Patriarchal Judaism focuses on mostly male heroes and worships a deity that though officially is an abstract and non-gendered being is still depicted in masculine language and often portrayed as the Super Patriarch of All. Along come stellar exceptions like Queen Esther who is celebrated today for her courage, beauty and smart strategy in ensuring her people’s survival. It’s unclear whether Esther ever existed and how much of this biblical myth is based in the Sumerian and Babylonian epics of the Goddess Ishtar so beloved and revered in the Persian culture responsible for this sordid story - but whatever her origins, Esther’s central stage spot in Jewish and world myth still reigns supreme.
Unlike her, many of the heroines of the Bible are not named, even when their fetes are not less dramatic than Esther’s.
In today’s chapter, nearing the end of the Book of Samuel, an anonymous wise woman saves her city from destruction, as another battle in the ongoing civil wars between factions of Israel continue to ravage the nation.
The plot line continues the unrest of Absalom’s revolt as the northern and southern tribes struggle for power. Sheva son of Bikri, of the tribe of Benjamin, a loyalist of King Saul’s, challenges David with the cry that will become famous and echo many more times: “what do we have to do with David, we have no portion with the son of Jesse, Israel - each of us turn back to our own tents.”
King David, back in Jerusalem, gets the generals to fight the new rebellion, and Joav, back in charge, pursues the rebel to the city of Abel where he appears to be hiding, and begins a siege.
But before attacking the town, a wise woman of the city calls out to the general and delivers a speech that will go down in history and include some idiomatic pearls that still shine in the Hebrew language today:
Listen, she says, why kill all of us for just one person?
אָנֹכִ֕י שְׁלֻמֵ֖י אֱמוּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אַתָּ֣ה מְבַקֵּ֗שׁ לְהָמִ֨ית עִ֤יר וְאֵם֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לָ֥מָּה תְבַלַּ֖ע נַחֲלַ֥ת יְהֹוָֽה׃
“I am one of those who seek the welfare of the faithful in Israel. But you seek to bring death upon a mother city in Israel! Why should you destroy YHWH’s possession?”
What does ‘Mother City’ mean? Similar to the term we know as “Metropolitan” - with the root in the maternal ‘meter’ and urban ‘polis’ - what is indicated here is the feminine authority and the possible leadership position that this wise woman, as many others, held. The term is still used today in modern Hebrew to indicate a central urban area + its suburbs, but there’s more here than geography and gender.
Robert Alter unpacks this enigma further:
“The literal Hebrew is “town and mother,” - which means something like “principal town.” Since in biblical Hebrew the suburbs or outlying villages around a town are called “daughters,” the logic of the idiom is evident. It is, however, an idiom that appears only here in the entire biblical corpus, and there is a thematic point in its use. In this narrative reflecting a male warrior culture and acts of terrible violence, from decapitation to evisceration, a series of female figures—Abigail, the Tekoite, the wise woman of Abel—intervene to avert violence. The city itself is figured as a mother; its destruction would be a kind of matricide, and the wise woman speaks on behalf of the childbearers and nurturers of life in Israelite society to turn aside Joab’s terrible swift sword.”
The wise woman orders the head of the rebel cut off and thrown off the walls of the city into Yoav’s hands. WIth this brutal killing she saves her city, much like Esther’s actions on Purim. It’s not exactly pacifism - but it’s pragmatic, and they save a lot of lives.
So who’s this wise woman who saves her city and gives us this rich idiom?
Myth makers and Midrash writers identify her as the longest living woman of the Bible, Search bat Asher, Jacob’s granddaughter. This incredible woman, who endured the centuries of slavey in Egypt, experienced the Exodus and apparently still alive during David’s time, is the stuff of as much rich legend as Queen Esther, though much lesser known.
Marc Bregman does a great job of explaining why Serach shows up in this story, concluding that “By identifying Serah as the “wise woman” from Abel of Beth-maacah , the Rabbis develop this minor biblical personality into the undying "Wise Old Woman" of Jewish legend and folklore.”
There’s another heroine, with a much more tragic story, coming up in our story. May we honor all the heroines of yore, and now, and lift up the voices that help us minimize violence and terror, victimhood and war.
Meaningful, Delicious, joyful Purim, with no violence and lots of love.
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The etymology of "metropolitan" is fascinating!
And given that my Hebrew name is Asher, I have long had a delight in Sara-bat-Asher midrash, but this one is new to me. Ahh the rewards of this hitch-hiker's guide to the Bible. Avanti!