She Dared to Reprove Her Father

Autor(en)

Agnethe Siquans

Abstrakt

This article discusses rabbinic references to Miriam’s prophetic speaking and the question of her value as a female prophet. The focus is on specific passages in the Babylonian Talmud Sotah and Exodus Rabbah and their portrait of Miriam as a female prophet. Other rabbinic texts add some further aspects to this picture. In contrast to the biblical accounts in Exod 2 and 15, the rabbinic texts transfer Miriam’s prophecy to her childhood and focus on Moses alone. Furthermore, Miriam’s prophecy is restricted to family affairs and the birth of children, in particular Moses’s birth. She is elaborately depicted as a motherly and caring midwife. Rabbinic interpretations of Num 12 criticize her speech as improper for a woman. Thus, Miriam’s image as a female prophet in rabbinic texts remains ambivalent, estimating her role as a prophet and, at the same time, criticizing her as a woman and restricting her to the “female” sphere of family and care.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Bibelwissenschaft

Journal

Journal of Ancient Judaism

Band

6

Seiten

335-357

ISSN

1869-3296

Publikationsdatum

2016

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

603906 Jüdische Religion, 603201 Alttestamentliche Bibelwissenschaft

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Religious studies

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/b1d5c42c-4a64-445a-8e06-1c3b619bb1bc