For the Xpresso January presentation I'm focusing on the woman at the well. I've noticed that although she had five husbands, there is no mention of why. I can only figure three ways that could happen:
1: She was divorced, which wouldn't be her choice because only a man could initiate divorce proceedings, and it could have been that her husband didn't like the way she cooked the dinner.
2: She was widowed: Her husband(s) died of age, illness, or in one of the small wars going on at the time. It's quite possible she'd be blamed for this- look at how people react in our 'civilised' society- and especially if it happened more than once.
3: She was so badly treated/abused in a marriage she ran away, in which case she'd have to go a very long way because I'm guessing she'd be killed as an adultress if she was found: difficult because Samaria isn't that big, and she couldn't do it twice in any case which makes this unlikely.
4: A fourth possibility, that she'd killed at least one of her husbands, is so unlikely in this society that I think we can dismiss it right away.
So what emerges is a picture not of an immoral woman, as seen in most commentaries, but possibly of an abused woman, certainly a rejected woman. I can't see any way that she could have chosen to have so many husbands in the society of the time.
So, was she an imorral woman, as I learned in Sunday school, or repeatedly abused? Please let me know your thoughts, it'll help me in the writing...
1: She was divorced, which wouldn't be her choice because only a man could initiate divorce proceedings, and it could have been that her husband didn't like the way she cooked the dinner.
2: She was widowed: Her husband(s) died of age, illness, or in one of the small wars going on at the time. It's quite possible she'd be blamed for this- look at how people react in our 'civilised' society- and especially if it happened more than once.
3: She was so badly treated/abused in a marriage she ran away, in which case she'd have to go a very long way because I'm guessing she'd be killed as an adultress if she was found: difficult because Samaria isn't that big, and she couldn't do it twice in any case which makes this unlikely.
4: A fourth possibility, that she'd killed at least one of her husbands, is so unlikely in this society that I think we can dismiss it right away.
So what emerges is a picture not of an immoral woman, as seen in most commentaries, but possibly of an abused woman, certainly a rejected woman. I can't see any way that she could have chosen to have so many husbands in the society of the time.
So, was she an imorral woman, as I learned in Sunday school, or repeatedly abused? Please let me know your thoughts, it'll help me in the writing...
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