Sarah the Priestess: The First Matriarch of Genesis

by Savina Teubal

Book Overview

The only source in which Sarah is mentioned is the Book of Genesis, which contains very few highly selective and rather enigmatic stories dealing with her. On the surface, these stories tell us very little about Sarah, and what they do tell is complicated and confused by the probability that it represents residue surviving from two different written sources based on two independent oral traditions. Nevertheless, the role which Sarah plays, in the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804008442
• ISBN13: 9780804008440
• Release Date: July 1984
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Sarah and Haggar

Savina J. Teubal wrote two books that truly opened my eyes to how history has been manipulated to continue a cultural position that minimizes the real story of humanity. I read Haggar the Egyptian first and was so impressed that I immediatley bought a copy of Sarah the Priestess. These are the types of books that need to be read and become well known to offset the prior bias found in books about religious history. Keep up your excellent work, Savina Teubal. May Sinclair, Author, Infamous Eve, A History

Was Sarah a priestess? A new look at the Genesis figure

I love this book, too! As a feminist but not a Biblical scholar, I was thrilled to read this careful analysis by a trained scholar who brought professional expertise as well as a feminist viewpoint to the study of Genesis. This is not a "waving the hands" book where a matriarchal past is invented because the author likes the idea. Instead, Teubal unravels the text of Genesis into several strands and analyzes each strand scrupulously, using her knowledge of inheritance laws and parallel religious customs in the lands Sarah and Abraham came from. The results are riveting. She finds parallels between Sarah's life and the lives of Babylonian priestesses from Ur (Abraham and Sarah's hometown). Based on this, Teubal postulates that Sarah may have been a priestess, although there isn't even a word for a woman in this role in Hebrew -- yet the otherwise puzzling story falls into place when looked at from this perspective. Another tidbit: Teubal points out that the Bible, usually described as the story of Abraham's descendents, is more accurately the story of Sarah's descendants. This is because Abraham had other descendants through Hagar and Keturah, yet the Bible doesn't follow their stories through the generations, as it does the stories of Sarah's descendants. This indicates something of Sarah's original importance. As previous reviewers have said, Teubal's hypothesis gives the Genesis story a whole new meaning. Although it's written so technically and with scholarly attention to documentation, the cumulative effect of the book is exciting! It's far more radical than "The Red Tent," and also more convincing because it's based on real knowledge rather than fantasy. Teubal's scholarly technique makes the book.

Dare to read this book!

I loved this book! As a lay scholar I have tried to find the underlying meaning behind the actions of the matriarchs in the bible. I was tired of hearing all the criticisims of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachael, Lea and the daughters of Lot. The answers I was seeking to find were to be found in the ancient practices of the goddess. Once the author takes us through the life of Sarah and Rebecca the rest fall into place as a consistent theme in the lives of women trying to preserve their own religious conviction during a time of religious change and unheaval. If you want to get past the archaic patriarchial attitude of bible interpretation and explore the more ancient pre-biblical practices of the early forefathers and mothers of the faith, dare to read this book!

Sarah, You Da Woman!

Tragically, the title of Teubal's book (as tweaked by her publisher, as I understand it) is "Sarah the Priestess" and not "Sarah the Woman." The role of the Woman, neither priestess nor goddess, was an office which was instituted with the Lord's cursing of Lucifer with the Woman in the Paradise of Pleasure. Adam already had a realm of ultimate authority as steward of life, and now the Woman, here used as a title, had power and authority vested in and through her to her Seed to vanquish the Father of Lies and Murder. The so-called "Patriarchal Revolution" of old was actually an assault on the two intertwining authorities of the sacred patriarch and sacred matriarch. Teubal points out that the Lord repeatedly bolsters that unique office of the Woman with the inheritance by the youngest, a signature of sacred matriarchy. So "patriarchal" Judaism and its derivative Christianity actually retains the living remnant of the exaltation of the Woman.WWSD? What would Satan do? As Satan or his minions would know, the enemy--the Woman and her Seed--must be eradicated. Here is the basis for the assault on the Adamic stewardship role hallowing and protecting the Woman in marriage. Here is her removal from her storehouse-wedding tabernacle, and the seizing of goods, and the right to distribute them. Here is the throwing down of the landmarks with her visage on them and the taking of lands. Here is the enslavement of the male steward. Here is her removal from power to a post as temple prostitute while keeping the title only--EN. Here is the slaughter, in some quarters, of the children of the EN. This is surgical strike on the Adamic Steward and the Woman & Seed, true patriarchy and matriarchy, by the ravagers of sacred culture. And this satanic assault brought continual upheaval and war for lands. The "squatter" means of controlling property is still prevalent in the Middle East today, not the inheritance and deeding with land titles, as those using the little images of the Woman as that claimed by Rachel. The continuum of the office of the Woman, the EN, "grace," was brought forward through Sarah to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In her angelic visitation is seen the Ancient Sacred Wedding formula with the Three Sacred Strangers: the Archangel Gabriel, Abba, and the Holy Spirit, her Spouse. And most tellingly the Blessed Virgin is addressed as the ultimate EN, "Full of Grace." Teubal's book reveals the cleverness of the Virgin Mary's assent as the "handmaid" of the Lord by examining the legal ramifications in the relationship between Sarah and Hagar, the Egyptian princess.The retention of the title EN is important in showing the continuity of office holders, and the basis in etymology for our word "queen" with the G-root for "reed" from the wedding tabernacle, linked to the gracious "N." Gwena, GYNE, queen, it explicitly denotes the Woman, she who will conquer. ...

The Importance of Sarah

This is one of the most signifigant books I have ever read. For years I have been buying it by the dozen to give away to women who I thought would also find it important. In this book, Teubal looks at the Book of Genesis starting from the point that Abraham and Sarah are a nice Mesopotanian couple in which Sarah is a priestess of a particular order that permits its priestess's to marry but not have children. She is a working priestess of this order and Abraham is a follower of the new ways he finds in Caanan. Through this start she explains many of the confusing parts of Genesis by looking at the stories through the eye of Mesopotainian customs. This changes Genesis totally. For example in Mesopotania the youngest inherits, not the oldest; family trees are traced through the female, so Sarah and Abraham who have the same father but different mothers are not related at all in that world. Over the years I have successfully used the book for several book discussion groups. In one instance one of the participants after we finished said " I feel better about Sarah and also myself." I cannot think of any book that has changed my way of looking at the Bible more.