Silence or Suppression : Attitudes towards Women in the Old Testament

Being an historical document, the Old Testament should be subjected to historical-critical investigation.

This study attempts to trace as many statements as possible about women, real or symbolic, in the Old Testament, starting in certain literary contexts referring to named women.

Roles assigned to women, named and anonymous, and verbs used to describe them are discussed, as well as their function(s) in the narrative context. The information given in the "women texts" is considered a documentation of male understanding of contemporary women against specific historical, sociological, political and ideological settings.

Traces of an increasing disinterest in women's roles and functions interrelated with increasing establishment are noted, and the questions of understanding, interpreting and applying the texts are discussed.

References to women's roles and functions are seen as descriptions rather than prescriptions.