A horrific Bible story! Where is our sense of outrage?

Does the Bible condone sexual abuse? Well, there’s a difference between what some macho male chauvinist piggos THINK it condones (and the unbelievable crap they try to pull off) and this story that the Bible tells about a nation's sense of outrage. The story is in Judges 19 and 20.

This Levite “lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim” (19:1) He has a concubine from Bethlehem. She runs away from him so he follows her to Bethlehem, they make up and they go on their way back to Ephraim. Now you’re going to see what kind of creep he was and WHY the poor girl ran away from him in the first place.

But he talks her into coming back with him and giving him another chance. Night comes so they stop in Gibeah, a town in the land of Benjamin. Some old man takes them into his house but before they go to bed (probably just after sunset) “wicked men from the city” (19:22) pound on the door and demand to have sex with the Levite. So he was probably a good-looking guy, which is why he thought he was so hot and could treat his concubine so harshly.

“The owner of the house went outside and said to them, ‘No my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.’ But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and 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.” (19:23–28)

In case you didn’t get the full horror of this I’ll repeat the story with comments:

“The owner of the house went outside and said to them, ‘No my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing.” (“Don’t do THIS disgraceful thing, but hey, it’s no big deal to do the OTHER disgraceful thing, rape my virgin daughter and his slave-girl.)

“Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. (“They have no say in the matter. We’re protecting out butts and fortunately they don’t count.”)

“I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.’” (“I could fight and die defending the women, but I think I’ll let the women die defending me.”)

“But the men would not listen to him. So the man (the Levite) took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. (ALL night they raped her! The virgin daughter was apparently spared but the concubine was abused ALL night!)

“At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. (After about 6 or 7 hours of hell.)

"When her master got up in the morning and 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. (Trying to get in the house. But no one heard her. They were sleeping.)

"He said to her, ‘Get up; let’s go.’ But there was no answer.” (This unbelievable creep SLEPT all night while the woman he said he loved was getting abused and raped! NOW he gets out of bed, opens the door and tells her to get up and get a move on. Even if she had still been alive, do you think she could possibly have moved?)

But after she dies, even he realizes that the Benjamites had gone too far. As if that justifies what he does next. The Levite then takes her home, cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends the pieces to all Israel.

When the leaders of Israel get the body parts, the entire nation of Israel grabs their swords, straps on their armor and “came out as one man” and met in Mizpah. (20:1) They are royally PISSED and heads are gonna roll! When they asked the Levite what happened, he tells them the story and ends saying, “they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict.” (20:6.7)

“All the people rose as on man” saying they would declare war against the evil men of Gibeah. (20:8) “So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city. The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin saying, ‘What about this awful crime that was committed among you? Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel. But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.” (20:11–13)

RESULT? 22,000 Israelites died in the first battle. (20:21) 18,000 Israelites died in the second battle—ALL in trying to avenge this one woman!! 30 died in the next battle (20:31) That’s 40,030 Israelite men who died trying to avenge the injustice one woman suffered.

THEN the tables turn and the Benjamites get their dues. The Israelites had only wanted to kill the criminals in Gibeah, but because the Benjamites sided with evil, now 25,100 Benjamites die (20:35). First 18,000 more die, (20:44) then 5,000 more die, (20:45) then 2,000 more. (20:45) Plus another 100 to add up to 25,100.

All in all, some 25,100 men in Benjamin died because of the rape of this one woman. This isn’t counting the 40,030 men who died in an attempt to avenge her. That’s 65,130 men who died all told. They were avenging the rape of one woman—a slave girl—and they literally started a civil WAR over it.

So where’s the outrage today amongst ex-members over women and girls in the Family who got raped and abused? Not just what happened to Merry Berg. That was bad enough but it's only the tip of the iceberg.

This is a horrific story and sure it happened thousands of years ago but it leaves us with some deep questions. Where’s OUR sense of outrage?