How can women “Rise to Life” amid gender-based violence?

Rev. Dr Janet Wootton has recently retired as a Congregational Minister and Director of Studies for the Congregational Federation. She is on the editorial committee of Feminist Theology Journal, and an active supporter of movements against the trafficking of women, and for gender equality. She is an author and hymn-writer.

There is an extraordinary story at the end of the book of Judges (chs 19-21). It begins and ends with the assertion that there was at this time ‘no King in Israel’ (vv 19:1, 21:25) and the whole event takes place against the backdrop of a society that is sliding into confusion and chaos.

Through this lawless landscape, a small-time religious leader (a Levite) sets out in pursuit of his concubine (a sort of sex-slave, owned by a man as part of his household), who has run away back to her father. Far from protecting his daughter, her father welcomes the Levite with open arms, and the two men get drunk together.

On the way home, the Levite accepts overnight hospitality in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, but a night-time mob storms the house, demanding sex. The terrified Levite throws his concubine out to the crowd, who rape her, all through the night, till she is dead. Devastatingly, she dies at the threshold of the house where she is staying, with her hands stretched out to the door, which is closed against her. What follows is akin to bitter farce.

Burning with rage at the violence committed by the Benjaminites, the men of the tribes of Israel, muster for war.

Ah, but they are also tortured by remorse – ‘How can we rise up against one of our own tribes?’

What to do? They turn to the Lord, who tells them to fight. So they slaughter the Benjaminites, destroying men, women and children. Right!

But then they are racked with remorse again. ‘Now that we have killed all the women, the survivors of Benjamin will die out’. Oh no!

And, back when they were still burning with rage, they all swore an oath not to give their daughters to the men of Benjamin. Oops!

But, hang on, there is one town whose men-folk weren’t there when the oath was sworn. Aha! So they rush off to that town, slaughter the men, plus the married women and children, and carry the virgin women off to give to the Benjaminites.

You see, the whole story is told from the point of view of the men. If you turn it round, and read it from the women’s perspective, you will see something very different. While the men are off killing each other, slaughtering women and children, and inventing puerile ruses to get round ridiculous oaths made in jealous rage, the women have no power, no rights at all.

I write this against the backdrop of fresh revelations of gender-based violence by Christian clergy in Church institutions; allegations of systematic abuse involving the British royal family; and the recognition that the various Covid lockdowns have resulted in huge increases in domestic violence globally. How are women to rise to any kind of life amid gender-based violence that encircles the globe, and runs throughout recorded time? The pandemic shows gender-based violence to be endemic in the human race.

It's not just the occasional rogue male (or complicit female) who needs to change. In all these stories, ancient and modern, violence is rooted in institutions, which take the side of the powerful, and silence all other voices. Even God is invoked in justification. In too many situations, still, women have very little agency, and often nowhere to run.

And yet there is a powerful, persistent biblical message proclaiming justice and equality in God’s sight. If we took this teaching seriously, by God’s grace, we could bring about the transformation needed to enable women to rise to a new life of flourishing for the whole human race. So why don’t we?

Isaiah speaks of a coming ruler who will be equipped with God’s spirit, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, who will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:2,4). Joel foresees a time when that same spirit is poured out on all flesh. Maybe we should be listening out for God’s spirit specifically when our daughters speak out. (Joel 2:28-9).

Above all, we can look to the actions and words of Jesus. In the face of institutional violence against women in his own day, Jesus systematically and consistently raises the women he encounters to new life, so that their voices can be heard.

This is no easy task. Gender-based violence is like a virus, deadly, often hidden, always dangerous, affecting every area of life. But by the life-giving example of Jesus and in the power of God’s Spirit, we can see women rising to life: for which, Hallelujah!

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