Women at Work in the Deuteronomistic History - International Voices ...

154 | WOMEN AT WORK IN THE DTRH
this would be an example in which the woman’s honor is related to her sexual
purity. 105
Using תוהמא in an Argument
The story of Michal’s confrontation with David (2 Sam 6:16, 20–23) needs to be
seen in the light of David’s rising at the expense of Saul’s falling dynasty, of
which Michal is one of the last survivors. The ark is finally coming to
Jerusalem, and the procession dances and celebrates, with David at its head.
Michal observes his behavior from a window and despises him, and as soon as
David comes in, she tells him how shameful his behavior was, exposing himself
in front of the וידבע תוהמא, the female servants or slave women who belonged
to David’s male servants. David responds that they understand better what is
happening than she does. Both Michal and David use “תוהמא” for a
comparison, to press their point, both taking for granted their lowly status. The
question is whether their lowly status is an ideological construct or social reality.
Since Michal brings it up and David uses it for his own response, the question
one has to ask is what kind of contrast Michal intended. 106
Largely due to their own ideas on purpose and structure of the books of
Samuel, scholars are divided as to the relation of verses16 and 20–23 to the rest
of the chapter. In the canonical text v. 20–23 serve as epilogue to the location of
YHWH’s ark at Jerusalem, yet they may very well have had an independent
origin. P. K. McCarter takes a moderate position on the traditio-historical
aspects of this pericope.
In view of its editorial function ... and its present inclusion in the
Deuteronomistic assemblage of materials in 5:11–8:18, it is safest to think of it
as part of an ancient document—perhaps affiliated with the original story of
David’s rise, perhaps not—taken up by a Deuteronomistic writer precisely
because of the thematic link it provides in the larger narrative. 107
Frank Crüsemann sees the origin of the story in a joke that laughs at
David’s problems with women, but which is innocuous enough not to seriously
threaten him. 108 He calls attention to the wordplay between the verbs ללק and
possibilities. But the point is to recognize that there were several occasions in which a woman could
be induced to sex or raped and then her future marriage possibilities were smashed.
105 It is true also that Lev 21 forbids priests to marry certain women; so perhaps some of those
proscriptions were the reason she became a שׁגליפ and המא and not an השׁא,
wife.
106
The parallel story in 1 Chr 15 gets only to Michal’s disparaging in her heart. I deal with this text
as evidence for musicians and performers in chapter 5.
107 P. Kyle McCarter, 2 Samuel (AB. Garden City: Doubleday, 1984), 188.
108 Frank Crüsemann, “Zwei alttestamentliche Witze: I Sam 21 11–15 und II Sam 6 16.20–23 als
Beispiele einer biblischen Gattung,” ZAW 92 (1980): 225 considers that since the last word favors
David against Michal in his view of how to be glorified, the origin of the joke has to be in a group