Antje Labahn - Ehud Ben Zvi, «Observations on Women in the Genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9», Vol. 84 (2003) 457-478

These observations address the construction of women and their roles in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1–9. References to women in these chapters construed them as fulfilling a variety of roles in society, and characterized and identified them in various ways. To be sure, the genealogies reflected and reinforced the main construction of family and family roles in a traditional ancient near eastern society. But, numerous references in these genealogies indicated to the early (and predominantly male) readers of the book that ideologically construed gender expectations may and have been transgressed in the past and with good results. By implication, these references suggested to the readers that gender (and ethnic) boundaries can and even should be transgressed on occasion, with divine blessing, and resulting in divine blessing.

"the wife of Jerahmeel"¹¹. Yet at least when it comes to royal wives, the presence of information characterizing the mothers, even if it is minimal, cannot be associated with lower status¹².

        It is worth mentioning that "wives/women" are mentioned next to ‘sons’ in a context of military troops and military heads of families in 1 Chr 7,4. The text communicates and reflects a viewpoint that directly associates wives/women, along with "sons", with the military potential of the group. The implied association seems to be that the number of wives is proportional to the number of potential sons/soldiers in the army.

        As in other texts in the HB, "wives/mothers" may also be described as giving names to their children (cf. Gen 4,25; 29,33; 30,11.13.20.21.24; 38,3. 4; but cf. also Gen 4,26; 5,3.29; 17,19; 21,3)¹³. For instance, 1 Chr 7,16 informs the readers of the book that Maachah named her son Peresh (forming a wordplay to his brother’s name Sheresh) and another unnamed mother is mentioned in 1 Chr 7,23 who gave birth to a son of Ephraim, after a period of distress that afflicted the household and within — the explicit world of the text — the male head of the household in particular and consequently, in this case, the father names the child in a way that recalls that distress. Yet, the readers of the book are also told that the distress of mothers may also influence, and has influenced the naming and future of their children. 1 Chr 4,9 informs them that the unnamed mother of Jabez named her son in reference to her own experiences. The theme of the mother’s painful effort reflected in his name is then literarily transformed into the glory of her son through the blessing of YHWH (1 Chr 4,10; see word play on Cb(y, Cb(y, bc(b and ybc(; vv 9-10). Symbolically, the mother and her experiences become embodied and transformed in the life of her son. It gives notice that the role assigned