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It's a question you've probably not thought much about, but were any parts of the Bible written by women? We count about forty different writers in scripture, and according to the usual assumption, all of them were men. Among the reasons for that conclusion is the fact that the dominant culture of the ancient Middle East was patriarchal. Men were in charge, and women had few rights of their own, not unlike in some of the stricter Muslim countries today. Also, in those times, literacy rates for women were low, because they were not offered formal education.

There is, however, at least one modern literary critic who suggests that a woman wrote parts of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Although tradition attributes the authorship of all five of those books to Moses, most biblical scholars from the nineteenth century on have subscribed to an idea of authorship called the "Documentary Hypothesis." That holds that the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy were not written as integrated documents but were assembled and interwoven by an editor from four free-standing sources that no longer exist. Since we have no idea what these were called, scholars label them J (for Jehovah, or Yahweh, which is the name that text uses from God), E (for Elohim, that text's name for God), D (for Deuteronomist), and P (for Priestly, a writer concerned in part with instructions for the Hebrew priests).

Now this is all a theory, mind you, but when you study the arguments in favor of it, it makes a good bit of sense. And, by following the vocabulary and style differences in each strand, it is possible to do some untangling and make an educated guess about which material came from which earlier source.

All of that leads us back to the claim of one literary critic that a woman wrote part of the Pentateuch. That critic is Harold Bloom, who in his book, titled The Book of J,1 claims that the ancient J source was composed -- and very admirably at that -- by an anonymous woman. As one piece of evidence, Bloom points out that the women in the J strand, including Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachael, Tamar, and Zipporah, are all strong figures, while none of the men in the J strand, including Abraham, Jacob, or Moses, comes off that well.

Well, it's an interesting theory, but I don't suppose we will ever know for sure. But now consider today's Old Testament text. Although it is a highly complimentary passage about a good wife, I'd be willing to bet that no woman wrote it. That's because the hypothetical wife and mother it describes is such a superwoman that no single human being could possibly achieve everything she supposedly does. Frankly, her list of attributes sounds more like a shopping list of qualities a man might look for in a wife, but it's hard to imagine any woman in her right mind who would describe the wife-mother role in such a way as to make it impossible for any woman to live up to it. This woman in Proverbs not only manages her household with alacrity, but she rises in the middle of the night with cheerful energy to begin preparing food and direct her house staff. She makes the clothing for her family and for herself, as well as extra garments that she markets and sells to local merchants, does charity work for the poor, finds time to handle some real estate transactions, and then plant vineyards on the land she has acquired. Through all of this, she homeschools her children in kindness and religion, keeps up her spirits, and behaves with such decorum that she is a good reflection on her husband, who, instead of helping out at home, is free to take his seat among the elders (a sort of ancient equivalent of spending time at the golf course).

Now, I ask you women who are present here today, would you want to marry some guy who had expectations like that for you? Surely this chapter was written by a man!

In fact, it reminds me of some lines someone gave me some time ago that had been torn out of some church's newsletter. I don't know who the author was but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that this was written by a man, too. It's not very good poetry and the meter and rhyming are a bit erratic, but I think you'll get the point. It is titled, "Think you're busy today?"

Grandma on a winter's day:
milked the cows, slopped the hogs, saddled the mule and got the children off to school,
did a washing, mopped the floor, cooked a pan of homegrown fruit, [and then she] pressed Dad's Sunday suit,
swept the parlor, made the beds, baked a dozen loaves of bread,
split some firewood and brought in enough to fill the kitchen bin,
cleaned the lamps and put in oil, stewed some apples she thought might spoil,
churned the butter, baked a cake, then exclaimed "For goodness sakes,
the calves have gotten out of the pen," and went and chased them in again.
The fence fixed, she gathered eggs, closed the stable, went [inside and] set the table,
cooked supper, which was delicious, and afterwards washed up all the dishes,
fed the cat, mended socks, sprinkled the clothes, combed her daughter's locks
and then opened the organ and began to play "When you come to the end of a perfect day."

Yeah, well, I bet she didn't think it had been a perfect day.

Of course, in taking this critical view of Proverbs 31, we are judging it by standards that weren't considered in the time in which these verses were written. To be fair, we should also look at the context of the whole book of Proverbs where the overall topic is wisdom, which in the scriptures is often portrayed as female. Then, too, in earlier passages in Proverbs there has been reference to the beautiful wife who is "without good sense" (Proverbs 11:22), the "contentious wife" (Proverbs 21:9, 19), and the "loose woman" (Proverbs 22:14). In contrast to them, this woman of Proverbs 31 is wisdom personified.

And though the description of this woman may seem to be from a masculine viewpoint, let's give Mrs. Proverbs her due for what the male observer does notice about her: He sees that her husband and children have a deep trust in her; that she takes good care of her family; that she is smart, strong, and dignified; that she enhances her husband's reputation; that she speaks openly about her faith; and that she helps those in need.

We still have to note that while the male observer concludes, "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all," he is only saying that she is first among women; he does not measure her against men. And when viewed through the more enlightened understanding of our time, it doesn't feel right to define a woman primarily by how well she serves others.

It does, however, feel right if we are willing to apply that definition to all of us. Consider Mark 9:33-37 for example. There, Jesus discovered that his disciples had been arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. He said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." In other words, what should be a hallmark of all Christians is that we are defined by how we serve others.

Jesus then took a small child and said, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me...."

These words of Jesus could apply to many mothers (as well as to involved fathers), for isn't making their children feel welcome part of what good mothers do?

Some time ago, The Wall Street Journal had a front-page article2 about women who had started out in careers and good jobs and who, after their children were born, left their jobs to raise their children, an activity I would certainly say is part of welcoming children. The article, however, focused on women wanting to return to the workforce now that their children are into their teen years and old enough not to need their mothers home all the time. It turns out that getting back in is not so easily done. Despite strong skills and impressive work experience in the past, many of these women are finding that their fields have changed so much that they are out of touch or that potential employers are put off by the long gap on their resumes. The sluggish economy and even some age bias is working against them as well. Also the networks of contacts they had when working have mostly dissolved. Those who do find jobs often earn salaries much lower than they were making when the left the workplace. So they are paying a price for the mothering service they performed.

Of course that is not the only measure of their choice. The character and stability of the children they raised is a vitally important measure, as is the satisfaction the women may have experienced raising the children. The reality is that serving others almost never turns out to be a financially profitable endeavor.

But it is a soundly Christian endeavor, and serving others is the teaching and example Jesus gave us. At the Last Supper, Jesus even provided a real-life demonstration of that when he washed his disciples' feet. There is nothing wrong and everything right with being identified as one who serves others.

In the novel Ah But Your Land Is Beautiful,3 set in the apartheid era in South Africa, Alan Paton tells of a black church where communion services were preceded by the ritual of footwashing. For one such service on a Maundy Thursday, the pastor invited a certain Judge Oliver, a prominent white man, to come and wash the feet of Martha Fortuin, a black woman who had cared for the judge's children. The judge accepts, and after washing Fortuin's feet, and recalling how she had often kissed the feet of his children, he bent over and kissed her feet, an act that moved the other worshipers to tears.

Eventually the press learned of what Judge Oliver had done, and in that hostile social climate, it was big news. Thus, it was not surprising that soon thereafter, the judge was shunted aside for a chief judgeship he had been promised. Learning about that, the pastor of the black church visited the judge to apologize for putting him in that career-wrecking position. Judge Oliver replied however, that taking part in that Maundy Thursday service was more important to him than the chief judgeship.

The church where this had taken place had been named the Holy Church of Zion, but after the incident and the judge's humble acceptance of the consequences, the congregation changed its name to "The Church of the Washing of Feet." That is a church defined by service, and it is indeed a holy thing.

The description of Mrs. Proverbs may seem hopelessly unattainable and hopelessly out of step with our times, but rather than dismiss it as being too servile, let's broaden its application. Christ calls us all to be servants, so we need not only Mrs. Proverbs, but Mr. Proverbs, Grandpa Proverbs, Grandma Proverbs, Junior Proverbs, Little Miss Proverbs, Ms. Proverbs, and all the rest of the Proverbs clan. It's a family to which Christ calls us to belong.


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1.ÊDavid Rosenberg and Harold Bloom, The Book Of J (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990).

2.ÊAnne Marie Chaker and Hilary Stout, "After Years Off, Women Struggle to Revive Careers," The Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2004, A1.

3.ÊAlan Paton, Ah But Your Land Is Beautiful (New York: Scribner, 1982).