Female Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible: A Phenomenon Present at Prominent Points and in All Categories of Prophetic Activity

Although several articles and books on the prophecy of women and LGBTIQ* persons in the Ancient Near East and the Old Testament have been published in recent decades, their outcomes have scarcely been received in traditional research on prophecy. This article will deal with female prophecy, traces of which we find in all parts of the canon: the Torah (Miriam), the Nebiim Rishonim (Deborah and Huldah, the first and last in the succession of Moses), in the prophetic books (the nameless prophetess to whom Isaiah goes in Isa 8, as well as the prophetic daughters in Joel 3), and also in the Ketubim (Noadiah in Neh 6 and the versions of the Chronicler). However, there are also false female prophets like the Women of En Dor (1 Sam 28) and the prophesying daughters in Ezek 13. Prophetic women such as Noadiah, and those in Ex 38:8 and 1 Sam 2:22, and, in the same tradition, Hannah in the New Testament, are also present in cultic places. Additionally, women are also found among the group gathered around a central prophetic figure, such as the women of Shunem. This article, on the one hand, reveals the gender bias in traditional semantic and grammatical analysis, and on the other hand, will show the importance of the stylistic features of the few texts under discussion (e.g., inclusions, exposed positions in compositions), which may provide illuminating conclusions for the whole phenomenon of prophecy.