from a theologically progressive position, though not an outright liberal one. As such, he does make some helpful observations along with some less helpful ones that come more from his theological stance than his exegesis of the text.
Part One deals with the social status of women in Israel and begins with the created order. Mariottini argues that Genesis 1:26-27 highlights the equality of all men and women, which I agree with. He then seems to suggest that the distinction we see in gender roles in the rest of scripture are rooted in Genesis 3:15-17 rather than the creation order (pages 32-33). This fits with the progressive argument that at the cross, these differences are eliminated (Galatians 3:28). The author moves on to describe how women are viewed in the rest of the Pentateuch.
In Part Two, Mariottini tackles the subject of female prophets. I think he stumbles a little here. He makes the argument that priests in Israel were men “because Israel was a patriarchal society…” (p. 52). I think this is overly simplistic. Priests were men because that was how Yahweh set the system up. The author then makes the point that women could be prophetesses and covers familiar names like Deborah and Miriam along with less known figures such as Huldah and Noadiah. These chapters are solid and help the reader see the ways in God has used both men and women to advance His purposes. Marionetti drifts into the weeds a little in chapters 11 and 12, as he unpacks prophetesses in Ezekiel and Psalm 68, seeming to spill much ink over speculative theories on who these characters were. He makes another textual leap in his theological argument in chapter 12, stating that “There are many people today who deny that God calls women to proclaim the good news. The Bible reveals that, when
God calls, women are ready to proclaim his good news” (p. 82). This leap is needed to tie into the argument that women are called to pastor New Testament churches. It also clarifies the reasoning for the argument that the priesthood was restricted to men only because Israel was a patriarchal society, rather than the fact that Yahweh has designated some roles for men for His own purposes. This argument would be further developed in chapters 13 and 14, as Mariottini makes the distinction between egalitarianism and complementarianism (chapter 13) and that with the coming of Pentecost, gender roles in ministry have been abolished (p. 89).
Part Three focuses in on mothers in Israel. The author covers the stories of Sarah, Rachel, Jochebed, Samson’s mother, Hannah, and a variety of other mothers in the Old Testament. There is an interesting chapter on Rizpah, the mother of the two sons of Saul whom David had put to death in 2 Samuel 21. The section closes with a chapter on the women in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew. This chapter gets a little speculative in that it doesn’t cover just the women named in Matthew but attempts to build a comprehensive list of all women (named and unnamed) in the lineage of Jesus.
In Part Four, Mariottini addresses “Abused Women” in the Bible. He unpacks the accounts of Dinah, the Levite’s concubine, Bathsheba, and Tamar. Here the reader will have a lot to interact with, as the author argues that the Levite’s concubine in Judges was not just abused by those who killed her, but by her husband. He also claims that “there is irrefutable textual evidence that Bathsheba did not consent to David” (p. 162). Many readers will take issue with the dogmatism with which the author makes his case (and the scarcity of textual evidence that it is based on). This is not an attempt to justify or minimize David’s sin (there are good arguments to be made that David’s sexual sin was more than an affair, but less than rape as we conceive of it). It is an observation that at this point in the book Mariottini’s argumentation seems to become agenda-driven rather than text-fueled. One major point in this regard is the author’s argument in chapter 27 to support his claim that David raped Bathsheba. On page 164, the author emphasizes that David sent and “took” Bathsheba, making the point there is no word in biblical Hebrew for “rape.” He follows this immediately in the next chapter by arguing that the word used in the Amnon/Tamar account refers to “forced sexual intercourse or rape” (p. 170). This is confusing at best, and a contradiction at worst.
Part Five addresses “Women of Distinction.” These include Deborah, Ahinoam, Abishag, and Esther. The chapter on Abishag is interesting. Mariottini makes the argument that David not having a sexual relationship with Abishag was a sign of impotence, which reflected his impotence to rule as well, triggering the intrigue surrounding the succession to the throne. In fact, he argues that the entire point of Abishag being in the story is to try to “arouse the king sexually.” He believes that David’s inability to get “warm” is a sexual reference. I am not a Hebrew scholar, and struggle to see if there is any warrant whatsoever in the Hebrew for this sort of interpretation.
The final section of the book deals with non-Israelite women. There are many admirable examples mixed in with several strange ones. Mariottini deals with Hagar, Tamar (the wife of Er), Rahab, Sisera’s mother, Jael, Ruth, and Jezebel. His closing chapter on the “Greatness that was Jezebel” is a little off-putting. It comes across as a praise piece (not too different from some of the mainstream media obituaries of terrorist leaders recently). “Yes, Jezebel was wicked, but if you really look at her in her cultural context, she was a remarkable woman who wielded incredible power on behalf of women everywhere.” I just think the author somewhat misses the point of the biblical
narrative.
Overall, Mariottini covers a lot of ground. Some of it is very helpful. There are so many amazing women in scripture who did incredible things in service to Yahweh. But he also stumbles in a lot of areas. His theological overlay on the text and dogmatic statements distract from the text itself, and his lack of careful exegesis leads to ambiguity rather than clarity.
Overall, this was a book with potential, but one that is flawed in several key areas.