From Texts of Terror – Phyllis Trible

“3 sets of passages constitute leitmotifs: the suffering servant songs of 2 nd Is, the passion narratives of
the Gospels, and the Eucharistic sections of the Pauline Epistles but with unfamiliar applications.
Women, not men are suffering servants and Christ figures…Scripture interpreting scripture undercuts
triumphalism and raises disturbing questions for faith.” 2-3

“To tell and hear tales of terror is to wrestle demons in the night, without a compassionate God to save
us. In combat we wonder about the names of the demons. Our own names, however, we all too
frightfully recognize.” 4

Hagar Egyptian Slave Woman – She was wounded for our transgressions; she was bruised for our
iniquities

-knowledge of her has survived in bits and pieces only, from the oppressor’s perspective at that.” 9

“What the deity has prevented, Sarai can accomplish through the maid whose name she never utters
and to whom and to whom she never speaks…Hagar is an instrument, not a person.” 11

No mighty patriarch is Abram, but rather the silent, acquiescent, and minor figure in a drama between
two women.” 11

“In the hand of Sarai, with the consent of Abram, Hagar becomes the suffering servant, the precursor of
Israel’s plight under Pharoah. Yet no deity comes to deliver her from bondage and oppression; nor does
she beseech one.” 13

“The Egyptian maid is the first person in scripture whom such a messenger visits.” 14

“For the first time (16:8) a character speaks to Hagar and uses her name. The deity acknowledges what
Sarai and Abram have not: the personhood of this woman. Yet the appositive, “maid of Sarai” tempers
the recognition. 15

Hagar then speaks for the first time. 15

“God here identifies with the oppressor.” 16

“I will greatly multiply your descendents…While all the patriarchs of Israel hear such words, Hagar is the
only woman ever…and yet…lacks the covenant context.” 16

“Hagar doesn’t call upon the name of the deity…Instead, she calls the name…a power attributed to no
one else in all the Bible.” 18

“Neither Hagar nor Sarai but Abram has a son whom he names Ishmael. Patriarchy is well in control.” 19
–THIS MAKES ME THINK OF THE FATHER ABRAHAM SONG.

“The words of Sarah anticipate vocabulary and themes from the Exodus narrative…Hagar continues to
prefigure Israel’s story even as Sarah foreshadows Egypt’s role. Irony abounds.” 21

God sides with Sarah 21

“To minimize Abraham’s relationship to Ishmael, God calls him “the lad” rather than “your son”.
Moreover the deity describes Hagar not as “your wife” but as “your slave woman”. 21-22
When Pharoah cast out the Hebrew slaves to save the life of his firstborn, God was on their side to bring
salvation from expulsion. By contrast, the deity identifies here not with the suffering slave but with her
oppressors. Hagar knows banishment rather than liberation.” 22

Hagar knows not exodus but exile. 23

Through the pronoun she, Hagar becomes the subject of active verbs for the first time in this scene. If
banishment is not liberation, nevertheless, it moves her toward personhood.” 23

“When speaking to Hagar about her child, God never uses the noun son or the adjective your. 26

For the last time she appears as a character in the Hebrew Bible, and for the first time she is called
mother. 27

She is the first person in scripture whom a divine messenger visits and the only person who dares to
name the deity…the first woman to hear an annunciation, the only one to receive a divine promise of
descendants, and the first to weep for her dying child. 28

TAMAR Princess of Judah – a woman of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 36

“Though the king visited Ammon, David dispatches a message to Tamar. No familial language relates
father and daughter-only two commands that impel disaster (13:7) – 42

AN UNNAMED WOMAN Concubine from Bethlehem – Her body was broken and given to many. 64

“No male is to be violated. All males, even the wicked ones, are to be granted their wishes. Conflict
among them can be solved by the sacrifice of females. 74

Same with Lots situation by the way

“Rules of hospitality in Israel protect only males. 75

“Further, in neither of these stories does the male host offer himself in place of his guests. Constant only
is the use of innocent and helpless women to guard and gratify men of all sorts. 75

In 19:26 Judges “For the first time since the beginning of the story, the lone female is the subject of
active verbs, though she is no longer a subject with power to act. Instead, she is the violated property of
the master who betrayed her. 77

Of all the characters in scripture she is the least. 80

“They meant to kill me, and they ravished my concubine, and she is dead.” Omitted altogether is the
contribution of the Levite, who had seized and given her to the men. By the crime of silence he absolves
himself.” 82

“This time the daughters of Shiloh must pay the price. To gratify the lust of males, the men of Israel
sanction the abduction of two hundred young women as they come out to dance in theyearly festival of
Yahweh (21:23). In total, the rape of one has become the rape of six hundred. Entrusted to Israelite
men, the story of the concubine justifies the expansion of violence against women. 83

THE DAUGHTER OF JEPHTHAH VIRGIN IN GILEAD – My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken her? 92
Jephthah mourns for himself not his daughter 101

And throughout is all God says nothing. 102

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jephthah is explicitly named as one “who through faith conquered
kingdoms, enforced justice…escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became
mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight (11:32-34RSV) Jephthah is praised; his daughter forgotten.
Unfaith becomes faith. Thus has scripture violated the ancient story, and yet that story endures to this
day for us to recover and appropriate. 108