historical perspectives: from the hasmoneans to bar kokhba in light ...

64 TAL ILAN
embedded in Sifre Deuteronomy? They would probably have idealised
the reign of the queen to such a degree only some time after its termination,
when things began to go really wrong from their point of
view and when the past seemed suddenly ideal. However, it could
not have been composed very much later, when the rule of the
queen had already faded into the mists of the forgotten past. I would
claim that the early Herodian period would serve such a date well.
This date is not so far removed from the date of composition assigned
above to the pesher on Hosea.
Further, it is interesting to note that although the editors of Sifre
Deuteronomy included the midrash on Shelamzion in their composition,
it does not really fit into the general ethos of this compilation.
The editors of Sifre Deuteronomy did not approve of queenship, as
another midrash in the book suggests: "You will set a king over you"
(Deut. 17:14)—a king, not a queen" (Sifre Deut. 157). In favour of this
being an editorial statement it is useful to note that Sifre Deuteronomy
in general used this gender-exclusionist exegetical strategy all along:
Deut. 1:13 states: "Choose wise understanding and experienced men
according to your tribes and I will appoint them as your heads."
On this statement the midrash inquires: "[why did the text say] men?
Would we have assumed women?" Obviously not. Deut. 13:12-13
reads: "If you hear in one of your cities . . . that certain base men
have gone out among you" and the midrash adds, "men, not women."
Deut. 17:15 reads, "You may not put a foreigner over you," and
the midrash adds, "One appoints a man to supervise the public but
one does not appoint a woman to supervise the public" (Sifre Deut.
157). Deut. 21:15 reads, "If a man has two wives . . . and they have
borne him sons," the midrash comments, "sons are discussed in this
Torah, not daughters" (Sifre Deut. 215). Verse 17 in the same chapter
reads: "for he is the first issue of his strength to
which the midrash notes: "his strength and not the strength of a
woman" (Sifre Deut. 217). Verse 18 reads: "If a man has a stubborn
and rebellious son," on which the midrash instructs "a son, not a
daughter" (Sifre Deut. 218). Verse 22 maintains "If a man has committed
a crime punishable by death . . . you hang him on a tree,"
to which the midrash responds "The man is hanged but the woman
is not hanged" (Sifre Deut. 221). Deut. 23:4 states: "No Ammonite or
Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord," and the midrash continues:
"A Moabite man, not a Moabite woman; an Ammonite man,
not an Ammonite woman" (Sifre Deut. 249). Verses 7-8 continue in