“Blaming the Woman”
NOTE:
This post has been withdrawn. The post will be published in my book, Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. The book introduces an amazing group of women who made an impact on the political, religious, and the economic life of early Israelite society. The book will be published in the Fall of 2024 by Kregel Academics.
Visit my Amazon author’s page to purchase the book (click here).
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
A Note About This Post:
Before “Blaming the Woman” was withdrawn for publication, “Blaming the Woman” was read by 2,128 readers. “Blaming the Woman” was also shared 42 times by readers who enjoyed reading the post. You can read “Blaming the Woman” and other articles on the amazing women of the Old Testament by reading my forthcoming book Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. Below is the content of the book:
Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
Part 1
Israel’s Social Concern for Women
Chapter 2 Israel’s Concern for Women
Chapter 3 The Status of Women in Israelite Society
Chapter 4 The Deuteronomic Concern for Women
Chapter 5 The Tenth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21)
Chapter 6 The Law of the Hebrew Slave
Part 2
Women Prophets
Chapter 7 Women Prophets in the Old Testament
Chapter 8 Miriam the Prophetess
Chapter 9 Deborah the Prophetess
Chapter 10 Isaiah’s Wife
Chapter 11 Huldah, A Prophet in Israel
Chapter 12 Noadiah the Prophetess
Chapter 13 The Nameless Prophetesses in the Book of Ezekiel
Chapter 14 The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament
Chapter 15 Women Who Proclaim the Good News
Chapter 16 The Daughters of Heman
Chapter 17 “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy”
Part 3
The Mothers of Israel
Chapter 18 Sarah: A Mother in Her Old Age
Chapter 19 Hagar: The Surrogate Mother
Chapter 20 Rachel: The Struggles of a Barren Woman
Chapter 21 Moses’s Two Mothers
Chapter 22 Sisera’s Mother: The Humanization of the Enemy
Chapter 23 Samson’s Mother: A Mother’s Disappointment
Chapter 24 Hannah: “The Barren Has Borne Seven”
Chapter 25 Rizpah: Reflections on a Mother’s Love
Chapter 26 Bathsheba: A Mother with Determination
Chapter 27 Solomon and the Two Mothers
Chapter 28 Jeroboam’s Wife: A Mother’s Agony
Chapter 29 Jesus’s Great-Grandmothers
Chapter 30 The Other Great-Grandmothers of Jesus
Chapter 31 Jezebel: A Great-Grandmother of Jesus
Chapter 32 The Genealogy of Jesus According to His Great-Grandmothers
Part 4
Abused Women
Chapter 33 Dinah, the Daughter of Jacob
Chapter 34 Tamar, the Wife of Er
Chapter 35 The Levite’s Concubine
Chapter 36 Bathsheba, the Wife of Uriah
Chapter 37 Tamar, the Daughter of David
Part 5
Women of Distinction
Chapter 38 Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?
Chapter 39 Deborah, A Judge in Israel
Chapter 40 Jael: A Heroine in Israel
Chapter 41 Ruth, the Moabite
Chapter 42 Ahinoam, the Mother of Amnon
Chapter 43 Abishag, the Shunammite
Chapter 44 The Greatness That Was Jezebel
Chapter 45 Esther, the Queen of Persia
Bibliography
Index of Scriptures
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Hebrew Words
I hope you will enjoy reading the book and develop a new appreciation for these amazing women of Ancient Israel.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
If you enjoyed reading this post, you will enjoy reading my books.
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
Reblogged this on The Biblical Review and commented:
Wonderful post.
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Willhart,
Thank you for your reaction to my post. This topic is a difficult one, but one that people should talk about.
Claude Mariottini
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Although I was not aware of these textual issues prior to your post, one of my previous professors, Brad Embry, has done quite a bit of work with Judges 19. Most recently, he wrote about the role of Judges 19 within his own faith tradition: “as I participated in the life of this faith tradition I was equally impressed by how unimportant Judges 19 (and Judges for that matter) was, in practice, to the weekly expression of faith in this community… Aside from a few idiomatic comments, the story of Judges 19 simply did not register in the religious conscience of this tradition” (Brad Embry, 2013, “Narrative Loss, the (Important) Role of Women, and Community in Judges 19”). Prior to this, he has done some other work with Judges.
That’s all to say that Judges 19 holds a special place in my own conscience, regardless of my faith tradition.
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Will,
Your previous professor is not alone. Many Christians have never read Judges 19 or if they have, they do not pay too much attention to the details of the story. Unfortunately, there are many evangelical Christians who still blame the woman based on their reading of the KJV and the NIV.
Thank you for your comment.
Claude Mariottini
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Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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“The Levite’s effort to go from the hills of Ephraim to Bethlehem of Judah to reconcile with his concubine clearly shows that she was the one in the right, not him.”
Hi Dr. Marriottini,
Once again, you have enlightened us with your wisdom and your expertise. From the above quote and your statement that the Levite spoke to the concubine’s heart nine times trying to persuade her to come back to him is eye opening. Your explanation of why the Levite was the blame is well proven. This information will be very helpful for me when I speak to ladies who are battling domestic abuse. (In fact, I wish I read this about six months ago.) It’s sad that even after several months apart, the Levite did not change. His heart remained self-centered. Not that the abusers can not change, but it takes more than a few months to stop that kind of behavior.
Moreover, I can only imagine the many false promises the Levite gave to her and her father in order for him to take her back. Unfortunately, this same technique happens today. Often times after an incident, the woman will hear their abusive partners say, “I promise this won’t happen again, because I love you so very much.” After hearing this, she will normally trust him and return only to experience the horrific cycle again. Unfortunately, his behavior normally worsens each time.
In regards to her father, I believe that he was not totally convinced that the Levite had changed which is why he tried to stall them from leaving so soon. No matter how polite the father seemed to be to the Levite, I believe the father still needed to confirm that his daughter was going to be safe so he wanted to keep them there with him as long as possible. It’s sad that ultimately she was not protected.
I’m so grateful that you wrote this, and I wish more scholars especially males, would share things like this. We must advocate for all hurting people. Again well done!!
Thanks for writing this!
Stephanie
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Stephanie,
Thank you for your nice words about my post. The reason I wrote this post is because many people believe that she did something very evil, when in reality, she was innocent. Many people do not look at what the husband did.
The problem of abuse is an issue that all of us need to address; this is one of the reasons why I wrote this post. I hope more people will read it.
Claude Mariottini
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I truly enjoyed reading this post. It is insightful and I did share it on Facebook. God bless you for sharing this.
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Julie,
Thank you for your nice words. Let us hope people will change their minds about this woman.
Claude Mariottini
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I believe that eyes are being opened to the truth. Keep shedding His light with your writing.
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Julie,
Thank you for your comment. Sometimes it is difficult for people to accept the truth, but we need to keep on trying. The woman in the story has been wrongly criticized for being unfaithful to her husband, but she was not guilty of the charges against her.
Claude Mariottini
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Grateful for this post. I remember reading Texts of Terror in one of your classes, and it brought me right back. This analysis was both enlightening and relieving.
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Ashley,
Thank you for your comment. Text of Terror is a great book which I recommend to my students. I am glad you enjoyed the book and also my post.
Claude Mariottini
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Seems like we are still blaming the women!
Thank you for standing up for us!
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Ginna,
The abuse of women in our society and in societies around the world is a shame and people need to act to end this problem. My goal was to stand for a woman who, in my view, has been wrongly criticized for something she did not do.
Claude Mariottini
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Has anyone noticed the similarity of the “welcome” that the Levite received with that of the angels in Sodom, and of the host’s response? The difference is that the men of Sodom weren’t vindictively cruel against women. The similarity of the interactions is not coincidental in my opinion, but represents two examples of a corrupt cultural norm.
The text in the Septuagint makes no judgments. It simply reports the events dispassionately. The Levite was very angry (orgizó egó), the concubine wasn’t a harlot and her father wasn’t joyful when he saw the Levite, but purposely stalled the him for time. The text doesn’t say why. However, the relationship between the Levite and his concubine was not the same after he left. Perhaps the father negotiated with the Levite. Just connecting the dots from the evidence presented . . .
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Dieter,
Many writers have noticed the similarity between the story in Judges and the story of the angels in Sodom. I did not say anything about the similarity because it was outside of my purpose for the post.
I have an idea about the reason the father delayed the departure of the Levite, even though this reason is not in the text. Here is my view: since the father sold his daughter to be a concubine, when she returned home, the father had to return the bridal price. Since the woman did not want to return with the Levite and since the father did not want to return the money, he had to stall for time while he convinced his daughter to go with the Levite.
I know that this is not in the text, but I think it makes sense.
Claude Mariottini
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Are you suggesting that זנה be read as זנח? It looks as if you have a tenable argument. Is there manuscript evidence for this reading? Thanks for the post. I’m not there yet in my reading but I will be some day, if the Lord will.
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Bob,
The way you expressed the problem with the Hebrew words is not correct. There are two meanings for the word זָנָה. The word
זָנָה I means “to be unfaithful, to commit an act of prostitution.” The word זָנָה II means “to be angry.”
According to HALOT and many of the ancient versions, the word זָנָה here has the meaning of “to be angry.”
Thank you for your comment.
Claude Mariottini
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I have posted my response here also and I have asked the Hebrew Language Detective and my Hebrew coach, a professional modern translator, for opinions. This is an absolutely vital question about how we read.
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Bob,
I apologize for the delay in answering you comment.
I read your post. Thank you for taking times to address my post. In a future post I will seek to address some of the issues you raised in your post.
Claude Mariottini
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“Gerry on April 12, 2015 at 4:16 am
The most reasonable reading of Judges 1:2 is not that the Levite’s concubine literally had sex or consorted with another but that leaving him, running away, in itself constituted unfaithfulness, zanah. This, not being actual sexual connection with another, which was a death-penalty offense unless she was forced, did not qualify for stoning.”
Zanah and its related words, while having a literal meaning having to do with sexual relations, is repeatedly used to denote Israel’s unfaithfulness to the LORD, with Whom Israel most certainly did not have literal sexual relations.
Exodus 34:15, 16
Leviticus 20:5 – here zanah is sacrificing children to Moloch
1 Chronicles 5:25
Ezekiel 6:9; 16:28
And several more in which zanah denotes unfaithfulness; infidelity, not literal physical illicit sexual relations.
When a wife leaves her husband without his approval, she breaches faith with him. This would not be the case if he drove her away by violence.
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Gerry,
You are still blaming the woman. Read again what the text says: “But his concubine became angry with him” (Judges 19:2 NRSV). The text does not say that she was unfaithful to him, the text does not say anything about sex with another man, nor does the text say anything about infidelity. According to the text the man caused her to be angry. Don’t blame the woman; blame the man.
Claude Mariottini
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I am so glad you are back to blogging. I learned a lot from this post and it has force me to re-evaluate this passage. I think you effectively answered questions I should have been asking. I thank God for this. I was wondering if you have ever written about Jephthah from Judges 11? Did he really sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering or did she merely serve God the rest of her life and never married or have children of her own, as some commentators suggest? Do you have any suggestions on what to read? thanks!!!
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Marcus,
It is nice to hear from you after such a long time. I am glad you enjoyed my post.
I have written three posts on Jephthah’s daughter. You can read them here: Judges 11:39: The Virginity of Jephthah’s Daughter.
Claude Mariottini
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In your previous post, using the interpretation that she had not been sexually unfaithful to her husband, you talked about how the woman ran to her father’s house for protection from abuse and mistreatment. You also said that the father was welcoming and conciliatory to the man, I believe. My dad would not have been welcoming if an abusive husband came to get me. So, I’m having a problem with that and would like your input. Thank you.
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Diane,
When the Levite acquired his wife, he gave the father of the woman the “mohar” or the bridal price. It is possible that the man would request a return of the money if the woman refused to return with him. Remember, a father had the right to sell his daughter to be a secondary wife. We cannot look at the story from our American perspective; the position of the woman in that society was completely different from societies today.
Claude Mariottini
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Here’s the problem I have even to this day with this verse (but God’s Ways are NOT mine, nor His thoughts my thoughts, I DO believe there’s a DEEPER meaning to the story, but until I get the low down from God/Jesus I’ll leave it right there) I DON’T understand why the husband “intentionally put his wife out KNOWING what might become of her, seem to have NO sympathy that she was RAPED ALL NIGHT LONG, then cut her body up into pieces” like she never even existed, and why the Priests didn’t do anything to him? I Don’t know how he lived with himself after that horrific incident.
As for the “King James Version being incorrect”, I NEVER visit those waters because as far as I’m concerned, God’s Word STANDS and it’s not for me to say what is wrong with it, should be taken out, added, etc. I consider that “DANGEROUS” territory and leave that to the Father and Son ALONE. “Their Word” has and Does Stand the tests of time, has proven itself over and over again, IS the guide post for ALL humanity, and that’s more than good enough for me.
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Preta4,
The only way to understand this story is knowing that the man had a low estimate of his wife. She was just a concubine, a secondary wife which be bought with money. Probably, in his mind, she was just his possession.
The problem with the KJV is that it uses an incorrect meaning of the Hebrew word. If you reread my post, I said that the Hebrew word has two different meaning. The KJV chose the first meaning, when in reality the second meaning of the word fits the context of the story in a better way.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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So thankful I came across your blog ! This was a story I didn’t like to read because I didn’t understand it. It always left me sad and hurt for this woman. It still does but at least now I understand why such a story would be included in God’s Word. This kind of behavior and worse still exist today and for the same reason ..a life without God . Thanks again for explaining
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Dear Friend,
I am glad to know that you enjoyed this post. I believe this story has been misinterpreted and because of that, the woman in the story has been called all kinds of names, even though she did not deserve it.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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