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| La Casta Susana- Juan Manuel Blanes: Source |
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Reading Notes
Bible Women Part B
As previously mentioned, the women of the bible are incredibly interesting to me. I would like to spotlight them as often as possible since they so seldom have their own moment. The women's stories in this reading are Bathsheba, Esther 1, Esther 2, Esther 3, Susannah, Mary and Elizabeth, Mary and Anna, Herodias, and Martha and Mary. For this blog, I will be focusing on Susannah from the book of Daniel, because to me, she had the most interesting story. I thought her story also conveyed the erasure that many biblical women faced, for example, the opening paragraph introduces her in part to a man, "There dwelt a man in Babylon, called Joacim: and he took a wife, whose name was Susanna, the daughter of Chelcias, a very fair woman, and one that feared the Lord. Her parents also were righteous, and taught their daughter according to the law of Moses" (Susannah). This story is supposed to be hers, yet she is being written about in conjunction with a man and her family. Her story is truly difficult to read, as what she experienced is exactly the sort of thing that many biblical women faced during this time period. The young Hebrew woman was essentially blackmailed to have sex with two elders, they claimed that they would accuse her of adultress behavior is she did not give them what they wanted. This story was in Babylon during the first exile of Jewish people, so it adds another difficult contextual layer. A young Daniel stops this interaction, luckily, but contributes to the fact that a man had to save the woman in the story. Overall, I am shocked that I never heard of this story until now, but I am glad I got the opportunity to read about Susanna(h)'s story.
Bibliography:
King James Bible, Bible Women
Book of Daniel, Susannah
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