Silenced Voices: Hearing Biblical Women Through the Genesis Apocryphon

The #MeToo movement broke the silence around abuse of women. Within the church, women’s voices have been dismissed, disbelieved, or intimidated into silence, reflecting the Bible’s depiction of women as passive and silent, if mentioned. In stark contrast, a new text found in the Dead Sea Scrolls – called the Genesis Apocryphon – contains a retelling of Genesis stories in which the women are named, identified, and given speech and action. Why did these ancient scribes choose to expand the female characters? This study employs both biblical and feminist studies to examine the four stories of women in the Genesis Apocryphon: the women of the Watchers myth, Batenosh, Emzara, and Sarai. It finds the Second Temple authors expanding female characters’ identities in order to emphasize endogamous marriages. The Genesis Apocryphon’s inclusion of women’s voices illuminates the deafening silence of Genesis and points a way forward for biblical interpretation and feminist praxis today.