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Today we're diving into one of 
the most disturbing and frankly,

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obscure stories in the Bible. 
It's a really horrific, violent 

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tale that for a long time was 
actually used to condemn gay 

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men. 
But here's the thing, and this 

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is a big spoiler right up front,
there are absolutely no gay men 

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in this story. 
Not one. 

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So let's unpack what this 
incredibly bloody story is 

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really about. 
So that begs the question, 

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right? 
What on earth is in this ancient

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story that made it one of those 
so-called clobber verses? 

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I mean, how could a text like 
this be used to condemn an 

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entire group of people? 
Let's get into it. 

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OK, so like I said, and it 
really bears repeating, spoiler 

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alert, there are no gay men 
here. 

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The story itself, well, it tells
a very, very different and much 

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more brutal tale. 
So let's dive right in and see 

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what's really going on. 
All right, Section 1, horror in 

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the city. 
This story comes to us from the 

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Book of Judges. 
OK, so picture this. 

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Our story starts in an ancient 
city called Gibeah. 

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We've got a man, a Levite. 
That means he's from the 

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priestly tribe of Israel, and 
he's traveling with his 

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concubine. 
Now, a concubine was basically a

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partner, but she had a lower 
social status than a wife. 

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They get to the city late in the
day, just looking for a place to

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crash for the night. 
So while they're in the city 

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square, an old man spots them. 
And you know, being a good host,

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he invites the couple to stay at
his place. 

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They're relieved. 
They accept the offer, and for a

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minute, it looks like they found
a safe place to rest. 

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But that feeling of safety, it's
about to be completely 

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shattered. 
So just as they're getting 

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settled, the house is suddenly 
surrounded. 

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A whole mob of men from the city
are outside, and they start 

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pounding on the door. 
They're shouting at the old man,

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making this absolutely horrific 
demand. 

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They want him to send out his 
male guest, the Levite, so that 

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they can rape him. 
And the old man's response? 

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It is absolutely staggering. 
In a twisted attempt to protect 

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his male guest, he actually goes
out and offers the mob his own 

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virgin daughter and the Levite's
concubine instead. 

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I mean, can you even imagine? 
This unbelievably vile offer 

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just tells you everything you 
need to know about how women 

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were viewed in the society. 
Now, if this whole scenario 

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sounds familiar, it should. 
It's almost a carbon copy of 

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what happens in the more famous 
story of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

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I mean, look at the parallels in
both stories. 

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You have travelers who are 
offered a place to stay, then a 

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violent mob shows up demanding 
the male guests for sex, and 

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then the host tries to protect 
the men by offering up the women

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of the house instead. 
It's this clear, repeating 

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pattern of threatened gang rape 
and a complete, terrifying 

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breakdown of hospitality. 
But the mob and Yibia, they're 

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not having it. 
They refuse the old man's offer.

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And what happens next? 
This is the moment the story 

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turns into pure tragedy. 
The Levite. 

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The man who was supposed to be 
her protector. 

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He takes his concubine, pushes 
her out the door, and just hands

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her over to the mob to save his 
own skin. 

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What happens next is just a 
night of unspeakable horror. 

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The mob, They rape her and abuse
her all night long. 

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When morning finally comes, she 
manages to drag herself back to 

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the doorstep of the house, where
she collapses and dies. 

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OK, next section, a brutal 
aftermath. 

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Because this story goes from 
murder to an all out civil war, 

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you think it couldn't get any 
worse. 

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But this horrific murder isn't 
the end of the story, not by a 

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long shot. 
The violence is about to explode

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on a national scale. 
So the Levite finds her dead on 

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the doorstep. 
He takes her body home. 

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And then he does something 
absolutely unimaginable, 

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something symbolized by this 
number you see here, 12. 

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He takes a knife, and he cuts 
her body into 12 pieces. 

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And then he sends one piece to 
each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

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I know it's grotesque, but this 
gruesome act was a kind of 

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shocking, visceral call to arms.
It was his way of demanding that

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the rest of the nation do 
something about the atrocity 

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that happened in that city. 
And they answer the call. 

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The result is a devastating 
civil war. 

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We're talking about thousands 
upon thousands of people dying. 

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Whole communities are wiped out.
It's literally genocide. 

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And the story ends with the 
enslavement and forced marriage 

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of 400 young women who are 
captured just to repopulate the 

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tribe that was nearly destroyed.
The violence just keeps 

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spiraling. 1 horror on top of 
another. 

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All right, Section 3, the 
story's real sins. 

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Let's talk about what this is 
actually about. 

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So after all of that, that whole
catalog of horrors, what is the 

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point? 
What is this story really trying

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to say? 
Well, I can tell you, the sins 

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being condemned here are 
definitely not what a lot of 

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people have been led to believe.
So here's the crucial take away.

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This text is a brutal, 
unvarnished look at a society in

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total chaos. 
The sins that are being called 

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out here are plain to see. 
The absolutely vicious treatment

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of women, mob violence, gang 
rape, revenge killings, the 

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awful mistreatment of 
foreigners, tribal warfare and 

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just indiscriminate, senseless 
killing. 

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And this really gets us back to 
the core issue, doesn't it? 

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This is a story about violent, 
coercive assault. 

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This is not a story about gay 
men. 

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And it is absolutely, 100% not a
story about consensual sex of 

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any kind. 
The whole point of the narrative

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is to condemn brutality, 
violence, and the failure to be 

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hospitable. 
OK, our final section, the 

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unanswered question. 
Because after everything we've 

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looked at, there is a huge, 
lingering mystery. 

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Yeah. 
This whole analysis leaves us 

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with one massive, unavoidable 
question, a question that just 

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hangs over the entire history of
how this story has been 

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interpreted. 
And that question is this how? 

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How was the story about horrific
violence against women, about 

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gang rape, about the abuse of 
foreigners? 

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How was that story ever twisted 
and used to condemn consensual, 

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loving relationships? 
It's a really powerful question 

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to think about, right? 
It just goes to show how easily 

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texts can be ripped from their 
context to justify biases that 

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are already there. 
The content in this explainer 

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comes from the podcast series 
The Queer Christian by Elton 

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Sherwin, and you can find it on 
most podcast services. 

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Thanks so much for joining me 
for this one.