My dissertation argues that nonbinary characters are present in the Hebrew Bible. Specifically, my dissertation addresses Judges 4–5, arguing that Jael is better understood as a gender ambiguous character, rather than as a woman. My thesis addresses how Jael’s gender ambiguity has been erased or overlooked due to biblical scholars’ reliance on dominant discourses of heteronormativity and binary gender. Judges 4–5 includes a range of gender markers (objects, spaces, language, etc.) that suggest that Jael demonstrates femininity and masculinity and thus indicate Jael’s gender ambiguity. Jael performs roles and behaviours constructed as masculine (violence, warrior, killer) and feminine (mother, seductress, nurturer) simultaneously throughout their narrative. Despite such evidence of gender ambiguity, scholarly interpretations of Jael identify Jael unproblematically as a woman. In my thesis, I contribute an original reading of Jael by interpreting the text from a non-binary perspective, employing a queer methodology, and encourage biblical scholars to look beyond hetero-binarised expectations. My investigation reveals Jael, not as a woman, but as a gender ambiguous character.
As with most queer interpretations of the Bible, I do not attempt to unearth any historical reality but instead interact with the Bible as a literary text and understand Jael as a literary character. I use the term queer as a deconstructive tool that uncovers the constructed nature of gender in all situations, not just in regards to people who identify as or are labelled as queer.
Queer theory regards sex and gender as separate categories that, while socially intertwined, are not exclusively dependent on each other. A genderqueer approach embraces discontinuity between bodies and gender, dismantling the limitations inherent in a binary sex/gender system. Subsequently, I use the terms man and woman, masculine and feminine, to refer to gender categories without inference regarding sex. A queer methodology is the most useful for this thesis as it encourages the visibility of queerness as well as the exploration of queerness for what it can offer to an interpretation of Jael’s gender. This is achievable since a genderqueer framework enables me to seek out non-normative and norm-critical elements regarding Jael’s gender and actively explore the ways in which these elements are significant for understanding Jael’s gender in a manner that is attentive to the text rather than reliant on dominant discourses of hetero-binary frameworks of gender. Employing a queer framework means that my interpretation of Jael’s gender does not assume that every aspect of the narrative does or should conform to hetero-binary notions of gender.[1] Thus, queer theory helps me uncover a new way of understanding Jael’s gender.
My contribution to the field of biblical studies on Jael is significant as it brings together Jael’s gender markers under a gender label that represents all facets of Jael’s gender, rather than privileging only those that suggest Jael’s femininity. My approach allows Jael’s gender to be recognised as complex and represented as multifaceted in a way that other methodologies, such as many feminist methodologies, often eschew. By employing a queer-theoretical framework, this thesis works to unsettle and disrupt previous interpretations of Jael’s character and gender. The implications of this study and my approach to interpreting Jael’s gender for the field of biblical studies is that many characters’ heteronormative genders have been assumed, and disruptive performances have historically been interpreted as momentary or temporary. My approach demonstrates that when a character’s performances do not fit expectations of their assumed gender there may be a more nuanced way of perceiving it. These characters can be read in a way that does not restrict gender to an either/or framework, and one that accepts as significant all gender indicators relating to said character in a manner which brings queerness to the fore. My thesis draws attention to the existence of nonbinary characters in the Hebrew Bible, and presents an interpretation that results from reading queer and heteronormative elements of a character’s gender concurrently as equally significant.
In chapter one of my thesis, ‘Jael’s Gender,’ I argue that Jael has been binarised as a woman based on dominant discourses of heteronormativity and binary gender and that this attribution is not the most fitting interpretation of Jael based on the gender markers in the text. To illustrate the influence that dominant discourses of hetero-binary gender has had on biblical commentators’ interpretations, I make evident the way in which some of the queer aspects of Jael’s narrative have been addressed in studies on Jael. Aspects of the text that do not support Jael’s hetero-binary femininity are considered queer and are dealt with in a range of ways that I consider problematic. Commonly, biblical scholars propose explanations which present queer aspects as errors and manipulate them to conform to a hetero-binary interpretation—regularly queer aspects are overlooked altogether (Rosenberg, 2015, 577). The opportunity to recognise Jael’s gender ambiguity is rejected and a hetero-binary framework of gender is reinforced.
Following this, in chapter two, ‘Killing Sisera’ I interpret a range of Jael’s gender markers that relate directly to Sisera’s death. I outline that, despite the widespread binarisation of Jael as a woman, existing literature does acknowledge that Jael performs in ways expected of men—namely through violently killing Sisera. The body of this chapter explores Jael’s space and Jael’s tools, specifically the gender ambiguity that these markers suggest and Jael’s gender ambiguous use of them in relation to Sisera’s death. When discussing the gender markers that relate to Sisera’s death, I articulate my own approach to Jael’s gender, which equally values Jael’s femininity and masculinity. My approach considers a range of Jael’s gender markers—especially Jael’s performances—and accepts readings that, according to a hetero-binary framework of gender, are contradictory.
In chapter 3, ‘Jael’s Motherhood,’ I argue that Jael can be read as performing motherhood in a gender ambiguous manner. Despite motherhood being framed as a feminine role, I show that Jael performs mothering behaviours in a gender ambiguous manner. To articulate my reading of Jael’s nonbinary performances of motherhood, I draw on the two existing frameworks of motherhood evident in the text—those of Deborah and of Sisera’s mother. Both women exhibit a range of performances that highlight the complexity of motherhood. These characters have garnered much attention in scholarship on Judges and as such I am able to draw from existing research which frames Deborah as a masculine mother and Sisera’s mother as a feminine mother. These women prove that motherhood can be performed through differently gendered behaviours; I address a range of Jael’s behaviours that draw from the existing frameworks of motherhood in Judges 4–5. Such behaviours make evident that Jael performs motherhood in a gender ambiguous manner, through femininity as well as through masculinity.
My final chapter, ‘Sexual Assault of Sisera,’ focuses on Jael’s gender ambiguity with regards to their sexual assault on Sisera. I argue that Jael sexually assaults Sisera through feminine performances, recognised in the literature as seduction, and through masculine performances, labelled as rape in scholarship on Jael. Jael’s femininised sexual assault of Sisera—sexual seduction—and their masculinised sexual assault of Sisera—rape—are both performed gender-ambiguously. This chapter first addresses sexual seduction and rape as forms of sexual assault within the context of the Hebrew Bible, outlining that understandings of rape are grounded in the masculine concepts of penetration and the use of or threat of physical force. As such rape is masculinised. Sexual seduction relies on psychological force rather than physical force to coerce the victim’s consent, often using feminine methods of care and nurture. Since both sexual seduction and rape are demonstrated to be grounded in controlling behaviour, where the desires and gratification of the victim are of no concern, both can be framed as differently gendered acts of sexual assault. I go on to highlight that Jael is widely viewed as both a seductress and as a rapist, but that these roles are seen as separate and distinct. They are not viewed as differently gendered performances of a single act of sexual assault, as I perceive them.
This study contributes an original interpretation of Jael as a nonbinary character. In doing so it challenges existing interpretations and reframes material from the text which has been previously used in scholarship to binarise Jael as a woman. Despite arguing against a binary feminine interpretation of Jael’s gender, I do not disregard Jael’s femininity when interpreting that Jael is better understood as nonbinary—on the contrary—I acknowledge Jael’s femininity as significant, but equally value Jael’s masculinity in my reading. All elements that play a part in gendering Jael, including spaces, speech, tools and performances, are brought together to form a complex, multifaceted nonbinary interpretation of Jael’s gender.
This method of reading evidences the multiplicity of characters represented in the Hebrew Bible and celebrates diversity. Queer studies, such as this one, demonstrate that queerness and queer characters are present in the Hebrew Bible and that dominant discourses, until recently, have caused such queerness to be subsumed in scholarship that is grounded in hetero-binary discourses. Although the focus of this thesis is Jael’s gender, my genderqueer approach can be applied to other biblical characters, as is hinted at throughout the dissertation when considering the characters of Jacob (Gen 25), Jezebel (1-2 Kings), Judith (Book of Judith) and Deborah (Judges 4-5).
[1] While this approach relies on an understanding that binary gender can be destabilised and queerness brought to the fore, this does not mean that all binary and heteronormative aspects of a text are problematic. Destabilising binary gender is useful in understanding some aspects of a narrative and for understanding some characters and their actions. However, I recognise that in some cases destabilising binary gender and heteronormativity is detrimental. For example, as noted by Chris Beasley, many trans people wish to ‘straighten’ rather than queer their sex, gender and sexuality. While I wish to dismantle the concept that gender is binary, I do not want to dismantle the genders of masculinity and femininity. Rather, I aim to highlight that there are more ways of performing gender than just the two options presented as oppositional by a binary framework (Beasley, 2005, 154).
Aysha W. Musa completed her fully funded PhD during the pandemic at the Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (SIIBS) and the School of English Literature at the University of Sheffield. Aysha is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and is currently working as an English teacher in a Rotherham secondary school. Alongside this she continues to work in the field of Gender and the Bible, focusing on Jael’s performances of gender in Judges 4 and 5.
Bibliography
Rosenberg, Gil. “New Authorities, New Readings; Queering Hebrew Bible Text Criticism.” Biblical Interpretation 23 (2015): 574—600.
Beasley, Chris. Gender and Sexuality; Critical Theories, Critical Thinkers. London: SAGE Publications, 2005.