Bad Girls
Years ago, Liz Curtis Higgs wrote a series of books with tantalizing titles: “Bad Girls of the Bible,” “Really Bad Girls of the Bible,” and “Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible.” They sold really well, undoubtedly displaying sound Biblical exegesis.
Each of the books featured a cover depicting a woman’s alluring, seductive gaze. With these covers who wouldn’t be drawn in to read their stories!
But I wasn’t sold on them. Here’s why.
In an attempt to elevate women, the titles played right into the hand of past scholars and Bible teachers who perpetuate myths.
That women are less than.
That women are trouble because they are irrational.
That women are sexually provocative persons men must steer clear of.
That women are faulty simply for being female.
Treasured Women
The gospel of Matthew traces Jesus’s genealogy from Abraham to Jacob and on through the line of Judah, the fourth of Jacob’s twelve sons. Matthew appears to be tracing Judah’s lineage as well as Jesus’s. Yet he surprisingly shines a light on four women – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and ‘the wife of Uriah’ – Bathsheba, whom he chooses not to name. He concludes the genealogy with Joseph and his wife – whom he does name – Mary, who bore Jesus (Matt 1:1-17).
If we follow the trope told through the ages – that girls are trollops who entrap boys – we will miss the mystery present in Matthew’s infant narrative.
Let’s not fall into the trap by believing the teaching that these immoral women were redeemed by contributing DNA in Jesus’s bloodline. Their stories are much deeper and theologically richer than that!
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary are not recounted in Jesus’s genealogy for their impropriety. Rather these five women are remembered and treasured for their unique contributions in the story of Salvation. Our sons and daughters would do well to learn from them.
To appreciate these five women it is necessary to compare them with their male counterparts. Only then can we see how their daring resistance to the culture of their day featured in the drama of the redemption story in Scripture. If we fail to do so, we do these women a disservice and in my opinion fail in rightly teaching the Word of God.
In the next few weeks I plan to share my own thoughts from my research on Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, Ruth, and Mary.
By shining a light on these women and the men in their lives- by studying their stories as they are recounted in the Old Testament – I hope to ignite our hearts to consider ways we too easily capitulate to culture rather than being transformed by Christ.
It takes guts to go against the grain, and these five women’s stories from the ancient past, have led the way!
*Image credit: Baldassare Peruzzi, Ponzetti Chapel, Santa Maria della Pace, 1514
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