#MeToo in the Bible

President Trump chose Brent Kavanagh to become the newest addition to the  Supreme Court. Everything was going well for him, but then a woman came out against him and said that he sexually assaulted her. #MeToo, a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault,is probably the reason Christine Blasey Ford got the attention she did even without witnesses to back up her story. No doubt a political agenda played a role, but the cultural climate created by #MeToo opened the door discounting whether she was telling the truth or not.

Ford said that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 35 years ago, when he was 17 years old. He was young. They were young. Since no guilt can be proven on his account, we have only a whisper of what could have potentially happened. Not that anything did happen, but what happens to a young woman affects how she lives the rest of her life. In 2018, a cell phone camera and the Internet can make a momentary lapse in judgment a long lasting regret. Intentional attention to your sexual behavior will protect your hopes and dreams.But what happens when sexual assault or sexual harassment interrupt you?

So ladies, what should we expect from our male counterparts? If they fail to treat us with decency and respect, what should we do if we are sexually assaulted or harassed? Let’s look at the biblical account of a man who abused his power so he could have sex with a woman. In 2 Samuel 11, we witness a sexual violation and murder, which God, Himself, addresses because the man responsible is large and in charge.

2 Samuel 11-12 gives the account of King David straying from his devotion to God into moral disobedience, including that of a sexual nature. In summary, David sees a beautiful woman bathing. When he asks about her, he is told that she is a married woman whose husband and father were faithful fighters in the kings army. Despite this information, the king sends for the woman and has sex with her. When she becomes pregnant, David tries to cover up what he has done (read the account to find out about his devious plan). When his plan does not work, he has Bathsheba’s husband killed and takes her as one of his many wives. The biblical account has various cultural difficulties, including the social status of women. However, it is still a passage worth exploring to gain an understanding of the prevalence of sexual assault and how it manifested itself back in the Bible days.

In the next couple of weeks, let’s take a journey through 2 Samuel 11-12 as we look at #MeToo in the Bible.