The Authority That Consumed Its Own Foundation

And it came to pass that among the people a certain authority was entrusted to women. The power was given as a check and a balance, and for discernment. It was meant to hear the vulnerable, to weigh matters with wisdom, and to protect the integrity of the community. And the people rejoiced, for this power and authority was not figurative, but literal.

For a time it functioned within its purpose.

But soon afterward, the power was reshapened to conform to a pattern that had not been justified in revelation. For certain women, bound by allegiance and blood, convened councils of their own initiative, having a form of a body but denying the organization thereof. Within those councils, accusations were assembled, charges were brought without evidence nor first-hand witness, and judgment was determined before formality. The misshapen council proceeded while an accused man was absent and unable to answer.

The man was laboring in a faraway land, on an errand seeking to do God’s will among strangers, while the councils proceeded.

The women were told that this new kind of body assembled in haste was necessary. They were told it was for protection—to preserve the work—that righteous procedure must yield to necessity, though the one judged was half a world away and could not reach them.

And so the council acted.

Yet for the man, the charges were not defined and the witnesses were not named. The accused was not present.

Still, judgment was rendered.

Some among the people felt relief, believing danger had been averted. Others felt unease, sensing that something quite consequential had been set aside. For a body disfigured cannot be declared to be beautiful without destroying the standard of beauty itself.

The damage was borne not only by the accused. For soon, the people began to fear this power rather than to trust it. They wondered which disputes would be next, and whose voices would be absent when judgment was pronounced.

Women seeking to serve found their authority questioned—not because they lacked beauty, but because the standard itself  had been deformed. For when a council becomes a place where accusations are carved rather than discerned, they cease to uphold the sword of truth, displaced by a dagger. And a tool, once repurposed, does not easily return to its original design.

Thus the power given to protect was repurposed to punish. The authority given to heal was doctored to harm.  And the beauty that was given to women was made suspect—not by rebellion against it, but by defacing her visage.

And the people began to see that institutions are not destroyed only by those who oppose them, but also by those who use them to serve their own design. For power that abandons its purpose consumes its own foundation. And though the immediate harm was borne by one, the visible wound belonged to many—especially to the women whose stewardship had been undermined, and whose service would now be viewed as misshapen.

They did not understand that justice lost on a single matter sacrificed confidence in the power meant to balance the people.