Hardly Happily Ever After: Trafficking of Girls in the Hebrew Bible
This article examines elements in the stories of Hagar (Gen. 16:1–3), Abishag (1 Kgs. 1:1–4), Esther (Esth. 2:1–4), and the unnamed Israelite slave girl (2 Kgs. 5:1–4) through the lens of human trafficking, specifically trafficking girls. First, I will argue that our tendency to understand Hagar, Ab...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2020
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| In: |
Biblical interpretation
Year: 2020, Volume: 28, Issue: 5, Pages: 540-556 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Traffic in persons
/ White slave trade
/ Slave trade
/ Trauma
/ Slave woman
/ Hagar, Biblical person
/ Abischag, Biblical person
/ Esther Biblical character
/ Bible. Genesis 3,1-4,16
/ Bible. Könige 1. 1,1-4
/ Bible. Ester 2
/ Bible. Könige 1. 2,5
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| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament NCA Ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Israelite slave girl
B Esther B Hagar B Human Trafficking B Trauma B Abishag |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article examines elements in the stories of Hagar (Gen. 16:1–3), Abishag (1 Kgs. 1:1–4), Esther (Esth. 2:1–4), and the unnamed Israelite slave girl (2 Kgs. 5:1–4) through the lens of human trafficking, specifically trafficking girls. First, I will argue that our tendency to understand Hagar, Abishag, and Esther as women, not girls, is undermined by the vocabulary used to describe them, as well as other contextual clues. I will then outline the United Nations’ criteria for defining the transport of a person as human trafficking. Most of the article provides narrative analyses of the four texts cited above. By identifying elements of dislocation, trauma, and exploitation in the stories of Hagar, Abishag, Esther, and the Israelite slave girl, I suggest that parts of their stories meet the criteria to fulfill the pattern of human trafficking. This childist interpretation further maintains that these portrayals of girls being trafficked have multiple troubling commonalities, with each other and with human trafficking today. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5152 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Biblical interpretation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685152-2805A002 |