So I signed up for the blog to ask this question as every other expert has ignored me haha. The membership tier said bart answers ALL questions. If there’s a place specifically for that, I couldnt’ find it so maybe he does it here? If not please direct me to the right place!
So I’m writing a graphic novel about the bible from an atheists perspective and critiquing it as a guide for morality and running a good society and some of it’s characters and stories. I have a whole one of the ten books devoted to women’s issues and the bible. I’m mostly trying to address the bible, what it just says and also how christians understand it. I do delve into what scholars like bart understand about the bible but not a ton as i don’t think a christian audience would recognize the book at all from a historical context.
For part of this story what I want to know is during first or second temple judaism, was it possible for a woman to be independently wealthy through inheritance? Reading the bible seems to reinforce what bart says about the role of women during this time. Women were the property of a man, who’s ownership would be transferred to another man, her husband. In the book of ruth it seems women can’t own property via inheritance and had to find a male relative to take it who would then acquire the woman along with it.
Let’s say there was a scenario where A woman marries. Her father dies and she has no male siblings or family, then her husband and his father die at the same time and they have no living family (This is the scenario in my story.). Her husband was a somewhat wealthy land owner with some sizable herds. Where would that money and property go with no relatives to pass it on to?
Were women even permitted to work AT ALL in this society? The bible seems to speak of treatment of widows as paramount to the health of society which makes me wonder if they would be simply destitute by law or culture without a man to provide for them. Possibly because they weren’t permitted to work I wonder?
If i could get an answer on this it would be incredibly helpful. I know in the new testament there are some wealthy women but i’m unsure if that’s just a function of them being married to a wealthy man.
Seedy go to the RECENT POSTS page and post under any of Prof Ehrman’s blog entries in the response window. Doesn’t have to be on the subject of his particular post. He does answer questions.
My understanding is that in a rigidly patriarchal culture like ancient Israel, women’s sphere of influence was confined to the domestic realm. They would have organized and run the household. For the rich that would have been a big job. But most people weren’t rich.
Thank you for responding. When i looked at the recent posts I saw there’s the Gold Q&A where you ask questions and he will answer them but as a silver member i’m not even allowed to view these.
So I just ask my question as a response to anything recent he posts i guess? That’s great if so.
And yeah i get most people weren’t wealthy but there were land owners and property owners like Boaz in the book of ruth. For the sake of my plot i’m trying to figure out if there’s ANY circumstance where a woman could be independently wealthy via the scenario I described. Not even necessarily rich, but comfortable and without want for the rest of her life.
It’s not the end of the world if I can’t make this happen. I could simply have her have a brother who becomes the inheritor if it would have just passed onto the next male relative and have her brother just be a decent guy who allows her to reap the benefits of this transaction or something. I would just have to make sure I write that in later.
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