Judges 21:10-24 So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin." Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the little remnant of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon. Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the four hundred women of Jabesh-gilead who were spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them. The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had left this gap in the tribes of Israel. So the Israelite leaders asked, "How can we find wives for the few who remain, since all the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? There must be heirs for the
2007-01-02 02:53:18 · 13 answers · asked by vibrance0404 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel will not be lost forever. But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God's curse." Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, "Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, 'Please be understanding. Let them have your daughters, for we didn't find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not give your daughters in marriage to them.'" So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. They kidnapped the
2007-01-02 02:54:45 · update #1
Why did you subtract this passage from the larger story? Once again, If you really cared to know, you would have read the whole story. The answer is, the tribe of Benjamin had transgressed against the other tribes of Israel, and the other eleven tribes of Israel made a vow to God not to let their daughters marry the sons of the tribe of Benjamin. Then they were vexed, because they knew that this would be the end of the tribe of Benjamin, but they didn't want to violate their vow before the Lord. So the Lord made a solution, which is in part mentioned in this passage that you provided.
This is the problem with people like you, that you want to take something out of context, and parade it around in front of everyone like you know something. God was not making the practice of raping and kidnapping an acceptable practice here. I don't know how you get that out of this passage. The truth is, you didn't. You are merely looking for any opportunity to slander God, and using His word to do it. I will offer you this one warning: that is very dangerous thing to my friend.
2007-01-02 03:00:01 · answer #1 · answered by firebyknight 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
It is not to encourage rape and kidnap, but rather the stories about the rapes and kidnaps etc are there to make the point that things were not going well at all.
If you read the book of Judges, there is the constant refrain "in those days Israel had no king and everyone did whatever they liked". One of the main themes in that book is the downward spiral into anarchy and social degeneration in that period. The writer seems to be saying that having a monarch to rule over them would be preferable to the situation then existing.
God keeps sending them judges to try and sort them out, but the judges themselves often have their own problems, make istakes, and mess up.
And although the person writing judges seems to be of the opinion that if only they had a king to govern them, then things would be better, when you read the books of kings and chronicles you see that in general the kings also were a bad lot, appart from the occasional not so bad or even good king. The kings of Israel and Judah were not absolute monarchs like those of the other nations, but they were also under the law of God, but even then they often flouted those laws and acted like despotic dictators. But i suppose it could be argued that even a dictator is preferable to anarchy (compare Saddam's Iraq with Bush's).
The Bible records all these things, not to prescribe them to us as a model for us to follow, but so that we can learn from the mistakes of others. People sometimes think there is a political solution, some kind of *ism or *cracy, to problems that are really to do with the evil in human nature. It is only when we let God be the king in our lives that we can behave in altruistic instead of selfish ways.
2007-01-02 12:19:37 · answer #2 · answered by Beng T 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thakyou for pointing this out, it is a shame that christians will still find excuses. The old testament is filled with evil things that their god ordered. I was a christian and it was through reading the bible that I decided I couldn't love such a god. I also came across a useful website, named below that has listed loads of such atrocities. I found it really helped me to discover the truth.
2007-01-02 12:47:00 · answer #3 · answered by Serenity 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
For the same reason that Lord Voldemort is trying to kill Harry Potter. Or Agamemnon gathered troops to rescue Helen from the Trojans. It was a story that rocked their world, and they enjoyed being on the winning side.
But it is just a story. A violent one with limited contemporary appeal, but just a story.
2007-01-02 11:00:00 · answer #4 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Because back then, women weren't considered people. They were more like cattle. That deity didn't care then, and since everyone says he doesn't change, doesn't care now either.
This was a major reason I had severe problems with Christianity at a young age. I could not look at this and see a loving deity. A loving deity would have protected those poor girls, instead of endorsing this violence on them.
2007-01-02 11:01:19 · answer #5 · answered by KC 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
You chose to leave out a very relevant verse:
Judges 21:25 (Last verse) There was no king in Israel at that time. Everyone did just as he pleased.
The Bible DOES NOT encourage rape and kidnap it just tells us what happened in those days. God didnt instruct them to carry out such acts so please dont misunderstand what is written plainly.
2007-01-02 11:08:50 · answer #6 · answered by JDJ34 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
the bible is just a bunch of passages written by people that priests decided to put together 1500 years ago. lots of passages actually didnt go in. its pretty unreliable and contradictory in a lot of ways. you should try to find your own relationship with god rather than following to closely the words of a badly translated book
2007-01-02 11:14:23 · answer #7 · answered by john9999999 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
For the people saying things were different then and Jesus fixed all that: Who was in charge of what things are different and when? God perhaps? How about just skipping all the bad stuff
2007-01-02 10:59:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
The Bible was describing Israel who had taken over elements of pagan religion at this time. Fallen humans find devious ways to justify immoral behavior. It was hardly the Lord who was responsible for their predicament.
2007-01-02 10:58:18 · answer #9 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 3⤊ 3⤋
Chariot racing now thats a sport!
2007-01-02 11:58:16 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋