in Israelite society. However, the lack of adequate corroborating evidence and also the likelihood of variations over time and region make firm answers to these questions impossible. It might be inferred from this story, for instance, that ordinary women were permitted direct access to the male authority structure to make appeal in their own right, without the necessity of a man to make the appeal for them. Was such direct access by women the norm? Or was it an exception permitted to women whose
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