In Hebrew, certain grammatical rules make some names pretty indisputably either Masculine or Feminine names. The most well understood by me being that names ending with a Heh or Tav tend to be Feminine.
Now this can complicate looking at names in English since both those letters have other letters that seemingly sometimes become the same letter in English, like Tav and Teth both becoming a T and/or Th. There are two names for example that become Noah in English. The Patriarch of the family that survived The Flood was a Noah ending in a Het, so Masculine. But the daughter of Zelophead was a Noah ending in a Heh and thus Feminine. Selah and Terah of the ancestors of Abraham ended with Het so those are Masculine names.
Sometimes however a name that seems unambiguously of one Gender, is seemingly used by individuals of the other Gender.
The first Shelomith in The Bible is in Leviticus 24 and is clearly a woman. Later however a few Shelomiths seem, in the KJV translation at least, to be males. Like the one in Ezra 8:10 or 1 Chronicles 26. 2 Chronicles 11:20 lists a Shelomith among the children of Rehoboam, I believe that was a daughter because of my Song of Solomon theory, but others are inclined to assume only sons are named in verses like that.
I'm suggesting that maybe sometimes apparently confusing uses of certain names are evidence of Transgender people in The Bible. In many cases it can be unclear whether The Bible is recording the name given at Birth/Circumcision, or a name taken later. So it may not always be easy to guess which kind of Trans they could have been.
Also plenty of verses translate "Ben" in a way that suggests it can be gender neutral, especially when used in plural (Children), even though the default is to translate it Son. And also be aware that sometimes translations include more pronouns then the Hebrew and Greek text imply., so often Gendered pronouns appear only because of preconceived notions about the Gender of the person being refereed to.
However "begating" offspring I do believe refers strictly to the technically male role in reproduction, and so anyone who "begat" offspring must have been assigned Male at birth. Just as "bearing" children refers to the female role.
So you're about to read the result of me going through the 1 Chronicles genealogy looking for examples of Trans Women via people with feminine names who Begat offspring.
Elishah ends with a Heh, Elishah was of the children of Javan son of Japheth (Japheth ends in a Teth so it's masculine).
Raamah ends with a Heh, but The Bible avoids using "begat" when referring to Sheba and Dedan as Raamah's sons. So at first I thought I had an example here, but it turns out Raamah could easily be a Cis woman, or maybe a Trans man or Non-Binary.
Diklah of the children of Joktan ends with a Heh. As does Havilah, a name that pops up among Cush's children also. But Jerah ends in a Het and is also the Semitic name for the Moon which was seemingly always viewed as masculine by the Semitic near east. Hazarmaveth ends with a Tav.
Dumah of the children of Ishmael also ends with a Heh. No examples of Dumah being described as begating anyone. Isaiah 21:11 however associates Dumah with Seir, a region tied to Edom. I've cited before Bill Cooper 's After The Flood saying the Idumeans descended from Dumah not Edom. I could see a documentary hypothesis proponent suggesting Dumah and Edom as conflicting Genesis origins for the same nation, since the name possibly share a common root.
Esau married a daughter of Ishmael, (possibly two depending on how you view the different accounts of his wives), in Genesis 36 a daughter of Ishmael bares him sons. Could it be Dumah and one of the wives of Esau were the same person?
Kedamah also ends with a Heh, in this case Kedamah can even be explained as a feminine form of Kademon, which means "East", east of the Jordan/DeadSea/Arabah is mainly where the Ishmaelites originally settled. But perhaps most surprising is how the first born of Ishmael, Nabojoth, ends with a Tav.
Of the children and grandchildren borne to Abraham by Keturah. Shuah ends in a Het so is a masculine name. But Ephah ends with a Heh,, and is later the name of a Concubine of Caleb in 1 Chronicles 2:46. Eldaah ends with a Heh as well. But I'm still searching for an example of one who begat children to make my case airtight.
Aiah and Anah both end with a Heh. Anah is a name that within Genesis 36 seems to be applied to both a male and a female. Being called both a Bath of Zibeon and a Ben of Zibeon. Since it seems possibly Bath is used more strictly gender-wise anyway it's safe to say Anah was a daughter.
Now I enter 1 Chronicles 2, and we reach Judah. Judah ends in a Heh, and Judah begat at least 5 children. But Judah is someone we know enough about that it's hard to imagine the intent was for this name to imply anything Feminine. Nothing in Judah's story seems to suggest Gender Identity being an issue. Not that I can deduce from my limited Cis-Het experience anyway.
And it's a pretty common male name, largely from people being named after this Judah. So this is perhaps where the critics of the hypothesis I'm building here would really see it's Achilles heel. Judah was simply named after the Hebrew word for "praise", which also ends with a Heh. In general, Judith is viewed as the feminine form of Judah. There seem to be less exceptions to the Tav ending implying Gender then the Heh.
This does make me, as someone who is admittedly no where near an expert on linguistics, ask how do Hebrew scholars decide when ending with a Heh is Feminine, and when it is not?
A lot of the exceptions to ending in a Heh being Feminine are for theophoric names ending with Yah or YHWH. Others seems to be when there is a Vav before the Heh, which is the case with the name of YHWH itself. And that causes to me to wonder if there is a desire among scholars to deny that Yah and YHWH could be technically feminine names. Meanwhile Elah and Eloah are possibly feminine forms of El (God) that are both used of YHWH in the Hebrew Bible.
At any rate the Hebrew word for Praise perhaps ends with a Heh because it's frequently used to praise YHWH who's name ends with a Heh in both long and short forms.
Eleasah is a name that ends with a Heh. 1 Chronicles 2:39-40 says that Helez begat Eleasah and Eleasah begat Sisamai. So I finally found something.
Two of David's children born in Jerusalem are named Eliphelet, but that name ends in a Teth not a Tav.
I've refereed to Shelomith and Shulamith as variant forms of the same Feminine version of Solomon's name, and they both end with Tav. Are the verses with Shelomith that sound like they're referring to Men referring to Transgender people perhaps? I can't be sure. But 1 Chronicles 3:19 does refer to a Shelomith as the sister of her brothers so that refutes any attempt to deny it's ever feminine.
Solomon is an interesting name on it's own however. The Hebrew is Shlomoh, an example of a name ending in Vav-Heh. So maybe that name itself could be Feminine? It could be Salma or Salmon is the actual masculine form, Solomon possibly comes from Greek texts combining the names Shlomoh and Salmon.
At no point is Solomon described as Begating any of his children, they're just called Solomon's son or daughters. Naamah the Ammonitess is refereed to as the mother of Rehoboam, but is not described as bearing him per say. Naamah is also never referred to as a Queen or Queen Mother, a fact probably most likely to mean she was one of the Concubines, but still interesting. Naamah is definitely a female name, it ends with a Heh and was in Genesis 4 the sister of Tubal-Cain.
I've also often wondered if Solomon might have been Asexual or something, having seemingly less children then his father or son in-spite of having way more wives and concubines.
As King, Solomon definitely presented as male, since The Hebrew Bible has distinct terms for Female Monarchs.
Another name of Solomon's was Jeddiah, the name Nathan the Prophet gave to Solomon. This name is another one that would always been assumed to be male chiefly because it's Yah Theophoric.
There is speculation that Lemuel of Proverbs 31 is a name for Solomon, perhaps specifically the name Bathsheba gave Solomon at birth. It seems like a Male name though there are women in The Bible who's name ends in L, something I didn't want to get into here. Those examples aren't El Theophoric names however.
The word Koheleth appears only in the Book of Ecclesiastes, the KJV always translates it Preacher though Assembler would be more accurate, the name Ecclesiastes is essentially a Greek translation of this name. It is feminine, it is not even controversial to say it's Feminine, the Strongs says it's Feminine. Yet this is a name or title being used of the book's Author, who's usually assumed to be Solomon for good reason even though the name of Solomon is never used in the book. Sometimes the Koheleth is refereed to with male pronouns in English, but that could be translation issues. The first verse of the book says the Koheleth is the Son of David and King in Jerusalem.
And at this point it occurs to me I forget something very early on. Right at the start.
Seth ends with a Tav, and Seth Begat Enosh, and many other sons and daughters. Could Seth have been a Trans Woman right at the start of The Bible?
This is all speculative, and not at all something I want to build a major Doctrine on. Especially the Solomon part, that's the most speculative. But it's interesting how something Conservative Christians want to reject can potentially make more sense out of some confusing details of The Bible.
Update: It turns out, on the subject of Salmon ancestor of David, father of Boaz. The KJV rendering obscures this, but in Ruth 4:20 the name is spelled Salmah, ending with a Heh (Strong number 8009) while in Ruth 4:21 it is Salmon. Sometimes this person is also called Salma, like in 1 Chronicles 2:11 (another Salma towards the end of that chapter may or may not be the same person).
Then there is the matter of this Salmon/Salmah's spouse. Salma was likely assigned male at Birth because Matthew 1:5 says "and Salmon begat boos of Racab". This Racab is often viewed by Christians as the same person as the Rachab of Joshua, the Harlot of Jericho who helped the Spies Joshua sent. Fitting a presumed theme of the women named in Jesus genealogy being women who did or were perceived as committing sexual sins. And that would happen to fit my own agenda of deconstructing Augustinian sexual morality, a whore being an ancestor of Jesus.
But the Greek spelling in Matthew is Racab. While Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25 when unambiguously referring to the Rachab of Joshua use the spelling Raab. Meanwhile I find it unlikely chronologically that the father of Boas was a contemporary of Joshua.
A Hebrew name perhaps far more likely to explain the origin of the Greek Racab is Rekab, rendered in the KJV as Rechab. But this name is a male name, given to at least two male individuals. But the last verse of 1 Chronicles 2, while talking about clans of Judah (one of whom being the founder of Bethlehem Ephratah) and right before returning to David's genealogy, refers to "the House of Rekab". The Septuagint text of 1 Chronicles 2:55 uses almost the exact same spelling for Rekab that Matthew 1:5 uses for Racab, only the first vowel is different, Recab rather then Racab. There are other places where Matthew and the Septuagint use different vowels for the same name, like Solomon being Salomon in the Septuagint.
Is it possible that Salmah and Racab were a marriage between a Trans woman and a Trans man? Or maybe Salma was non-binary? Making Boas the son of a Trasngender couple? Remember these are Ancestors of Jesus Christ.
Update November 27 2017: Another theory about Salmon.
This second theory involves possibly backing off on my initial absoluteness of anyone who "Begats" offspring being assigned male at birth.
However I do believe Generations are skipped sometimes (Genesis 10 and 11 are different because they give numbers of years, which was clearly for a reason, if there is skipping there, it's skipping that doesn't change the total amount of time that passes). Especially with the line from Judah to David. I have that time-frame as over 300 years longer then Ussher's dates. And even in Ussher's time-frame only 10 generation was a little bit of a stretch.
In which case the actual biological father of Boaz could descend from Salmon.
And I still think the Racab of Matthew's genealogy is the Rekab of the last verse of 1 Chronicles 2. But it could be what Matthew's saying is Boaz mother descends from Rekab.
The thing about the Hebrew of Ruth 4:20-21 I can't get over, is that Salmah is used of this person being Begat, and Salmon of them begating Boaz. Which would imply Salmah is the name they were given at birth, and Salmon is the name they went by later, by the time they had children. Which creates the impression that that they are a Trans Man. And so there is no need for me to refrain from using Male pronouns for him.
The thing is, I do think it's important that David's Y-Chromosome come directly from Judah and Pharez. So I should investigate who is the assigned Male at birth individual that Salmon reproduced with.
Again, Salmon is Salma in 1 Chronicles 2:11 (Salma could have been constructed to be a compromise name). Another Salma appears at the end of the Chapter. This Salma is, if no generations were skipped, the same number of generations from Hezron, yet by a different son of Hezron. But having the same name isn't the only thing making me wonder if they are the same person, it's also that Salma son of Caleb Ben-Hur (generally assumed not to be the same Caleb prominent in Numbers and Joshua) is called the "Father of Bethlehem". Whether that means he literally had a son named Bethlehem or not, the main point is it's saying his family founded the city of Bethlehem. Ephrath is also the name of a female ancestor of this Caleb, Hur is called the Father of Bethlehem in 1 Chronicles 4 in a verse reminding us he's the firstborn of Ephrathah. And because of the Book of Ruth, and 1 Samuel, and Micah 4-5 and the Nativity narrative, we know that Salmon's descendants were also inhabitants of Bethlehem, and some were prominent ones.
Caleb Ben-Hur is not described as begating Salma. Could it be Salma was really a Son in Law of Caleb Ben-Hur?
The reason this Caleb is usually assumed to be separate from the famous Caleb is that the latter presumably had a different father. But Jephunneh ends with a Heh, and they're never called the father or son of anyone. And we're not told anything about their ancestry, except possibly that they're a Kenezite (which would seemingly make them not of Judah but a gentile). Jephunneh could be Caleb's mother.
Caleb Ben-Hur is the same number of generations (if none are skipped, and even if there is skipping, they may skip evenly) from Hezron as Nahshon, who was the Prince of Judah during the same time Caleb son of Jephunneh was Judah's spy. And an Israelite named Hur was prominent at that time as well.
Caleb son of Jephunneh was given Hebron, but 1 Chronicles 2 associates Hebron with the same clan it's Caleb came from. There are a few things in 1 Chronicles 4 repeated from 1 Chronicles 2.
One of the "sons" of Caleb son of Jephunneh in 1 Chronicles 4:15 is named Elah. A name that can very easily be argued to be Grammatically Feminine. Three are named in total. Why say "the sons of Elah, even Kenaz" but not refer to the sons of the others? 1 Chronicles 4 can be pretty confusing. I think the Kenaz who is refereed to as a brother of Caleb is a maternal half-brother.
Caleb Ben-Hur has three named sons in 1 Chronicles 2, Shobal, Salma and Hareph. The "sons" later named to each of them are not individuals but cities and clans.
So perhaps Salmon and Elah were a marriage between a Trans Man and a Trans Woman?
Boaz and the first husband of Ruth had a common ancestor, that's part of the premise of the book. That another near kinsmen was in line before Boaz implies they were probably second cousins not first cousins.
Update March 19th 2018: Luke's Genealogy lists a Joanna in Luke 3:37, same spelling as the other two appearance of Joanna in the Gospel which clearly refer to a female follower of Jesus, in 8:3 and 24:10.
Now it's true that the Greek text does not use the word "son" nearly as many times as our English Translations do. But still, as someone convinced of the theory this is Mary's Genealogy, I think the only people named in it are people considered legally the father.
So perhaps that Joanna was a Trans Woman.
As a Christian I do believe The Gospel's Genealogies refer to people by their preferred names consistently but that the Hebrew Bible may not have since as Hebrews tells us The Law was in imperfect. Thus both Gospels using Salmon I feel settles what name should be used to refer to that person.
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