User:ProfGray/Texts of terror: Literary-feminist readings of biblical narratives

Texts of terror: Literary-feminist readings of biblical narratives is a pioneering work of feminist Biblical criticism by Phyllis Trible. Published in 1984, Texts of Terror centers on the analysis of four Hebrew Bible narratives: the story of Hagar, the rape of Tamar, the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter, and the Levite's concubine in Gibeah.

Responses to The Levite's Concubine in Gibeah

From Tribal Israel

By distributing parts of the woman's body to different tribes, Trible describes how the Levite wants to initiate an immediate response. In his retelling of the incident that preceded, he recalls that the men of the town of Gibeah had gathered around the house at night and "meant to kill him". Here he describes how the crowd managed to "ravage" his concubine, and that now she is dead. Triple notes here is that the Levite does not say that the men of the town murdered her, nor does he say that it was his fault. Because he does not mention the details of how he seized her and gave her over to the men or who was solely responsible for her death, he absolves himself of guilt. According to Trible, "[o]utrage erupts at the harm done to a man through his property, but ignores the violence done against the woman herself," and all of the wrath of the tribes of Israel is turned to the Benjamites.

Thousands of men participate in this battle against the Benjaminites, and Yahweh also joins the fight against them in order to "put them to death and put away evil from Israel." Twenty-five thousand from the tribe of Benjamin are eventually killed, and only about six hundred men survive. Because the other tribes of Israel had sworn not to give their women to the tribe of Benjamin in marriage, the town of Jabesh-gilead was attacked. In this way, all of the inhabitants were killed except for four hundred virgin women who were then given to the remaining Benjaminites, and two hundred daughters of Shiloh were taken from the dance in the yearly festival of Yahweh in order to satisfy these men.

Overall, Trible emphasizes that this story is a representation of the violence that was allowed toward women. Tribal Israel was called to respond immediately to the destruction of property (or mistreatment of the concubine) by the men of the town of Gilbeah, and ironically in seeking to provide justice, six hundred more women were taken advantage of in order to preserve the tribe of Benjamin as one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

From the Editor of Judges and the Shapers of the Canon

Tribal argues that the Editor of Judges is emphasizing that the lack of a king seems to give the people license for anarchy and violence. In her opinion, the "editor uses the the horrors he has just reported to promote a monarchy that would establish order and justice in Israel." The Editor of Judges uses the phrases, "In those days, there was no king in Israel," and that "every man did what was right in his own eyes." This parallels how the old man said to the men of Gibeah to "do to them [the virgin daughter and the concubine] the good in your own eyes," and serves to demonstrate that, without a king of Israel, such events as those that happened to the concubine could happen.

Trible points out that when a monarchy finally did begin with King Saul, he came from the tribe of Benjamin, and established the capital in Gibeah. These things are ironic, though Trible holds that perhaps the editor means to undercut Saul's kingship in order to promote the Davidic monarchy (though the Davidic monarchy also had its flaws). Overall, Trible has proposed the idea that perhaps the editor of the narrative included certain phrases to promote monarchy, especially the Davidic monarchy that was yet to come. However, the "royalty did the right in its own eyes" as well.

Tribal acknowledges that the Shapers of the Hebrew Canon may have ordered the canon in such a way as to juxtapose the story of the concubine with the story of Hannah, who "receives sympathetic and focused attention. She is a woman of name and speech, pity, and perseverance, fidelity, and magnanimity," in contrast to the concubine. In the Greek Bible, the story of the concubine and Ruth are similarly juxtaposed in order to show the contrast in the treatment of the concubine and the treatment of Ruth by Boaz. In the story of Ruth, Boaz is a next-of-kin relative that agrees to marry Ruth and provide sustenance for her. In Trible's opinion, the two stories of Hannah and Ruth in different canons serve to "speak a healing word in the days of the judges," and to "show both the Almighty and the male establishment [in] a more excellent way."

From the Prophets and the Rest of Scripture

In the rest of scripture, Trible describes how the memory of Gibeah seems to permeate for centuries afterward in the prophetic book of Hosea. Specifically, Trible quotes Hosea 9:9 and Hosea 10:9:

"They have deeply corrupted themselves

as in the days of Gibeah.

God will remember their iniquity;

God will punish their sins.

(Hos. 9:9, RSV)

From the days of Gibeah,

you have sinned, O Israel.

(Hos. 10:9, RSV)

With these scriptures, Trible shows how these crimes were recalled, and how the "prophetic tradition scarcely directed its heart to the concubine.

Finally, a reference to Amos 5:13 demonstrates yet another response to the text:

Therefore, the prudent one will keep silent

about such a time,

for it is an evil time.

(Amos 5:13, RSV)

Tribal then holds that this "biting, even sarcastic" response demonstrates how keeping quiet is to sin, because the story ordered its listeners to '"direct your heart to her [the concubine], take counsel, and speak."'

From the Readers

Here, Trible holds that the readers of this narrative should be able to acknowledge that this particular narrative is not just form the past. Rather, it is still important in this day and age because misogyny still exists, and women as objects are "still captured, betrayed, raped, tortured, murdered, dismembered, and scattered." In conclusion, Trible says that we should understand this story's present reality, and we should be able to say, '"Never again,"' and be able to say to ourselves, "Repent. Repent."

Analyses

Men and Women in Opposition and Dissonance

According to Trible's analysis, in Judges 19:1-2 the man and woman are introduced with similar identifications, but their meanings have a prominent dissonance. She argues the opposition between man and woman and how it appears throughout the story. The man, a Levite, has a respected place in society that sets him above many other males. The woman, a concubine, has a lower status in society and is placed beneath other females. She is nearly a slave who is secured by a man for his own purposes. The opening sentence of the story shows the inequality of the two characters. Trible brings up the example of the man in the story is given a proper name but the woman is never given one; she is simple "a woman" (Judges 19:1). As Trible points out, "he is subject; she, object", therefore, even though the story revolves around her rape and death, the focus is still on the man and his actions/reactions (66). Even though she is the victim in the story, she is labeled with a pronoun instead of having an actual name.

In the next sentence though the man and woman reverse roles. Two manuscripts traditions have survived saying that the concubine played the harlot or became angry with the Levite. All versions agree that the concubine left the Levite for her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah. Trible talks about the distance between the Levite and concubine with the father in the middle of the situation. With the Levite originally having all the power, the concubine now is switching places. According to Trible, it is a fight between power and brutality versus helplessness and abuse.

Legally and Socially Not Equivalent of Wife

Judges 19:8 marks the beginning of a power struggle between the males of the story (the concubines father and her master). Trible's analysis of this act exposes the social norms of the time, being that the woman involved did not have a chance to be involved in the power struggle that was occurring. Although her master originally travelled this far to win her heart and bring her back with him, at this time he has not spoken to her. The woman is neglected in this story through the social norms at the time - if another man is in the room and offering you his attention, you will ignore the woman in the room's presence.

Legally and Socially Not Equivalent of a Wife, but Seen as a Slave

Basically what this is saying is that with the few laws there were at this time, she has no rights. Like most women at this time she is seen less than men, and has an even lower status than a wife. It mentions that she is " basically" a slave, but how is she anything other than that? She is there for his own entertainment or whatever else he wants to use her for. She does things for him without being told, which throws off the readers. You can clearly see the social norms of this time, and how the power is clearly in the favor of the males. Throughout the article she has no name, which tells me that is shows she is not of importance in the story. She eventually leaves him, can she do that without being punished? That I am unsure of, and it does not mention it. Since her father is a man it also does not mention his reaction to how he feels about his daughters life, or actions to when she desserts him.

Intertextual Analysis

The Story of Lot

Throughout her Chapter "An Unnamed Woman The Extravagance of Violence" in the book Texts of Terror, Trible frequently uses intertextual analysis to relate this story of the concubine to earlier stories in the Hebrew Bible. The part of the story in Gibeah is very similar to the story of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. In both instances travels are staying the night at someone's house (Lot's in Sodom and Gomorrah and an old man in Gibeah) and the men of both towns are wanting to sexually violate the visitors. Also in both situations the owner of the house won't let them and offer the men their virgin daughters instead. In Gibeah he also offers the visitor's concubine to the men. In the story of Lot the women aren't taken advantage of but the concubine is in this story of the Levite. Trible refers back to Lot because these two storie are very similar.

Hannah & Ruth

Trible uses the stories of Ruth and Hannah to show differences in the ways women were treated even though they were around the same time and region. Both of these women's stories are found in books of the Bible that directly follow Judges which tells the this story. According to Trible Hanna was treated with sympathy and received a lot of attention. Similarly the story of Ruth shows her being given special treatment even over some of the male workers. On top of this she has a book of the Bible named after her focusing just on her story. This shows how much respect she's given as there is only one other book of the Bible named after a female, Esther being the other one. Trible points how the contrast these two stories are to the story of the concubine. Hannah and Ruth play large roles in their respective stories. The concubine on the other hand, is never given any dialogue and isn't given much attention even though she ends up dying. She is only the subject of a sentence on two occasions. Once when she fleas from the Levite to her father's home and then also when she dies.

External links

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