Geoffrey D. Miller, «Canonicity and Gender Roles: Tobit and Judith as Test Cases», Vol. 97 (2016) 199-221
Clues from rabbinic literature suggest that several factors were at play in establishing the early Jewish canon, including the dating, theology, and language of disputed texts. Another vital yet overlooked criterion is adherence to patriarchy, and a careful analysis of the Books of Judith and Tobit illustrates how these texts failed to meet rabbinic standards for gender roles. Most notably, the countercultural figures of Judith and Anna would have scandalized the rabbis by their encroachment on traditionally male spheres of activity, their freedom of movement inside and outside the home, and their ability to chastise male characters without repercussions.
CANoNICITY ANd GeNder roLeS 211
has shirked his responsibility as a man and that deborah’s behavior is
an anomaly in the divine order of things.
other passages are more openly hostile toward women who wield
power and influence. Meg. 14b decries deborah’s actions as arrogant:
“Haughtiness does not befit women. There were two haughty women,
and their names are hateful, one being called a hornet [the etymological
meaning of deborah], and the other a weasel”. deborah’s haughtiness
is evidenced by her summoning Barak to stand before her rather
than showing the proper deference by going to appear before him.
The “weasel” is the prophetess Huldah, who oversteps her bounds
in 2 Kings 22 by prophesying for Josiah even though the prophetic
ministry is reserved for men. The rabbis surmised that Jeremiah must
have been active at the same time, and the only reason Huldah was
able to usurp this power was because Jeremiah was traveling abroad
trying to win back the ten northern tribes or because Jeremiah permit-
ted her to deliver an oracle since she was his kinswoman (Meg. 14b).
In sum, the rabbis recognized the importance of women in Jewish
society but only insofar as they were reined in by their husbands. Women
are too emotional, delicate, and licentious to be entrusted with positions
of power and influence, and consequently only men may operate in the
realms of politics, war, and prophecy. even within the home a woman’s
power is curbed severely, and she is expected to be subservient to the
man who exercises dominion over her and properly shapes her. If she
disturbs this balance of power, she must be dismissed from the home,
thereby forfeiting the protection she enjoys as a wife. Androcentric
sentiments such as these permeate the Talmud, which the rabbis used
to properly shape ancient Jews, and they affected how the rabbis handled
Israel’s sacred scriptures as well. Female characters from the biblical
tradition who did not conform to their understanding of the exemplary
wife had to be discredited, and texts being considered for entry into
the canon could not contravene these gender norms.
III. The Case of Judith
More than any other text from the Second Temple period, the Book
of Judith poses a formidable threat to patriarchy. Its female protagonist
“looms larger than life”, representing “perhaps the strongest Hebrew
hero in all of biblical literature” 36. Judith’s initial characterization
36
Moore, Judith, 78; A.o. BeLLIS, Helpmates, Harlots, and Heroes. Women’s
Stories in the Hebrew Bible (Louisville, KY 1994) 219.