Did not like this story. At. All. I hate that stories like this existed back then, and I hate more that they exist today. It seems this was the first incident of this sort (v. 30) in “new” Israel, but we know from past chapters (and the fact that it was even suggested at all) that this sort of thing happened, whether we like reading about it or not. It reminds me of modern-day sex trafficking. I lived a perfectly good life before seeing firsthand and hearing about the horrors of today’s sex industry. But knowing about it and doing something about it are two different things. Even though we might not like the outcome of this horrific story, we can glean several lessons from it, one being that at least the husband cried out for justice for his concubine’s death. I know. There are a whole lotta things wrong with that outcome. Like, um, if he just wouldn’t have pushed her out the door in the first place. And even though we don’t know the final outcome just yet, we are left with encouragement that justice will be served. A weird and winding way to bring about peace, but hey, we all have seen God do some crazy stuff – lots of which lately has been avenging women. Ah haaaa. A new theme is born.
Writing prompt: the avengers
We’ve discussed two incidences in the last few chapters that involved women and war – women being the root cause of a war, I mean. Go back and see if you can find a couple more stories in the Bible and write about those women, or write about the women we’ve seen cause a huge kerfuffle in the Book of Judges.
jugglingfire.com 