10/05--Aspects of Life

            As a newly widowed woman, I would like to discuss what happens to a widow in Judah. This means talk about what levirate is. Were there other options for Ascah? I will talk about how she gets her food. I will also move the time period to ca. 1100 when Rehoboam was either in control, or just lost control of some of the cities to the Shishak. I would like to illustrate that a widow’s life style was not a maltreated lifestyle. Widows were treated with respect, and people try and help the socially disenfranchised. Ascah will also have a child, but a young child. This means that Ascah will be closer to 23. This is a very interesting geographic area because of the border conflict issues, and there were Canaaninte people living amongst the Judeans. I would like to take a look into what a Judean would think of such people. Ascah represents a key to looking into family dynamics, city dynamics, racial (Judean/Canaanintes) dynamics, and an insight into the socially disenfranchised of ancient Israel.

Note: Shephelah-Lachish

(http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=1866)
(Have a better map that has a more reliable source, but do not know how to copy it from the doucment. However, by cross checking the two I can tell that Lachish is in the correct place.)

Sources:
Fensham, F. Charles. "Widow, Orphan, and the Poor in Ancient near Eastern Legal and Wisdom              Literature." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21.2 (1962): 129-39.JSTOR. Web. 04 Oct. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/stable/543887?seq=2&Search=yes&searchText=ancient&searchText=widow&searchText=israel&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dwidow%2Bancient%2Bisrael%26gw%3Djtx%26acc%3Don%26prq%3Dshephelah%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=18&ttl=3161&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null>.
AND
Wright, G. E. "Judean Lachish." Biblical Archaelogist 18.1 (1955): 9-17. JSTOR. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/stable/3209101?&Search=yes&searchText=lachish&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dlachish%26gw%3Djtx%26acc%3Don%26prq%3Dancient%2Bfamily%2Bdynamics%2Bisrael%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=3&ttl=2365&returnArticleService=showFullText>.


P.S. The second source is from 1955, should I try and find a more current article on Lachish, or is this going to be pretty good?