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    256 .JEWISH WOMEN IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

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    It Has Been Observed That Of The Three G...

    same relation with , regard to the rites and privileges of public worshipit is as hopeless to expect that the coming generation will

    be imbued , with sentiments of piety as it is to look for an effect without a cause . .

    The presence of women is noticed at the public reading of the law in the Book of Joshua ( c . viii ., v . 35 ) , in the Second Book of

    Chronicles ( c . xxxiv ., v . 30 ) , and by Nehemiah ( c . viii ., w . 1—3 ) . A careful reader of the Holy Book can scarcely fail to remark

    ~ fchat even prior to the "Exodus , and to the revelation of the Decalogue at Sinaithe Hebrew woman occupied a position far

    , superior to that of her sex in other Eastern nations . Various incidents confirming this view occur in the history of the patriarchs .

    One of the most remarkable is the personal assent required from Kebecca before her mother and her brother could venture to accept

    for her an offer of marriage . "We read that when that great Sheikh tl , Abraham , sent to ask her in marriage for his son , they

    said , We will call the damsel , and ask her own opinion ; ' and jtiot till she answered " I will go , " was the contract concluded . ( Gen . xxiv . ) Under the rule of MosesMiriam and her sister-worshippers

    , held their equal place in all matters relating to spiritual and social duties . They take part in the great hymn of triumph

    chanted by the Israelites in crossing the Red Sea . Miriam is even designated a prophetess .

    Again , the daughters of Zelophehad are allowed to appear before Moses and plead their own cause , and on appeal to Divine

    authority , Moses delivers a judgment which places the Jewess on a footing , of equality with the Jew , as regards the rights of

    inheritance . ( Numb , xxvii . 1 —11 . ) Proceeding through the history of the Bible to the time of the

    rule of the Judges , the Israelites seem to have degenerated in many ways since the death of Moses . No change , however , is to

    be perceived , with respect to the equal position of woman . Deborah becomesunder a pure theocratic governmentthe chief person of the

    , , commonwealth , and rules the State for nearly forty years . Advancing to the times of Eli , when the degenerate conduct of the

    priesthood had brought scandal on public worship , the Hebrew woman is still seen clinging to the altar and presenting her

    oblations in the same manner as the other sex . Elkanah is attended on his yearly visit to the sanctuary by Peninnah and Hannah ;

    the latter comes before the Holy of Holies without restraint . She vows to dedicate the son for whose birth she prays , to the altar of

    the Lord ; and her vow stands . Also at the period when the Jewish monarchy had fallen very low , and when religious

    instruction had for many years been prohibited by the wicked Manasseh , a Hebrew woman , named Huldah , is consulted by the court of the

    youthful king Josiah , in order to expound the words of the Pentateuch , although at that period the prophet Jeremiah himself was

    in . the metropolis of Judea , and might have been applied to , on this

    256 .Jewish Women In Biblical Times.

    256 . _JEWISH WOMEN IN BIBLICAL TIMES .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1862, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121862/page/40/