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

178 | WOMEN AT WORK IN THE DTRH
Her story shares a common theme with that of the matriarch Rachel:
delivery of a son, the woman/en attending comfort her with the announcement
of the son’s birth, the mother names the son and dies. 39 The main differences are
that Rachel is having her second son, who will be Jacob’s favorite (‘Do not be
afraid; for this one is also a son’ ןב ךלהז־םג־יכ יארית־לא, Gen 35:17),while
Phineas’s unnamed widow seems to be delivering her only child. The second
difference is the theological statement put in her lips, as a foil to Rahab’s earlier
statement on God’s power—only that this time it is not a foreigner and that
power has departed from the land. Still a third difference is the use of different
terms to refer to those attending the woman in labor. Rachel is helped by one
midwife, תדלימה while Hophni’s widow has attendants around her, תובצנה
הילע. Even a cursory reading of these similar stories shows attendants fulfilling
the same tasks for the woman about to deliver. There is, however, more to say
about this circumlocution for “midwife” in 1 Sam 4.
The Constructions םיבצנה and תובצנה40 The verb is a nip`al plural participle of בצנ, on whose meaning dictionaries
agree:
The basic sense of the Niphal stem of nācab is well illustrated in God’s order to
Moses to “stand (i.e., station himself) by the river’s brink” to meet Pharaoh (Ex
7:15) .... The Niphal ptc. with the article occurs in Ruth 2:5, designating a
certain servant ‘that was set over’ the reapers.
The passive sense of the Niphal is more evident in those cases where stand is
equivalent to “be stationed” by appointment or in fulfillment of duty. Hence we
find Samuel “standing as appointed over” (`ōmēd niccāb) the company of
prophets, in I Sam 19:20. The participle is used as substantive, “deputy,
prefect,” in I Kgs 4:5,7, and 27 [H 5:7], 45:16 [H30]; 9:23; II Chr 8:10. The
usage in I Sam 19 indicates the verb naşab has a more specific, technical
connotation than its synonym `amad. 41
This quotation looks at three very important and related characteristics of
this verb: to station oneself to fulfill a task, to be appointed in fulfillment of
duty, and to be a prefect. All of them point to responsibility and duty in the face
39 See S. Schäfer-Bossert, “Den Männern die Macht und der Frau die Trauer? Ein Kritischer Blick
auf die Deutung von ןיא – oder: Wie nennt Rahel ihren Sohn?,” in Feministische Hermeneutik und
Erstes Testament: Analysen und Interpretationen (ed. H. Jahnow et al. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer,
1994), 106–25.
40 See also chapter 1 on the different combinations of “person” + participle.
41 Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (ed. R. Harris, G. Archer, Jr., & B. Waltke; Chicago:
Moody Press, 1980), II.591; GK III.675, “sich hinstellen,” “hingestellt sein, stehen,” and “fest sein”;
BDB, 662, includes to station oneself and to take one’s stand for a definite purpose,” as discussed in
chapter 1.