Mary and the word handmaid

DEFINITION OF HANDMAID

The bible refers to Mary mother of Jesus as a handmaid but what does this mean? Through the lense of the churches of Europe the word defines a young girl, but the bible provides a different definition for handmaid. There are variations of ancient terms for handmaid and one of them is Shifchato, from the Orthodox Jewish Bible.

HANDMAIDS OF THE BIBLE 

Laban father in-law to Jacob gave to his daughters Leah and Rachel handmaids named Zilpah and Bilhah, who became surrogate mothers of some of the tribes of Israel.

 Apparently, handmaids had no rights to their own bodies. in the ancient world the word handmaid means concubine or a participant in what is called a morganatic marriage? The marriage of Boaz in the book Ruth represents a morganatic marriage, which is defined as a tradition when a noble or elite marries a person of a lesser class and this is something Mary, mother of Jesus could have experienced.

HISTORY OF HANDMAIDS

 Deuteronomy 21:10-14 KJV - When thou goest forth to war against - Bible Gateway

Between the old and New Testament, the land of Judea was captured by the Romans under the Julio-Claudian dynasty during a war and Herod was appointed as the ruler.  Deuteronomy 21:10-14 is crucial in understanding the culture of the handmaid. Based on my interpretation of the text, a woman captured during war, and desired by a ruler or noble, would be delivered to the noble and returned to her tribe or her people upon his discretion. Please read the NIV for clarification.

This is similar to circumstances surrounding Hagar the handmaid of Sarah and could be a reason for Joseph being permitted to marry, the pregnant Mary, who identified herself as a handmaid. 

The laws of Deuteronomy 21:10-17 seems to be common for the tribes of Asia but was this custom worldwide? Does this practice still exist in certain religions and regions in the world today? We should consider the marriage of Prince Harry and Megan Markle as an example of ancient classism. Most important this theory about morganatic marriage makes the birth of Jesus practical and applies the immaculate conception to the trinities of African mythology and the Greek church.

SUMMARY

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If Mary were impregnated by a human what does this mean about the origins of salvation?  There are many books that claim the story of salvation is older than Jesus of Nasareth and recorded in pyramid text, but before we jump to any conclusions let's understand the Greek, Hebrew and Roman definitions of the word handmaid. 

This is an evidence-based study and information is subject to change..