Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible

298 Pages·2010·5.681 MB·English

by  Scholz, Suzanne

a feminist reading of the Bible as sacred witness S
to a crime with a long history— c
h
o
Sacred Witness provides illuminating reflection on some of the most troubling
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texts in the Hebrew Bible. Assuming the androcentric natureof the wide rangeof
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rape texts in biblical literature, Susanne Scholz asks how we may read these texts
in order to find some redemptive meaning for women, children, and men who have
been injured by sexual violence and by “cultures of rape.”
“Every person of conscience must read this book. Scholz courageously confronts how
S
biblical stories of rape are used wrongly as tools of terror and war and shows us how to
read the most difficult texts of the Bible redemptively instead of oppressively. Her com- a
pelling, revelatory interpretations will save the lives of women and girls.” c
R
RitaNakaShimaBRock
e
Founding Co-Director of Faith Voices for the Common Good
Visiting Scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry, d
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley
w
“Sacred Witness is the most comprehensive presentation of rape in the Hebrew Bible
i
to date.This book is a difficult, even challenging read,but as the author argues, actu-
t
ally seeing rape is a sacred task.Do not avert your eyes. Bear witness.Break the silence. N
Demand that rape stop.This book should be required reading for all women and the
e
men who care about them.” Susanne Scholz examines the Hebrew
S
Bible as “sacred witness” to an ancient
SuSaN BRookSthiStlethwaite S
crime. She asks whether it is possible
Professor of Theology
Chicago Theological Seminary for rape texts, written from a male per-
spective and long interpreted in patri-
archal ways by church tradition and
Introduction: A Promise for a Blessing
1. Breaking the Silence: The Legacy of Acquaintance Rape beyond, to yield redemptive meanings
SuSaNNe Scholz holds a Ph.D. in 2. Subjugated by Gender and Class: The Rape of Enslaved Women for victim-survivors today. The book
3. Controlling Wives: Marital Rape Fantasies
Old Testament fromUnion Theological points toward an affirmative answer
4. Regulating Rape: The Case of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Laws
Seminary, New York, and teaches Old 5. Gang Raping: On the Culture of Misogyny during Peace and War insisting on the significance of the
Testament/Hebrew Bible at Perkins 6. Losing Power: The Rape of Men as Male Fear and Reality social loc ations of readers, the mul-
7. Resisting the Theology of a Rapist: Against the Poetics of Rape in Prophetic Literature
School of Theology/SMU in Dallas, tiplicity of biblical meanings, and the
Conclusion: The Blessing of a Sacred Witness
Texas. She is the author of Introducing necessity of feminist ethics when dis-
the Women’s Hebrew Bible (2007), Bibli- Religion / Hebrew Bible cussing the wide range of rape texts in
cal Studies Alternatively: An Introductory biblical literature—some that long have
Reader (2003), and Rape Plots: A Femi- troubled readers, others that should
nist Cultural Study of Genesis 34 (2000). have but didn’t.
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Sacred witneSS
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Sacred witneSS
rape in the hebrew bible
susanne scholz
fortress press
minneapolis
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SACRED WITNESS
Rape in the Hebrew Bible
Copyright © 2010 Fortress Press, an imprint of Augsburg Fortress. All rights
reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this
book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the
publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permis-
sions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised
Standard Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Bible, Introduction in Feminist Theology 13 by
Susanne Scholz, copyright © 2007 by Susanne Scholz. Used by permission of
T&T Clark
A full bibliography for Sacred Witness is available at www.fortresspress.com/Scholz.
Cover image: Bathsheba, Yisehak Fine Arts
Cover design: Laurie Ingram
Book design: Christy J. P. Barker
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scholz, Susanne, 1966–
Sacred witness : rape in the Hebrew Bible / Susanne Scholz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-0-8006-3861-0 (alk. paper)
1. Rape in the Bible. I. Title.
BS1199.R27S37 2010
221.8’3641532—dc22
2009041997
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984.
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Dedicated to
Women and Girls of Congo
In memory of
Gretel Markwirt (1909–1999)
Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow (1995–2008)
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contentS
acknowledgments � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �xi
introduction � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 1
A Promise for a Blessing
Rape Prose and Poetry in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Biblical Historicity of Rape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Reader’s Responses to Biblical Rape Poetry and Prose . . . . . . . . . . 7
Feminist Discourse on Rape from Brownmiller
to Postmodern Feminist Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Several Influential Feminist Studies on Rape
in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Toward a “Hermeneutics of Meaning” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Content of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1� breaking the Silence � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 27
The Legacy of Acquaintance Rape
The Emerging Discourse of Acquaintance Rape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Acquaintance Rape in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Seduction, Love, and Marriage? The Rape of Dinah . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Stupid or Cupid? The Incestuous Rape of Tamar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Vital Warmth? The Failed Rape of Abishag the Shunammite . . . . 42
Rapish Desire? The Resisted Rape of Susanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
On Speaking and Resisting: Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . 50
vii
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viii
2. Subjugated by Gender and Class . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Rape of Enslaved Women
Stories of Rape and Slavery in Nineteenth-Century America . . . . 53
The Rape of Enslaved Women in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Story of Hagar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
The Story of Bilhah and Zilpah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Another Story of Bilhah and Some Royal Concubines . . . . . . . . . 71
Resistance, Hierarchies of Women, and Androcentrism . . . . . . . . 81
3. Controlling Wives � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 83
Marital Rape Fantasies
Rape in Marriage: A Hidden Phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Marital Rape in the Hebrew Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Run, Sarah and Rebekah, Run! A Marital Rape Fantasy . . . . . . . . 85
Stripping Her Naked: Foreplay to Marital Rape
in the Book of Hosea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
A Woman Bathing: The Fantasy of the Other Man . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Conclusion: Not a Moot Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4. Regulating Rape � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �105
The Case of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Laws
Rape Laws Then and Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Rape Laws in the Book of Deuteronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
“If a Man . . .”: Rape Laws in Ancient Near Eastern Codes . . . . . 117
Toward a Conclusion, Not a Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
5. Gang Raping � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �135
On the Culture of Misogyny during Peace and War
War Rape, Genocide, and Misogyny
in the Contemporary World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
. . . In Times of Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
. . . In Times of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
“Take My Daughters . . .”: Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . 155
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ix
6. Losing Power � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �157
The Rape of Men as Male Fear and Reality
From the Top to the Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Ehud, a Judge, and His Left-Handed Murder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Ms. Potiphar’s Attempted Coercion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Lot’s Daughters and Their Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Charms of Delilah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
The Subjugation of Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7. Resisting the Theology of a Rapist � � � � � � � � � �179
Against the Poetics of Rape in Prophetic Literature
Rape Metaphors in Contemporary Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Divinely Authorized Rape Rhetoric in Prophetic Speech . . . . . . 181
“Lifting Up Her Skirt”: The Besieged City of Jerusalem
as a Raped Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
“Uncovering Their Nakedness”: The Besieged Cities of Babylon,
Nineveh, Sidon, and Edom as Raped Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
“You Overpowered Me and Prevailed”:
Prophetic Responses to the Experience of Divine Rape . . . . . 202
The Difficulties with the Prophetic Poetics of Rape:
Concluding Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
conclusion � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �209
The Blessing of a Sacred Witness
notes � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 213
index of authors � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 264
index of ancient Sources � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 270
index of Subjects � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 275
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