Sunday, January 16, 2022

Proverbs 8 as Potential Evidence for a Divine Feminine in the Hebrew Bible

Addressing the personification of "wisdom" in the book of Proverbs, Thomas C. Römer notes that

 

In Proverbs 8, Hokmah presents herself in the same way as does Yhwh (and the other gods): אֲֽנִי־חָ֭כְמָה (compare HEB). She is said to have been created by Yhwh in the beginning (‎יְֽהוָ֗ה קָ֭נָנִי רֵאשִׁ֣ית; Pr 8:22), but she precedes the creation of the world; she is even presented as Yhwh's craftswoman. This is a possible translation of Proverbs 8:30: 'I was beside him as a craftsman' (‎וָֽאֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶצְל֗וֹ אָ֫מ֥וֹן). The fact that the vocalisation אָ֫מ֥וֹן is unusual and that the word is masculine has led to variants in manuscripts and translations, like 'little child' or 'constantly'. But the idea of a goddess who assists the creator God, makes sense and reminds of the Egyptian couple Ra and Maat. Hokmah is also presenting herself as 'delighting (‎‎מְשַׂחֶ֖קֶת) Yhwh all the time', an activity that also belongs to the duty of a wife towards her husband. That means that Proverbs 8 re-associates a feminine figure with Yhwh. Speculatively, one may also ask whether this association explains the plural that the creator God is using in Genesis 1:26: 'Let us make humankind (אָדָ֛ם) in our image.' This humankind is then created male and female (Gn 1:27), which suggests in a way that the image reflects a male and a female god. (Thomas C. Römer, "Yhwh, the Goddess and Evil: Is ‘monotheism’ an adequate concept to describe the Hebrew Bible’s discourses about the God of Israel?Verbum et Ecclesia 34, no. 2 [2013]: 3)