Handout, October 1, 2003

RS-2B03: Women in the Biblical Tradition

A. Y. Reed

Moabites in the Torah/Pentateuch

GENESIS 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain [i.e., Sodom and Gomorrah], God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled. 19:30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters.

19:31 And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father." 19:33 So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 19:34 On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, "Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father." 19:35 So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

19:36 Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 19:37 The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 19:38 The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

NUMBERS 25:1 While Israel was staying at Shittim, the people began to have sexual relations with the women of Moab. 25:2 These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 25:3 Thus Israel yoked itself to the Baal of Peor, and the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel. 25:4 The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the chiefs of the people, and impale them in the sun before the LORD, in order that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel." 25:5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you shall kill any of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor." 25:6 Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman into his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand, 25:8 he went after the Israelite man into the tent, and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the people of Israel…. 25:10 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 25:11 "Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites. 25:12 Therefore say, 'I hereby grant him my covenant of peace. 25:13 It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the Israelites.'"…

25:16 The LORD said to Moses, 25:17 "Harass the Midianites, and defeat them; 25:18 for they have harassed you by the trickery with which they deceived you in the affair of Peor, and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister; she was killed on the day of the plague that resulted from Peor."

DEUTERONOMY 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, 23:4 because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you… 23:6 You shall never promote their welfare or their prosperity as long as you live. 23:7 But you shall not abhor any of the Edomites, for they are your kin [i.e., descendants of Esau]. You shall not abhor any of the Egyptians, because you were an alien residing in their land. 23:8 The children of the third generation that are born to them may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.