Biblical Waṣfs Beyond Song of Songs

The wasf rubric, which has been applied by biblicists exclusively to the poetic praise of physical beauty in Song of Songs, is extended to a broader spectrum of passages in the Hebrew Bible. Two groups of text are examined. The initial group, labeled ‘Enemy- wasf ’, includes the depictions of Behemoth and Leviathan in Job 40-41 and the semi-poetic description of Goliath and his armor in 1 Samuel 17. The segments in question exalt the might of two colossal monsters and one giant, who are the classic foes, respectively, of Yahweh and David. Highlighting the near invincibility of the enemies in Samuel and Job serves to magnify the power of the only warriors able to subdue them, namely, David and Yahweh. The second set of texts, consisting of the ‘Woman of Valor’ poem in Prov. 31.10-31, and the portrait of the ‘Wicked Woman’ in the Qumran Wisdom document, 4Q184, warrants the appellation ‘anti- wasf ’. The designation is appropriate because the two poems exploit the wasf format to polemicize against the idealization of beauty expressed in Song of Songs. The acrostic in Proverbs 31 lists the accomplishments and character traits of the ‘Woman of Valor’ while eschewing physical description altogether. The penultimate verse of the poem speaks directly of the treachery of beauty in contrast to the values of wisdom and fear of God. The anti- wasf in 4Q184 is a vivid catalogue of body parts, accentuating the corrupting attributes of the ‘Wicked Woman’.