Pilagsim in the Deuteronomistic History: Colonialism, Immigration, Repatriation, and Indigenous Populations in the Persian Period

2020·1.6 MB·English

by  Leah K. Laird

Claremont School of Theology

Pîlagšîm in the Deuteronomistic History:
Colonialism, Immigration, Repatriation, and Indigenous Populations in the Persian Period

A Dissertation Submitted to
the Faculty
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies

by
Leah K. Laird

Claremont, California
February 2020
To my parents.
All of you;
you know who you are.

ii
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v

ABBREVIATIONS vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
Stating the Problem
History of Biblical Scholarship
Summary of Chapters

CHAPTER 2: GROUNDWORK 18
Methodology

CHAPTER 3: THE LEXEME: שׁגליפ/PÎLEGEŠ 44
Part of Speech
Sex and Gender
Universal Meaning of שׁגליפ/Pîlegeš
Predecessor and Antecedent Biblical Texts
שׁגליפ/Pîlegeš in the Deuteronomistic History

CHAPTER 4: HISTORICAL CONTEXT/SITUATION IN LIFE 86
Persia's Role in the Composition
The History of the Formation of the People and the Nation Israel
The Beginning of DtrH
CHAPTER 5: THE PILAGSHEAN RIBBON WITHIN THE DTRH 111
The Pilagshean in Shechem
The Pilagshean Wife from Jerusalem
Rizpah, Daughter of Aiah
The Pilagshean of Jerusalem
The Three Hundred Pilagshean

CHAPTER 6: READING THE PILAGSHEAN RIBBON WITHIN THE DTRH 146
IN ITS POSTEXILIC CONTEXT

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 171

GLOSSARY 177

BIBLIOGRAPHY 183

iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my family and friends: Grandma Laird, Mom & Dad, Mike, John, Adrian, Erich,
Tanya, Liz & Bert, Rose, Loren, Diane & the Miller family, Leslie, Sheila, Nathan, Sara, Lydia,
Daphne, Sally, and Jess (and so many more new and old); instructors and professors: Endelecia,
Sally, Alex, and Nelli, Athena, Donnie, Chris, and Mignon; and my committee: Jon L. Berquist,
Tammi J. Schneider, and Jeffrey K. Kuan.

Leah K. Laird
February 20, 2020

v
ABBREVIATIONS

1-2 Chr 1-2 Chronicles
1-2 Kgs 1-2 Kings
1-2 Sam 1-2 Samuel
AOTC Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries
AB Anchor Bible
ABRL The Anchor Bible Reference Library
ACCS Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture
AIL Ancient Israel and Its Literature
ANE Ancient Near East
ASV American Standard Version
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
BWANT Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament
BLS Bible and Literature Series
Bib Biblica
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BibInt Biblical Interpretation Series
BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
BDB F. Brown, S.R. Driver, and C.A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the
Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
CANE Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. Edited by Jack M. Sasson. 4 vols. New
York, 1995. Repr. in 2 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006
CEB Common English Bible
CEV Contemporary English Version
COS Context of Scripture
Deut Deuteronomy
Dtr Deuteronomist
DtrH Deuteronomistic History
EIr Encyclopædia Iranica
ESV English Standard Version
vi
Esth Esther
Exod Exodus
Ezek Ezekiel
Ezr Ezra
FCB Feminist Companion to the Bible
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
Gen Genesis
HMS Harvard Semitic Monographs
HB Hebrew Bible
HALOT Köhler, Ludwig, Walter Baumgartner, M. E. J Richardson, and Johann Jakob
Stamm (eds.). The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. [1st
English Ed.] Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994.
HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual
HCOT Historical Commentary on the Old Testament
IVBS International Voices in Biblical Studies
IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching
Jer Jeremiah
JBR Journal of Bible and Religion
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies
JJS Journal of Jewish Studies
JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Josh Joshua
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplemental Series
Judg Judges
KJV King James Version
Lev Leviticus
LAI Library of Ancient Israel
LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
MTSR Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
Neh Nehemiah
NASB New American Standard Version
vii
NIDB New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld. 5
vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 2006–2009.
NKJV New King James Version
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
Num Numbers
OTL Old Testament Library
PRDtr The person(s) who collected, adjusted, and inserted the Pilagshean Ribbon into
the DtrH
PRDtrH Pilagshean Ribbon within the Deuteronomistic History
PT Pîlegeš Thread(s)
PTDtrH Pilagshean Thread(s) within the Deuteronomistic History
PTGen Pîlegeš Thread(s) within Genesis
LXX Septuagint
SHBC Smyth & Hewlys Bible Commentary
SBL Society for Biblical Literature
Song Song of Songs
SBL Society of Biblical Literature
SBLStBL Society of Biblical Literature Studies in Biblical Literature
SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck
and Helmer Ringgren. Translated by John T. Willis et al. 8 vols. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1974–2006 [reprint 2011-].
VT Vetus Testamentum
VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum
WBC Women’s Bible Commentary
WBC Word Biblical Commentary
Zech Zechariah

viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

STATING THE PROBLEM

When approaching the Hebrew text alongside English translations the word שׁגליפ/pîlegeš
appears ambiguous. In Hebrew it is an adjective or gerund that only appears in masculine form,
but is most often translated as “concubine,” vulgarly understood to mean “female sex slave,”
though by no means a dictionary definition for the word. It is a word used for females in a
subordinate position, except when it isn't used for females or denoting a necessarily subordinate
position. It is only used as a signifier of a sexual relationship, except when it isn't. The offspring
of a person labeled as such are excluded from inheritance, except when they aren't; and its use is
consistent across the whole HB, except that it isn't. My thesis in this work is that שׁגליפ/pîlegeš is
a word that began as a dehumanic and was eventually adopted by the people as an epithet.
This becomes clear when reader biases are stripped away concerning those labeled
שׁגליפ/pîlegeš. What follows is a meticulous and methodical study of the term שׁגליפ/pîlegeš with
the purpose of uncovering definitions for the word that are appropriate to the context of the texts
in which it is found. The primary focus here is to define this term’s use within the
Deuteronomistic History (DtrH)/Former Prophets and retranslate and interpret these pericopes in
light of the proposed definition. In order to perform this task to the best of my ability, I have
applied non-binary hermeneutics and the study of dehumanics (both introduced and defined in
chapter two) to the texts that house this term. Secondarily, I do a shorter exegetical study of the
intra-biblical passages in which שׁגליפ/pîlegeš appears in order to show the etymology and
development of the term outside of the DtrH.
1
The result being that the dehumanic שׁגליפ/pîlegeš, should be roughly translated as
“savage” or “barbarian” in its earliest appearances;1 as the demonym Pilagshean in the Former
Prophets, Song of Songs, and Esther; and finally, as concubine in the Chronicles. Initially this
dehumanic, was applied to the indigenous populations of the western and southern Levant by the
migrating Babylonian Jewish community. It was appropriated by the Persian Period indigenous
population of Yehud for self-identification, then went out of use for a period of time.
Diachronically its last use in the Hebrew Bible (HB) appears in Chronicles, wherein “concubine”
is a legitimate translation of the term.

HISTORY OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP
While this dissertation, does address every occurrence of the term in the HB, my primary
concern is its use within the DtrH and the history of scholarship reflects this focus. There are five
threads associated with the DtrH Pilagshean Ribbon (PRDtrH - specifically in Judges through
Kings). Not all scholars treat the term with the same amount of regard. Some scholars lump them
together with the השׁא/’îššāh; some scholars translate שׁגליפ/pîlegeš as "concubine" or "secondary
wife" without extended discussion of שׁגליפ/pîlegeš; and some scholars offer analysis of the word.
In the first two instances presumptions trumped curiosity leaving שׁגליפ/pîlegeš unaddressed. The
latter treatment offers examples of how several scholars have given varying degrees of attention
to the mystery surrounding the term שׁגליפ/pîlegeš including the social implications of the
position it is thought to represent. Each of these scholars specialize in certain criticisms;

1 Barbarian: defined by James C. Scott, "'barbarian' and it's many cousins – 'savage,' 'wild,' 'raw,' 'forest
people,' 'hill people' – are terms invented in state centers to describe and stigmatize those who had not yet become
state subjects." Scott, Against the Grain, 221. In its use in the biblical texts, it carries the meaning “un-genealogize.”
Savage: “not domesticated or under control … lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings,”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savage.
2