A MASCULINE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

There is every reason to conclude that these ancient Jews, unlike many of their modern descendants, knew only the coarser phases of the instinct which draws man to woman.  They knew not romantic love for the simple reason that they had not discovered the charm of refined femininity, or even recognized woman’s right to exist for her own sake, and not merely as man’s domestic servant and the mother of his sons.  “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee,” Eve was told in Eden, and her male descendants administered that punishment zealously and persistently; whereas the same lack of gallantry which led Adam to put all the blame on Eve impelled his descendants to make the women share his part of the curse too—­“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread”; for they were obliged to do not only all the work in the house, but most of that in the fields, seething under a tropical sun.  From this point of view the last chapter of the Proverbs (31:10-31) is instructive.  It is often referred to as a portrait of a perfect woman, but in reality it is little more than a picture of Hebrew masculine selfishness.  Of the forty-five lines making up this chapter, nine are devoted to praise of the feminine virtues of fidelity to a husband, kindness to the needy, strength, dignity, wisdom, and fear of the Lord; while the rest of the chapter goes to show that the Hebrew woman indeed “eateth not the bread of idleness,” and that the husband “shall have no lack of gain”—­or spoil, as the alternative reading is: 

“She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands.  She is like the merchant ships:  she bringeth her food from afar.  She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and their task to the maidens.  She considereth a field and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard....  She perceiveth that her merchandise is profitable.  Her lamp goeth not out by night.  She layeth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle....  She maketh for herself carpets of tapestry....  She maketh linen garments and selleth them; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.”

As for the husband, he “is known in the gates, When he sitteth among the elders of the land,” which is an easy and pleasant thing to do; hardly in accordance with the curse the Lord pronounced on Adam and his male descendants.  The wife being thus the maid of all work, as among Indians and other primitive races, it is natural that the ancient Hebrew ideal of femininity should he masculine:  “She girdeth her loins with strength, and maketh strong her arms;” while the feminine charms are sneered at:  “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain.”

NOT THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL OF LOVE

Not only feminine charms, but the highest feminine virtues are sometimes strangely, nay, shockingly disregarded, as in the story of Lot (Gen. 19:1-12), who, when besieged by the mob clamoring for the two men who had taken refuge in his house, went out and said: