I was taught that Vashti, Orpah, and Bathsheba were horrible women.
That Vashti was rightfully banished for her disobedience, that Orpah loved the “world” more than her family, and that Bathsheba deserved to lose her firstborn because she was an unfaithful woman….
Even as I child I couldn’t understand how this could be true.
1- Vashti was a Queen. A QUEEN. Not a common entertainer. Her husband was drunk with his buddies and wanted her to come show herself off. BECAUSE OF HER DIGNITY AND BRAVERY she refused. This could have cost her life- instead she was banished. She models to me someone who honors herself and her character more than pleasing the crowd. She has boundaries and knows her self worth.
2- Orpah was in HER LAND with HER PEOPLE. She had just suffered major loss. She had every right and normal human need to be around everything familiar to her. She went where she was comfortable to mourn. She isn’t sinful for doing what she needed to in her grief. She isn’t “less than” Ruth for not going with her mother-in-law . She did what many of us would do- stay in what is safe and familiar.
3- Bathsheba was an innocent woman. She was married, by all accounts, to an honorable man. She was on HER ROOF ( customary at the time) to bath. David was being a lazy human and just hanging out playing peeping Tom. His mind started thinking with his pants, and as a king no one could refuse him. He r@ped Bathsheba and kept her. He killed her husband and as a result of all of this - she was included in his punishment and lost her child. All because a man watched her from his tower and decided he would just have her.
So while fundies celebrate the submissive behaviors of Esther ( who was human trafficked in) and Ruth… I celebrate the women with no voice who had their stories taken from them and twisted to help support wicked agendas. These women are the real heroes to me.
—Amber Schultz
2023
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