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jimmy
Guest
Were any books of the OT written by women?I was thinking that I heard somewhere that there were a couple that were, but I can’t remember.
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Apologia100
Guest
I believe the Book of Ruth was.
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jimmy
Guest
Yeh, I thought Ruth was one of them.
Howabout Judith was that written by a woman?
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Sarah_Jane
Guest
Maybe Esther.
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mlchance
Guest
Ruth is generally attributed to Samuel. The author of Esther is unknown. There is no evidence either for female authorship of any book of the Old Testament. Given the generally lesser status of women in the culture that produced the Old Testament, female authorship of any canonical book is highly doubtful.
– Mark L. Chance.
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Fidelis
Guest
This is my understanding as well. In fact, there are many of the books of the Bible who’s authors are unknown, we know little about, or have traditional attributions. For example, the book of Jonah doesn’t say who it was written by, but, traditionally, it is ascribed to the prophet himself.
A case can be made that many episodes or parts of the Bible could only have been written with the direct assistance of the women involved. We would not know the details of the stories of the infant Samuel and his mother Hannah, or of Ruth, Esther or Judith, for example, unless they first told it to someone else. The details of the infancy narratives of Our Lord could only be known through the Blessed Mother and Elizabeth. Finally, the wonderful advice on womanhood found in Proverbs 31 is explicitly attributed to the mother of the king:
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
It appears to me that only five books of the OT focus on a person rather than on God’s people - Job, Ruth, Esther, Tobit, and Judith.
It is interesting that three of these are in praise of the actions of women
It is interesting that three of these are in praise of the actions of women
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