Embracing the Divine Feminine

I find it deeply disturbing that men, even ones that have done horrible things, are when they do something wrong, compared to David.
It’s the Bathsheba complex. Just as David had Bathsheba’s husband killed, spied on her while she bathed in the privacy of her own home, and used his status to force her into marriage (ummm….I mean….just as David falls into sin because horrible, evil Bathsheba tempts him, and her slutty ways make it so he can’t possibly control himself, and then God forgives him), men mess up majorly, and then God redeems and forgives them.

It bothers me that I’m noticing that, throughout my life, men have been compared to figures who are talked about as being redeemable, and this is a privilege not afforded to women.

Jezebel is one of the most hated figures in the Bible. As I think back on sermons and Sunday School lessons, the summary of it all is basically, “She was a bitch. Dogs ate her. Everyone hates her.”
She was never talked about as being redeemable, as a figure for whom we should have compassion. I was never taught to see her humanity.

Also, I think it’s strange that Bathsheba is often looked down upon as this bad, horrible, evil temptress who lures poor David when there is actually no evidence of her doing anything other than bathing in her own home.
David murders people or has them killed (Bathsheba’s husband), and he is redeemable, one of the most admired figures in the Bible.
Bathsheba bathes in her own home, gets spied on and loses her husband to murder because of David’s arrogant misogyny, and she is forever known as a horrible temptress, the most famous slut in the Bible.

I’m holding compassion now for Bathsheba, and also mourning the truth that none of the teachings I received growing up taught me to have compassion for her, only for the man who hurt her.

It’s disturbing, isn’t it, how in some Christian circles, men who cause incredible pain are compared to “sweet, redeemable” David, and women who “sin”, who commit the wretched act of showing too much of their body, wearing the wrong type of clothing, not being silent, having an opinion, disagreeing with church leaders, merely existing within a female body and mind are compared to horrible, unredeemable, bitch-of-the-Bible, Jezebel.

I’m holding compassion now for her. We know very little of what her life was like.