Today we're diving into one of the most disturbing and frankly,
obscure stories in the Bible. It's a really horrific, violent
tale that for a long time was actually used to condemn gay
men. But here's the thing, and this
is a big spoiler right up front, there are absolutely no gay men
in this story. Not one.
So let's unpack what this incredibly bloody story is
really about. So that begs the question,
right? What on earth is in this ancient
story that made it one of those so-called clobber verses?
I mean, how could a text like this be used to condemn an
entire group of people? Let's get into it.
OK, so like I said, and it really bears repeating, spoiler
alert, there are no gay men here.
The story itself, well, it tells a very, very different and much
more brutal tale. So let's dive right in and see
what's really going on. All right, Section 1, horror in
the city. This story comes to us from the
Book of Judges. OK, so picture this.
Our story starts in an ancient city called Gibeah.
We've got a man, a Levite. That means he's from the
priestly tribe of Israel, and he's traveling with his
concubine. Now, a concubine was basically a
partner, but she had a lower social status than a wife.
They get to the city late in the day, just looking for a place to
crash for the night. So while they're in the city
square, an old man spots them. And you know, being a good host,
he invites the couple to stay at his place.
They're relieved. They accept the offer, and for a
minute, it looks like they found a safe place to rest.
But that feeling of safety, it's about to be completely
shattered. So just as they're getting
settled, the house is suddenly surrounded.
A whole mob of men from the city are outside, and they start
pounding on the door. They're shouting at the old man,
making this absolutely horrific demand.
They want him to send out his male guest, the Levite, so that
they can rape him. And the old man's response?
It is absolutely staggering. In a twisted attempt to protect
his male guest, he actually goes out and offers the mob his own
virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine instead.
I mean, can you even imagine? This unbelievably vile offer
just tells you everything you need to know about how women
were viewed in the society. Now, if this whole scenario
sounds familiar, it should. It's almost a carbon copy of
what happens in the more famous story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I mean, look at the parallels in both stories.
You have travelers who are offered a place to stay, then a
violent mob shows up demanding the male guests for sex, and
then the host tries to protect the men by offering up the women
of the house instead. It's this clear, repeating
pattern of threatened gang rape and a complete, terrifying
breakdown of hospitality. But the mob and Yibia, they're
not having it. They refuse the old man's offer.
And what happens next? This is the moment the story
turns into pure tragedy. The Levite.
The man who was supposed to be her protector.
He takes his concubine, pushes her out the door, and just hands
her over to the mob to save his own skin.
What happens next is just a night of unspeakable horror.
The mob, They rape her and abuse her all night long.
When morning finally comes, she manages to drag herself back to
the doorstep of the house, where she collapses and dies.
OK, next section, a brutal aftermath.
Because this story goes from murder to an all out civil war,
you think it couldn't get any worse.
But this horrific murder isn't the end of the story, not by a
long shot. The violence is about to explode
on a national scale. So the Levite finds her dead on
the doorstep. He takes her body home.
And then he does something absolutely unimaginable,
something symbolized by this number you see here, 12.
He takes a knife, and he cuts her body into 12 pieces.
And then he sends one piece to each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
I know it's grotesque, but this gruesome act was a kind of
shocking, visceral call to arms. It was his way of demanding that
the rest of the nation do something about the atrocity
that happened in that city. And they answer the call.
The result is a devastating civil war.
We're talking about thousands upon thousands of people dying.
Whole communities are wiped out. It's literally genocide.
And the story ends with the enslavement and forced marriage
of 400 young women who are captured just to repopulate the
tribe that was nearly destroyed. The violence just keeps
spiraling. 1 horror on top of another.
All right, Section 3, the story's real sins.
Let's talk about what this is actually about.
So after all of that, that whole catalog of horrors, what is the
point? What is this story really trying
to say? Well, I can tell you, the sins
being condemned here are definitely not what a lot of
people have been led to believe. So here's the crucial take away.
This text is a brutal, unvarnished look at a society in
total chaos. The sins that are being called
out here are plain to see. The absolutely vicious treatment
of women, mob violence, gang rape, revenge killings, the
awful mistreatment of foreigners, tribal warfare and
just indiscriminate, senseless killing.
And this really gets us back to the core issue, doesn't it?
This is a story about violent, coercive assault.
This is not a story about gay men.
And it is absolutely, 100% not a story about consensual sex of
any kind. The whole point of the narrative
is to condemn brutality, violence, and the failure to be
hospitable. OK, our final section, the
unanswered question. Because after everything we've
looked at, there is a huge, lingering mystery.
Yeah. This whole analysis leaves us
with one massive, unavoidable question, a question that just
hangs over the entire history of how this story has been
interpreted. And that question is this how?
How was the story about horrific violence against women, about
gang rape, about the abuse of foreigners?
How was that story ever twisted and used to condemn consensual,
loving relationships? It's a really powerful question
to think about, right? It just goes to show how easily
texts can be ripped from their context to justify biases that
are already there. The content in this explainer
comes from the podcast series The Queer Christian by Elton
Sherwin, and you can find it on most podcast services.
Thanks so much for joining me for this one.