Q.
174
Why would stories about a father murdering
his daughter (Judg. 11) or handing his
daughters over to a crowd to be raped and
killed (Gen. 19) be included in the Bible?
Gary Peluso-Verdend
A.
The victors who write history often conceal crimes, immorality,
and misdeeds. For the most part, that is not so in the Bible! Biblical
stories tend to report warts and all, even for beloved leaders such
as King David (see 2 Sam. 11–12). With the possible exception of Jesus (and
even there you have his initial treatment of the Syrophoenician woman; see
Mk. 7:25–30), one cannot fi nd fl awless leaders in the Bible.
Rather, we have many stories of sometimes-honored persons making
terrible decisions and acting in horrifi c, unethical, or cowardly ways. In Judges
11, Jephthah made a stupid vow to God that cost the life of his only daughter.
Genesis 19 includes the story of Lot offering up his daughters to a mob rather
than surrendering the guests who were under the protection of his house.
So why are such stories included in the Bible? New Testament scholar
Doug Adams claims the Bible does not present us with models for morality,
but mirrors for identity. We are to look for ourselves in biblical stories and see
what and who is refl ected back. Such refl ections help us deal with the people
around us and with ourselves, if we can look deeply enough into our souls.
For example, check out Jesus’ family tree as Matthew 1:1–16 reports it—
enough fl awed characters in there for a TV drama.
Bible stories may not always point in a “go thou and do likewise” direc-
tion, but are sometimes markers for what not to do.Marcia Ford
A.
One thing you can say about the Bible—it never whitewashes the
evil that humans are capable of doing to one another. But because
so much of the Bible teaches love and offers comfort, it’s hard for
some people to relate to those passages that depict gruesome and despicable
actions.
However, the Bible is much more than a source of feel-good reassurance.
It’s also a record of the history of Israel and the early church, and that record is
populated by very real people who sometimes exemplifi ed the essence of evil.