Domestic violence in the Old Testament and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A question of identity
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Date
2021
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Abstract
With the global COVID-19 pandemic and different levels of lockdown being enforced across
the world, domestic violence has escalated at an alarming rate. The restrictions on movement
that lockdown has placed on countless women forced them to share a confined space with
their abusers and the effects of this abuse are devastating. These women�s identities are at
stake. In a space dominated by their male perpetrators, they are at risk of becoming mere
shadows of their former selves. All too often, they also lose their lives. This dire state of affairs
brings to mind two women in the Old Testament, Tamar of Genesis 38 and Tamar of 2 Samuel
13, and how they were subjected to domestic violence. This article studies the plight of these
women. Through the exegesis of these narratives, I highlight the similarities between the
accounts of domestic violence and what we see globally today. The aim of this study is to add
the names of the biblical Tamars to our collective list of names of women for whom we unite
weekly against gender-based violence in the #ThursdaysInBlack campaign.
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Keywords
Domestic violence, Genesis 38, COVID-19, Old testament, Identity, Patriarchy
Citation
Bosman, T., 2021, �Domestic violence in the Old Testament and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A question of identity�, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 77(3), a6792. https://doi. org/10.4102/hts.v77i3.679