Sacred Witness Rape in the Hebrew Bible

includes index and biblioraphy

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 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 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 ofjerusalem 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