I HOPE I DON’T GET IN TROUBLE AGAIN. But it might happen. Flak might fly.
The problem is in the timing. What I’m about to do might be poorly timed. Or maybe it’ll be well timed. I’m not sure which.
I know the safe thing to do.
Nothing.
That’s almost always safe in contentious times, though it’s not usually helpful.
Somewhere between the time:
- a bevy of beauties started accusing our president of sexual overreach and…
- my news apps started filling up with reports of ladies accusing many other men of much the same, and the other men getting held accountable even before they were found guilty…
I started working on a Bible-background video about men in ancient times exploiting ladies in ways that would not be tolerated today. And we tolerate a lot, it seems.
The title of my video is “Why Bible men married extra wives.”
As it turns out, there was a fair amount of today’s news going on back then.
In Bible times, as today, there were sexual predators laying on of hands, but in the wrong way. And there was a general attitude of entitlement for the gents.
So, the video is going to reveal some parallels to what’s going on now.
Here’s where I might get in trouble.
Humor.
Some of the Bible stories about men mistreating ladies are entertaining, and seem intended to be read that way. Jacob waking up married to the wrong woman, for example. Readers feel sad for his wife, but not for him…the cheater who got cheated by a father-in-law no one in his right mind would want as a relative. You can read the story in Genesis 29.
I don’t mean to diminish the seriousness of sexual exploitation, then or now.
I do intend to tell the Bible stories.
They’re on the record.
The stories are timely. I don’t have any doubt about that.
Whether or not the humor is timely, time will tell. But humor is part of the ancient stories, which were probably written by men.
It’s possible that the ladies didn’t see the humor. Then or now.
Understandable.
Whether or not we laugh, I think it’s important to know where we’ve been, and if we’ve made notable progress in the past 4,000 years.
Why Bible men married extra wives
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I’m surprised people are finding your video controversial, Steve. It’s just stating facts, after all, not espousing a political view.
But that said, it should be noted that having many wives may have been all about power and sexual domination for men — but it wasn’t entirely without advantages to the women also.
After all, there weren’t a lot of career options for single women in 1500 BC. Better to be the wife of a rich man (even if you’re just one of many) than to not be the wife of anyone.
Given more woman live through being born and childhood a rich man could easily take advantage of all the extra woman. Like Steve said it’s better to be one of many than single and dirt poor.