When we met Deborah the prophet in Jud 4:4-5, she was sitting under a palm tree, communing with the word of God and adjudicating laws for people. And she is able to deliver the Israelites. Now, however, YHVH has to send a prophet/angel to dig up a deliverer. And what does the angel/ YHVH find? Gideon, whose father is faithfully worshipping at the altar of Baal and the wood of the Asherah. Gideon bewails his poor family and insignificant birth and repeatedly requires YHVH to provide signs that YHVH is truly a God. Are these mighty miracles like the plagues and the parting of the Sea of Reeds? (remember, these are the signs and wonders that cause even non-Israelites like Rehav to be in awe of YHVH). No. The first sign is that YHVH causes the food that Gideon prepares to go up in flames. This is enough to embolden Gideon to accept his first task: tearing down his father’s alter to Baal. But when YHVH asks Gideon to engage in battle, Gideon requires further proof. First dew on the fleece and dry on the ground, and then dry on the fleece and dew on the ground.
Chapter 7
YHVH will prove zir (not a typo – this is a non-gendered pronoun in common use) might by winning the next battle with only 300 warriors. This will prove that the conquest is a miracle from YHVH’s hands. Gideon, true to form, will not lead the battle until he has yet one more sign from YHVH. This comes in the form of being led to overhear a dream and its interpretation by the enemy (Jud 7:13-14). This seems like a parody of dreams like Joseph’s. A barley cake tumbles into the Midian camp, rolls into a tent, turns it upside down and leaves it flat. By this, the Midianite knows that he has seen the sword of Gideon, into whose hand YHVH has delivered the Midianites. I think anyone would know that a cake of barley is like Gideon’s sword and indicates they will lose a battle.
So, there is a battle, with horns and torches, and the enemy running around turning their swords on each other. Again we have this parody-like, humorous event which suggests the low level to which humanity has fallen.
Chapter 8
Nevertheless, Gideon gets credit for saving the Israelite’s from the dreaded Midianites. (This is sort of sad, though. Remember, Zipporah, wife of Moses, was a Midianite, as was her father, the righteous Jethro). The men of Israel ask Gideon to rule over them (Jud 8:22). He refuses, saying that YHVH will rule over them.
Note, the root for rule is m-sh-l. If they asked him to be king, the root would be m-l-k. In Deut 33.5, it says that YHVH will be melek in Jesrun.
Gideon, rather than ruling, gathers up the gold which the Israelites took as booty and makes an ephod. In and of itself, this would not seem to be a bad thing to do, but the text says this will be a snare to Gideon’s house (Jud 8:27). We pondered over the word snare. Mokesh. Turns out to mean lure or bait – elsewhere associated with covenanting with the people of the land and worshipping their gods (see Ex 34:12). So even though an ephod is part of the priestly vestments, the text indicates Gideon makes a mistake creating the ephod. Perhaps because he doesn’t have a priest at hand? When we study Micah and his priest, perhaps this will be illuminated.
As chapter 8 ends, Gideon dies and he people go astray again. They will forget to honor his house. (Jud 8:35).
·Judah appears to be in the ascendency here. In their territories, they smite the enemies, except for the inhabitants of the valleys, who have the chariots of iron (Jud 1:19).
·The Benjaminites, by contrast, are not able to drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem.
·Jud 1:24-25 reminds us of Rahav – the house of Joseph deals kindly with the city dweller who shows them the entrance to the city – they spare him while smiting the rest of the city.
·Apart from Judah, most of the tribes fail to drive out all the inhabitants.
·Jud 2 – The angel of YHVH appears, carrying the voice of YHVH. The angel upbraids the Israelites for not obeying YHVH. They make covenant with the people of the land and fail to break down their alters. The people cry and make sacrifice to YHVH. The word atonement is not used, but this is basically what happens. They follow the covenant until Joshua dies.
·Jud 2: 10-
·But after Joshua dies, a generation arises which knows not YHVH and the children of Isreal do what is evil in the eyes of YHVH, following other gods and provoking YHVH. Jud 2:10-20 outlines this trope, which will be repeated throughout the next 14 chapters.
·Chapter 3 we meet Eglon and Ehud – a comic story, but indicative of the theme of Judges: we do evil, YHVH raises up a leader/judge who “saves” us for a while, we do evil again. Eventually we no longer can be “save” by a judge and when we get to the end of Judges, we will be asking for a king to be given to us.
·Note that Ehud does his job well. Jud 3:29-30 there is a mighty killing of the Moabites and we have 40 years of rest.
On January 3rd we discussed the prose version of the story of Deborah, Barak, Sisera and Jael.
On January 17th we discussed Chapter 5, the song version, which also includes Sisera’s mother.
The Song version differs from the prose version in several ways.
o Barak is presented differently. He is mentioned as a singer, but otherwise not highlighted. § It is not told that Barak, by being helped by a woman, will have no honor or glory, no right to boast about his deed.
§Jael does not present the murdered Sisera to Barak.
oThe story of Jael is shorter – the murder is told forcefully.
§She is not shown as enticing Sisera into her tent.
§She appears to murder Sisera while he is still on his feet
oThe Song of Deborah has many points of connection with the Exodus story, including the theophany on Mt Sinai (an appearance of a god to a human; a divine manifestation), as well as the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (prose and Song of the Sea).
§God is presented in God’s manifestation as a force of nature in the Song of Deborah (the stars and heavens direct the battle, Judg 5:20, the Wadi Kashon sweeps away the warriors, Judg 5:21), whereas in the prose version (Judg 4:23) we see God as superhuman warrior, on the field of battle. For comparison, see Ex 14-15 where God is shown as both warrior and force of nature.
§At the Sea of Reeds and at the Wadi Kashon, God as force of nature overwhelms the horses (and chariots) of the enemy. See Song of the Sea, Ex 15.5 and prose version Ex 14:26-28 in comparison to Judg 5:21-22.
§In Judges 5, the prophet is Deborah; in Exodus 14-15, the prophet is Moses. It is worth while discussing what this difference may mean.
§Like at Mt Sinai (Ex 19:16-19), when God appears in the Song of Deborah, the earth trembles and the mountains quake (Judg 5:4-5).
oJudg 5 includes the story of Sisera’s mother, which is not recounted in Judg 4. Judg 5 opens with a mother (Deborah, mother in Israel) and closes with a mother (Sisera’s). [there is a closing paean to God]. In reading Judg 4, we wondered why Jael’s story was told, and why she had to kill Sisera. Now in Judg 5, we wonder why the story of Sisera’s mother is included. Perhaps because she is such a contrast with the triumphant, prophetic singer, Deborah. Sisera’s mother is a tragic mother, looking out for a son who has already been murdered. But she is also gloating over the fact that Sisera will abduct one or two wombs (yes, wombs = racham, rachematayim) and will despoil the losers.
Heads up on scheduling: In February we will start to study the rest of the judges, chapters 1-3 and chapters 6-12. We will study chapters 17-21 in the Spring. My plan is to start I Samuel in the Fall, so that we can read the Hannah Narrative (I Sam 1-2) for Rosh Hashanah. Between the end of Judges and the beginning of I Samuel, we’ll do some special topics. If the timing is right, we may study Ruth right before Shavuot. In the Christian Bible, Ruth is placed between Judges and I Samuel which is a good location in terms of time.
On January 3rd, we discussed the prose version of the story of Deborah, Barak, Sisera and Jael. On January 17 we will discuss Chapter 5, the song version, which also includes Sisera’s mother. We will be looking for ways in which the story is told differently in prose and poetry.
We noted that women in Judges 4 (Deborah and Jael) have considerable agency. Perhaps this is true in times of war generally. Specifically, a society without structure, as shown in Judges, is known to provide opportunities for women and men of low standing. Carol Myers, an archeologist who makes use of ethnographic studies, discusses this in her writings about Israelite women in Iron Age Palestine (Discovering Eve, Ancient Israelite Women in Context). It is succinctly put by Leila Leah Bronner : “The lack of a hierarchical structure allowed men like Gideon and Jephthah, who were of low social standing, to achieve considerable political stature. In the same way, it appears some women were also able to rise to positions of authority.” (A Feminist Companion to the Bible: Judges, pg 73).
Names are meaningful. V 4.4 is most often translated Deborah, wife of Lappidot. However, the Hebrew is “woman of lappidot” or “lappidot woman”. The same word is used in Hebrew for both wife and women, ish, and the meaning needs to be derived from context. I quote Bronner again, regarding “woman of lappidot.”“The phrase should be understood literally as ‘woman of flames.’ This is a very apposite epithet, for Deborah was an ‘inflamed and inflaming’ woman in her own right, as a fervent and charismatic personality, and the term fits her without any need to connect her to a husband.” (ibid, pg 78). We had a lively discussion about whether it made a difference if Deborah did or did not have a husband.
Thanks to Sam, we have found out the meaning of Jael. Jael is what the Bible calls the wild goats of Ein Gedi (I Sam 24.3). Perhaps the name refers to Jael’s daring, perhaps to her providing Sisera with milk which may have well been goat’s milk?
We looked as Sisera’s death.
Q: Did Sisera have to die, and if so, why?
Q: Why did Jael kill Sisera?
I proposed that the prose version foregrounds God as a warrior and shows little of God as a miracle worker. It was pointed out that the killing of the Canaanites did depend upon a miracle. This is a rich discussion which will gain clarity when we look at how God is portrayed in the Song of Deborah, Ch 5.
I proposed that much of Chapter 4 pivots around the shaming of two men: Barak and Sisera. Barak is directed to conquer King Jabin, but will not do so without bringing Deborah with him. In the end Sisera is killed by the hand of a woman: Jael.
Q: Is this smart planning, or does this shame Barak because a woman does his work for him?
Q: Is it shameful for Sisera to be killed by a woman?
Q: Is it shameful for Barak that Jael has to kill Sisera for him?
It was noted that our concept of shame might not be appropriate for interpreting this story. The word boshet, Hebrew for shame, appears in many places in the Bible, but does not appear next to either Barak’s name or Sisera’s. Deborah says that if Barak insists upon Deborah accompanying him, the trip will not be for his honor (4.9). The word used is tifereth, which means glory or beauty, also honor and greatness (referring to a monarch). BdB says that in Ju 4.9 tifereth means “”glorifying, boasting.” So perhaps it is accurate to say that by being helped by a woman, Barak will have no honor or glory, no right to boast about his deed.
Chapter 4 closes with lauding the destruction of Jabin, king of Canaan (vv 23-4). It opened (v2) with God giving the Israelites over to (selling them to) this same Jabin. The opening and closing of a chapter are significant. Note that additionally Ch 4 opens with Deborah (v 4), but closes with Jael (v 22).
Q: Ponder the messages being given by each of the opening/closing pairs.
Samson starts out (vv. 1-2) spending the night with a zonah, with a harlot. Except that, true to his nature (he can’t seem to connect with women in a sustained way), he jumps up in the middle of the night (v3), grabs the doorposts of the Philistine city, and carries them 35 miles up the mountain to Hebron. Score one for Samson as he shames the Philistines who were plotting against him. From here it is all down hill.
Samson loves Delilah (v 4) – the only women he loves. It’s not clear if Delilah is Philistine or not, but her Philistine friends lean on her to help them capture Samson. They want to degrade him (afflict him – also “make him helpless” – not a good translation). The verb used here (v 5 and 6) is ahnah (‘nh) [there is another ‘nh meaning answer]. We see the same verb used in Jud 16:19, as well as Gen 16.6 (Hagar) Gen 34.2 (Dinah), Jud 19.24 (wife and daughter), Jud 20.5 (Levite’s pilgesh).
Q: Why does Samson attract women who get him into trouble?
Q: Why does Samson give in to Delilah, when he knows the end result will be capture? See v 16 “his soul was vexed unto death,” or “he was wearied to death.” Was he tired of living? Tired of being nagged?
Q: Would Delilah have been a heroine to her people?
The Philistines capture Samson and make him “grind in the prison house” (“become a mill slave in the prison”) (v 21). See Job 31:9-10 “let my wife grind for another.” Job says that if he lied, he is to be punished by having his wife grind for another. (Note that degrading the wife is hardly a fair treatment if Job is the liar.) Grind stones, or be ground by a man, it’s ambiguous. That same ambiguity applies to Samson grinding. He is indeed degraded at this point.
In vv 25 and 27 Samson is required to “make sport,” or “dance.” Tzachak – same root is used when Ishmael sports with Isaac (Gen 21.9), similar to the name Yitzak (Isaac).
What does Samson accomplish as a judge? He judges Israel 20 years. In the entire time, the Philistines rule the Israelites (this continues until the time of Saul). In death Samson avenges his two eyes. God helps Samson to kill more Philistines in his suicide mission than he slew in his life (v 30). Samson is a tragico-comic creature, not at all the strong man of popular legend.
Q: Why is the story of Samson so prominent in the book of Judges, taking up 3 chapters?
Q: What does the story of Samson say about the relationship between humanity and God?
Though the story of Samson’s birth has commonality with the biblical births of heroes, it is somewhat comical and might predict that as a hero, Samson will not be up to snuff. In this light, what does it mean that Samson was an involuntary Nazirite? He did not take on the role of deliverer which seemed to be thrust upon him. Remember, too, that a Nazirite was not a hero in the Bible. Rather, a person who chose to set him/herself apart from the community. Sacrifice was required in order to return. Being apart from community was not an end in itself. As a heroic ideal, a reluctant Nazirite falls short.
The Philistines, in this story, are the rulers over the Israelites. While Samson kills some of them, he never leads the Israelites in battle to win over them. He is the last of the Judges and despite 20 years in this role (15:20), he does not conquer the enemy.
14:4 A bit ambiguous – is it God or Samson who is seeking an occasion to stir up trouble with Philistines?
14:5-6 Samson tears apart a lion – echoes of Hercules and Gilgamesh
14:19 The spirit of YHVH comes upon Samson and he kills 30 Philistines whom he has tricked into betting with him on a riddle. Then Samson goes back to his father’s house, leaving behind the women whom he had married. What a triumph!
15:6 Who suffers when Samson sends foxes with torches on their tails to burn the Philistines’ corn and olives? The Timnite woman and her father are burnt. Why is the woman a victim here? Note that the Timnite woman was enjoined by her compatriots to plead with Samson for the answer to the riddle of the lion. She did not have any choice against 30 men. (14:15) The pattern of coercion of woman will repeat with Delilah.
15:10 The men of Judah deliver Samson up to the Philistines. This is a really sad example of a hero-Judge. Judah give up Samson because the Philistines are about to attack them.
15:14 The spirit of YHVH comes upon Samson and he bursts his ropes and manages to smite 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass. How big is such a jawbone we wondered?
15:16 In the first instance, Samson does not credit God with his victory
15:18 When Samson is about to die of thirst he calls upon YHVH, who revives him with water. God rescues Samson more than once, but his final prayer, as we shall see in Chapter 16, is for strength to carry out a suicide mission.
Recap of Joshua, Introduction to Judges, Study of Judges 13 (Manoah’s wife and birth of Samson)
Key points to remember about Joshua
The people are set apart and defined by
Covenant – focus on covenant is central to Joshua
Circumcision and Passover mark entry into land – two traditions that became defining practices of Judaism
Cherem = proscribing the natives
Prominence of Ark of Covenant along with priests, altars and sacrifices – foreshadows centrality of synagogue Ark.
Review verses:
23:11-13 – The Israelites must observe the covenant or YHVH will not drive out the inhabitants of the land
24:14-28 – Israelites affirm the covenant. Joshua ends with people in compliance with God’s commandments.
Intro to Judges
Judges is a collection of newer and older material, much folklore and tales as well as remnants of historical material. The stories are arranged by the redactor to present a theological pattern. Judges shows human failures and chaos of life – the inability to follow the covenant. Cherem (proscription) is not an issue in Judges.
Manoah’s Wife: Judges chapter 13
A question was raised regarding 13:25 “The spirit of YHVH began to move him.” This is poorly translated in the modern JPS as “The sprit of YHVH first moved him.” The word “began” is tachel. The root is ch.l.l. That is חלל The root has a couple of quite different meanings. According to BDB, It can mean to profane, but in hiphil it also means “to begin to.” “To begin to” is the meaning here. You will find this root in the following places in Judges: 10.18, 13.5, 16.19, 16.22, 20.31, 20.39, 20.40. You may remember that in 13.5 the text said that Samson would “begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” The modern JPS translates this as “shall be the first to deliver Israel from the Philistines.” Not a good translation, as Samson does not deliver Israel but only begins to deliver. Delivery from the Philistines will be a long time in coming.
The story of Manoah’s wife and the birth of Samson is similar to many of the other birth-of-hero stories. Compare to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Hannah, who were all barren and gave birth to heroes. There are some significant differences.
·Manoah and his wife never asked for a child, whereas in all other cases wife (Rachel and Hannah) or husband (Abraham and Isaac) prayed to God for a child.
·Manoah has no lineage – no last name. He is not son of X, son of Y, son of Z. He is identified as belonging to a family, but not a tribe. All the other men are fully identified.
·Manoah’s wife has no name. For a woman not to have a name is not unusual, but all of the above-mentioned mothers of heroes do have names and we have quite a bit of history on Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel.
·There is an undertone of birth without Manoah taking part. Only the angel and Manoah’s wife seem to participate. Contrast Sarah (but my husband is so old), Rebecca (Isaac prays for her), Rachel (to Jacob, “give me a child or I will die”; plus she and Leah are constantly maneuvering with Jacob to father the 13 children); Elkanah goes in to his wife after Hannah has prayed to God.
Manoah keeps getting sidelined. The angel of God visits his wife, and when Manoah asks God to send a messenger to him, the angel is again sent to Manoah’s wife. Manoah repeatedly fails to see that the visitor is an angel, until the food goes up in flames (13.20). Manoah and his wife both recognize that the visitor is an angel of God, but Manoah is terrified and afraid he will die. His wife, with great common sense, reminds him that the visitor came to announce the birth of Samson, not to kill them.
Though the story of Samson’s birth has commonality with the biblical births of heroes, it is somewhat comical and might predict that as a hero, Samson will not be up to snuff. On November 15 we will indeed see if Samson is hero material.
BDB = Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
After an introduction to Judges, including its relationship to Joshua, we’ll dig in to the narrative of Delilah and Samson including the following
Manoah and his wife (parents of Samson)
the Timnite woman and the zonah of Gaza
Reading Judges 13-16 prior to class is recommended.
Through close reading and active discussion, we will explore the intersection of gender and politics. Later sessions will study Deborah the judge, Gideon,
Jephthah and his daughter, the Levite and his wife,
the Benjaminites and the daughters of Shiloh
Neither prior text study nor knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Being on time is requested. Feel free to bring brown bag dinner, snacks, wine.
Please bring your own Tanakh (Bible).
JPS Tanakh is Hebrew and English – no commentary
JPS Study Bible is all English – includes good commentaries
After High Holy Days we will complete Joshua in one sitting and get right into Judges. Format will be more like the summer classes. We will not go through the book verse by verse, but will focus on a few notable people, ideas and events. We will meet on 1st and 3rd Mondays with occasional skips or reschedules for holidays. More details later. I look forward to getting back in study mode!
After the last class, Sam wrote, saying: I have a feeling that skin color must have “meant” something in Biblical times; there may be no way to figure out what it was. In the Song of Songs, while the female narrator calls herself “black and beautiful,” in the very next sentence, says “Don’t look at me as black,” and then goes on to say that she’s just tanned from sitting out in the vineyards. What’s that about?”
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Here is some research into that question. No answer is being given, just material for thought. Maybe too much material.
There verses to which Sam is referring are in Chapter 1: 5-6. Here is the JPS Tanakh translation
The classic book on Song of Songs is the Anchor Bible series volume 7C by Marvin H. Pope, 1977, which is both translation and commentary. Here is Pope’s translation (he uses the labels a, b, etc for ease of commentary)
5
a Black am I and beautiful
b O Jerusalem Girls
c Like the tents of Qedar
d Like the pavillions of Salmah
6
a Stare not at me that I am swart
b That the sun has blackened me.
Here is a translation by Chana and Ariel Block (1995). They aim for a reasonably literal but more literary and poetic translation.
5 I am dark, daughters of Jerusalem,
and I am beautiful!
Dark as the tents of Kedar, lavish
as Solomon’s tapestries.
6 Do not see me only as dark:
the sun has stared at me
Here is a translation by Marcia Falk. She creates a poetic translation that captures her interpretation and is often quite far from literal. Because of it’s non-literalness, it’s hard for her translation to add to the current discussion, but it’s interesting.
Yes, I am black! and radiant –
O city women watching me –
As black as Kedar’s goathair tents
Or Solomon’s fine tapestries
Will you disrobe me with your stares?
The eyes of many morning suns
Have pierced my skin, and now I shine
Black as the light before the dawn.
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Verse 5a: Black and beautiful, vs black but beautiful
The conjunctive ve- most commonly means “and”. It is less frequently used to connote the adversative meaning = “but” (Bloch).
The Blochs suggest that the language is ambiguous and that the maiden could be either apologizing for her blackness or boasting of it.
Both JPS translations take the adversative meaning “but.”
Pope, Blochs and Falk chose “and.”
The JPS may be heavily influenced by rabbinic interpretation. Regarding this verse, the Soncino Song of Songs Rabbah [redacted circa 550 CE] translates “ black but comely” and the interpretation is adversative, saying “I am black through my own deeds, but comely through the works of my ancestors,” and “The Community of Israel said: I am black in my own sight, but comely before my Creator.” Also, “R. Levi b. Haytha applied this verse in three ways. ‘I am black all the days of the week and comely on the Sabbath; I am black all the days of the year and comely on the Day of Atonement; (I am black through the Ten Tribes and comely through the tribes of Judah and Benjamin;) I am black in this world and comely in the world to come.’
Rashi (11th century) follows this interpretation and furthermore expounds the rest of verse 5 saying “If I am black as the tents of Kedar, which are blackened by the rain, for they are constantly spread out in the deserts, I am easily cleansed to be like the curtains of Solomon.” In other words, the maiden may be black, but she can be cleansed. In Rashi’s view, black AND beautiful do not go together.
Pope points out that black shows up as a positive color in several biblical verses:
healthy black hair as opposed to yellowish diseased hair (Lev 13:31,37) – when the black hair grows back in, it is a sign of health;
the locks of the lover are “black as a raven” (SoS 5:11);
Zech 6:2-6 – there are 4 chariots representing the 4 winds and each has a different color horse. The black horse represents the north wind. “Those that went out to the regions of the north have done my [God’s] pleasure in the region of the north.” None of the other chariots is mentioned.
In some cases black is opposed to ruddy/white and appears to be the antithesis of health. In Lam 4:7f, whiteness and ruddiness represent health and purity while those who have debased themselves have faces blacker than soot. Pope interprets that this opposition only applies in a case where the healthy normal skin would be ruddy/white, but “has no meaning with respect to innate blackness which has its own beauty.” That is, he claims the blackness is not innately “bad” but rather a sign of loss of normal color.
Verse 5c: tents of Qedar
Pope: Qedar = tribe of Northern Arabia, connected with one of Ishmael’s sons. Pope says that in rabbinic usage, the term is applied to Arabs collectively. The root qdr carries the idea of darkness.
Blochs: the tents of the nomadic Bedouins were typically made of the wool of black goats.
SoS Rabbah says: “Just as the tents of Kedar, although from the outside they look ugly, black, and ragged, yet inside contain precious stones and pearls, so the disciples of the wise, although they look repulsive and swarthy in this world, yet have within them the knowledge of the Pentateuch, the Scriptures, the Mishnah, the Midrash, Halacoth, Talmud, Toseftas and Haggadah.”
don’t stare at me because I am swarthy (JPS Tanakh)
look not upon me that I am swarthy (JPS 1917 – this is the most literal)
stare not at me that I am swart (Pope)
do not see me only as dark (Blochs)
Pope says that al-tiruni [don’t look] has no hint of envy or disdain – it is non committal. Blackness, he says, is striking and beautiful but not necessarily a cause for envy. He translates “stare,” I believe, in the sense of look intently but neutrally
Shecharchoret, translated here as swarthy, swart or dark, is a hapex legomenon [biblical word that appears only once in it’s form]. It is taken as a diminutive of black.
Blochs consider this verse to be an admonition not to see the maiden in only one aspect, that is, not only as black.
SoS Rabbah says that “the sun of idolotry may have tanned us [Israel], but you [other nations] are swarthy from your mother’s womb; for when a woman is pregnant she goes into her idolatrous temple and bows down to the idol along with her child.”
Rashi interpets “Do not look upon me disdainfully…because I am swarthy, for my blackness and my ugliness are not from my mother’s womb, but from tanning in the sun, for that blackness can easily be whitened by staying in the shade.” That is, according to Rashi, the maiden is not idolatrous (black) from birth, but represents Israel, which can be whitened by moving out of the sun.
Verse 6: That the sun has blackened me (shezaphatni)
Pope: shezaphatni might come from two different roots: szp = see, look at; sdp = blasting or scorching of grain by the east wind. So it could mean, “the sun has looked upon me,” or “the sun has scorched me.”
The Blochs translate “has stared at me.” They point out that shazaph outside of SoS is used in Job as “look upon” or “catch sight of,” when the eye is the agent. If sun is the agent of sight, the meaning is secondarily “tan” or “sunburn.’ In modern Hebrew szp is used only for sunburn.
Summary
We have gathered very little Biblical evidence, through interpreting SoS 1:5-6, that “black” in the Bible carries a negative connotation. That does not mean it is not there, as our search has been limited. The negative connotation is, however, pronounced in the Midrash and in Rashi. Both rabbinic sources identify blackness with something bad, which can, and hopefully will, be washed away.
Pope, in his discussion on SoS 1:5-6, says that although Rashi “apparently had difficulty conceiving that our lady could be both black and beautiful…in another connection…Rashi overcomes his melainophobia and goes to some trouble to demonstrate that black is beautiful.” Pope refers to Rashi on the Cushite women, which is where we began investigating the connotation of “black” in the Bible. It’s worthwhile looking at what Rashi says regarding Num 12:1. Following is Pope’s translation.
The Cushite woman.
This teaches that everyone acknowledged her beauty, just as everyone acknowledged to the blackness of the Cushite.
Cushite
Rashi proves by Gematria that black is beautiful by showing that numerically, “Cushitess” = “good-looking.”
I further found the following (http://www.tachash.org/metsudah/m03r.html#ch12 )
For, he married a Cushite woman.
What does the Torah teach? You find a woman beautiful in appearance but not beautiful in deed; in deed, but not in appearance. But this one was beautiful in everything.[explaining why the repetition, “because he married a Cushite woman.” To teach that she was beautiful in both deed and appearance.]
The Cushite woman.
Because of her beauty, she was called “Cushite,” like a man who calls his attractive son “Cushite” to ward off the power of the evil eye over him.
