The Virgin Sacrifices of the Bible

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the gender roles in the Bible, analyzes the stories of Jephte's daughter and the sacrifice of the virgins. It compares the Bible's attitude towards men and woman, specifying the different roles each were given and how these effect people's attitudes today.

From the paper:

"Many of the passages that address gender in the Hebrew Bible expressly identify the masculine principle with that which is acceptable unto God, and the feminine with that which is fit for shame and secretiveness. For example, the monthly bleeding of a woman makes her unclean, and anything which she may touch. Sexual intercourse with a woman shall make a priest temporarily ineligible to enter the presence of God, and women themselves may never enter the tabernacle. Miriam, the sister of Moses, is stricken with leprosy for her forwardness. Deborah, one of the only female leaders of the Jewish military, exclaims that her active role casts shame upon the Jewish people. Sacrificial animals include both males and females of the species, though it is significant that only the firstborn males of both humans and animals are to be dedicated specifically to God -- females, before the divine, being again nearly invisible. Indeed, this invisibility to the divine goes so far that when a religiously ordered census was made from time to time of the Jewish people, only the males were counted."

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