Women's settlements in the Old Testament

Abstract

This article attempts to collect and evaluate women's settlements in the Old Testament. The stories that include women's settlements are taken from Genesis and other books to broaden the perspective. In a detailed reading of the Old Testament, many examples can be seen where women are connected to a settlement mentioned. These texts can be divided into different groups and subgroups and where these groups settle. The sanctuaries and the places around the temple form a separate group because it is often difficult to tell whether the shelters are inside or outside the settlement. However, only the settlement is dealt with in this work. As a result, the research has shown that the women were mainly indoors or at least in the protection of a settlement, which could be displayed in many texts from the Old Testament. The women briefly portrayed in some examples of this work have their own houses and earn their living. They can move freely in the cities. They often take an active part in what is happening, show initiative, help to ward off enemies and rebuild buildings and walls. However, in some passages in the text, the opposing sides of this freedom of movement are shown. Women in the ancient Orient were more tied to the house or the living space assigned to them the higher their social position was. The upper-class women had servants who did the work outside so that these women rarely came into contact with the outside world.

Keywords

• women
• old testament
• gender

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