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.

control. It is not surprising that even if Tamar’s actions led to the continuation of the patriarchal lineage, later literature attempted to "tame" the character of Tamar⁴⁴.

5. Identity as Daughter or Sister

        Women may belong to, or be associated with, households as "daughters" or as "sisters". The early readers of 1 Chronicles 1–9 were told and were asked to imagine women whose identity is explicitly associated with that of their fathers (e.g., 1 Chr 3,2.5; 4,18)⁴⁵. It is worth stressing that these women may also fulfill the roles of wife and mother, but their identities remained tied also to that of their fathers. However, they are unable to pass that portion of their identity to their sons, who belong to a different household than the one from which they came. Yet in some cases, the identity of their sons is construed by the text, at least in part, around theirs too, in addition to that of their husbands⁴⁶. In this regard, because of the obvious prominence of the people involved, the precise wording in 1 Chr 3,5 is noteworthy, (w#$-tbl h(br) hml#$w Ntnw bbw#$w )(m#$ Myl#$wryb wl-wdlwn hl)w l)ym(-tb for it seems to connote a parallel structure linking David and Batshua (note the shared preposition l in wl and (w# tbl; and the at least connoted double wdlwn).

        The genealogies in Chronicles 1–9 included also instances in which daughters and sons were born⁴⁷. If these daughters/sisters were not associated with progeny in the account, then the text might have suggested to the readers that these women perhaps never married and remained a part of the patriarchal house (e.g., 1 Chr 1,39; 3,9) and that their situation reflected social norms at the time, though the number of unmarried women was probably very low in ancient Yehud. Yet