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Pharaoh, the king of ancient Egypt, is often depicted wearing the nemes headdress and an ornate kilt. Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is the time of year when one can expect to see the 1956 epic movie The Ten Commandments airing somewhere on network or cable channels available to viewers worldwide. So far its appeal has managed to endure, as it is currently listed number ten of the top ten epic movies produced.

Wikipedia says, “The Ten Commandments is one of the most financially successful films ever made, grossing over $65 million at the U.S. box office. Adjusting for inflation, this makes it the sixth highest-grossing film domestically, with an adjusted total of $1,025,730,000 in 2012.^[2] The box office website “The Numbers” lists the domestic gross at $80 million.^[1]

While Cecil B. DeMille was obviously good at making a blockbuster movie, he was also good at embellishing the facts with his own imagination and interpretation. For instance he introduces the storyline of a fictional romance—that Moses loves Nefritiri, the throne princess who must marry the next Pharaoh. The Bible does not even hint at such a thing.

DeMille assigns names to some of the characters, possibly based on the prevailing scholarly opinion of the time: Rameses II as Pharaoh, and Bithiah, as the princess who rescued Moses. But when one reads the account of Moses in the opening chapters of Exodus, such details are noticeably missing. Instead the reader encounters shadowy figures made comprehensible only when placed against the cultural tableau of their time.

The next posts will explore the lives and environment of several personalities, including six women who appear in the Moses story, in an attempt to add, if possible, a personal dimension to these otherwise inscrutable silhouettes.

To barter is to do business by exchanging one thing for another. Words related to barter are trade, switch, swap, bargain and haggle. Ancient Israel, like most countries then, had a monetary system of exchange alongside a bartering system. A barter economy “usually exists parallel to monetary systems” of exchange.[1] So men and women in Israel purchased things with coins, exchanged commodities, negotiated services and gave offerings in coins, agricultural products and animals.

There are a number of Old Testament accounts that feature swapping, bargaining and haggling. Jacob was a “premier bargainer.” He had a knack for making favorable deals for himself—a birthright; passage to Syria; a wife; flocks; protection. Jacob’s ultimate deal-making experience must have been wrestling with God for a blessing (Gen. 25:32-33:16).

One husband and two sisters

Jacob’s sons and wives picked up his bargaining ways. It was only natural because Jacob “played favorites” with his wives and children. He had at least twelve sons, one daughter named Dinah and possibly more unnamed daughters, but he loved Joseph more than the other children. He married two sisters and had two concubines, but he loved only one of the four, Rachel. It’s not surprising that relationships in Jacob’s family were more competitive than cooperative.

On one occasion the sisters argued over some mandrakes Leah received from Reuben. Because mandrake roots resemble a human torso, the plant was associated with magic rituals and superstition. Mandrakes belong to the Nightshade family (Atropa mandragora) and are poisonous. Depending on how much of the plant is ingested, the toxins therein can cause nausea, vomiting, paralysis, delirium, hallucinations, memory loss, personality disorder and death.

In spite of their dangerous side effects, mandrakes were thought to arouse sexual desire and promote conception, so the two wives both wanted them.

Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

 But Leah said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

 “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”

 This agreement did not work out the way Rachel hoped. She did not get pregnant through Leah’s mandrakes (Genesis 30:14-21). However, the negotiation between Leah and Rachel is a good example of two women making a bargain using an agricultural product in place of cash.

There are four other women from the Old Testament who made significant non-cash transactions. Three of the women were diplomatic and daring. One of them was deceptive and fearless. All four succeeded in getting what they wanted.

 Hannah

After years of dealing with the shame and humiliation of being barren, Hannah turned the matter over to God in the form of a vow.  Her declaration was a promise to God that if He did something for her, she would do something for Him (I Samuel 1:11).

Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”

 God, knowing all that Hannah had been through and having a high purpose in mind, blessed her with a son. When Samuel was weaned, Hannah fulfilled her part of the agreement and presented him at the Temple for service to the LORD.

Tamar 

Judah and Tamar (1840 painting by Horace Vernet) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tamar’s husband died before they had children. Her father-in-law, Judah, told Tamar to remain a widow until his son Shelah was old enough to marry her. Judah broke his word, though, and didn’t arrange the marriage. So Tamar disguised herself as a harlot, and negotiated sex with Judah in hopes of becoming pregnant within her husband’s family (Genesis 38:16-19).

Judah said, “Please let me come in to you” for he did not know she was his daughter-in-law.

 So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

 And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”

 So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

 Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

 So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.”

 Tamar conceived and gave birth to twins, and Judah confessed his guilt. Their encounter was illicit, but their conversation is an example of a negotiation using personal articles of identification—signet, cord and staff—rather than money.

Abigail

When Abigail heard that David planned to kill the men in Nabal’s household, she placated his anger with a lavish gift of food—enough to feed his army. She followed up with a humble appeal to David’s honor and his exalted position in God’s eyes. She asked that David leave vengeance to God, that he accept the food and that he disregard Nabal’s offense (1 Samuel 25:32-35).

Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed is the LORD God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand…so David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person.”

English: Esther Before the King (Est. 5:1-8) Русский: Есфирь и Артаксеркс (Эсф. 5:1-8) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Esther

 Because of Haman’s plot to exterminate the Jews, Esther was forced to negotiate for the lives of her people. But she first had to gain access to the king, the ultimate decision-maker in Persia. She called a fast among those sympathetic to her purposes and rolled out a daring plan. Once Esther had the king’s attention, she put him at ease by hosting two banquets in his honor. When he was relaxed and unperturbed, Esther made a dramatic plea for life (Esther 7:3-4).

Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.”

 The king granted Esther’s request and arranged for Haman’s plot to “return on his own head” (Esther 9:25).

Women find ways.  ♦ Mary Hendren

Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land;  but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  Luke 4:24-27

Bad news to a bad king

Delivering a message to Ahab, King of Israel, was not a job for cowards. Especially when it was bad news! Elijah the Tishbite[1] stood[2] boldly before the one who provoked Israel’s God more than any king before him, and proclaimed: “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Then he left.

His first recorded commission complete, the prophet followed the word of the LORD’s direction, making his way to the Brook Cherith,[3] some twenty-five or more miles from Samaria. Morning and evening, glossy-feathered ravens[4] miraculously delivered bread and meat to satisfy his hunger, and water from the brook slaked his thirst. As the drought worsened, the vital stream dwindled to a trickle until finally its precious liquid vanished.

Into pagan territory

The word of the LORD came again to Elijah: “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there” (v.9). Elijah did not question his new instructions, but he must have considered their ramifications. This town, seven miles south of Sidon on the Mediterranean coast,[5] was under the rule of a Baal-worshiping king, Ethbaal, who happened to be Ahab’s own father-in-law; and it was undoubtedly immersed in the heathen practices that Israel’s God loathed.

Bartholomeus Breenbergh – Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath – WGA3154 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It took some time to travel to Zarephath, perhaps several days, and when he arrived, Elijah was thirsty and hungry. The LORD had already made provisions: “….I have commanded a widow woman there to provide for you” (v.9). Entering the city, he encountered the widow, just as promised. When he called to her with his astonishing request—water and bread in the midst of a punishing drought—she immediately set about tending to his needs.

Some of the larger fresh streams possibly still flowed enough for her to fetch a little water, but having enough on hand to provide a “morsel of bread” was quite another matter. “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar,” she answered. “….See, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die” (v.12).

Not so, Elijah countered. “’Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth’” (vv.13-14).

Rejuvenated by these words of hope, the widow was quick to believe. She was not disappointed. Her bin of flour never ran out, and her jar of oil never went dry for as long as He withheld rain from the wicked land.

Not the end of the story

As if enduring famine was not enough, the widow faced another devastating blow. Her son fell ill, so ill in fact, he died. Turning to Elijah, she cried in her anguish, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” [6] 

English: Elijah Raises the Son of the Widow of Zarephath (1Kings 17:1-24) Русский: Пророк Илия воскрешает сына вдовицы Сарептской (3Цар. 17:1-24) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The prophet, himself deeply affected by her loss, took the child’s limp body, and carried him to his own bed in the loft. Then he stretched himself upon the boy three times, beseeching God, “O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him” (v. 21). God answered. Her precious boy revived. When Elijah brought him to his distraught mother, alive, she said with reverent conviction, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth.”

God reigns supreme

What a testament to God’s power and mercy within the precincts of a city steeped in Baal worship—not only to His ability to sustain life, but to restore it! I feel certain there were two fewer idolaters in Zaraphath after that day, and that Elijah, the true prophet of God, was not without honor there, at least in eyes of this poor Gentile widow.

My apologies to you the readers of WomenfromtheBook Blog who have found no new posts for several days. Due to some serious health issues in our family, I haven’t been able to devote any time to this blog. Mary and I will have to discuss how to go on from here. As we are taking it day by day, future posts may be rather sporadic for awhile.

Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to having our blog back on a regular schedule hopefully in the very near future.

Flowers are common subjects of still life paintings, such as this one by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ordinarily a trip to the bazaar was enjoyable. The general liveliness of buying and selling was a rich social experience. On the day of Jesus’ death, however, women grieved as they purchased burial spices.

Joseph of Arimatea
http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pietro_Perugino_012.jpg

 Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus made the body of Jesus ready for burial. Nicodemus brought one hundred pounds of blended aloes and myrrh, sufficient for the burial. They tucked the aromatic resins into strips of linen as they wrapped the body. They laid Him in a garden tomb (Matt. 27:57-60, Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-54, John 19:38-42).

Why did the ladies buy additional spices after the men had prepared Christ’s body? Because Nicodemus and Joseph had to work quickly before sunset beginning the Holy Day, perhaps the women wanted to add spices that were not included in the initial wrapping.  Those spices may have been cassia, spikenard, balsam and sweet marjoram, all of which had to be processed before being applied to the body. Scripture indicates that the women were knowledgeable and capable of doing this work.

The making of burial blends, personal perfumes, anointing oils, incense, ointments and creams required skill and patience. Spices (woody material, roots, berries, bark, seeds) required grinding and/or heating in oil or water. Ready-to-use oils could be “imported from Phoenicia in small alabaster boxes,”[1] but they were expensive. Aromatic resins from gum trees were sold as chunks for grinding into powders. These were combined to make incense or infused into oil and fat for skin softening.

Women used oils for cosmetic purposes and to mask unpleasant odors. They sprinkled fragrances on bedding, clothing and furniture. On festive occasions, hosts anointed guests with scented oil. Women used herbs and spices to flavor food and to make medicines, salves, restoratives, aphrodisiacs, and sedatives. Ladies burned pellets of resin “in cosmetic burners…and the resulting incense-smoke would act as a fumigation for both the body and the clothes. ”[2]

Perfume recipes in Edfu temple (Photo credit: robertpaulyoung)

Egyptian tomb carvings show citizens enjoying perfume in a manner that did not seem to be popular in Israel. “When a party was being held, servants placed cones of perfumed grease on top of the heads of arriving guests. The cones would melt as the party progressed providing a pleasant scent.”[3] One writer states that only “singers, dancers and prostitutes” wore the grease cones.[4] Others believe the cones pictured in the relief carvings were symbolic of pleasure and that no one was ever really a “cone head.”—Mary Hendren

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

John 3:1-10

The fragrance was incomparable. When Mary opened the alabaster flask and warmed the oil in her hands, it released an evocative perfume that filled the supper room. Spikenard! Judas recognized it immediately—warm. musky, sweet and spicy.

Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?

 A good question, if it had been asked with a pure motive. Judas, however, was a thief and his only interest in oil was converting it into cash—for himself. The poor would never have seen anything from it.

Jesus knew the heart of Judas but chose to answer his question.

Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.

Whether Mary sensed Christ’s impending death and selected one of the embalming oils to anoint His feet, scripture does not say. Christ knew, however, and credited Mary with an act of devotion that anticipated His burial.

 Judas estimated the oil was worth a year’s wages. As treasurer of the group, he knew the value of commodities. Perfumes were especially expensive because many of their components—spices, herbs, flowers, fruits and resins—were imported from Arabia, China and India.

Spikenard “is one of the most precious spices of the Bible. The Hebrew for it is nerd; and the Greeks called it nardos.”[1] Spikenard, Nardostachys jatamansi, is a flowering plant that grows high in the Himalayan Mountains. The rhizomes (underground roots) of the plant are highly aromatic and are the principal part of the plant used in making incense and perfume.

Illustration of Nardostachys grandiflora (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today it’s likely you can find tiny bottles of steam-distilled spikenard in health food stores. As an essential oil it is touted for many beneficial properties: sedative, laxative, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, deodorant. Like many other essential oils, spikenard has both medicinal and aromatic properties.

It’s possible to make the oil at home in the manner done in Mary’s day.  Roots (rhizomes) of the Nardostachys jatamansi plant are mashed and then steeped in olive oil for several days. At the end of the steeping period, the fragrant oil is poured through cheesecloth to separate it from the plant material. The finished oil is stored in dark bottles to protect it from chemical changes caused by light. The challenging part of making the oil at home is getting the spikenard roots, although there are dealers online that sell the raw materials for compounding biblical incense.

With the hundreds of scents and perfumes available today, I wonder if we would appreciate the ancient fragrance?

I think we would. I think it would remind us of a priceless life once given.—Mary Hendren