Woman Zion Makes a (Heavenly) Move

Abstract Three hundred years have passed, and Woman Zion reemerges in good shape. Early Jewish texts lose almost all interest in multiple identities for Woman Zion: with the exception of Revelation 21, she is a mother. They have also lost nearly all interest in guilt: with the exception of Psalmos of Solomon 17, Woman Zion is entirely free from blame. This is a notable development, since Woman Zion originally appeared as a tool for blaming and shaming the people she represents. Instead, Zion Body Texts in 1 Baruch, the Apostrophe to Zion, Galatians, 4 Ezra, and Revelation demonstrate an increasing interest in two new elements: the temporal presence of Woman Zion’s children, and the spatial absence of Woman Zion’s body—at least, her absence from its usual earthly sphere. Woman Zion in first century CE texts is a heavenly body, no less real, no less present, no less fecund, but decidedly other-worldly. A heavenly body, after all, is eternally impenetrable.