Constructing a Reading Scenario to Understand Biblical Texts about the Family.
©Copyright, 2009, Dr. John J. Pilch

FAMILY MATTERS: THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
XO 4004 25 minutes [XO = VHS] Encyclopedia Britannica Education Corporation

CONTENT: Introduces the historical reasons why large patriarchal families form the basic social structures of the Middle-Eastern family. Describes the role of family ties in politics and business. Outlines the roles of family structure and kinship ties in social patterns such as hospitality, nepotism, and polygamy.  Traces the role of women in the Middle East's patriarchal framework and Islamic traditions. Discusses the effects of Westernization, industrialization, and urbanization on modern ME family values.

INTRODUCTION: USING SOCIAL SCIENCES TO INTERPRET THE BIBLE

Reading Scenarios.  The Bible originated in the Middle East and is best understood and interpreted against the background of Middle Eastern culture. See
 Kuhn, Deanne, Michael Weinstock & Rabin Flaton, “How Well do Jurors Reason? Competence Dimensions of Individual Variation in a Juror Reasoning Task,” Psychological Science 5 (1994) 289-294.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND STUDY OF THE FILM:

1. FAMILY TIES. Family ties are paramount in the Middle-East.  You can only count on your family to help you.

 Why then is Jesus so brusque toward his family?
  Read Luke 2:48-49;
  Mark 3:31-35:

 If Jesus gets into trouble, who will help him?
  Read John 7:5;
  Mark 3:21;
  Luke 22:35-38;
  John 18:10.

 After Jesus' death and resurrection, who heads up the Church of Jerusalem?
  Read Acts 12:2;
    15:6-7 but notice 13-21;
  Gal 1:13-19
  Matt 13:55

 2. HOSPITALITY. Given the centrality of families in the Middle East, notice the need for hospitality understood as "kindness shown toward strangers", that is, toward people not related to you. Toward relatives one shows “steadfast-loving kindness” (hesedh).
 

 Read and reflect upon Genesis 19:1-11, the hospitality of Lot to the strangers.

 Victor H. Matthews, “Hospitality and Hostility in Judges 4,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 21 (1991) 13-21.
 Victor H. Matthew, “Hospitality and Hostility in Genesis 19 and Judged 19,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 22 (1992) 3-11.
 T.R. Hobbs, “Man, Woman, and Hospitality (2 Kings 4:8-36),” Biblical Theology Bulletin 23 (1993) 91-100.
 Bruce J. Malina, “Hospitality,” pp. 115-118 in  Handbook of Biblical Social Values, John  J. Pilch and Bruce  J. Malina, Editors. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998

    When Jesus left his home and family in Nazareth, he settled in Capernaum with Jonah, the father of Simon Peter. Do you think this started out as an extension of hospitality on the part of Jonah's family?

3. MARRIAGE:  Patrilateral cousin marriage - Father's Brother's Daughter (FBD)
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/pilchj click “Mediterranean Culture” click “Kinship”

 Ladislav Holy, Kinship, honour and solidarity: Cousin marriage in the Middle East. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1989.

 Emmanuel Todd, The Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985.

 K.C. Hanson, "The Herodians and Mediterranean Kinship" Three parts. Biblical Theology Bulletin vols. 19-20; 1989 + 1990.

 Blenkinsopp, Joseph, “The Family in First Temple Israel,” pp. 48-103 in Leo G. Perdue,
 et al., Families in Ancient Israel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1997.

 K.C. Hanson and Douglas E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus.  Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002. .

Genesis 22:20

( Patriarch Marriages: )

        Abraham             ------         brother Nahor
           +                                              +    +
 Hagar +  Sarah                        Milcah  +  Reumah (Concubine)
            Gen  16:1,4,6 21:1,10
 Ishmael- Isaac                              Uz
                                                     Buz
                                                     et al
                                                     Bethuel, father of
 Ishmael      Isaac         +                    Rebekah (Gen 24:15) — Laban (brother)
 (Gen 21:13, 15-21)                     (Gen 27:46; 28:1)
 (Gen 25:12)
  (28:6) ------- Esau  +  Jacob------------------Leah   +   Rachel
    (Gen 28:9)
 

Feb. 15, 1993
San Francisco Chronicle
report on American Association for the Advancement of Science

 Children of such unions are slightly more likely to be stillborn, die young, or have birth defects.

 Studies from around the world show that the infant mortality rates of children whose parents are first cousins tend to be higher.  (21 percent compared with 16 percent among more distantly related parents).
.
 Nevertheless, the benefits of marriages within the family outweigh the modest biological hazards:
  *tightening of kinship ties
  *ertainty about qualities of mates
  Dr. Allan H. Bittles, Kings College, London
  Dr. James V. Neel, prof. of human gen. UMIchMedCtr.

See also
 http://anthro.palomar.edu/marriage/marriage_2.htm

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/case_studies/hebrews/patriarchs.html

Bennett, R.L., A.G. Motulsky, A. Bittles, L. Hudgins, S. Uhrich, D.L. Doyle, K. Silvey, C.R. Scott, E. Cheng, B. McGillivray,
R.D. Steiner and D. Olson,  "Genetic counseling and screening of consanguineous couples and their offspring:
Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselos.  Journal of Genetic Counseling  11 (2002) 97-119.

Cousin Marriage in Iraq (2007) 
 

4. WEALTH. What significance do you draw from the fact that oil wealth has all but eradicated poverty in  Saudi Arabia?

 In the Middle-East, is wealth hoarded? or shared? (see  Luke 16:1-9, esp. v. 9; Luke 12:13-14)

"Joseph, Mary, and Jesus: A Middle Eastern Family"
Cultural elements of the appropriate reading scenario for Matthew 1:18-24

The film observes that in the Middle East, divorce is shameful for the man as well as the woman.  Why do you think this is so?  Consider what you have learned about honor and shame.   Then reflect upon the case of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus.

betrothal (v. 18) - ideally patrilateral parallel  cousins (Gen 24:4; 28:20); the marriage is arranged by the males, for it joins two families rather than two individuals; betrothal is the period between announcing the event and the subsequent transfer of the woman to the man's house (Matt 25:1-12)

"she was found" ... by whom? certainly all the women; and through them, some men, and ultimately (last of all?) Joseph.

["by a Holy Spirit"] ... an editorial comment; reflect upon the key role of spirits in the Middle East; animal husbandry; evil eye (Matt 20: 15 "is your eye evil?").

"put her to shame" ...  better: "expose her to public disgrace" (v. 19) -- The Greek word often described convicted adulteresses. Honor and shame are central and public values of the Mediterranean world.
  See Deuteronomy 22:13-29, esp. v. 17 "tokens of virginity"
   (Recall the film Wedding in Galilee).

"divorce her quietly" ... better: leniently.

 Read Numbers 5:11-31

"angel of the Lord" ... God's visible presence among humans.

"dream" ... see Joel 2:28 old men dream; young men see visions. People in ninety percent of the world's cultures often find solutions to life's difficulties in altered states of consciousness experiences (dreams, trance, etc.)

Literally: "is of a spirit which is holy" - see above.

Compare Isaiah 7:14 with Matthew 1:23. To understand Isaiah fully, read 2 Kings 16:1-20

Isaiah 7:1-2: Cast of Characters: Ahaz, King of Judah
(734-733 BC)   Rezin, King of Syria
    Pekah, King of Israel (consult a map to get the picture)

2 Kings 16:1-20: What happened???  What did Ahaz do???

Isaiah 7:3-25:

 v. 14: The Lord himself will give you a sign
 Behold a young woman (alma) of marriageable and childbearing age is already pregnant
 and will bear a son
 and you call his name Immanuel.

alma: girl of marriageable and child bearing age (Isaiah 7:14)
bethulah: girl who might not have had relations (Gen 24:16)

What message does Isaiah give to Ahaz for the “here and now”?

Seven hundred years later, what interpretation does Matthew give to Isaiah as he composed the Infancy Stories about Jesus?

Conclusion:

 Read Mark 6:3. Faith in the Mediterranean world is: "unswerving loyalty to a person 'no matter what.'"  Middle Eastern reading scenarios seriously challenge our western interpretations of biblical texts.  The contemporary Bible reader who gains from this exercise a better understanding of the Bible as God's word delivered in human words, notably Middle Eastern languages and their social systems, will indeed strengthen faith in the sense just mentioned.

SELECTED READINGS;

 Soraya Altorki and Camillia Fawzy El-Solh, editors, Arab Women in the Field: Studying Your Own Society.  Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1988.

 Ross Shepard Kraemer, Her Share of the Blessings: Women’s Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

 Carmen Bernabe Ubieta, “La mujer en el judaísmo bíblico,” Ephemerides Mariologicae 44 (1994) 99-124.

 John J. Pilch, Cultural Tools for Interpreting the Good News.  Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2002, pp. 5-17.

John J. Pilch, "A Window into the Biblical World: Who is a Virgin?"  The Bible Today 40 (2002)  248-252.

For an extensive bibliography on Women in Ancient Culture, see my web page:
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/pilchj click on Mediterranean Culture; then click on Women in Ancient Culture. “Bibliography” and “Biblical Studies” may be of special interest relative to some topics in this video.

  Dr. John J. Pilch, 2009