The Power of Equivocation

Complex Readers and Readings of the Hebrew Bible

Amy Kalmanofsky

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781506478715
• eBook ISBN:
  9781506478722
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

In The Power of Equivocation Amy Kalmanofsky addresses the Bible's inherent complexity as well as the complexity of those who seek to read the Bible critically, generously, and honestly.

The Bible invites what Kalmanofsky identifies as equivocal readings--readings that do not reach neat conclusions related to ideology or character. Kalmanofsky demonstrates the Bible's complicated artistry through her close readings of six biblical narratives that feature women: she examines culpability in the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife and shows how the Bible presents neither figure as a hero or villain; considers how the Bible's portrayal of Hannah both conforms to and also defies the Bible's patriarchal norms; how the Bible affords the rejected King Saul compassion and respect through a powerful yet unlawful medium from En-Dor; how Queen Esther overpowers men to become the equivocal hero of her eponymous book; how Tamar in Genesis 38, like Hannah, conforms to and challenges the Bible's patriarchal norms and how, like Esther, she is the equivocal hero of her story; and how the Bible presents Bathsheba as a complicated figure, both vulnerable and powerful.

Kalmanofsky draws from the challenges she personally feels as a feminist, as a Jew, and as a scholar to argue that equivocal readers like herself are best equipped to see the Bible's complex artistry. Equivocal feminist-religious readers are suspicious and generous readers who can expose the ways in which biblical texts empower and disempower women and who can provide essential insight about the Bible's theology and ideology.

Through her close readings, Kalmanofsky models what it means to be equivocal readers of an equivocal Bible. The Power of Equivocation is marked by honesty and the celebration of a text that can never be read just one way.

CHAPTER ONE

Potiphar’s Wife and Joseph

Biblical women and men are often complicated figures. This chapter examines two complicated biblical characters—Potiphar’s wife and Joseph—and offers an equivocal reading that reveals how both characters are essential figures in their narrative and how neither character is a paradigm of vice or virtue. As I write in my introduction, equivocal readings do not seek to reach tidy conclusions related to ideology or character. Rather, they reveal the complexities of a biblical story or a character.

In general, equivocal readers find it difficult to identify heroes and villains in narratives. Recognizing complexity illuminates the flaws and weaknesses of heroes and the virtues and strengths of villains. Feminist-religious readers of the Bible have a particularly hard time identifying female heroes and villains. Our generous perspectives encourage us to celebrate the women of the Bible who impact their narratives, even when their actions often defy biblical and even contemporary norms. Our suspicious perspectives enable us to see how biblical narratives can work to limit, condemn, and sometimes vilify their women.

Alice Bach’s description of “reading as a woman” captures the essence of equivocal reading. Bach notes how a feminist reader “gives voice to the female figure in the text and seeks to escape being seduced by the narrator into accepting his view.”1 By doing so, a feminist reader places female characters in relief within the context of their narratives, recognizing a depth, dimension, and strength to these characters that stands independent of, and often in contrast to, the narrator’s more limiting perspective.

Whereas some feminist readers provide that depth by engaging in creative interpretation that fills in narrative gaps, others provide the depth by engaging in interpretation that relies heavily on intertextuality. As Johanna Stiebert observes, intertextuality is “a literary form of inner-biblical exegesis, whereby biblical texts are brought into relationship with and mutually illuminate each other—notably through verbal echoes.”2 Through thematic and linguistic “verbal echoes,” characters and their narratives are linked, providing them with broader dimensions and greater complexity. The connection between texts frees characters from their immediate context and from the narrator’s perspective and provides equivocal feminist readers more content with which to ground our interpretations within the Bible.

I consider intertextuality to be a core literary component of the Bible’s artistry. Many of the equivocal readings I offer in this book rely heavily on intertextuality. This supports my general assertion that complexity is integral to biblical texts and is imported into the texts not solely by complex readers. Intertextuality, as I demonstrate, reveals the complexities of Genesis 39, which tells the story of Joseph’s tenure in Potiphar’s house. This story has many verbal echoes throughout the Bible that provide texture and nuance to its narrative and characters. Sold into servitude by his brothers, Joseph arrives in Egypt, where he is purchased by Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh. Joseph succeeds within Potiphar’s household, and his good looks attract Potiphar’s wife, who continuously offers herself sexually to Joseph. Joseph refuses her advances until one day he finds himself alone with her. Potiphar’s wife offers herself yet again, this time grabbing hold of Joseph’s garment. Joseph runs away, leaving the garment in her hand. Potiphar’s wife then uses this garment to frame Joseph for rape. In response, Potiphar casts Joseph out of his household and places him in jail, where, yet again, Joseph rises in rank.

Traditional readings of Genesis 39 uniformly condemn Potiphar’s wife and hail Joseph as a righteous man for resisting her sexual advances.3 In prerabbinic and rabbinic literature, Potiphar’s wife is viewed as the villain of the narrative whereas Joseph is seen as its hero.4 Contemporary readings of Genesis 39 perceive greater nuance in its character portrayals. Feminist readers tend to be more forgiving of Potiphar’s wife and more suspicious of the narrator’s perspective. Bach observes how the text suppresses Potiphar’s wife’s story and isolates her by not including other female characters who could reflect or respond to her experience. Bach also notes how the story does not include the reaction of Potiphar’s wife to Joseph’s imprisonment, which “indicates that a woman’s emotions are not central to the story.”5

Heather A. McKay offers a forgiving reading of Genesis 39 that deflects blame away from Potiphar’s wife and assigns it to Potiphar. McKay accuses Potiphar “of neglect of the managing of his household.”6 Joseph is brought into Potiphar’s house as a servant yet rises to a position of authority—potentially over Potiphar’s wife. According to McKay, this introduces instability to the household, which Potiphar neglects to manage and that “comes to a head in a disturbing event, a nasty scene.”7 In McKay’s equivocal reading, Potiphar’s wife may have behaved poorly, but her actions are understandable, even if not justified. Potiphar’s wife, McKay argues, could assume that Joseph was purchased to inseminate her in lieu of her husband, who McKay views to be a eunuch.8

Perceiving Potiphar’s wife as less culpable for her actions is compelling to contemporary feminist readers who identify and address the Bible’s patriarchal ideology. It is important for these readers to recognize, as Esther Fuchs does, the ways in which the Bible works to condemn Potiphar’s wife for being a “married woman who seeks sexual escapades with other men.” Fuchs asserts that women like this in the Bible “must be portrayed as treacherous, dangerous, lethal.”9 Feminist readers strive to break free of this patriarchal perspective and “give voice to the suppressed story of the woman,” as Bach does.10 Yet it is also important to contemporary readers to condemn acts of unwanted sexual advances, whether done by a man or a woman, and to recognize the ways Potiphar’s wife abuses her power. Stiebert observes how Potiphar’s wife demands sex crassly and pesters Joseph daily, and when thwarted, she “becomes angry and lies about him.”11 For these reasons, Potiphar’s wife is an equivocal figure even for feminist readers, who attempt to release her from a patriarchal narrative context that portrays her as treacherous while recognizing the ways in which her behavior is reprehensible in a contemporary context.

In this chapter, I offer an equivocal reading of Genesis 39 that shows how the Bible portrays Potiphar’s wife and Joseph as equivocal figures who do not fall neatly into the roles of villain and hero. In my reading, which relies on intertextuality, Joseph is not presented as a righteous figure, nor is Potiphar’s wife as an evil character, as has been traditionally understood. Instead, they are complicated figures whose complexity is integral to the text and its meaning. Their story is not told to identify a hero who is rewarded for his virtue and a villain who is punished for her depravity. Rather, its purpose is to show God’s design and control over events and people, despite human shortcomings and efforts to intervene. Genesis 39 is about divine providence, not human virtue.

As a result, Joseph and Potiphar’s wife should be viewed as God’s instruments, whose actions do not identify moral behaviors associated with righteousness and wickedness. Instead, both ensure and reflect God’s plan for Joseph and his descendants. In my equivocal reading, Joseph is more blessed than righteous; Potiphar’s wife may be more a victim of her circumstances than evil. She is also a smart and somewhat compassionate figure. Neither character should be viewed as a paragon of virtue or vice.

AN EQUIVOCAL READING OF GENESIS 39: JOSEPH’S RISE AND DEMISE

Potiphar purchases Joseph from the Ishmaelites to serve in his household, which thrives with Joseph present, as Genesis 39:2–6 describes:

YHWH was with Joseph. He was a successful man. He was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that YHWH was with him and that in all that he did, God made him succeed. Joseph found favor in his eyes. He served him and he appointed him over his household. All that he had, he placed in his hand. From the moment he appointed him over his household and all that he owned; YHWH blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph. YHWH’s blessing was over all that he had in the house and field. He relinquished all that he owned into Joseph’s hand, paying attention only to the food he ate. Joseph was beautiful.12

There can be no doubt why Potiphar’s household prospers. The passage states explicitly three times that the household thrives because God is with Joseph and ensures his success.

Joseph’s success in Potiphar’s home reflects the overall pattern of Joseph’s life. Joseph learns early in his life through his dreams of sheaves and stars bowing down before him that he is destined for great things. This realization does not appeal to his brothers, who attack him in Genesis 37, intending at first to kill him but then deciding to sell him into slavery. Yet as his fate will prove, difficult situations set Joseph up for greater success, leading him ultimately to assume the position of Pharaoh’s second-in-command (Gen 41:41–45). Indeed, Joseph is destined for great things.

Notably, the passage describes Joseph specifically as successful (מצליח) and beautiful. He is not labeled righteous like Noah (Gen 6:9), who finds favor with and, therefore, salvation from God. Nor is he described as God-fearing like Abraham in Genesis 22:12, who earns God’s blessing. Noah and Abraham have virtues that God rewards. In contrast, Joseph does not display virtues. He certainly has not displayed any righteousness up to this point in the narrative. He maligns his brothers in Genesis 37:2 and irritates them by relaying the dreams of his grandeur in Genesis 37:5. Therefore, there is no textual evidence for viewing Joseph’s success in Potiphar’s household as a reward for his righteousness. Joseph succeeds because God favors him and causes him to succeed, not because he is particularly worthy.13 Joseph simply, and perhaps inexplicably, is blessed.14

In essential ways, Joseph’s story mirrors Israel’s story of success because God causes the success. Israel’s release from slavery and the triumph over Egypt at the Reed Sea display God’s greatness—not Israel’s.15 In fact, God’s selection of and concern for Israel (the smallest nation) appears arbitrary, as Deuteronomy 7:7 declares—and perhaps it is even undeserved, as its rebellious and ungrateful behavior in the wilderness after its liberation suggests.16 Similarly, Joseph’s success in Potiphar’s household and, ultimately, his elevation in Pharaoh’s court to second-in-command display God’s greatness, not Joseph’s. Joseph’s success, like Israel’s, also may be undeserved.

Potiphar recognizes the blessings Joseph brings and utilizes him for his own advantage. He places Joseph in charge of his home and his field because he wants Joseph’s blessings to enrich his household. Blessings in the Bible are measurable. Deuteronomy 28 provides many examples of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Equivocal Readings of the Hebrew Bible: An Introduction from an Equivocal Reader
• 1 Potiphar’s Wife and Joseph
• 2 Hannah
• 3 Saul, Samuel, Hannah, and the Woman from En-dor
• 4 Esther and Mordecai
• 5 Tamar and Judah
• 6 Bathsheba, David, and Solomon
• Unequivocal Conclusions from an Equivocal Reader
• Bibliography
• General Index
• Scripture Index