Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets

Overtures to Biblical Theology

by Renita J. Weems

Weems's pioneering study explores the puzzling ways in which the Hebrew prophets' portrayals of divine love, compassion, and conventional commitment often became associated with battery, infidelity, and the rape and mutilation of women. She wrestles with the prophets' rhetoric and sexual metaphors to uncover Israelite social structures, asking, "What is implied about women, men, and God by the language that the prophets use to describe the covenant between Yahweh and Israel?" This provocative work by a leading African American biblical scholar delves deeply into issues of intimacy and power, violence and control, seduction and betrayal, and is a searing indictment of the axial points of Israelite religionits covenantal and prophetic traditionsand their authority today.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Old Testament, Faith, Nonfiction, Biblical Studies, Marriage

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Renowned Hebrew Bible scholar, academic administrator, ordained minister, and womanist wisdom griot. Her work in biblical studies is frequently cited in feminist theology and womanist theology.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book asks a good question -- why do some Old Testament metaphors depict violence and brutality against women as a picture of God's judgment of Israel for their disobedience. Unfortunately, I didn't find any really good answers here, short of developing a reader-response hermeneutic that allows the reader to "read the Bible in ways it wasn't meant to be read" so that the reader can choose to ignore what makes them uncomfortable. Rather than wrestle with these texts head on, she comes across as having a "low" view of both God and Scripture. Her feminism does not come across as particularly radical, but it does, I feel, come to some non-orthodox conclusions. I'm not sure I would read this book if I didn't have to read it for school. It does ask some good questions, and touches on a topic that most would rather avoid, but comes up quite short in its conclusions.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite short but interesting read.

[Madison Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

not an easy topic, but easy writing to go through and sit with. quite enjoyed weems’ interpretation of metaphors as the way through which we can conceptualize God, especially how the marriage metaphor between God and Israel “permits is to believe in the most unbelievable of all possible responses to our woundedness, namely, grace.”

[Tasha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Guh. This book is pretty much written on a 10th-grade level, with its circular logic, repetition, and adherence to the essay structure taught to me by my high school English teacher. If this had been about a third of its current length, it could have been much better.

Even so, Weems still doesn't directly answer one of the questions she raises in the introduction: so what do we do with the fact that the Bible, in some cases, seems to condone or even advocate violence against women? What do we do to defuse the misunderstandings of Scripture, the lack of knowledge of context surrounding these writings, and even the sermons of pastors who continue this ignorance?

[Tyler Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that forces all of us to take a hard look at the way we view gender, God, and the scriptures.

[T.Kay Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes you have to read the bible in ways in wasn't meant to be read in order to find truths behind faulty metaphors. Great book.

[Deborah Brunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thought-provoking introductory exploration of the prophetic use of the harrowing marriage metaphor to describe God's covenantal relationship with Israel.

[Rev. Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A text for a Spring 2018 Brite Divinity Course -- From the publisher: Weems's pioneering study explores the puzzling ways in which the Hebrew prophets' portrayals of divine love, compassion, and conventional commitment often became associated with battery, infidelity, and the rape and mutilation of women. She wrestles with the prophets' rhetoric and sexual metaphors to uncover Israelite social structures, asking, "What is implied about women, men, and God by the language that the prophets use to describe the covenant between Yahweh and Israel?" This provocative work by a leading African American biblical scholar delves deeply into issues of intimacy and power, violence and control, seduction and betrayal, and is a searing indictment of the axial points of Israelite religion-its covenantal and prophetic traditions-and their authority today.

[Abbey Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and compelling read arguing against continued usage of the hierarchical marriage metaphor when describing our relationship with God. The frequent and graphic descriptions of violence against women by the OT prophets are inspired and therefore useful for the building up of the church. However, they communicate truths about God to a specific culture. What happens when changes in cultural context cause the metaphor to fall apart? We can choose to no longer use it, Weems suggests. Metaphors matter, language matters, and when the metaphors and language cease to communicate effectively, their usefulness ends.

[Jilian Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. 4.5 - great perspective on evaluating and making sense of metaphors used in the Bible, particularly the ones that reinforce oppression, objectification, and mutilation of women

“Thus, in the face of the ever-changing complexion of American society, every new generation is faced with the task of examining and criticizing the epistemological, cultural, and theological paradigms that have been handed down to it by the previous generation.”

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful text and I wonder what Weems would add to it, nearly 30 years after its publication. It is still so relevant and thought-provoking in a way that asks us (preachers, teachers, parents, readers of the Bible) to take up the work of evaluating our metaphors (require constant vigilance in her estimation!), how they function, and what we might lose if we reject them outright.

[Brynna]

*Recommended by Foundations in Bible professor - womanist theological perspective

[Scott Goodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worthwhile and thought provoking. While I was convinced by some of the authors argumentation, I was not wholly sold.

[cindy]

Read chapters 1 "You Have the Forehead of a Whore: The Rhetoric of a Metaphor" and 2 "Is She Not My Wife?: Prophets, Audiences, and Expectations" for Intro to the Old Testament.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disagreed with the author in several of her conclusions. Using metaphors to describe truths always has its weaknesses (something which the author and I agree), however, to note that Israel was typified as a promiscuous wife teaches the truth that we should treat women with violence is inaccurate. This image does not "reinforce violence against women" (p. 115), nor does it exclude whole segments of mankind from hearing and responding to the message of salvation in Christ. Let's be honest, most Christians have never read Ezekiel 16 and 23 (let alone anything in Ezekiel), so I don't really worry about Ezekiel's metaphors causing whole segments of society to reject Christ based on these two chapters. The same can be said for much of Jeremiah and the book of Hosea.

Have there been atrocities made against women in the name of religion? Yes. Are there questionable passages regarding the treatment of women in the Bible? Yes. Does the Bible overtly teach that we should harm women? I do not believe it does. Did Jesus teach that we should hurt women? Absolutely not. To assert that our (American) culture persistently rationalizes violence against women (p. 119) seems a little much to me. Were women in ancient Israel considered property? An argument can be made for this, especially when referencing the first five books of Moses. Do Americans take this view of women? They do not.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Perhaps more than any other material in the Bible, the portraits of women’s sexuality drawn by Israel’s prophets have contributed to the overall impression one gets from the Bible that women’s sexuality is deviant, evil and dangerous.”

If I had not taken a class on women and the Bible at my local college, this book would have never been on my reading list. I read one book by Weems many years ago, but I don’t think I would have revisited her writing.

If I had not been in that class which looked at gender and sexuality, I could not have understood even a little bit of what Weems is saying. Bible studies has changed a great deal since I was in college 45 years ago. Scholars, including Weems are looking at aspects of the Biblical texts that my Biblical professor would not have considered.

Why are images of women’s sexuality used as a metaphor in the Bible? I don’t think that discussion would have gone well in 1976. I am so grateful that the professor let me sit in on his class in 2021, so I could learn from Weems.

If I am ever going to figure out what Weems is saying, I will need to read this book again. It was a hard slog, but what I learned is so helpful. Weems gave me a way to look at some texts in the Bible that make me better understand why some texts make me uncomfortable.