Sex, Drugs , Violence and the Bible
By Chris Bennett and Neil McQueen

Depravity

When the Levite gets up in the morning, he "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. He said to her, "Get up; let's go." But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, "Such a terrible thing has never been done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!" (Judges 19:27-30).

After receiving one of the twelve pieces of the concubine's dismembered corpse and hearing about the atrocities that took place in Gibeah, the other tribes of Israel were so outraged at the sins of their kinsmen, the Benjamites, that a whopping 400,000 of them gathered to do battle against them.

At first the Israelites tried to reason with the Benjamites, telling them to hand over the transgressors from Gibeah. But the Benjamites would not listen and mobilized 33,000 fierce fighters to do battle against the Israelites. After setting up camp out side of Gibeah the Israelites went to battle against their brothers the Benjamites and are shocked when the sinful Benjamites manage to slaughter 22,000 of them in a single day. Rightfully nervous about doing another day's battle with the fierce bi-sexual warriors, (imagine how they might have treated their male captives!), the Israelites question the Lord: "Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers?" ...This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another 18,000 Israelites, all of them armed with swords". (Judges 20:23-25) Disturbed by their massive losses against a foe that they greatly outnumber, the Israelites went up to Bethel and sat weeping before the Lord. After fasting and numerous burnt offerings, they sheepishly ask the Lord, "Shall we go up again to battle with Benjamin our brother or not?" The Lord tells them once again to attack the Benjamites, and after a battle, which at first sees the Benjamites dominating, the Israelites manage to make a comeback and slaughter 25,100 Benjamites, and established their victory. A meagre six hundred of the Benjamite warriors managed to escape this carnage by fleeing into the desert to the rock of Rimmon to hide. In revenge for the crimes committed in Gibeah and their massive losses in battle, "The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire."(Judges 20:48). Further the Israelites took an oath not to give any of their daughter's in marriage to a Benjamite, (Judges 21:1).

Not long after this battle, the Israelites gathered at Mizpah, a festival that all the tribes were committed to go to, facing the death penalty for their absence. The Israelites are sad to see that the tribe of Benjamin is not represented at Mizpah, which seems quite surprising after the aforementioned carnage. They also discover that no one from the town of Jabesh Gilead had attended the festival. Not wanting to disobey the laws of Yahweh concerning attendance at Mizpah, the Israelites gather together 12,000 fighting men, and send them off to Jabesh Gilead to kill everyone " including the women and the children. 'This is what you are to do,' they said. 'Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.' (Judges 21:10-11). Only 400 virgin girls survived this last slaughter. The Israelites must have felt the Benjamites had suffered enough, because they sue for peace with the remaining warriors hiding out at the rock of Rimmon. The Benjamites accepted the offer, and took as wives the 400 virgins that survived the last massacre at Jabesh Gilead.

Unfortunately there was not enough wives for all the Benjamites, and the Israelites were committed to the oath they made before the Lor d of not letting any of their daughters marry into the tribe of Benjamin. In light of this and likely fearing more homosexual sins by the surviving Benjamites if they were left for long without female companions, the Israelites agreed to let the tribe of Benjamin commit a raid for wives during a festival of the Lord at Shiloh. After the successful raid, the Benjamites carried off t heir captive wives and rebuilt their town at Gibeah, and all was forgiven.

It is hard to believe that such a tale is found within a book, which many people believe God has authored. Again we are left wondering with the Gnostics of old just who this God is and how he came to be known as righteous.

Main

Next