Please explain God's wisdom in Judges19;22-30

by jam 53 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  ablebodiedman

  '27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
  28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. '
  ..Besides the fact that he gave her up as a sacrifice to be gang raped, his total lack of concern or awareness of what she has been through at this point suddenly strikes me as unrealistically callous, having read this again.. We wouldn't even act in that way with a dog that has just been massively abused, can you imagine?? ''alright, you've had a lie down now boy, let's go..''

  Lets look at the other side of the story because maybe there is something we can learn from it.

  This man was likely also a Benjaminite.

  One of the most righteous ones because he actually did take the time to offer a traveller some hospitality by allowing him to stay in his home whereas all the other Benjaminites ignored the traveller.

  I would guess that this man was outraged at what his "brothers" had done and wanted justice.

  Could he go to those same brothers and demand justice and actually expect anything to happen?

  Could he send a letter to all the heads of the other tribes explaining the situation and expect anything more than a ho hum?

  What would be a good way to get their attention so they might actually do something?

  Sending body parts got their attention!

  That is what it took.

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  Now think of all the atrocities that occur in Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Paedophiles who get a slap on the wrist.

  Sisters being raped and then blamed for not screaming loud enough.

  Rapists getting away with their crime because there was not two witnesses.

  Is there any justice actually happening?

  Does anyone in the Watchtower give a damn?

  Do any of these thousands of injustices get the media attention they deserve?

  The Watchtower just sweeps them under the carpet and continues in its course.

  It is a measure of the sick sad world we are living in right now.

  Not very different to the world that Benjaminite was living in.

  I personally think that to get anyones attention, something similar to what that righteous Benjaminite did has to happen to wake people up.

  The world needs to know.

  abe
• 

  Zoos

  The story of the men of Gibeah closely mirrors the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the consequences of violating the hospitality laws of the time.

  The relevant part of this story begins:

  vs. 15 - Consequently they turned aside there to go in to stay overnight in Gib′e·ah. And they proceeded to go in and sit down in the public square of the city, and there was nobody taking them on into the house to stay overnight.

  Caring for strangers was supposed to be the cultural norm.

  vs. 22 - ...the men of the city... surrounded the house... and they kept saying to the... the owner of the house: “Bring out the man that came into your house, that we may have intercourse with him.”

  The townsmen were out to harm the visitor, the outsider - in violation of hospitality laws. This was common practice to show dominance, intimidate, and instill fear.

  vs. 23 - At that the owner of the house went on out to them and said to them: “No, my brothers, do not do anything wrong, please, since this man has come into my house.

  The owner took his responsibility as host seriously.

  vs. 24 - Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out, please, and you rape them

  Given the diminished value of women (disgusting - another topic), the owner offered two women in place of his guest.

  vs. 25 - And the men did not want to listen to him. Hence the man took hold of his concubine and brought her forth to them outside; and they began to have intercourse with her, and kept on abusing her all night long until the morning

  The men of Gibea didn't want the owner's daughter as she would not have served the purpose of the attack. They instead took the concubine, an outsider, and raped her.

  This is the exact same scenario we read about in the account of Sodom & Gomorrah where Lot's daughters were offered and rejected because they did not serve the purpose of the attack. They were not outsiders. They were not considered a threat. An attack on them would not have served the purpose of the townsmen's goal to show dominance, intimidate, and instill fear.

  “The cry of complaint about Sod′om and Go·mor′rah, yes, it is loud, and their sin, yes, it is very heavy." - Genesis 18:20

  Sodom & Gomorrah, like the town of Gibeah was punished for the horrendous way they treated people.

  Look! This is what proved to be the error of Sod′om your sister: Pride, sufficiency of bread and the carefreeness of keeping undisturbed were what happened to belong to her and her dependent towns, and the hand of the afflicted one and the poor one she did not strengthen. 50 And they continued to be haughty and to carry on a detestable thing before me, and I finally removed them, just as I saw [fit]. - Ezekiel 16:49, 50
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  defender of truth

  Ablebodiedman said:
  "I personally think that to get anyones attention, something similar to what that righteous Benjaminite did has to happen to wake people up. "
  
  ... So, any takers? I'd volunteer, but I'm fresh out of concubines at the moment. Also, I don't think that I'm quite righteous enough to dismember anyone. Never mind, I guess that is just something to work on.
  
  (p.s You didn't seem to reply to my point about the lack of concern for her at all, I didn't even mention dismembering or whether there was another way to get people's attention.)
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  Jon Preston

  I sure hope abe was kidding or wrongly worded that post....one might think he wants raped sisters, pedophiles, or kids to be dismembered....odd
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  Heartofaboy

  Why would the men want 'intercourse' with the visitors (assuming it mean't sexual intercourse)..........were they homosexuals?

  If they were homosexuals there is no way that poor woman would have been raped & abused by them.
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  DuvanMuvan

  it's probably a way the writer tries to make the men seem more twisted seeing how homosexuality was viewed back then.
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  Zoos

  Why would the men want 'intercourse' with the visitors (assuming it mean't sexual intercourse)..........were they homosexuals?

  This attack had nothing to do with anyone's sexual orientation.

  The men of Gibea came asking for the man (male outsider) but ended up taking the concubine (female outsider). Same with the Sodom & Gomorrah story. The townsmen came asking for the visitors (outsiders) and refused Lot's daughters (locals).

  There's nothing about these stories that have anything to do with the sex of the outsider or the sexual orientation of the attackers. What the townsmen were trying to accomplish here was an act of gang rape, a way of defiling the visitor in the most horrific way possible.
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  Heartofaboy

  Interesting thought Zoos.

  I remember going to the film 'The Bible' when I was about 10 or 11 with my parents.

  I asked my father why the men of Sodom wanted to get to the angels.............poor dad got all embarrassed & flustered out that they were 'homos' & wanted to defile them.
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  jam

  zoos: My bible states, vs 22 " Bring out the man who came to your house, that we

  may know him carnally". Carnal, of the flesh or body, not of the spirit; sensual as

  carnal desires... Why offer his daughter and tell the men she was a virgin if

  it wasn't about sex.
• 

  jam

  Lalka: "Build support for a king by telling stories of what happened

  when there wasn't a king. So in other words people will go all willynilly

  when there is no King, go berserk. So if we didn't have a president today

  I may receive a body part in the mail.

  What kind of mental state were these people in. They needed a mythical

  God a higher power to keep them in check..

  So how did he decide which body part would be sent to the 11 tribes.

  One tribe receives a head, the other a foot, a hand, a butt and etc.

  This sound like someting the Mafia would do to send a message..