Thoughts on women...

Surely one of the most disturbing stories in the bible is that of Jephthah and his daughter in Judges 11:29-40. I'll leave you to read it but essentially Jephthah makes a vow to sacrifice the first to greet him when he returns home from victory in war. Tragically the first to greet him is his daughter and even more Tragically, he goes through with the sacrifice in a point of honour. This story should also remind us of so-called honour based killings and abuse which still happen today and crimes committed to 'protect or defend' the honour of a family or community. Forced marriage, FGM, breast flattening, murder, beatings, rape, threat to kill... There is never any justification for it and most justice systems have made it clear that there is no place for cultural relativism when it comes to these crimes. All are human rights violations and have been roundly condemned by the World Health Organization.  God cares deeply about the vulnerable and oppressed as we've already t...

In this journey through the bible, next on our list is Dinah in Genesis 34. In preparing for this I started to read some commentaries because I knew that there is not complete agreement among the scholars with some believing it to be more of a love story than rape. A perspective I hadn't see before though caught my eye and it was so unexpected and shocking that I think it's a good place to focus today. To say it's a reach is an understatement and you can read it here if you like for the long version (its a section of a longer discussion and a suggested interpretation rather than a categoric statement). Essentially however, it takes a similarity in the language used for when Leah (her mother) "went out" to see Jacob to have see with him to conceive Dinahs brother, and compares it to how Dinah "went out" to visit the women of of the land. They suggest that she went with the intention of sexual immorality. They are suggesting "like mother, like daught...

As the saying goes, you cannot make a purse out of a sows ear. Folks, this one is difficult to read, think about and write. Lot was Abrahams brother and he lived in Sodom and Gomorrah.  Genesis 19 picks up right after Abraham has pleaded for the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. God has 'sent' two angels to the city to see if even 10 'good' people can be found. Lot met them at the gates (where he was sat as a Judge) and insisted they stay with him in his home. 2 Peter 2:7 suggests that Lot was a righteous man, distressed by the depravity of the city he lived in. Perhaps the righteousness is credited to his position of Judge. Perhaps he was trying to make a difference. Lots of 'perhaps'.... 4  Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.   5  They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6  Lot went outside ...

Yesterday I started to speak about the consequences of the oppression of Sarai being outworked in horizontal violence. In Genesis 16 we catch up with Sarai at a time when she has now had a long heartbreaking struggle with infertility. She is aware of the promise of God on the family but those longed for descendants were not materialising. This was Sarai's 'pain in childbearing' and I can imagine how deep that cut.  Adding to Sarai's discomfort would be the daily living reminder of her humiliation and abandonment at her husbands hand in Egypt - her female servant was an Egyption girl named Hagar.  What followed can only be described as chaos in the family. Sarai felt like a failure, offered her servant as a wife to her husband. In heartbreaking repeat of her own experience, Sarai took the agency of another woman and sexually enslaved her to her husband. Hagar, a young woman taken from her home town probably against her wishes as part of Pharaohs transaction with Abram fo...

 One of the next questionable encounters is with Abram. When we join the text for this next instalment, Abram has just recently heard from God that He will make him into a ‘great nation’. Gen 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. [ a ] 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” You would think that on hearing this, Abram might be feeling confident of his future. He has a great relationship with God who has promised him land and descendants, even building an alter in verse 8 to mark the spot where God appeared to him. And yet, within a few short verses, Abram reveals his humanity in an unconscionable way. Gen 12:10-20 10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know w...

Today is day two of 16 days of Activism for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG). On my stories I'll be sharing the many and varied ways that women suffer oppression and violence globally. The reason I do this is because there are still so many people who do not know about it. VAWG to some can feel quite distant to themselves. They might feel that they have not been touched by this issue and therefore it is not their responsibility to speak up about it. In the same way that we know that safeguarding is everyone's business, so is raising awareness and doing what we can to eliminate VAWG. I'll be the first to admit that living in this 'sphere' of activism takes it's toll and can be emotionally exhausting to be continually confronted with what happens to our sisters locally and globally. Those who know me will know that two bible passages I hold close to my heart are Micah 6:8 ("What does the Lord require of you?... to act justly, love me...