Fool’s Gold

Then Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife. David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives. 1 Samuel 25:42-43 NASB Wife – Number 2 and Number 3. Of course, we all know…

Me, Myself and Us

 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.  Genesis 2:25 ESV Wife – Scholars have known for a long time that the Hebrew word for woman, ishshah, is not etymologically related to the Hebrew word for man, ish.  We made an observation about this when we noticed that Adam changes…

Switch

The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23  NASB Man – Something odd is happening in this story about the first man.  Up to this point, the word used for “man” is adam.  God…

Communal Identity

“May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel!”   Ruth 4:11 NJPS Woman – Who are you?  That’s the question that faces Ruth when she enters the Bethlehem community.  First, she is a Moabite, a foreigner, an outsider.  Even…

Playtime

“For this shall be called woman because this has been taken out of man.” Genesis 2:23 Woman – Word play is an essential part of the structure of Hebrew. We have commented time and again about the ways that Hebrew communicates without punctuation. Using the same or similar consonant structures is just one way that…