Village of the Damned

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome.  I hope my post today finds you well and happy.  For fun, I've been writing about monsters in the Bible in keeping with our recent celebration of all things horrific.

GIBEAH THE GRISLY

If you ever stray into a town, you would do well to avoid Gibeah.  A lot of Bible lovers, Bible preachers, and such seem to be unaware of its location on the Word of God map.  

I can understand why.  Tis a grisly tale told.

You can locate this town in Judges 19.  In Hebrew chronology, the story falls after Lot's story.  It can be said that Lot's story was so poignant that it had to be told twice.  

A BAD CHOICE

Once upon a time, a Levite was traveling in that region of Israel bounded by one of the twelve tribes of Israel known as the Benjamites.  The Levite sojourned with his second degree wife, called a concubine, and his servant.  It was getting late on the road.  They were getting tired.

The servant suggested they stay in Jebus, which was Jerusalem according to a scribe’s comment.  

The Levite declined, there were too many foreigners there.  He wanted to rest among his kin folk.

A DELIVERANCE HODOWN

They arrived in the town of Gibeah and waited in the open town square.  None of the relatives invited them to their house to stay overnight.  

That is always a bad sign in the ancient world, when hospitality goes awry.  It signals something wicked some way is coming.

A farmer, returning home, invited them to his place, warning them that it was not a good idea to stay in the open town square overnight.

SODOM NEARLY RETOLD

From here on the story follows the Lot story with a few exceptions.

Not all the men, only the base fellows, surrounded the farmer's home demanding that he send out, "the man who came into your house, that we may know him."  

The farmer, like Lot, went outside to confront his neighbors.  He offered his virgin daughter and the second degree wife for an evening of rape and recreation.  

Let me share his own words, "Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now.  Ravish them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do so vile a thing."

THERE'S VILE AND THEN THERE'S VILE

I wonder if the extra inducement of the second degree wife was actually discussed or did the farmer presume.  The base fellows took the concubine and raped her all night long until they killed her.  

This again is story telling at its finest.  You can always tell the greatness of a story teller in the details told.  

In the morning, the farmer opened the door and saw the dead concubine’s hands over the threshold.  Now, that's a detail that is unforgettably vile.  

WITNESS OF THE TWELVE

So the Levite cuts her up into twelve pieces and shows her throughout Israel.  It was so grisly that the scribe who added the detail about Jebus being Jerusalem may have added this comment:  

"Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of land of Egypt until this day:  consider it, take counsel, and speak."

I agree.  We who are alive today know such true horror as this exists in our world.  Let us follow the scribe’s advice.

YAHWEH TO THE RESCUE

By the way, the other tribes were not happy to see what the Levite showed them.  They decided to make war on their kinfolk.

Judah, the tribe that took over this military operation, had a hard time destroying Gibeah’s army.  They got whipped in a couple of battles.  

The sought Yahweh to assume command.  He did.  The result was that they destroyed Gibeah: all of its men, beasts, and property. 

Think of all the blood that would have been spared if Yahweh had merely bombed Gibeah with brimstone.

Next time, a few more monsters of the Bible and the worst of all…in my opinion...

Blessings…