Texts in Conversation
In Judges 5, Jael gives Sisera milk and cheese, drawing on ancient Near Eastern imagery where these foods symbolized fertility and attraction, such as in the Sumerian story of Inanna and Dumuzi. This suggests her kindness may have been seductive, making Sisera feel safe before she killed him.
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The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi
Inanna Prefers the Farmer
Ancient Near East
Inanna sang: “Make your milk sweet and thick, my bridegroom. My shepherd, I will drink your fresh milk. Wild bull Dumuzi, make your milk sweet and thick. I will drink your fresh milk. Let the milk of the goat flow in my sheepfold. Fill my holy churn with honey cheese. Lord Dumuzi, I will drink your fresh milk. My husband, I will guard my sheepfold for you. I will watch over your house of life, the storehouse, the shining quivering place which delights Sumer—the house which decides the fates of the land, the house which gives the breath of life to the people. I, the queen of the palace, will watch over your house.”
Date: 1900 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Judges 5:25
Hebrew Bible
24 The most rewarded of women should be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite! She should be the most rewarded of women who live in tents. 25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for a king, she served him curds. 26 Her left hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. She ‘hammered’ Sisera, she shattered his skull, she smashed his head, she drove the tent peg through his temple. 27 Between her feet he collapsed, he fell limp and was lifeless; between her feet he collapsed and fell, in the spot where he collapsed, there he fell—violently killed!
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The subtext is clear: the land flowing with milk and honey has been defiled; both products have become harbingers, not of promise and life, but of betrayal and death; fruitfulness gives way to corruption, nightmare comes in place of dream ... moreover, he may be making an oblique reference to Canaanite cultic practice. Driver relates that the Phoenicians honoured standing stones with libations of milk and honey. Milk and honey are among the gifts that the Sumerian deity Enlil offers for his bride Ninlil and they feature together as erotic metaphors in the important Sumerian composition ‘The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi’. The goddess Inanna-Ishtar sings of Dumuzi-Tammuz, her shepherd-king suitor ... They figure too as erotic metaphors in Song of Solomon 4:11 and 5:1 ..."
Baker, Robin
Hollow Men, Strange Women: Riddles, Codes, and Otherness in the Book of Judges
(p. 24) Brill, 2016
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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