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The widow: homeless and post-menopausal - term "widow" in the Bible
Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter, 2002 by Carolyn S. Leeb
Abstract
The biblical `almanah or "widow" has been understood recently as a woman whose husband has died and who is without a male guardian, such as an adult son. Several texts have complicated this picture: in two cases women are called "widows" in spite of the identification of their sons, while younger women are not designated as "widows" upon the deaths of their husbands. Both of these apparent contradictions are resolved by understanding the `almanah as a woman who is past the age of bearing children and who is not part of a male-headed household.
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The Hebrew word `almanah connotes a somewhat different social reality than our word "widow" by which it is invariably translated. This was recognized by Paul Hiebert, who has examined references in the law codes of several ANE cultures to words which are cognate to the term. She found that in the Middle Assyrian laws, for instance, a women became an almattu at the death of her husband when she lacked a male from her husband's family, i.e. a son or father-in-law, to provide for her. The biblical term seems to have a similar circumstance in view. Hiebert points out that the majority of biblical texts in which `almanah appears combine this word with yatom (orphan) and ger (alien), all persons "in a situation with no supporting kinship ties" (130). The precarious existence of such individuals is clear from the frequency of the biblical injunctions to treat them with justice and charity, as well as the passages which condemn those who do not.
John Rook, in two papers recently published in BIBLICAL THEOLOGY BULLETIN, has extended Hiebert's work and made some cogent observations about the life circumstance covered by the Hebrew term. Rook places it in the context of socio-anthropological terminology regarding honor and shame in the Mediterranean world, particularly as they apply to issues of sexuality. "The responsibility of a male in this ancient world is to control the sexuality of the women who are within his household and are `embedded' to him." (1997:11) The core circumstance which causes a woman to be referred to as `almanah then is the lack of a guardian who will not only support her but also control access to her sexuality.
A few texts remain which fail to fit perfectly under the umbrella of these understandings. Some scholars, such as J. Otwell, have in the past noted that this word `almanah is not used of all women whose husbands have died. Conversely, in two instances women who have living adult sons are called `almanah despite the fact that these sons could presumably have functioned as guardians and supporters of their widowed mothers. Adding to the confusion are the concubines of David (2 Sam 16:20-22, 20:3) who are placed under guard to live as if they were "widows" after Absalom's insurrection and attempted usurpation. His taking of his father's concubines was an element in his plan to discredit and dishonor his father by demonstrating David's inability to control access to the women under his "guardianship."
Although it seems inexplicable to us moderns, for whom individual freedom is so important, the preferred situation for a woman of any age in Ancient Israel was circumscribed and protected: controlled by husband or father, restricted by household, enclosed by house. The female child in ancient Israel was to grow up within the confines of the family to which she was born until the time of her marriage, when she would transfer her residence and her allegiance to the household of her husband--the new household which she was to help to build up.
The bet 'ab, "father's house" or "extended family household," was the central unit of production and also of representation in the agrarian world of ancient Israel, including during the period of the monarchies, as has been elucidated by Gottwald and by Meyers (1991), among others. It was through the head of household that relationships with persons outside the household were conducted, whether buying or selling, making alliances (including marriages), or receiving justice through the assembled elders. Extended family households often lived in clusters of dwellings, arranged around a central courtyard area where common tasks were carried out. (Both Meyers [1983] and Stager provide excellent discussions of archaeological and anthropological evidence for the nature and composition of the Israelite household.)
A wife, who came into her husband's household as an outsider, contributed her labor and her fertility. Her task was to build up the bet 'ab by bearing children, particularly sons, and to contribute to the production of food and other items for use by the family or perhaps for trade. Upon the death of her husband, the fragile tie to his family was likely to be broken, unless she had given birth to a son in the household. Her son would become a part of the household in a way that she could never be, and he would bind her to it and make a place for her in it.
The fragility of this tie to her late husband's household is illustrated clearly by the situation, albeit fictitious, of the Wise Woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14:1-7). She has become estranged from her husband's household by the murder of one of her adult sons by the other. Once the extended family has exacted vengeance, she will have no remaining bond to her dead husband's family, in which she has always lived as something of an outsider. The reader of this story has no information about the identity of the family members who are so energetically pursuing revenge, but we can easily imagine a situation in which their prospects for inheritance would improve by eliminating other heirs, all under the cloak of seeking justice for the dead. The `almanah lived a most precarious existence.
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