Last in the series: “Women and War” Sometimes there are stories in your mind and heart that will not go away—and this is one. The biblical narrative of the woman who ate her son turned the stomachs of our research group when we came upon it, deep in 2 Kings. Here, amidst the horrors of war (8th century BCE), in a terrible bargain,...
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Women and War 3 Although rarely discussed, the story of Jael in the Book of Judges presents an extraordinary moment: A solitary woman commits murder in her own tent —and puts an exclamation point on a battle full of intrigue and daring. Jael is inexorably linked with Deborah, Israel’s infamous judge, prophet, and warrior who lived about 1250 BCE. On that fateful day...
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Women and War, 2 Like a warm breeze on a perfect summer morning, a voice of grace and compassion rings across 3000+ years in this Sunday’s reading from the Old Testament (RSV, Year C, track 1). The voice doesn’t belong to a grown man, or to a woman full of years. It is the voice of a child—a girl who was kidnapped...
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