When bad things happen among God's people
history and current headlines
Warning: Today we are continuing a four-part series on two stories in the Hebrew Scripture that are horrific to read, particularly the second one. They are stories of violence and sexual abuse. If you need to skip this series, please do so.
Two weeks ago, we did a short walk-through of two rhyming stories in the Hebrew Scriptures found in Genesis 19 and Judges 19. Today, we are going to continue talking about these stories, focusing on some comparisons and contrasts of the stories as well as the implications of the second story happening among God’s people. Please go read the first post or this one will not make a lot of sense. I also encourage you to read the chapters of Scripture yourself.
Comparisons between the stories
These two stories have a similar framework: outsiders show up to a town square and are taken in by a man in the town. Both of the men who offer hospitality are also outsiders who insist it will not be safe to spend the night in the town square. Niditch points out that the ones who offer hospitality are “resident aliens, somewhat marginal folk who are imagined as sympathetic to others like themselves.”1 They know what it is like to be vulnerable and they offer safety to others in vulnerable positions.
During the evening the men of the town show up, demanding the man (“men” in the first story) be brought outside so that they can sexually violate them. This is, of course, a horribly broken view of sex where sex is about ownership and dominion and exerting unequal power over others.2 Nevertheless, this appears to be a custom of the people.3 The men of the town wanted to “defeat” the newcomers; this was a matter of honor and shame.4 The men in both stories were interested in asserting their dominance over strangers. No wonder the outsiders who lived among them insisted the town square was not safe for the visitors.
In both stories, the men offer up some women in their place. Of course it would be horrible to treat strange men in such a way, but apparently something in their worldview did not offer women that same dignity or protection. This should not be read—though it often is—as God condoning this mistreatment of women.
Contrasts in the stories
In the Genesis story, the visitors are angels. The town is not part of the people of God. The angels protect the women in the story and ultimately bring God’s destruction on the city. In the Judges story, the town is full of the people of God. God’s messengers are not there to protect the women and the man certainly does not fill that role; instead he shoves the woman out the door to save himself. The Judges story is more brutal and gruesome than the Genesis story. But do note that in the Genesis story, God’s messengers protected the women as well as the men.
When God’s people act like they don’t know God
Part of the horror of these stories should be that God’s people end up acting like people who do not know God. In Genesis, when we are introduced to Sodom, we are told of their evil. Genesis 13:13 says, “Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord.” We see a God who shows up because of the outcry of the people. Genesis 18:20-21 says, “Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out.’” God heard. God cared. People had complained about the horror of these cities and therefore God has come to destroy them (Gen 19:13). What was happening in these cities was an offense to people, but also an offense to God. He had to come to be the just judge that people were lacking.5
In Judges, however, we see God’s people acting in this same ungodly manner. They apparently did not think that God would not judge their evil. They seemed to think that they got a pass for bad behavior or that God would not pay attention. But a quick overview of the Hebrew Scriptures reminds us that this isn’t how God works. Dr. Carmen Imes writes, “When the Old Testament prophets pronounce judgement on neighboring people (e.g. Amos 1-2), they are not measured against the Ten Commandments. Instead, they are measured against a standard of basic human decency. Are they arrogant jerks? Have they taken advantage of other nations’ misfortune or been unduly violent?”6 The standards for Israel were different, higher. Imes also writes, “Others should be able to tell just by looking at Israel that they belong to Yahweh. What they wear, what they eat, how they treat one another, who they are intimate with, how they do business—all these reflect on Yahweh. Israel declares their covenantal status by living according to Yahweh’s instructions. If they fail, Yahweh’s name—his reputation—is at stake. When they do fail, the prophets charge them with profaning Yahweh’s name among the nations.”7 As representatives of God, what they do matters.
When God’s people live as they do in Judges, the cost is high. “Israel’s election as the people of Yahweh was designed to magnify his reputation among all nations.”8 Instead of God’s reputation being magnified and people being draw to God, God’s reputation is trashed as the people of God behave in ways that God has already condemned. You are horrified by the story in Judges? You are supposed to be. We are supposed to be horrified that it is now God’s people who are engaging in this activity despite everything God has done for them and everything God has taught them. In the Judges story, the Levite refused to stay in a foreign city. He wanted to move on to an Israelite city and that was where horror awaited them.9 (Judges 19:12-13) A place of safety had turned into a place of abuse and violence.
These stories truly should shock us. Many other stories shock us as well. How often have we read a news report and wondered how on earth something like that could happen? How much worse is it when it happens in what should be places of safety, places where the people of God should live as part of the kingdom of God? Unfortunately until God returns to rid the world of evil forever, we will continue to find these evil things happening. That does not mean that we do not care about evil. We should care. How doubly evil if we do not care. But it should also help us not to become discouraged. These two stories remind us that God sees and is not ignoring the horrific things that happen in our lifetimes. They also remind us of our weighty responsibility as the people who are supposed to represent God in the world.
As a brief sidebar, if you are interested in a current-day look at evil among God’s people, All the Buried Women, episode 4, will walk you through some stories. The podcast needs the same trigger warnings of this post.10 God is not ignoring what His people do today either.
These two stories, horrific as they are, also allow us the space to think about four different themes that can be traced through the Bible: the law, women’s agency, foreigners and God’s judgment. We will start looking at those themes next week.11
How do you respond to this second story happening among the people of God?
Susan Niditch, Judges (2008): A Commentary (La Vergne: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 193.
Ibid.
This is not the only period of time marked by this type of sexual predation. Chapter 7 of When Women Were Priests also discusses male on male predatory/dominating behavior in the Greco-Roman world. Karen Jo Torjensen, When Women Were Priests (New York: Harper One, 1993), 179-201.
Niditch, 193. She goes on to say “A most troubling feature of the Israelite version of the tale type is the apparent willingness of the men to hand over their women to violent miscreants. Implicit is a worldview in which women are regarded as disposable and replaceable.”
This is a theme we will return to in a later post.
Carmen Imes, Bearing God’s Name (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2019), 44.
Imes, 87.
Imes, 127.
Niditch, 192.
Listening to the entire podcast will help frame the story.
Of course there are other important themes, such as hospitality and sex, but we are limiting our conversation to these.
Hate that Judges seems to have a lot of practical application for the church today (more than normal??), but it is only up from here.....RIGHT?!