Dear Midwife,
We don’t know your name but we do know your occupation. You
are another of the supporting cast members who would have witnessed so much on
those journeys and have been intimately involved with the family, being their
assisting them at the most precious of moments. I am guessing you would also
have had status amongst the servants and wider community travelling with them.
When you all had to get rid of your foreign God’s was there
a bit of an uproar? Did you personally have any? What was the significance of
your earrings? Were these worn by both women and men or just by one group? I am
guessing that there was some kind of ritual significance which is why they
needed removing.
What was it like when you passed through the towns which
the terror of God had fallen on? Were they visibly scared of you all and did
this manifest itself as silent hostility or were people friendly?
I guess you had to work a lot of the time but it must have
been difficult because death as well as life would have been part of your life.
I imagine Rachel and had seen her grow up. She was
the best link with the past I think. Did you know Deborah well too? Did her
death impact you personally too?
I want to think about it from your point of view. What was
it like when Jacob changed his name to Israel. Did it take time to get used to
it and how did he react when people got it wrong. Were they quietly reminded or
chided for not getting it right? Did more people start using time like master?
One of the reasons I am interested is because I know a
number of trans people. They change their names to but also their pronouns.
People tend to find the change of name reasonably easy but the way they react
to mistakes differs because it is so bound up with their identity.
Jacob’s change of name was different but it was still bound
up with who he was and his relationship with God and so it is an identity
thing.
Had you accompanied Rachel for long and when did you realise something awful was happening
and that the mother was not going to make it? Did you have to make the
difficult choice of concentrating on saving the baby or the mother? If so I am
interested would you have made the same effort to save the child if it had been
a girl rather than a boy? I just ask because I know in some cultures boys are
valued much more than the girls and I wonder how much cultural aspects
influenced your professional choices.
I can’t imagine Jacob’s distress? Did he blame you or did
he understand what had happened? How did you break the news to him or did
somebody else do it whilst you were looking after the baby?
Who then took responsibility for bringing the child up? Did
Leah do it or did the responsibility pass to one of the concubines.
I struggle with the whole concubine thing. It seems as if
these women were victims of abuse who were used as sex objects in many ways.
Did Reuben rape Billhah or was it consensual? I suspect you may have known more
than many because of the time you spent in close proximity to these women. How
did they feel about their children as they gave birth? Was there any resentment
of the circumstances in which they had been conceived?
I ask these questions because I suspect you would be able
to answer them. Yet, your account of events is not recorded. I wish it were I
expect it would be fascinating.
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