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Ahandmaiden (nowadays less commonlyhandmaid ormaidservant) is a personalmaid or femaleservant.[1] The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist.[1] Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of enslaved status or may be simply an employee. The termshandmaiden andhandmaid are synonyms.[1]
In theKing James translation of theHebrew Bible, the term handmaid is applied to a female servant who serves her mistress, as in the case ofHagar being described asSarah's handmaid,[2]Zilpah beingLeah's handmaid[3] andBilhah asRachel's handmaid.[4][5] In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children). The use in the Torah of the prefix "to", as in "gaveto wife", may indicate that the wife is aconcubine or inferior wife.[6] The text repeats that these people remain handmaids of their mistress though they are also the concubine of the mistress's husband. They are referred to interchangeably by the Hebrew termsאָמָה (’āmāh) andשִׁפְחָה (šip̄ḥāh). Other modern English bible translations use the word slave, slave-girl or servant.[7]
InChristianity,Mary, the mother of Jesus is referred to as the "handmaid of the Lord" or "servant of the Lord",[8] both of which are titles of honour for the mother ofJesus.[9] TheGospel of Luke describes Mary as the "handmaid of the Lord" (Greekδούλη,doulē) when she gives her consent to the message of the Angel (seeLuke 1:38), and when she proclaims the greatness of the Lord because of "the great things" he has worked in her (seeLuke 1:49)."[9]