Children Who Oppress/Women Who Rule...

One of the more neglected texts of Scripture touching on the feminist wars engulfing evangelical congregations today is this judgement decreed by God and recorded by Isaiah:

Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him. O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths. (Isaiah 3:11,12)

This text came to mind recently when I came across an item published by the Vatican news service, Zenit, reporting that there are 300,000 children, aged 7-17, fighting in thirty-six wars around the world. Countries where this is prevalent include Colombia, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Somalia, Burundi and Congo (which alone has some 150,000 child warriors).

Christians who honor Scripture in almost every other area of their lives seem to think nothing of women who rule, but we must assume those same Christians blanche at this report of hundreds of thousands of children toting automatics and killing for a living.

God's Word, though, uses the two in parallel construction, indicating that women-rulers and child-oppressors both upend His natural order.