Sister: akhoht, feminine noun (Strong’s 269)
Root: אָחוֹת
Sounds like: ak’oat
I don’t have a sister; I’m an only child. But I have friends that are like sisters. Today is the birthday of my bff since play school, Anji! And I’ve got other “sisters” in my University friends, Natasha and Kristen, and high school friends, Tracy, Julie and Jen. I also have a sister-in-law, Kathy, and I see sisterhood in my children. I also see the most beautiful example of sisterhood in my Dad’s sisters, my four aunts (one who has passed on to be with the Lord).
The Hebrew Bible indicates that sisters were important members of the household. It was the father who was the head of the home and daughters were under his authority. The father’s sons were to be vigilant protectors of their unmarried sister and, after the death of the father, brothers were to take over the role as head of their sister’s lives.
Note, for example, the following excerpt:
Exodus 6:23
Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister [a’khoht אֲח֥וֹת] of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
Aaron’s wife was Elisheba. She is described as the daughter of Amminadab and sister to Nahshon. She does not stand out on her own merit; she belongs to her father and, subsequently, her brother. This relationship was also emphasised in the purity laws, which prohibited people from touching the dead, but an exception was made for family members:
Ezekiel 44:25
They shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister [u-l-akhoht וּלְאָח֛וֹת] who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.
Unmarried sisters were still family members under the protection of their fathers and brothers but once a sister married, the person who had authority over her shifted from father to husband.
From our 21st century perspective we see this as patriarchal, and it was. This was the cultural expectation and it’s unfair to judge it from our own opinionated modern assumptions. It’s important to recognize these cultural norms, and then read the text in light of its own history. By doing so, we will be equipped to see where the Bible occasionally (and sometimes radically) strays from its own cultural expectations. Was the Bible written in the age of patriarchy? Yes! Are there examples of women who (or laws about women that) transcend patriarchy in the Ancient Hebrew era? Absolutely!
Sister Laws
How many sisters throughout history have had to deal with sexual assault? It’s an epidemic that has gone on for centuries. The Hebrew Bible set up laws to try to dissuade sexual abuse. Leviticus 18 addressed incest and familial rape:
Leviticus 18:6-18 (see also Leviticus 20:17-19)
None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am YHWH. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. As for the nakedness of your sister [a’khoht’ka אֲחֽוֹתְךָ֤], either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born in the household or born outside the household, you shall not uncover their nakedness. The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours. The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father, she is your sister [a’khoht’ka אֲחוֹתְךָ֖]; you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister [a’khot אֲחוֹת]; she is your father’s blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister [a’khoht אֲחֽוֹת], for she is your mother’s blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is an outrageous sin. And you shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister [a’khohtah אֲחֹתָ֖הּ] as a second wife while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.
Sister was the term used to describe a full female sibling, a half-sibling, a maternal aunt (your mother’s sister), a paternal aunt (your father’s sister), and a sister-in-law (your wife’s sister). It’s a sad fact that these sisters needed the protection that these laws attempted to provide.
Deuteronomy 27:22
Cursed is he who lies with his sister [a’khohtow אֲחֹת֔וֹ], the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
Incest was an absolute no-no in ancient Israel and that stood out as an exception amongst some of their pagan neighbours. Ancient Egypt was notorious for its incest, particularly within the royal family. Fathers married daughters and brothers married sisters, emulating the married sibling gods Osiris and Isis. Although the Babylonians, under Hammurabi’s Code, forbade incestuous relationships, the Assyrians did not wholly forbid the practice. The Canaanites exercised incest within all branches of the family, in line with their primary god Baal who was legendary for raping his sister, mother and daughter. In Hebrew culture, sisters and daughters were protected by law from such gruesome injustices.
The laws were in place, but that did not mean that Israel always followed the laws. Through the prophet Ezekiel, YHWH lamented over the “outrageous sins” Judah had succumbed to:
Ezekiel 22:9b-12
[YHWH:] “In your midst they have committed outrageous sin. Among you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; among you they have abused her who was unclean in her menstruation. And one has committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife, another has outrageously defiled his daughter-in-law, and another among you has sexually abused his sister [a’khohtow אֲחֹת֥וֹ], his father’s daughter. Among you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest, you have injured your neighbours by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord YHWH.
The Sister Protector
Although women were expected to be submissive to their fathers and brothers, in an interesting twist, Rahab the Canaanite, flipped the script and put herself in the role as protector over her parents, brothers and sisters. As mentioned earlier, Canaanite religion worshipped a god who raped the women in his celestial family. Rahab, turned away from the Canaanite religion and made a confession of faith to the militant Hebrew scouts who had entered her town. She would trust in YHWH and He would protect her family. It was not her father or her brothers that would protect her, she was courageous sister-protector for her family:
Joshua 2:9-13
And said to the men, “I know that YHWH has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have despaired because of you. For we have heard how YHWH dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard these reports, our hearts melted and no courage remained in anyone any longer because of you; for YHWH your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth below. Now then, please swear to me by YHWH, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters [a’khohtai אַחְיֹותַ֔י], and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.”
Rahab stood out as an exceptional woman who saved her family. The Bible championed her as neither submissive nor weak in the story. Her faith in the Hebrew God was rewarded and we find her represented in Yeshua’s genealogy as one of his direct great grandparents (Matthew 1:5).
She’s my Sister, not my Wife!
Sisters needed more than just protection from unwanted sex, they needed respect, and the families needed them to be seen as respectable unmarried women. However, once married, they weren’t always respected. There are a few repeated stories where wives were falsely called sisters.
In Genesis 12 Abram and Sarai faced the Pharoah of Egypt, and out of fear for his life Abram announced that the very beautiful Sarai was his sister, not his wife. Not knowing the truth, Pharaoh took Sarai as a wife (implying sex) and gave gifts (bride price) for the exchange to Abram. As a result, God struck the Egyptians with a plague. Furious at the deception, Pharaoh called Abram out and he and Sarai were commanded to leave the court.
In Genesis 20 Abram, now Abraham, did this AGAIN! This time he told Abimelech, king of Gerar, that Sarah was his sister, not his wife… and again Sarah was taken by Abimelech for marriage. However, this time God spoke to Abimelech in a dream and ordered him to return Sarah to Abraham before she was sexually violated.
By acting as a brother to Sarah, Abraham failed in his role as his “sister’s” protector. He failed as a husband and failed as a fake brother.
As the old phrase goes, “like father, like son”, Isaac, son to Abraham and Sarah, did the exact same thing to his wife, Rebekah. Isaac told the men of Gerar that Rebekah was his sister, not his wife. King Abimelech had heard this all before and he called upon Isaac to be accountable for his deception (Genesis 26).
Why did Abraham and Isaac do this? They feared for their lives… and they put their lives ahead of their wives. Their beautiful spouses garnered the attention of Pharaohs and Kings. If these pagan leaders wanted to take the wives, they could simply kill the husband. Abraham and Isaac were handing over their wives to save their own skin, even though there was no indication that Pharaoh or Abimelech had plans to take their wives before they knew that they were available (even though they really weren’t).
Sarah and Rebekah were used as shields for their husbands. Men were culturally expected to protect the women, but in this case the women were forced to protect the men from their own fears. Abraham and Isaac have been celebrated for centuries as men of great faith, and they were super-faithful on many occasions, but they were by no means perfect. Their wives (not their sisters) could tell you so.
Avenging your Sister
There were, however, some fiercely loyal brothers to their sisters, especially when their sister’s purity and reputation was at risk.
When Dinah was sexually assaulted by Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, her brothers were enraged. Using deception they lured the Hivites into a false peace treaty and then slaughtered them while they were most vulnerable (read Genesis 34 to hear the full dramatic story). Dinah was completely silent in the narrative and her brothers, who initially wanted to champion her cause, ended up using her rape as an excuse for their military ambitions.
The rape of Tamar, king David’s daughter, was the primary example of incestuous assault. Amnon, David’s oldest son raped his half-sister, Tamar. Absalom, Tamar’s full-brother, slowly planned a calculated revenge on his half-brother, Amnon. This event shattered David’s family in many different directions. Absalom was devoted to his sister and eventually had Amnon killed. We are given no indication that David did anything for Tamar, which likely enraged Absalom even more. Unlike Dinah, Tamar had much to say in the story. She cried out in her grief and sorrow and her brother Absalom was compassionate to her plea. He took it to heart and it drove him to seek murderous revenge (2 Samuel 13).
Sister Rivalry
Probably the most famous of sisters in the Hebrew Bible was Leah and Rachel. Rachel, the younger sister, was pursued by Jacob as his first choice for a wife. The sister’s father, Laban, thought it more proper to marry off his first daughter Leah, and so he tricked Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. Jacob eventually took Rachel as a second wife, even though Leviticus laws prohibited the action (Lev. 18:18): “You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister [a’khohtah אֲחֹתָ֖הּ] as a second wife while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.”
Leah and Rachel were pitted against each other for Jacob’s affections and the damaged relationship between the two sisters was palpable.
Genesis 30:1
Now when Rachel saw that she had not borne Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister [ba-a’khohtah בַּאֲחֹתָ֑הּ]; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I am going to die.”
In her jealousy, Rachel conscripted Bilhah to sleep with Jacob and produce a child for her:
Genesis 30:7-8
And Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestling I have wrestled with my sister [a’khohti אֲחֹתִ֖י], and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
This emotional wrestling match between Leah and Rachel broke their bond of sisterhood. Rachel was broken with jealousy and Leah lived with the fact that Jacob did not love her. The Biblical text actually says that Jacob hated Leah.
The other sister relationship that stands out in the Bible was that of Mary and Martha in the New Testament (B’rit Chadashah). In comparison to Leah and Rachel, they also had their moments of contention:
Luke 10: 38-42
Now as they were traveling along, He [Jesus] entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.”
But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Martha was frustrated at her sister for not helping, but Yeshua gently pointed out that Mary was listening to Him, and that was the greater action. These two sisters may have been very different in personality, but they were united followers of Yeshua in the final years of His life on earth.
[Two sisters that don’t get a lot of attention are the sisters of King David (Zeruiah and Abigail). I am currently working on a journal submission about these two (and the other women in David’s genetic circle), so stay tuned!]
Heroic Sisters
One of the influential sisters that stood out in the Tanakh was Miriam, the sister to Aaron and Moses. In fact, Miriam was instrumental in saving Moses’ life. When Pharaoh commissioned the death of newborn Hebrew sons, Moses’ mother and sister concocted a way to save him:
Exodus 2:2b-8
She [Moses’ mother] hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister stood [a’khohtow אֲחֹת֖וֹ] at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister [a’khohtow אֲחֹתוֹ֮] said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?”
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
The book of Numbers tells us the name of Miriam’s mother:
Numbers 26:59
The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister [Miriam a’khohtam].
Miriam wasn’t just a sister to Aaron and Moses, she was a prophet who led the women in worship:
Exodus 15:20-21
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister [a’khoht אֲח֧וֹת], took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam answered them,
“Sing to YHWH, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.”
Another heroic sister was Jehosheba. When King Ahaziah of Judah died, his mother, Athaliah, decided to kill all the royal children and claim the throne for herself. However, Ahaziah’s sister, Jehosheba, rescued his youngest son from his murderous grandmother:
2 Kings 11:1-3
When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and eliminated all the royal children. But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister [a’khoht אֲח֨וֹת] of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and abducted him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and put him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. So he was kept hidden with her in the house of YHWH for six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.
Jehosheba, Ahaaziah’s sister, saved her nephew (the rightful heir to the throne) and hid him in the Temple where her husband worked as a prominent priest. Athaliah reigned for six years, but at the turn of the seventh year Jehosheba’s husband, Jehoiada, and the other priests in the Temple crowned the young boy as the new king of Judah. Jehosheba’s actions ensured that the Davidic line of Judah was restored!
Sisters in Poetry
Sister imagery comes into play in the prophetic and poetic writings of the Tanakh. Jeremiah spoke of Israel’s treacherous sister Judah (Jeremiah 3:6-10); Ezekiel talked about the fallen sisters, Samaria and Sodom (Ezekiel 16), and later, in Ezekiel 23, he talked about the fallen and corrupt sisters, Oholah (“tent” Samaria) and Oholibah (“My tent is in her” Jerusalem). It wasn’t a flattering portrait of sisters.
According to Proverbs, Wisdom was the best sister:
Proverbs 7:4-5
Say to wisdom, “You are my sister [a’khohti אֲחֹ֣תִי],” and call understanding your intimate friend, so that they may keep you from an adulteress, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
In the love poem, Song of Solomon, the groom frequently referred to his beloved as, “my sister, my bride” (Song of Solomon 4 & 5). This was more than a lustful urge, it was a desire to love and protect his bride with a genuine heart. He would be devoted to her like a brother should be devoted to his sister.
The epic poem found in the Book of Job invoked a twisted sense of family. Job, depressed over his loss of family, goods, and health, imagined that his new family was death:
Job 17:13-16
“If I hope for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness; if I call to the grave, ‘You are my father’; to the maggot, ‘my mother and my sister [wa-a’khohti וַ֝אֲחֹתִ֗י]’; where then is my hope? And who looks at my hope? Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”
Job had hit rock bottom, he stopped seeing the God-given life around him. His hope was sinking, but death was not his family.
We know that Job had a father and mother (as all humans do), but he also had brothers and sisters of his own. Despite all his suffering, Job came to a conclusive decision to be faithful to YHWH, and as a result YHWH restored all that he had lost. His family, including his sisters, came to celebrate:
Job 42:10-12a
YHWH also restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and YHWH increased double all that Job had. Then all his brothers, all his sisters [akh’yohtaw אַחְיֹותָ֜יו], and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that YHWH had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. YHWH blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.
The last mention of the word sister, in the Tanakh, can be found in the book of Hosea. Hosea was commanded to marry an unfaithful woman. They had three children together. When the second child, a daughter, came, God said that she should be called “Lo-ruhamah”, meaning “I will no longer have compassion” (Hosea 1:6-7). The second son was to be called, “Lo-ammi”, meaning “not My people” (Hosea 1:8-9). YHWH had had enough. This marriage of Hosea and Gomer, and their children, was representative of God’s relationship with His own children. They had abandoned Him, and so they were no longer His people and He felt no compassion for them. It was the line in the sand. Only they could change the relationship, YHWH left it up to them.
But YHWH, the ever forgiving God, would return to them and reestablish their relationship:
Hosea 1:10b
Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” it will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”
Hosea 2:1
Say to your brothers, “Ammi” [My people], and to your sisters [w-la-a’khotekem וְלַאֲחֽוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם], “Ruhamah” [she has obtained compassion]”.
We are God’s people on whom He has shown great compassion, and as His people we ought to treat each other like beloved sisters and brothers. We’re a family, folks, don’t for get it! Men, be good brothers! Women, be good sisters! I may not have a biological sister of my own, but I know there’s a world full of strong, courageous, women of faith that I can call My Sisters!
Next week: Revisiting The Way
Hebrew Word Lessons 