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

242 | WOMEN AT WORK IN THE DTRH
Thus, one finds confirmation here that occupations were passed along from
father to son; perhaps also from mother to daughter. Otherwise we hear about
consumption (people bathing and using oils, women perfuming their beds, and
so forth) but not much about its production, neither domestic nor industrial.
This rich tradition of ointment and perfume consumption involves women
and men, rich and poor, in the sanctuary and in everyday life, including skincare,
ritual anointing, medicinal use and burial preparations. 15 Olive oil, animal
fat, and aromatic herbs were used by everybody, while other oils and fragrances
(sesame, acacia, spikenard, almond, and others) are also attested in Syria,
Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Somalia. These were articles of commerce and a sign of
royal wealth, as also attested in Ezek 27:22. Likewise, pigmenting and cosmetic
products were expensive. Technically they are not perfumes but were also
produced (according to Graham), by the “Judean ‘plowmen’ or workmen” who
were also responsible for perfumes. 16 Frankincense and myrrh were also used in
medicine, since their many properties for diverse ailments are well-known in
Greco-Roman sources. 17 And, according to Song 4:10, 14, also for pleasure.
Since there were so many different uses and locations for ointments and
cosmetics, from everyday household needs to luxury items, professions related
to perfume- and ointment-making must have been rather common, starting from
nursing the different plants needed or collecting and drying them, processing
them for fragrance and getting to a quality end-product. Because of such a
specialization in the Iron Age II, some scholars think workers ascribed to these
jobs were not corvée laborers, but permanent specialized people who worked all
15 Concerning the use of perfume or frankincense in the temple see Exod 25:6; 30:22–25; 37:29; Lev
2:1–15; 24:7; Num 5:15; 1 Chr 9:29–30; Neh 13:5–9; Ps 45:9; as “beauty” product see Isa 3:24; Esth
2:12; Cant 4:14–16; 5:1; 6:2; 8:14; Prov 7:17. Spices are also mentioned on the occasion of the
burial of King Asa, 2 Chr 16:14 for the preparation of his corpse and among the treasures shown by
Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20). See also C. Rabin, “The Song of Songs and Tamil Poetry,” SR 3 (1973/4):
205–19; Athalya Brenner, “Aromatics and perfumes in the Song of Songs,” JSOT 25 (1983): 75–81;
Moshe Elat, “The Monarchy and the Development of Trade in Ancient Israel,” in State and
Economy in the Ancient Near East, 2:527–34.
16 Nira Karmon & Ehud Spanier, “Remains of a Purple Dye Industry Found at Tel Shiqmona,” IEJ
38 (1988): 184–86 report about archaeological findings also in the Northern territory.
17 Cf. Gus van Beek, “Frankincense and Myrrh,” in The Biblical Archaeological Reader (ed. D.
Freedman & E. Campbell, Jr.; Garden City: Doubleday Anchor, 1964), 2:114–5 (frankincense, little
used in cosmetics, very much used in burners, in temples and houses); 2:116–7 (myrrh, used much in
cosmetics and for corpse preparation, and in medicine). According to Dorothea Bedigian’s and Jack
R. Harlan’s abstract, “Evidence for Cultivation of Sesame in the Ancient World,” Economic Botany
40 (1986): 137–54), “New evidence suggests that the Mesopotamian oil plant še-giš-Ì is sesame, and
that the crop and one name for its oil, ellu, were introduced from India. A cuneiform text indicates
that the barley harvest [in spring] was followed by the sowing of še-giš-Ì, a summer crop in
Mesopotamia. Sesame can be distinguished clearly from flax, a cool-season crop, and their growing
seasons differ as would be expected.” Cited 9 January 2011. Online: http://www.springerlink
.com/content/t083363t84120143/.