How we cite our quotes: (Chapter:Verse)
Quote #4
But a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and crushed his skull. Immediately he called to the young man who carried his armour and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, so people will not say about me, 'A woman killed him.'" So the young man thrust him through, and he died. (NRSV 9:53)
And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to brake his skull. 54 Then he called hastily unto the young man his armourbearer, and said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died. (KJV 9:53)
What sort of symbolism can we find in this story? Abimelech, a man, was actively trying to kill the woman, along with everyone else in the tower. She dropped the stone in self-defense. Figuratively speaking, where else does that sort of thing occur?
Quote #5
She said to him, "My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites." And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander* on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I.""Go," he said and sent her away for two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to the vow he had made. She had never slept with a man. So there arose an Israelite custom[.] (NRSV 11:36)
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel[.] (KJV 11:36)
This daughter took her duty very seriously. Why not just run away when she had the chance? This passage says a lot about the role of daughters in Israelite society, not to mention about the status of virginity/marriage-less-ness/childlessness. What could those two months in the mountains have consisted of for the daughter and her companions?
Quote #6
There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son." (NRSV 13:2-3)
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. (KJV 13:2-3)
In every society, one thing that a man almost certainly cannot do is have a baby, and childbearing can thus be a source of power for women. Why does God seem to often choose a barren woman (or, in at least one case, a virgin) to bear special babies?