7.24 When Tamar Saved Judah

A patriarch holding a staff with a cylinder seal on a cord around his neck.

The twenty-fourth episode of the seventh season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (November 22, 2023). It tells the story of Tamar, the daughter-in-law of the patriarch Judah, and how she saved Judah’s family.

You can listen to the episode right now and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

Show Notes about the Episode

Tamar’s story is told in Genesis 38. Direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

I have already done an episode based on the first part of the story, the part when Tamar is married to Er and Onan. That episode focussed mostly on Onan. You do not need to listen to that episode (#7.22 Onan, The Man with the Plan) to enjoy this one, but it is still a great story that I would highly recommend.

The trope of the infertile woman

As I mention in the episode, Tamar’s story has a great deal in common with many other biblical stories of women who struggle to produce male heirs. I have dealt with many of those stories and I’d like to offer you the opportunity to listen to those as well.

Sarah’s is a very extreme story as her infertility seems to stretch on for decades. I have dealt with one part of her extended tale in my episode #6.15 Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner.
The daughters of Lot also struggled to produce male heirs and their story contains many parallels to Tamar’s, including the use of trickery and incest! I dealt with their story in my episode, #2.11 The Women Formerly Known as Lot’s Daughters.
I dealt with the amazing story of Rachel’s struggle to have children in my episode, #7.18 The Mandrake Machinations.
The mother of Samson, despite not even being named, is definitely another heroine in this vein. I told her story in my episode, #5.19 Me, Myself and Manoah.
I also see the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as another story that fits into this theme. I explored those issues in my episode #1.4 The Stranger.

Signet, Cord and Staff

One of the more interesting parts of preparing this episode had to do with learning about the meaning of the signet, cords and staff that Judah gives to Tamar.

A cylinder seal and its impression on clay. — This is an ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seal. Beside it is the impression it makes when rolled over damp clay. It depicts the sun god, Shamash. Usually made of stone (this one is made of limestone), these cylinders often had a hole cut in them lengthwise, likely to allow it to be strung on a cord. (Public domain)

The signet likely refers to a cylinder seal, an item very common in the ancient Near East. Many have been found. They were likely worn or carried on cords and used much as I describe in the episode.

A fascinating article by Zohar Amar and Naama Sukenik called The Signs That Bind helped me to understand, not only what is being described in the story but also the symbolic significance of Tamar requesting these particular items. The article can be found at https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/department/the-signs-that-bind/.

Judah Can’t Pay!

One of my favourite details of the story is the part when Tamar bargains with Judah for her services but he can’t pay immediately. Couldn’t resist creating this meme!

Media in this Episode

The following music was used for this media project:

Music: AhDah by Kevin MacLeod
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3345-ahdah
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist website: https://incompetech.com

Music: Rising Sun by Sascha Ende
Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/86-rising-sun
Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Support Retelling the Bible

If you would like to support the work that I do creating these stories, go to patreon.com/retellingthebible and choose a level of support!

4.13 Magnificent Monarch Mansplains Motherhood

The thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (August 26, 2020). You can listen to the episode right now and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

Show Notes

This episode is based on 1 Kings 3:16-28 in the Old Testament of the Bible. Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

The Women who Challenged Solomon

*The judgement of Solomon* by Gaspar de Crayer, c. 1620

The story of Solomon and the baby fits into a certain genre of popular folktale — a story told to demonstrate the cleverness, wisdom or devotion of a key character. The story never mentions King Solomon by name and so it seems quite possible that the story circulated independently from the traditions associated with any particular king or historical period and perhaps only became associated with Solomon later because of his reputation for wisdom.

Because of this, it is very difficult to say whether or not the story can be grounded in any particular historical circumstance. But there are, nevertheless, a number of elements in the story that can teach us a great deal about some very real historical situations. We see a king acting as judge in disputes, something that undoubtedly happened. We are also, interestingly enough, given some insights into the domestic situations of sex workers, a class of people about whom we are generally told nothing. One of the two prostitutes is even portrayed with a certain amount of sympathy for her situation. I found all of this rather intriguing and worthy of further investigation.

I remember when I was anticipating the birth of my first child and reading, as one does, all of the books that I could find how about what I could expect. This story from 1 Kings came up a number of times.

It comes up in discussions about the dangers of co-sleeping. The practice of mothers sleeping together with their nursing babies seems to have long created some anxiety in parents, as we see in this story, even though it was generally seen as the easiest way for both mother and child to get enough sleep while a child is nursing frequently. The fear that, in her sleep, a mother might lay on her child and smother it is shown in this story and continues to be felt by many to this very day.

From what I understand of the research that has been done into the practice of co-sleeping, the danger is actually very low. Unless an adult is under the influence of alcohol or some other drug, he or she is apparently quite unlikely to roll on top of a living child. So, although this is the explicit reason that is given in the story for the child’s death, I took it as an expression of an age-old anxiety rather than the actual cause of death.

I also have read references to this story that speculated that it contains the first documented case of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS. SIDS is defined as the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Certain things, such as putting a child to sleep on his or her stomach and smoking in the house, are known to statistically increase the possibility of it happening, but the cause is unknown. SIDS is therefore a condition that should only be posited when medical science has failed to turn up a viable explanation. It should not be suggested when other reasons present themselves.

My feeling is that, given that in this story, we are dealing with marginalized women who are cut off from the normal family based support system of that society, the death of one of their children should hardly be considered to be unexplained. It seemed to me that poverty, disease or malnutrition were much more likely candidates for the cause of death.

Avoiding Dealing with Systemic Issues

Once I had decided that the two women might have had some deeper issues that they were looking for the king to help them with, I found that Solomon’s response made a lot more sense to me. I think we are all rather familiar with the reluctance that leaders have to deal with systemic societal problems. Such initiatives are always going to be difficult and costly. So, while I don’t agree with it, I can understand why Solomon might not want to deal with a problem that might be causing infant death within a marginalized community. How much easier, how much more tempting, it would be for him to turn the whole affair into a dispute over motherhood, something that he could solve with a single threatened stroke of a sword. At least, that was the new perspective I gain into the story of the wise king.

What I learned from this retelling

When I first turned to this familiar Bible story, I came to it with all of the prejudices that have always been associated with it. I could not see the women in the story with any sympathy, least of all, of course, the one who urges the king to go ahead and divide the child.

But I am learning something. The practice of assigning these two anonymous women names (which I simply selected at random from a list of ancient Hebrew female names) and creating for them a backstory changed my perspective mightily. I realize, of course, that I understand almost nothing about the life and circumstances of an ancient female sex worker. Nobody living today does, because their life situation is just so far removed from anything that exists in the world today. But I do not believe that that should ever stop us from learning to see a marginalized character with a measure of sympathy.

Mansplaining meme from “Silicon Valley.”

Music in this Episode

“AhDah” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Startraders’ Hollow by Gabrielle McAndless
Merci Rock, 2020.

Many thanks to Gabrielle McAndless and to her sister, Zoé McAndless, for their acting help with this episode!

Episode 3.7 Pretty Canaanite Woman

A corporate raider with conquest on his mind Meets a hooker with a heart of gold And it changes everything! Say, haven’t you heard that story someplace before?

The seventh episode of the third season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (June 26, 2019). You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

SHOW NOTES

This episode is based on Joshua 2 and Joshua 5:13-6:27 in the Old Testament of the Bible. (Click the references to read the original texts). Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the episode.

Did Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho?

Depiction of the Battle of Jericho by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (1794–1872) — Depiction of the battle by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld (1794–1872)

As mentioned in the episode, it is very difficult to establish any historicity of this famous battle described in the Book of Joshua. The city of Jericho is a well-known and much investigated archaeological site of great antiquity. But it was not destroyed at the time of the conquest of Canaan as told in the Book of Joshua. In fact, there really is no archaeological evidence of any conquest of Canaan.

So the battle likely didn’t happen, and yet that doesn’t mean that this story can’t teach us many things ancient battles of this sort. We have an interesting description have an ancient walled city and the intriguing indication that people lived in houses against the walls and the windows of their houses gave ready access, at least if you had a decent rope, to the outside.

The Israelite action at Jericho certainly seems to be a stylized description of classic siege warfare. The city is surrounded by the enemy force, a common tactic that was used to starve a city into submission by cutting off supplies and water sources.

Undermining

This ancient tower discovered at the Jericho site is certainly impressive but, as it dates to about 8000 BCE, it couldn't have anything to do with time of the conquest. — This ancient tower discovered at the Jericho site is certainly impressive but, as it dates to about 8000 BCE, it couldn’t have anything to do with the time of the conquest.

The sudden fall of the walls of a city was a common feature of ancient siege warfare. There were really only two ways to win a siege, either you had to starve the city into submission or you had to make a breach in the walls. In a time before the invention of explosive technology, undermining was probably the most effective tactic for making a breach. The attacking army would dig a tunnel underneath the foundations of the wall propping up the excavation as they went with wooden timbers. Then the tunnel would be filled with easily combustible materials and set on fire leading to the destruction of the supportive timbers, the collapse of the tunnel and, hopefully, the creation of a significant breach. Of course, if a commander could manage to keep the mine hidden from his fighters as well as the enemies inside the city, that could make the tactic all the more effective. If you could convince your men that your gods had taken down the walls for them, it would certainly embolden them for the very frightening task that lay before them of storming a breach.

I have always wondered about the rope

One element of the story of Rahab that has always puzzled me is the references to rope making. Why is it that, within the household of Rahab, we see all of the signs of such an industry? She just happens to have stacks of flax lying around on her roof. She also just happens to have pieces of rope lying around including at least one piece that has been dyed an expensive crimson colour.

The main reason why someone should have stalks of flax on their roof is that this is a part of a manufacturing process. In order to free up the flax fibres that are used to make linen rope, flax needs to sit and ret (that is, rot) for an extended period of time. I cannot help but feel that there is a little bit of intended humour in the account in the Book of Joshua when the spies are hidden in putrefying plant fibre. Can you imagine the smell? It certainly does help to explain why the Jerichoan authorities had been so unwilling to search the stacks for the interlopers.

But why should a woman, Rahab, who clearly makes her money and a very particular way, have all of the signs of a rope making industry within her household? As I pondered this question, it seemed plain to me that Rahab was not just your typical prostitute. She had plans for a better life. Maybe that life could not be hers for various reasons, but perhaps she dreamed of something better for her children.

How could Rahab have betrayed her city?

Of course, the really big question that arises from the story of Rahab stems from her betrayal of her city. Why should she protect and hide the spies who come to her in preparation for an invasion? The answer, according to the Book of Joshua, is simple: she believed that God had given the land to the Israelites and that there was, therefore, no point in resisting.

That may be true, but I have always assumed that the thought process must have been a bit more nuanced in Rahab’s mind. In my account, I haven’t definitively answered the question of what might have motivated her, but I have attempted to give us a better understanding of what her thought processes could have been.

And then there is all the genocide

The worst part of the story of the Battle of Jericho, of course, is all of the wholesale slaughter. This is very problematic, of course. I cannot believe in a God who would sanction such meaningless violence. This was not something that could be easily addressed with my narrative approach to the story. There are some Bible stories that I would like to tackle in the future that might help to get a better take on the issue of Biblical genocide, but I do appreciate the little episode in Joshua 5:13-15 that at least reminds us that God may not take sides in our human disputes in the way that we might like God to.

Inspirations

I think it should be fairly obvious where my inspiration for the cover art and music choices came from for this retelling:

I think the comparisons with the hit film are apt. It is not just that Pretty Woman tells the story of a meeting between a brutal corporate raider and a hooker with a “heart of gold.” There are other important parallels. The movie, Pretty Woman, certainly pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in a romantic comedy in its day. It was quite risqué for its time, but so is the story of Jericho. There is clear sexual innuendo in the Bible story that I tried to bring out in my retelling. I also see parallels between Julia Roberts’ Vivian character and Rahab. Both seem to have dreams of building a better life and future but they also have a very practical approach to their dreams.

In the movie, for example, Vivian’s secretive use of dental floss leads Edward to expose his stereotypical assumptions about her (that she must be a drug user) and leads to him reevaluating her when he discovers what she was up to. I find that Rahab’s involvement in a ropemaking enterprise also leads me to reevaluate my assumptions about her.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

“AhDah” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

“Riptide” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/