Gender Correctness and Biblical Metaphors: The Case of God's Relation to Israel

Abstract

The marital imagery in the Bible has often been understood as a direct reference to the marriage of God and Israel. Close analysis of the biblical texts involved shows the inexactness of this analysis. The wife of God is always a city. Cities, especially capital cities, receive many different feminine roles, while Israel, the people, receives only masculine roles. Neither Testament allows for the traditional misunderstanding. Precision in reading leads to a more balanced interpretation in which biblical marital imagery is not the central metaphor of the Bible.

Israel as Son of God in Torah

“…Regarding the occurrences in Jeremiah 3:8, 9, careful analysis shows that "Israel" is not the subject of the feminine form of the root. The subject is rather the noun meshubah (with Israel being inserted by way of identification, according to Schmitt, 1996). The verb zanah is never used of Israel in a feminine form.…”

“…There have been some studies of the gendered imagery for Israel in various passages of the prophets, and those studies concluded that the prophets consistently present Israel as masculine. (Schmitt 1983(Schmitt , 1991(Schmitt , 1996 The present article investigates Torah in order to find out whether the gendered depiction of Israel in Torah agrees with that in the prophets. The analysis here confirms the prophets' masculine, filial depiction of Israel.…”