Jeremiah 36-38

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

Jeremiah 36 - No mention of any women.

Jeremiah 37 - No mention of any women.

38:21-23 - "But if you [Zedekiah king of Judah] are determined not to surrender [to the Chaldeans] this is what the Lord has shown me - a vision of all the women remaining in the house of the king of Judah, being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying, 'Your trusted friends have seduced you and have overcome you; Now that your feet are stuck in the mud, they desert you.' All your wives and your children shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but should be seized by the king of Babylon; an this city shall be burned with fire."

My Comments

Ugh, Jeremiah is 52 chapters long. Someone shoot me now.

Monday: More Jeremiah

Jeremiah 7-9

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

7:5-7 - "For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hunt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever."
7:18 - "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger."
7:31 - "And they go on building the high place of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire - which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind."
7:34 - "And I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall become a waste."

8:10 - "Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely."
8:19 - "Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: 'Is the Lord no in Zion? Is her King not in her?' ('Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?')"

9:17 - "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilled women to come; let them quickly raise a dirge over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water."
9:20 - "Hear, O women, the word of the Lord, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to their neighbor lament."

My Comments

I just noticed that the only women God apparently gets all up in arms about is the widows. Anyone else noticed this? If you mess with widows God will surely punish you. Not current wives, or young virgins or prostitutes. Just widows, the women who have already played their role of marriage and child bearing and have had their husbands (unjustly) taken from them. Kind of a bit weird, I think.

8:10 - "Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely."

Yeah, glad to know God pretty much cares nothing about women getting raped. I mean, rape is the same as having one's fields taken away, right? Sure, totally the same.

Remember not too long ago when people were having fits about how Justin Bieber apparently thinks that abortion is wrong even in cases of rape because God has a plan and everything happens for a reason? People got upset about this for obvious reasons (even though the quote was later shown to have a bit more to it than what the magazine printed) but I recall someone (I cannot remember who at the moment) saying that any God they would be willing to believe in would not use rape as a tool or as a way to get someone on the right path. I agree, I would never worship a God who thought rape was okay to throw around as punishment or as a consequence of his end goal, whatever that may be. And so I would never worship the Biblical God because he is completely capable and willing to use rape on women as punishment for their sins, as punishment for the sins of others, or even as just a reward to his people for conquering a piece of land he had promised them.

Rape, to the male Biblical authors, is nothing more than the seizing of property. It's easy to think of it this way when you do not view women as anything other than chattel, no different than the cows and sheep that are used for meat or milk.

Monday: More Jeremiah

2 Chronicles 25-36

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

25:18 - King Jehoash of Israel sent work to King Amaziah of Judah, "A thornbush of Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife'; but a wild animal of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thornbush."

26:3 - Uzziah's mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

27:1 - Jotham's mother's name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.

28:8 - The people of Israel took captive from Judah 200,000 of their kin, women, sons, and daughters; they also took much booty from them and brought the booty to Samaria.
28:10 - Odem, a prophet, chastises the Israelites for killing Judah with such rage, asking if they now plan to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as their slaves? He then tells them to let the captives go since the wrath of the Lord is upon them.

29:1 - Hezekiah's mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
29:9 - Judah's fathers have fallen by the sword and its sons and daughters and wives taken.

2 Chronicles 30 - No mention of any women.

31:18 - The priests were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole multitude; for their were faithful in keeping themselves holy.

2 Chronicles 32 - No mention of any women.

2 Chronicles 33 - No mention of any women.

34:22-28 - The priest Hilkiah, Ahikem, Achbor, Saphan and Asiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. She told the men that the Lord was indeed going to bring disaster onto this place as the king had read because the people had abandoned him and made offerings to other gods. The people had provoked God's anger so His wrath will not be quenched. But because the king of Judah, who sent the men, was penitent and his humbled himself before the Lord God will allow the king to be gathered to his ancestors and you shall go to your grave in peace and not see the disaster that God has planned for this place. So the men took this message to the king.

2 Chronicles 35 - No mention of any women.

36:17 - God brought up the king of the Chaldeans against Jerusalem. The king killed their youths with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or young woman, the aged or the feeble; God gave them all into the kings hand.

My Comments

The weird thornbush bit is a verbatim retelling of 2 Kings 12:14.

The prophet Huldah story is also a repeat from 2 Kings 22:14-20.

And for 2 Chronicles 36:17 I only have three words. What. A. Dick. Seriously, just because some people don't want to listen to you is not a good reason to slaughter them all. Especially not the children. Like small children know any better than to follow those who raise them. -_-

We're finally done with the Chronicles! Everyone do a dance of joy! :D We're finally going on to something new!

Friday: Ezra 1-3

2 Kings 15-17

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

15:2 - Azariah's mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
15:16 - Menahem sacked Tiphsah, all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on. Because the city did not open to him he sacked it and he ripped open the pregnant women in it.
15:33 - Jotham's mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

2 Kings 16 - No mention of any women.

17:17 - God's people would not listen to God and made their sons and daughters pass through fire; they used divination and augury; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord.

My Comments

I'm not sure why the Bible loves to randomly add in horrific depictions of female death, but it is getting really annoying and terrible to read. The pregnant women being ripped open was added as an after thought, it seemed. Why add them there at all? Was saying, "The city got sacked" not enough? And why only mention pregnant women? Why not the other members of the city? I'm not sure if this is some sort of literary devise, whether it's supposed to invoke some sort of feeling or whether it's just a factoid the author thought he'd add in, but whatever it's supposed to be I wish the Bible would stop singling out women like that.

And it seems the people of Israel are starting to catch on to what I was saying in my last post about God being such a horrible deity, full of punishment and wrath and not much else. These entire two chapters are basically about how the people of Israel would not stop worshiping other gods. Did not matter what God did, they kept leaving him and going back to Baal or even just gods they made up themselves. Honestly they had good reason to leave God, he wasn't doing shit for them other than making their lives harder. And seriously, 2 Kings 17:35-36 still has God harping on how he saved the Israelites from Egypt and this is why they should worship him. That was GENERATIONS ago, God. You cannot expect people to keep following you for something you did for their great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers. It's just ridiculous.

It's like that asshole who did that one really good thing years ago and won't shut up about it. "Hey, asshole, why the hell did you shave my dog?" "Aw, come on, man. Remember how I saved those orphans from that fire?" "That was DECADES ago!" "Yeah, but it was awesome so shut the hell up and do what I say!" One good deed does not make it okay for someone to be a complete tool in everything else they do. We wouldn't accept this behavior from our best friends so why do we allow this behavior in our deities?

I'm glad the people of Israel are growing wise to God's bullshit. Unfortunately they all pretty much suffer and die because of it, but it's good to see them noticing what I've been seeing all along.

Wednesday: 2 Kings 18-20

1 Kings 18-20

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

18:4 - Obadiah revered God greatly, for when Jezebel was killing off God's prophets, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them in caves, also providing them with bread and water.
18:13 - Obadiah explains to Elijah how when Jezebel was killing God's prophets he hid 100 in caves and provided them with food and water.
18:19 - Elijah tells Ahab, "Now therefore have all Israel assemble at Mount Carmel, with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

19:1-3 - Ahab told Jezebel about all the things Elijah had done, and how Elijah had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.

20:3 - King Ben-hadad tells the king of Israel, "All your silver and gold are mine, your fairest wives and children also are mine."
20:5 - King Ben-hadad repeats his request for the king of Israel's silver and gold and wives and children.
20:7 - The king of Israel calls for the elders and said, "Look now! See how this man is seeking trouble; for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver and my gold; and I did not refuse him."

My Comments

Okay, my opinion, Jezebel sounds badass. I'm with her, some dude comes into my place and slaughters all my holy men I'd be out for blood too. Plus she apparently went around and single handedly killed many of God's prophets.

Sounds like it could make a total awesome HBO or Showtime drama. Better than another detective drama, anyways.

Of course even though she is completely badass and did all this of awesome stuff there's still nothing to talk right now because the Bible doesn't even go into what she did. No details, no nothing. Just an offhand comment that is part of another dudes story about how awesome he is. You'd think if someone was going around killing God's prophets that would warrant more than just a vague mention. I'd think there'd be an entire passage dedicated to it or something. But alas. Seems a good waste of a pretty cool sounding story.

Monday: 1 Kings 21-22

1 Samuel 28-31

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

28:7-14 - Saul asked his men to seek out a medium for him, since God has stopped speaking to him. His men know of a medium in Endor. So Saul disguised himself and went to see the medium. Saul asked the woman to consult a spirit for him, and the medium said, "Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring my death?" Saul swore to her that no harm shall come to her. Then woman asked whom he wished her to consult. Saul asked her to bring up Samuel, and when the medium did she cried out, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!" Saul told her to nevermind, what did she see? The medium said she sees a divine being, and old man wrapped in a robe. So Saul knew it was Samuel and bowed with his face to the ground.
28:20-25 - Saul became terrified because of Samuel's words, and he had no strength because he had not eaten all day and all night. The medium saw that Saul was terrified and offered him food to eat. Saul said he would not eat. But Saul's men and the medium urged him so Saul rose and ate. The medium fed them a fatted calf and unleavened cakes. Saul and his servants ate.

1 Samuel 29 - No mention of any women.

30:2-3 - The Amalekites attacked Ziklag and took captive the women and all who were in the town both great and small. When David and his men came to the city they found it burned and all their sons and daughters were taken captive.
30:5-6 - David's two wives had also been taken, Abinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal. David was in danger for his people wanted to stoned him because they were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters.
30:18-19 - David recovered all the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing, neither great or small, sons or daughters, spoils of anything that had been taken. David had brought back everything.
30:22 - David did not give any spoils to the men who had not come with him. They only got their sons and daughters and wives back and were told to leave.

1 Samuel 31 - No mention of any women.

My Comments

Yeah. The medium story is a bit weird. God completely denounces wizards and sorceresses with the whole "You shall not suffer a witch to live." And yet it's okay for Saul to go see a medium? Or is it a moot point since God had already stopped talking to Saul? Is this why Saul was overtaken in 1 Samuel 31? I guess God had already forsaken Saul so it didn't matter if he went to see a medium or not.

Monday: 2 Samuel 1-3

1 Samuel 25 - 28

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

25:14 - One of David's men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, that David had sent messangers out of the wilderness to salute him and Nabal shouted insults at them. (David was planning to attack on account of this insult)
25:18-44 - Abigail hurried and gathered 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins and 200 cakesof figs. She loaded them on donkeys and told the young men to go ahead of her, she will follow them. She did not tell Nabal. Abigail rode and came upon David. David bemoaned that he had done much to protect Nabal's property in the wilderness and yet Nabal only returned to him insults. Abigail ran to David and fell on her face, bowing to the ground. She asked that David not take her ill natured husband seriously. She had not seen the men David had sent. The Lord restrain the blood guilt, and she offers all she brought to David and his men. Abigail blessed David and his men, that they should be victorious in whatever they face. David thanked the Lord for sending Abigail to him. David told Abigail to go back to her house.When Abigail returned home Nabal was having a huge feast, and Abigail told him nothing of what had happened. When she told Nabal the next morning Nabal's heart died within him, and about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died. David praised the Lord for killing Nabal. He sent for Abigail to woo her to be his wife. Abigail accepted and went with her five maids to David and became his wife. David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Meanwhile Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son of Laish.

1 Samuel 26 - No mention of any women.

27:3 - David stayed in Gath, he and his troops, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow.

My Comments

I have to admit, the Abigail story practiclly made no sense to me. I reread the speech she gave to David and was pretty confused both times. I blame it on the fact that the word lord/Lord is thrown about practically every other word. It gets really muddled. But I think I got the general gist.

Gotta love how David is like "Oh, cool. Thanks for kills Nabal, God. Now I'm gonna go take his wife." And then on top of that he grabs another random woman to take as his wife. And apparently in all this mess he totally forgets about his first wife Michal. How do you forget about your wife? I mean really, I know they tend to get new wives like they're going out of style, but that's just kind of ridiculous.

I'm going to have to cut the reading short for today. Whatever I was going through a week or so ago is still kind of kicking around which can make it really hard to stay up and read the tiny font my Bible has. So I'll finish off he rest of 1 Samuel tomorrow.

Tomorrow: 1 Samuel 28-31

1 Samuel 18-25

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

18:6-7 - When David returned home from killing the Philistine, then women came out dancing with tambourines, singing, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
18:17 - Saul said to David, "Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife, only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles."
18:19 - But at the time when Merab should have been given to David she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
18:20-21 - Saul's daughter Michal loved David. Saul was told and this pleased him. Saul thought, "Let me give Michal to David that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him."
18:27-28 - David rose and went with his men and killed one hundred of the Philistines, and David brought their foreskins back to Saul that he may become Saul's son-in-law. Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife. Then Saul realized that he Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him.

19:11-17 - Saul sent messengers to David's house to keep watch, planning to kill David in the morning. David's wife Michal told David that if he did not leave he was going to be killed. So Michal let David out through the window so he could escape. Michal placed an idol on the bed with goat's hair at the top and covered it with clothes. When Saul saw this deceit he asked her why she'd tricked him like this. And Michal told Saul, "He said to me 'Let me go; why should I kill you?'"

20:30 - Saul anger was kindled against Jonathan and said to him, "You son of a perverse woman!"

21:4-5 - A priest tells David that he only has holy bread for David and his men, provided they have kept themselves from women. David said that he and his men had kept themselves from women, as they always did when they'd go on an expedition, the vessels of the young men are kept holy even on a journey.

22:3 - David went to from there to Mizpeh of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come to you until I know what God did for me."

1 Samuel 23 - No mention of any women.

1 Samuel 24 - No mention of any women.

My Comments

Again, women as prizes to be won and bargaining chips to get what men want. And seriously, a big bag of one hundred foreskins just sounds so disgusting. I mean really really disgusting. Who the hell would ask for that? I think scalps would be less gross than foreskins.

When asked what he wanted the foreskins for, Saul was recorded saying, "I'm making a wallet. When I rub it, it'll turn into a suitcase."

Thank you, Reduced Shakespeare Company. If you have the money, The Complete Word of God (Abridged) is an excellent buy.

And another woman goes about saving another man. And still gets no parade. Or any real recognition. Did anyone know who Michal was before this? I mean David's a big player in the Bible, and yet we don't know the name of the woman who saved his life. Kind of the same deal with Zipporah. She saved Moses from being killed by God, and yet she's hardly talked about when the Exodus story is being retold in Sunday school. It's all rather unfair, I think.

Tomorrow: 1 Samuel 25-28

1 Sameul 13-17

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

1 Samuel 13 - No mention of any women.

14:49-50: Saul's sons were JOnathan, Ishvi and Malchishua. His daughters were Merab and Michal. His wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz.

15:3 - Samuel tells Saul to attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all they have, both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
15:33 - Samuel tells Agag, king of the Amalekites "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother shall be childless among women." And with that Samuel killed Agag.

1 Samuel 16 - No mention of any women.

17:25 - The Israelites tell David, "Have you seen this man (Goliath) who has come up? Surely he has come to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free for life."

My Comments

Women as prizes. Still never gets old.

I don't know if anyone has been watching Through the Wormhole with Moragn Freeman. I haven't been able to see it since I don't get the Discovery Science channel, but I did catch some of an episode at a friend's house. Oddly enough it is an episode about the question on whether there is a creator. There was a section about a scientist who is testing a section of the right hemisphere of the brain which, when stimulated, gives the impression of a presence around a the person. Similar experiences that people claim to experience when God is around. It's really fascinating. I love how so many experiences we have are reduced to simple electric impulses in our brains. And that these impulses can be manipulated and recreated is astonishing.

Maybe it's just me. I know many people are disturbed by the idea that we're only machines made of meat, where grand emotions like love or joy or hate are nothing more than neurons firing a specific way in the brain. Or it depresses people when they think we aren't special and weren't created by a higher being who loves us and protects us, but instead realize we are nothing but star dust that came to life and evolved into the beings we are today. Which I think is strange, since the more realistic scenario doesn't make us less special or unique. We are the only planet in our solar system with life as complex as we are. We may be the only planet in multiple systems with life as complex as we are. Out of all the species discovered on Earth we are the only species capable of great abstract thoughts. With imaginations that allow us to explore and discover and ask questions like "Why are we here?" We are just as awe inspiring and grand without God making us. Actually, I think we are even more awe inspiring without a creator. Billions of years of work and trial and error to come to this point in time. From primordial ooze to me sitting here on a couch of artificial leather watching people miles away from me on a tv screen while typing away on a laptop no bigger than the Bible I'm reading.

How can people cling to a God when the reality of life without God is so wonderful? So curious and awesome? Maybe I've been watching too much Carl Sagan. He's become my new obsession. I used to love reading about space and dinosaurs when I was a kid. My life ambition at that time was to be a paleontologist or an astronomer. Obviously that phase didn't last past my childhood, since I have grown up to be neither of those two, I think mostly because I didn't have many opportunities in high school and college to get into either field. But the subjects still fascinate me. Right now I'm watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Space is just so cool. It's so big and unfathomable for me most of the time. And yet, the vastness of space does not make me feel insignificant. Nor worthless or meaningless. Carl Sagan mentions in Cosmos that we are star stuff, made of the same matter of the rest of the universe. We are star dust studying other star dust. We are a way for the universe to know itself. And that gives me an incredible sense of peace. I am made of the same matter and force which created the sun, the moon, Jupiter, the Milky Way. We are all connected and a part of it. If matter cannot be created or destroyed then I am made of matter and energy that has been around for billions of years. It's such a feeling of connection and oneness.

There is a comfort in astronomy that I never found in religion.

If no one has ever watched a Symphony of Science video, I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow: 1 Samuel 18-25

1 Samuel 5-8

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

1 Samuel 5 - No mention of any women.

1 Samuel 6 - No mention of any women.

1 Samuel 7 - No mention of any women.

8:13 - Samuel tells the people a king would take their daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
8:16 - A king would take their male and female slaves, the best of their cattle and donkeys, and put them to work.

My Comments

Not much here today. A lot of nothing and the random taking of women. Nothing I haven't covered before and there's not enough here to really speak any further on the subject.

Tomorrow: 1 Samuel 9-12

Judges 16-21

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

16:1 - Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute and went into her.
16:4-22 - Samson fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek named Delilah. The lords of the Philistines heard of this and asked Delilah to cox Samson into telling her what make his strength so great and how he could be bound. So Delilah asks Samson and Samson tells her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else." So Delilah was brought seven fresh bowstrings and bound Samson. When he was bound she cried out, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And Samson broke out of the bowstrings as if they were nothing. Delilah tells Samson that he has mocked her by telling her lies and asks again for him to tell her how to bind him. Samson says, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used then I shall become weak and be like anyone else." The Philistines bring Delilah the rope and she binds Samson again. She cries out to him and Samson breaks through the rope as if it was nothing. Delilah again bemoans that Samson has mocked her and told her lies and asks again to know how he can be bound. Samson tells her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make them tight with the pin I shall become weak and be like anyone else." So while he slept Delilah wove the seven locks of his head. Once finished she cries out and Samson breaks free again, as if nothing was holding him at all. Delilah asks how Samson can say he loves her when he keeps lying to her and mocking her. Finally, after she nags him day after day he gives in and tells her, "If my head were shaved then my strength would leave my. I would become weak and like anyone else." Delilah goes to tell the Philistines to lie in wait, and while he slept in her lap a Philistine cut the hairs on Samson's head, and his strength did leave him. Delilah calls out once more and Samson awoke, not knowing the Lord had left him. The Philistines seize Samson and gouge out his eyes. He is shackled and forced to grind at the mill in prison as his hair slowly grows back.
16:27 - The house where people watched Samson perform was filled with men and women, all the lords of Philistine were there and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof to watch Samson perform.

17:1-5 - A man in Ephraim named Micah said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and even spoke about within my hearing - that silver is in my possession. I took it but now I will return it to you." The mother cried, "May my son be blessed by the Lord!" When the mother received the silver pieces she had two hundred pieces cast into an idol, and it was in the house of Micah.

Judges 18 - No mention of any women.

19:1-9 - A certain Levite took a concubine from Bethlehem to Judah. But his concubine became angry with him and went away from him to her father's home at Bethlehem in Judah and was there for four months. Her husband set out to speak to her and bring her back. The girls father met him when he arrived and made him stay, so the husband stayed three days. On the fourth day the husband made to leave and the girl's father asked him to stay and fortify himself with food, and as the day got dark the husband stayed another night. The same happened on the fifth day when the husband rose to leave, but the husband did not stay this time and left with his servant and concubine.
19:19 - The husband meets a man in Gibeah and tells the man that he has straw for his donkeys and bread and wine for him, his servant and his concubine. He does not need more. The man from Gibeah offers him a place to stay.
19:24-30 - While staying with the Gibeah man a bunch of men come and demand to have sex with the husband. The Gibeah man offers the mob his virgin daughters and the husband's concubine, as long as they leave the husband alone. But the men would not listen so the Gibeah man took the concubine and threw her outside. The men raped and abused her all night until the morning. As the dawn broke they let her go, and the woman went to the Gibeah man's doorstep and fell down. In the morning her master found her on the doorstep. He tells her to get up, and when she doesn't answer he puts her on the back of a donkey and sets out for his home. When he has entered his house he takes a knife and cuts his concubine into twelve parts and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

20:4-6 - The man tells the people of God what happened. How he stayed with the man from Gibeah, how the men intended to kill him and how they raped his concubine until she died, and how he took her body and cut it into twelve pieces and sent them throughout Israel, for a vile act had been committed.

21:1 - The Israelites swear at Mizpah that no one of them shall give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamin.
21:7 - The Israelites wonder what to do for wives for those Benjamin who are left, since they swore they would not give their daughters in marriage to them.
21:10-12 - The Israelites go to Jabesh-gilead and kill the inhabitants, including the women and children. And every woman who had lain with a man is killed, which left 400 young virgins, which they brought back to the camp at Shiloh.
21:14 - They gave the women to Benjamin but they did not suffice for them.
21:16-18 - Again the Israelites wonder what they should do for wives for the Benjamin since they swore to not give them their daughters in marriage but they did not want a tribe of the Lord to vanish.
21:20-23 - The Israelites tell Benjamin to lie in wait in a vineyard and watch while a festival goes on in Bethel. And when the women come out to dance the Benjamin may take a wife as they see fit. And if the fathers or brothers complain to the Israelites the Israelites will just say, "Be generous and allow them to have them because we did not capture in battle a wife for each man. But neither did you incur guilt by giving your daughters to them." The Benjamins did this and took wives for each of them from the dancers they abducted.

My Comments

I'm not feeling well so this will be very short since it took so long to write all the notes for these chapters.

First I will just say that these sections have made me about as furious as the rape laws did in Deuteronomy.

In the Delilah story the Bible once again says that she "nagged" Samson. Samson's previous wife "nagged" him as well about the riddle. Is this a translator choice? Because it just kinda rubs me the wrong way when it describes her as "nagging" Samson.

Delilah may not be the best spy in the world, but Samson has to be dumb as mud to fall for it. Even if it took him days before he finally caved in and told her. How stupid to you get, she was obviously setting him up.

Nice to see that the trading your daughters and women to save a male guest is apparently a normal custom. Except this time, unlike in Soddom, the woman thrown outside actually dies from being raped. And yeah, the husband didn't do it himself but did he put up a fight? Sounds like the owner of the house threw his concubine outside and he just kinda shrugged and was like "Oh well." Seriously, after she was thrown outside and raped to death he only stumbled upon her body because he was just planning on taking a stroll outside. He doesn't even seem to be phased by this since he tells her corpse to get up so they can go. I mean what the fuck?! He could have done something about this, but instead he left his concubine to the crazed men outside to have their way with her. And the best part is how he takes her corpse home and then cuts it into twelve pieces. What kind of person does that? And all of this is apparently okay, as he tells the Israelites this story later, with no real changes, and they get super pissed for him to. It just makes me so angry. How worthless is a woman's life to these men?! Just how worthless does a woman have to be where her being thrown out to an angry mob of horny men is no cause for alarm but her husband/master. Where her abused lifeless body is ordered to get up and go before asked if she is okay. Before any comfort or solace is offered to her.

What kind of book is this where when a tribe of Israel is slaughtered that the next logical step is to steal women from a neighboring town so that they can take them as wives. Where it is okay for men to kidnap women in order to force them into marriage and rape them.

Seriously, not a book I want around. And definitely not a book I would hold up as my source of morals. Not in any sense of the word. I don't care if it has a few nice fluffy passages of some substance. Those fluffy passages are drowning in rape and slaughter and immorality that is often endorsed by the God people hold up to be the ultimate source of goodness and love.

There may not be a post tomorrow if I start feeling any worse. This kind of frustration takes too much out of me.

Tomorrow (possibly): Ruth

Judges 1-5

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

1:12-15 - Caleb said "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as wife." And Othniel son of Kanez, Caleb's younger brother, took it, and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. When she came to him she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she dismounted from her donkey Caleb asked her what she wished. She said, "Give me a present since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also Gulloth-mayim." So Caleb gave her upper and lower Gulloth.

Judges 2 - No mention of any women.

3:5-6 - So the Isrealites lived among the Hittites, Canaanites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusties. They took their daughters as wives for themselves and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they worshiped their Gods.

4:4-22 - At this time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. The Iraelites came to her for judgment. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to Barak, "The Lord commands you to go take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jaban's army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops and I will give him into your hands." Barak said, "If you will go with me, I will go. If you will not then I will not go." Deborah said, "I will surely go with you, nonetheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell the life of Sisera into the hands of a woman." So Deborah went with Barak into Kedesh.

Sisera heard about Barak and he called out his chariots and troops. Deboah said to Barak, "Up! For this is the Day on which the Lord has given Siserainto your hands! The Lord is indeed going out before you." Barak and his tropps went down to meet Sisera and the Lord threw Sisera's army into a panic. Sisera fled from the battle on foot while the rest of his troops were killed.

Sisera fled to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael came out to meet Sisera and told him to turn aside and have no fear. So he came into her tent and she covered him with a rug. Sisera asked her for some water to drink and she brought him milk. Sisera asked Jael to stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anyone came by to ask if he was there for her to tell them no. But Jael instead took a tent peg and a hammer and, while he was sleeping, slowly crept up and drove the peg into his temple until it hit the ground. When Barak came in pursuit of Sisera Jael came outside her tent and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." So Barak went into her tent and found Sisera dead.

Judges 5 - Deborah and Barak sing of the events that had unfolded. The sing praises to the Lord. They praises Deborah as a mother of Israel who helped the people prosper. They sing of the people coming to Deborah. They sing of the battles Israel fought against foreign lands. They sing of the blessed woman Jael who drove a tent peg through Sisera's temple and delivered him to Barak. They sing of Sisera's mother who awaits her sons return and wonder why he is gone so long.

The land then had rest for forty years.

My Comments

Is Judges 1:12-15 supposed to be an addition to Joshua 15:16-19 or is it a retelling? Because it does not sound like an addition to the story, and if it is a retelling then it odd because in Joshua she got the upper and lower springs, not Gulloth. And why retell it again? Is this really that important that we need to mention it twice? And if it is that important then why do the two contradict on the present she is given? Just weird.

And I'm sorry, it's just weird that God basically punishes his people for NOT slaughtering everyone. The Israelites decided the conquered people were better used as slaves and workers instead of being corpses. Which is debatable if that is in fact better than being killed but that's not really the issue here. I just find it strange that God punishes his people because he is disappointed he didn't get the slaughter he demanded. God's just so bloodthirsty it's kind of creepy.

The excessive use of pronouns has been bothering me for a while. But this is so evident in Judges 3:6. So many "their"s I'm not sure who's giving whose daughter to whom and whose gods are being worshiped by whom and it's just a mess. This is not the first time that pronouns have made a passage super vague and basically unreadable, but this is the first time I'll bring it up. I won't mention every case I come upon (I could dedicate a whole other blog to that) but I may start mentioning ones that really pop out at me or are in the passages that deal with women, since I'll be writing about those passages anyways.

I do have to admit, I am suddenly enjoying the women stories. This is a much needed reprieve from women being constantly raped or being sexual tricksters. The women are suddenly more active, having a bigger role in God's plan. Sadly, I do not think these women are talked about near enough. I don't even remember really hearing about Deborah the judge when I went to church all those many years, and I only vaguely remember hearing about Jael delivering Sisera to the Israelites. And this is totally badass, so why don't we hear their stories more? Why aren't they being used as female role models in Sunday school to show how God did call upon women in the Old Testament to fulfill prophecy and even lead his people in very important roles? Perhaps it is because the stories are kind of violent. Jael's duty to God was to drive a spike through a man's head, not really suited for Sunday school coloring books.

Of course now that I say that I so want a Bible coloring book depicting all the bloodier scenes in the Bible. Like one about men and women being forced by God to cannibalize their own children and fetuses. Egyptians stumbling around with open oozing sores all over them. The Israelites slaughtering nation after nation. Jael staking Sisera. Oh the possibilities. :)

But yeah, Deborah and Jael both kick ass. They show that women can be called upon by God to take on higher responsibilities. That women can be something more than a baby maker or a prostitute. They can be active in their lives and their following of God's will, not just pieces to be moved around in a man's story. And this is much better than what Miriam ever got. Miriam was a prophetess too, but her story was never told. We'll never really know what she did or what she accomplished in her role as prophetess. Deborah and Jael managed to get into the tale and have their stories stand out. Maybe it's because Deborah was a judge, a big wig, while Miriam was overshadowed by the big prophet of the day Moses. Maybe if Moses hadn't had such a focus on him we could have gotten more of Miriam's story. We will never know, but at least some of the big female players in the Bible are getting well deserved face time.

Maybe this will continue to be a theme. Now that we're out of the more law heavy and boring books of the Bible hopefully it'll just be story time from here on out. I'll keep my fingers crossed but I still won't hold my breath. Yeah we've gotten 3 very strong female characters fairly close to each other, but the Bible has A LOT of bullshit to make up for. I sincerely hope it at least continues to try to make up for it.

Tomorrow: Judges 6-9

Joshua 12-18

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

Joshua 12 - No mention of any women.

Joshua 13 - No mention of any women.

Joshua 14 - No mention of any women.

15:16-19 - Caleb said, " Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife." Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him his daughter Achsah was a wife. When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. Caleb asked her what she wished. She said to him, "Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me springs of water as well." So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

Joshua 16 - No mention of any women.

17:3-6 - Zelophehad had no sons, only daughters, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They came before the priest Eleazar and Joshua and said, "The Lord commanded Moses gives us an inheritance along with our male kin." Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance alongside his sons.

Joshua 18 - No mention of any women.

My Comments

Holy crap is this section boring. Reading about how land was divided amongst the people on the scale of Biblical boredom is somewhere between reading genealogies and reading the many, many laws about ritual sacrifice. Pretty much a big snooze fest.

And nice to see women are still prizes to be given out to men who do well. Wouldn't want to give up that trend.

But at least the law concerning daughters and inheritance is still working. Not much but it's something.

Tomorrow: Joshua 19-24

Deuteronomy 18-22

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

18:10 - No one shall make their son or daughter pass through fire.

Deuteronomy 19 - No mention of any women.

20:7 - (The priest addresses troops before battle) "Has anyone become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? He should go back to his house, or he might die in the battle and another marry her."
20:14 - If a town does not submit to Israel peacefully then they shall kill all the men and may take as booty all the women, children, livestock and everything else in the town.

21:10-14 - When you capture a city and see a beautiful woman among the captives whom you wish to marry, you may bring her to you house. She will shave her head, pare her nails, discard her captive's garb and remain in your house a full month, mourning for her mother and father. After that she may become your wife. But if you are not satisfied with her you shall let her go free, you may not sell her for money nor treat her as a slave.
21:15-17 - If a man has two wives, one disliked and the other loved, and if they have both borne him sons, the firstborn being of the one he dislikes, then on the day he wills his possessions to his sons he is not permitted to treat the son of the loved wife as the firstborn in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn. He must acknowledge the son of the disliked as the firstborn, giving him a double portion of all he has.
21:18-21 - If a father and a mother has a son who will not obey them and does not heed their discipline, then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders of the town at the town gate. They shall tell the elders that their son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey them and he is a glutton and a drunkard. Then the men of the town shall stone the son to death.

22:5 - A woman shall not wear a man's clothing, nor shall a man wear a woman's. Whoever does such a thing is abhorrent to the Lord.
22:6-7 - If you come across a bird's nest with fledglings or eggs, with the mother sitting on them, you shall not take the mother with the young. Let the mother go, taking only the young for yourself, in order that it may go well with you and you may live long.
22:13-21 - If a man marries a woman and after going into her decides he dislikes her and makes charges against her the father and mother of the young women shall bring evidence of her virginity to the elders. If they can produce the sheets which prove her virginity to the elders then the man shall be punished and fined 100 shekels (to be paid to the wife's father) and the woman shall remain his wife. The man shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives. If the father and mother cannot produce evidence of her virginity then the woman shall be punished, and she shall be taken to the entrance of her father's house and stoned to death by the men of her town.
22:22 - If a man is found laying with another man's wife then they shall both be stoned to death.
22:23-29 - If a young virgin, already engaged to be married, is met by a man in town and he lies with her then they shall both be taken to the town gates and stone them both to death, the woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. If the man meets the engaged woman in the open country and lies with her then only the man shall die. You shall do nothing to the young woman since she was out in the open country and if she had cried out then no one would be around to hear it. If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged to be married and lies with her and they are caught, the man shall pay 50 shekels of silver to the woman's father and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.
22:30 - A man shall not marry his father's wife, thereby violating his father's rights.

My Comments

Okay, I guess I asked for actually woman type stuff to write about and I guess the Bible gave me exactly what I wanted. Ask and ye shall receive, right?

We'll start from the top. Deut 18 states simply enough "do not sacrifice your children." Fair enough, but is this the same God who told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (which he later took back, I guess. Just a test, right?) and who allowed Jephthah to sacrifice his daughter? Seriously, God, this is really making you look like a two faced douchebag.

Deut 21. There is not end to how much it must suck being a woman in these times. If your town is captured you can simply be whisked away by some stranger, taken to his house, your head shaved and your nails ground down, and then forced to be his wife. No questions asked. No thought given to your feelings or anything. And this is all sanctioned by this guy's God. Yeah, I imagine it was REALLY hard to get these women to feel like worshiping the God of the Israelites after he's allowed this bullshit to happen. I guess you can always hope that your new husband/rapist dislikes you and throws you out. You know, so you can wander the desert or whatever without any supplies or anything until you maybe happen upon another village or town that may or may not treat you just as crappily as the Israelites did. Honestly, if I was a woman and my town got invaded I'd be searching for something sharp to go ahead and end my life before any of that shit could happen to me. I'm almost certain Sheol has to be better than that shit.

And I love the addition of the disputes between the firstborns of two wives, a loved and a disliked one. That means that this happened enough that it needed to be put into the Bible. The laws of God himself. How awesome would that be? Stuck in a marriage to some asshole who hates your guts and loves your "rival" more than you. And you have NO WAY to get out of it since (so far) it seems only men can initiate a divorce. Right on.

And random side note: how easy would it be to be a parent if you could just kill the kid that pissed you off and never listened? I mean, there would be WAY less children around now a days but come on, super easy parenting there.

Deut 22. Sooo... does any woman who wears pants now a days automatically set for hell now? Or does this only apply to the garb of these times, which I can imagine is VERY different from the clothing we wear now? And clothing is all cultural, not biological, so how does this work between cultures? Is there just one set plan of clothing and anyone who strays from it gets the boot out of heaven? Or does this part of the Bible change with a culture? But then how can the rest of the Bible not change with a culture? And why the hell does this even matter? Oh, right, I forgot, God cares about stupid shit like what clothes you wear, whether you have a wet dream, and how exactly you cut up his meat before burning it as his sacrifice.

And now we get to the good stuff. The real meat of the issue here. First, the rape passages. Apparently whoever wrote this shit has no idea how exactly rape works for a woman. It doesn't matter where a woman is when she is raped, when a woman is raped by definition she basically has NO CONTROL over the situation. Whether she is in a town or in the country she may be forced to not scream. The rapist may be covering her mouth. The rapist may be holding a knife to her or threatening her in some other way to keep her quiet. I mean, the whole "stone them both if they're in a city" law only matters if someone finds out abut the rape. If the rapist keeps the woman quiet and no one happens upon them then the rapist can get away no issue. So the rapist would probably want to do anything he could to keep her from screaming. And YET, if a woman is raped in a city, no matter what, she gets stoned to death with her rapist. The funny thing is, even if she does scream, and for some reason no one hears her or comes to her aid, and someone finds out about the rape she will still be put to death. This has nothing to do with her screaming and everything to do with whether someone helps her or not. And how exactly her rapist feels like approaching the rape that night. Completely bullshit.

Oh, but that only matters if your engaged to be married. If you're NOT then hey, good for you, you get to marry your fucking rapist and be his wife FOREVER. Because apparently the rapist's punishment is he cannot divorce his victim. What kind of punishment is that? Seriously? Polygamy is RAMPANT at this time and in this culture. That is not a fucking punishment. All he has to do is marry some woman he actually does like, and then we get the all to familiar scenario of the loved wife v. the disliked wife. Complete bullshit again.

If a man is found with another's wife they both get stoned. Really? This is fairly clean cut so I guess this does not account for rape. So if a man rapes another man's wife the man and the woman are stoned, no questions asked. Doesn't matter where is it, what time it is, nothing. Apparently women who are not virgins are so easy to throw away just because they have been "soiled." Bullshit bullshit bullshit.

AND THEN MY FAVORITE ONE! The proof of virginity passage. What a load of horseshit this one is. If a husband sleeps with his wife on their first night and dislikes her he can go straight to the elders and tell them all about it. First off, I like how only the husband can complain about the wife and not the other way around. Is a woman simply not allowed to have any say in her marriage and whether she is actually happy in it or not? (Answer: Duh.) And then after the husband has gone to the elders the mother and father of the wife have to produce proof of her virginity. Because, you know, that is what the husband bought and paid for. He didn't pay for a wife to love and cherish and to give him children, he apparently paid for a fucking hymen. So the parents must produce the bloody sheets, and if they do then the husband is given a fine, and if they cannot the wife is stoned to death.

How fucking fair is that shit? A fine v. stoned to death. Seriously, what the fuck?! B.u.l.l.s.h.i.t.

The best part about this, the reason I love it so much, is that not every woman bleeds her first time having sex. A woman can be a virgin and not have an intact hymen. Hell, some woman don't have hymens at all. A hymen is thin and easily broken, and many women break them just doing normal every day tasks, or from a fall or whatever. (For more information and links ) So the whole having to produce blood to prove she is a virgin is complete and utter horseshit. I have to wonder how many women died needlessly just because they didn't happen to bleed that first night and the asshole who bought them decided he didn't want "used goods." I wonder how many douchebags looked down after they consummated their marriage, didn't see any blood and just threw their wives to the dogs.

Every passage it's woman as property. You can't sleep with your neighbors wife because you defile his property, not because she is a human being. You can't marry your father's wife because you'd be violating your father's rights, not because she is a person with thoughts of her own who may not want to marry her "son." A woman deemed not a virgin by her husband and the elders shall be stoned to death because she is used goods and therefore was bought under false pretenses. She is not a real person who can voice her own side at a hearing or who can stand on her own without a husband. A virgin who is raped in a city will either be killed if she is engaged to be married or will be forced to marry her rapist. She is not a human being who has just been violated beyond words and now either has to face death right after or face a lifetime of trauma married to her rapist.

What kind of God is this who would say such things? Who would treat woman like this? Who would ALLOW men to treat women like this? Women are not fucking things to be bought and sold and discarded when they are broken or spoiled. Women are people who have emotions and thoughts and ideas and dreams and aspirations that I'm sure went far beyond being some man's baby dispenser, even in those days. But they would have never been given the chance. They didn't have opportunities like the men did to be something else. They couldn't be shepherds or priests or soldiers or farmers or elders. They were simply property to be used.

Seriously. I think I've said bullshit enough this entry. I think I'm done. I'll never complain about NOT having any passages about women from now on. Apparently the Bible is the fucking Monkey's Paw.

Tomorrow: Deuteronomy 23-27

Numbers 31-34

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

31:9 - The Israelitestook the women of Midian and their little ones captive.
31:15-18 - Moses asked the Israelites why they left the women alive. The Midian women made the Israelites act treacherously in the affairs of Peor and the plague came upon the congregation of the Lord. Moses commands the Isrealites to kill every male child and kill every woman who has known a man. But all the young girls who have not known a man may be kept alive for the Israelites to keep.
31:35 - The total persons were 32,000 in all, women who had not known a man.

32:26 - The Gadites and Reubenites tell Moses that their little ones, wives, flocks and livestock shall stay in the town of Gilead while they go to do battle for the Lord.

Numbers 33 - No mention of any women.

Numbers 34 - No mention of any women.

My Comments

Not much of note. Just a nice section demonstrating the "women as war booty" concept the Bible (and many other documents of ancient cultures) loves to mention. I can't help but feel so sorry for young girls back in the day. And I'm sure they had to be young to have never been married off or sold to be prostitutes/slaves so they'd never "known" a man. So the Bible condones treating women as nothing more than property to be taken AND pedophilia. So... God cares more about the sexual lives between consenting adults (ie. homosexuality) and NOT about grown men raping little girls? Nice...

Tomorrow: Numbers 35-36 and Deuteronomy 1-2

Genesis 32-37

The facts (Chapter number: Verse)

32:5 - Jacob's message to Esau, telling Esau how he has oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female servants, and he has sent to tell Esau that Esau may find favor for Jacob in his sight.
32:11 - Jacob asks God to deliver him from Esau and his men, that Esau may come and kill them all, the mothers with the children.
32:14-15 - Jacob took a present to Esau that consisted of two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
32:22-23 - That same night Jacob took his two wives, two maids and eleven children and crossed the Jabbock. He sent them across the stream and everything he had.

33:1-2 - Jacob sees Esau and the four hundred men approaching. He divided the children w=among Leah and Rachel and the two maids, the maids and their children in front, then Leah and her children, and Rachel and Joseph last.
33:5-7 - Esau asks whom all these people are. Jacob tells Esau these are his children that the Lord graciously provided. The maids and their children came forward and bowed, then Leah and her children, and lastly Rachel and Joseph.

Genesis 34 - The rape of Dinah. Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob went out to visit the women of the region. Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite saw Dinah, seized her and laid with her by force. Shechem loved Dinah and spoke to her tenderly. Shechem asked his father Hamor to get Dinah to be his wife. When Hamor came to Jacob and his sons to ask for Dinah Jacob and his sons were very angry because Shechem had committed such an outrage in isreal by laying with Jacob's daughter. Hamor tells Jacob that Shechem is very in love with Dinah and to please give her to him in marriage. Hamor wants a trade, make marriages with them, give their daughters to his people and they would in turn give their daughters to Jacob's people. Hamor says he will give whatever is asked as a marriage present for Dinah.

Jacob and his sons answered deceitfully because Hamor had defiled Dinah. They say this cannot be done unless Hamor and his men are circumcised, for to give Dinah to someone who is uncircumcised would be a disgrace. Only then will they trade daughters and live amongst them. So Hamor tells Shechem of this agreement, which pleases Shechem because with Dinah he will be the most honored of his family. They tell the men of the city of the trade that has been established and Hamor, Shechem and all the men left the city, and all the men who left the city were circumcised.

On the third day when the men were still in pain, Simeon and levi, two of Dinah's brothers, went out and killed all the males of the city. They killed Hamor and Shechem and took Dinah out of Shechem's house. The other sons of Jacob plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. All the wealth and the little ones and the wives were captured and made their prey. Jacob asks why his sons have brought this trouble upon him, bringing so many of the city to be amongst them that they may rise up on day and destroy him and his household? The sons replied, "Should our sister be treated like a whore?"

35:8 - Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died and was buried under an oak below Bethel.
35:16-26 - Rachel was in childbirth and had a hard labor. During her labor the midwife told her to not be afraid because she was having another son. As Rachel as dying she named her son Ben-oni, and his father named him Benjamin. Rachel was buried on the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem). A pillar was erected on her grave. While Israel (fka Jacob) lived in that land his son Reuben laid with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.Now Jacob had twelve sons. Leah had Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel had Joseph and Benjamin. Bilhah had Dan and Naphtali. Zilpha had Gad and Asher.

Genesis 36 - More genealogy.
36:2-5 - Esaus wives were taken from the Canaanites, Adah, Oholibamah and Basemath (sister of Nebaioth). Adah bore Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel. Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
36:6 - Esau took all his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and his livestock and all his property and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob.
36:9-14 - Names of Esau's sons. Eliphaz born of Adah. Reuel the sone of Basemath. Timna was Eliphaz's concubine and bore Amalek. The son's of Eliphaz were the son's of Adah, Esau's wife(?). The sons of Reuel were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife(?). Oholibamah bore Esau Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
36:16 - Sons of Adah.
36:17 - Sons of Esau's wife, Basemath.
36:18 - Sons of Esau's wife Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.
36:22 - Lotan's sister was Timna.
36:25 - Oholibamah daughter of Anah.
36:39 - Habar becomes king. His wife is Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.

37:2 - Joseph was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives.
37:10 - Joseph tells his dreams to his father and his father asks, "What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shell we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?"
37:35 - Jacob mourns the loss of his son Joseph. All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.

My Comments

Chapters 32 and 33 are pretty boring, though I do have to wonder why Jacob introduces Esau to his children but not his wives, even though Esau inquires about the entire group.

And then we get the rape of Dinah. I find it interesting that Dinah is the one who is violated and raped but she serves no other purpose in the story than as a catalyst for Jacob's sons to go and murder and destroy an entire city. Did Dinah ask them to do this? Did they ask her at all what she wanted or needed after this horrible violation? Would they have cared if she hadn't wanted her tormentors killed? And she's important enough to destroy and entire city for but not important enough to mention ever again when doing a run down of Israel's/Jacob's children? Was this whole thing simply just about the family's honor and the honor of Jacob and his sons? Or after she was violated and saved for the family's honor was she basically an outcast, because we know historically (and even today in some places) women are only good for their virginity to be sold to husbands, and once their virginity is gone, through rape or otherwise, they are basically useless. No one will want them as a wife, and anyone who will isn't someone who will be worth mentioning as a big character in the Bible. At least the family fought for their sister and didn't just sell her to her rapist, but still. I would think she'd have a much larger and more active role in her own rape story.

And I love Rachel's midwife telling her to be happy that she's having a son even though she's dying. Because it's totally cool that Rachel died because she had a son and that is all that matters, right? At least she didn't pass on while having a daughter, right?

I hope I'm reading the last bit of chapter 36 wrong, because it kind of sounds like Esau's wives bore their son's children which is really kinda horrible. I hope it means that the children were their GRANDsons and, I guess, that makes them sons by proxy. I hope.

The story of Joseph (and his technicolor dream coat) is one of the most well known stories in the Bible. So of course there are basically no women in it ( at least not until you get to the rich man's wife who cries rape, which doesn't help much). And I love how they mention "all of Jacob's sons and all of Jacob's daughters" and yet who are these daughters? They NEVER get mentioned. If you just went strictly by the genealogy you'd think no one ever had any daughters, that wives just appeared out of thin air (or left over ribs) and other than that there are no other women around. Which is funny since every man in the Bible seems to get at least three wives. So if we take this as the norm (since it pretty much is the norm in the Bible) the world must be about 3/4 women and 1/4 men. And yet we never hear of all these women. So do we have a case of men taking more women than they need and leaving many men with no women to take as wives? Or is it really the case that there are all these women, droves and droves of women, hanging around that manage to NEVER get mentioned?

I mean, you know, except when they get mentioned off hand as a random "all of [so and so's] sons and all of [so and so's] daughters." I know that sons are held in much more high regard than daughters but still. If there are that many why can't we mention them? Sadly it seems if you're a daughter and you get mentioned by name you're likely to be in a world of hurt later on. Like Dinah, who managed to get mention in one verse amid all of Leah and Rachel's son, only to be violently raped and captured later on. So maybe it is better for the women of the Bible to stay nameless. It might just be safer for all of them in the end.

Tomorrow: Genesis 38-42.

Genesis 16-21

The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)

Chapter 16 - This chapter chronicles the birth of Ishmael. Since Sarai could not bear children she gave her slave girl, an Egyptian named Hagar, to Abram as a wife. Abram came into Hagar and she conceived. When she realized she was pregnant she looked upon Sarai with contempt. When Sarai saw this she was upset with Abram because she had given Hagar to him, and Abram reminded her that Hagar was only a slave girl and Sarai could do what she wished with her. Sarai delt harshly with her and Hagar fled.

An angel of God found Hagar at a spring in the wilderness. The angel asked her what was wrong and Hagar told him she had run away from her mistress. The angel told her to go back to Sarai and submit to her and God would reward her with more children and progeny than she could count. The angel also told her to name her son Ishmael and that he would be a wild man, at odds with all of his kin. Hagar named God El-roi (God who sees) and bore Abram his son Ishmael.

17:15-19 - God renames Sarai, now calling her Sarah. God will bless Sarah and give Abraham (fka Abram) a son by her. Sarah will give rise to nations, kings and people shall come from her. Abraham scoffs, disbelieving that a man who is one hundred and a woman who is ninety could bear children. Sarah's son shall be called Isaac and she shall have him the next year.

18:6 - Abraham tells Sarah to make cakes for three visiting angels.
18:9-15 - Angels ask Abraham where his wife is. Abraham tells them she is in the tent. An angel tells him that he will return in due season and that Sarah shall have a son. Sarah overhears and laughs to herself, saying that she and her husband are both too old to have children, how can this be possible. God asks Abraham why Sarah laughed, the Lord is great and that she will bear a son. Sarah denies that she laughed because she was afraid of God and God replies "Oh yes you did."

19:8 - A mob of men demand that Lot give them the angels who have come into his home. Lot pleads them not to take the angels and offers up his two virgin daughters for the mob to do with as they please. The mob may do whatever they want with the daughters but nothing to the men since they have come under the shelter of Lot's roof.
19:12 - The angels urge Lot to take his sons, son-in-laws, daughters and anyone else he may have in the city and leave Sodom.
19:14 - Lot goes to his son-in-laws who are to marry his daughters.
19:15-16 - Angels tell Lot to take his wife and daughters and leave the city. When Lot hesitates the angels grab them all and lead them out of the city before it is destroyed.
19:26 - Lot's wife looks back at Sodom and turns into a pillar of salt.
19:30-38 - "The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon." Lot and his daughters live in caves outside of Zoar. Since there are no men for the daughters to have children with, they get Lot drunk and have sex with him. Lot has no idea when they laid with him or when they arose. Both daughters bore children, the oldest bore Moab and the youngest Ban-ammi.

20:2-7 - Abraham and Sarah reside in Gerar. Abraham once again tells everyone Sarah is his sister, and King Abimelech decides to take her as his wife. God comes to Abimelech and tells him that unless he wants to die he will restore Sarah to Abraham because she is his wife. Abimelech explains that he did not know, Abraham said she was his sister and Sarah said he was her brother. God said he knew that Abimelech didn't know this so that is why he is giving him a warning before he brings harm on Abimelech.
20:11-18 - Abraham tells Abimelech that he lied because he was afraid he would be killed for his wife, and that he was not technically lying since Sarah was his step-sister. He explains that he and Sarah had agreed to call her his sister wherever they went after they had left his father's house. Abimelech gave Abraham sheep and oxen and male and female slaves and restored Sarah. Abraham gets to settle wherever he pleases. Abimelech gives Abraham a thousand pieces of silver and tells Sarah that she is vindicated. After this God healed Abimelech and his wife and female slaves so they could again bear children.

21:1-7 - Sarah has Isaac just as God promised. She is very pleased.
21:8-20 - Sarah sees Ishmael playing with Isaac. She asks Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael because she does not want Ishmael to inherit along side Isaac. God tells Abraham to do this and that Ishmael will still be blessed with a nation because of his promise to Abraham. The next morning Abraham gives Hagar supplies and sends her away with Ishmael. In the desert Hagar runs out of water. She hides Ishmael under a bush and weeps. God hears the voice of the boy (?) and told Hagar to not worry because he is going to make a great nation with Ishmael. God opened her eyes and Hagar sees a well of water. God was with Ishmael as he grew up in the desert and Hagar found him a wife from Egypt.

My Comments

A pleasantly woman heavy section of reading, though it is not without its issues.

I'm not surprised at all that Hagar was displeased with her pregnancy. She was basically raped and will be forced to bear Abraham's children. And then Sarah punished her because she is unhappy, which would make any woman want to escape, I think. But of course the angel tells her to go back to the abuse and have the child. And then the angel adds that Ishmael will basically be at odds with his kin after his birth. After all she's been through basically the angel just tells her to go back, deal with even more abuse and a pretty horrible life for her son, and to just trust that it'll be okay? I don't think that's a very good deal. And then to top all that off Ishmael is basically negated by God giving Sarah Isaac. Hagar just seems to get the short end of the poop stick here.

And chapter 17 and 18 offer up two more contradicting stories. It wouldn't be all that bad if the stories were even remotely similar. In one it's just God and Abraham, and the other there's visiting angels and Sarah makes cakes and overhears and God mocks her. It's just weird.

And then my favorite story, chapter 19. The judgment of Sodom. Especially 19:8. Were his daughters not under the shelter of his roof? The visitors were under the protection of his roof but apparently his daughters WHO LIVE THERE are under no such protection. And then we get the lovely story about how the daughters shamefully trick their father into having sex with them. Just such a wonderful family. Edit about verse 19:26: I did not add the part about God saying to not look back at the city because it is unclear exactly who this was told to. I was not sure if it was told to everyone or just to Lot, so I only included the verse that mentions his wife. So yes, God commanded to not look back at the city but we are not sure to whom he said this specifically, so it cannot be said for sure that Lot's wife looking back was a conscious action against God or just a curious woman looking back at a destroyed city.

And then another tale about Abraham and Sarah pretending (although technically not pretending) to be brother and sister. God still punishes Abimelech's and his women (wives and slave girls) but warns Abimelech to give Sarah back to Abraham before God kills him. Why does Abimelech get a warning? The pharaoh before got no warning, just instantly plagued.

And then we get Sarah being catty again. She gave Hagar to Abraham so that Abraham could have a son, and then when Ishmael is playing with Isaac Sarah gets pissed. This seems to be God's fault, since he intervened and gave Sarah a son of her own. So does God just like to stir up drama? Did he not realize that Hagar was already going to have Abraham's child? Though I assume he did since an angel spoke with Hagar about Ishmael. And predicted Ishmael would be at odds with his kin, so maybe Isaac was already being planned? But couldn't God have just called the whole Isaac thing off and saved Hagar and Ishmael all that suffering (Hagar more than Ishmael). So this whole Isaac v. Ishmael thing is just a bit off to me. Maybe God just REALLY wanted to show off how he could make a one hundred year old man and a ninety year old women have a child.

And at least now we have women speaking directly to God or with his angels. And the women acting, more or less, actively. A very nice change of pace. I take back my earlier comments about a lack of women interacting with God.

Tomorrow: Genesis 22-26

Genesis 8-15

The List (Chapter number: Verse)

8:16 - God orders everyone off the Ark. Another mention of Noah's wife and his sons' wives.
8:18 - Everyone leaves the Ark. Another mention of Noah's wife and his sons' wives.

Chapter 9 - God creates covenant with Noah and his sons. Completely devoid of any women.

Chapter 10 - More genealogy. Again, devoid of any mention of women. Unless there is a daughter's name listed, I am not well versed in Biblical names. If anyone knows a name in this chapter that is a daughters name please let me know so I can add it here.

11:11 - More genealogy. Shem had other sons and daughters.
11:13 - Arpachshad had other sons and daughters.
11:15 - Shelah had other sons and daughters.
11:17 - Eber had other sons and daughters.
11:19 - Peleg had other sons and daughters.
11:21 - Reu had other sons and daughters.
11:23 - Serug had other sons and daughters.
11:25 - Nahor had other sons and daughters.
11:29 - Abram and Nahor took wives, Abram took Sarai and Nahor took Milcah. Sarai was the daughter of Haran and was barren and could not have children.
11:31 - Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot and Sarai, his daughter-in-law (Abram's wife), out of Ur into Canaan. They settled in Haran.

12:5 - Abram takes his wife Sarai and brother's son Lot out of Haran and into Canaan because God commanded him to.
12:11-20 - Abram and Sarai get to Egypt. Abram tells Sarai that since she is beautiful, if the Egyptians know that she is his wife they will kill him and take her from him. He tells her to say she is his sister. Once in Egypt, Pharaoh's officials see Sarai. They mention her to Pharaoh and Pharaoh takes her for his wife and deals well with Abram, her "brother." God punishes Pharaoh for taking Abram's wife and Pharaoh summons Abram and asks him why he has lied to him like this? Pharaoh had taken Sarai because Abram said she was his sister. Pharaoh sent Abram away with his wife and all that Abram had.

13:1 - Abram, Lot and Sarai enter Negrab.

14:16 - Abram defeats the "enemy" (I'm pretty sure this is Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him) that kidnapped Lot. Abram brings back his nephew Lot with his goods, and all the women and the people.

15:9 - Three year old heifer, three year old female goat, three year old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon brought to God as a sacrifice.

My Thoughts

So we finish off the Noah's Ark story and we still get no names for their wives. I guess we will never know their names.

Chapter 9 is completely devoid of any women, not even a casual mention of Noah's wife and his sons' wives. Which is weird to me since God blesses Noah and his sons. Just them specifically. Did the wives not deserve to be blessed? Did they not endure the flood like their husbands? God then establishes a covenant with Noah and sons. Again, no wives included in this. The only way I can think they may have been included was in the "every creature with you" bit of the covenant, since the covenant is with Noah, his sons and their descendants and the wives can not descendants. Maybe God just forgot to mention them, who knows. I just think God could have spoken to all of them at once, not just the men.

Random side note: I'll never understand the Ham story. "How dare you accidentally stumble upon your naked father and see him?! Cursed be you!" Seriously, Noah's the naked drunk, why is Ham punished so harshly? He accidentally sees him and then goes outside to tell his brothers. Maybe there's more to the story? Maybe Ham was laughing about it or commenting on Noah's tiny penis, I don't know. All we know is that accidentally stumbling across your naked father is punishable by a lifetime of slavery for you and your progeny. What a nice father Noah is.

Chapter 10 again has no women. Not even any generic daughters.

Another random side note: And the Tower of Babel thing? Does God just hate it when people learn or are flourishing? First the Tree of Knowledge and now he's basically making everyone ignorant of each other's languages. So, remember kids, God hates smart people.

The Sarai story is interesting in an annoying way. Basically Abram uses his wife as a prostitute, letting Pharaoh have his way with her while he gets all sorts of presents and whatnot. And the God punishes Pharaoh? Seriously, what the hell? Abram is the liar in this scenario, he deserves more punishment than Pharaoh. Abram basically gave his wife away so that he wouldn't be hurt and would get free stuff. So, remember kids, God doesn't care if you use your wife as a means to get stuff.

There's been research on children and their development regarding interpreting people's motives for an action. Basically, when you're little a person's intentions mean nothing. This talk does the idea FAR more justice than I ever could (link). It's 15 minutes but it is SOOOOO good. What if the difference between the God in the Old Testament and the God in the New Testament is that God is a child that grows older? God acts a lot like a small child in the way he makes decisions and doles out punishments and constantly demands attention and stuff. I'll have to keep reading and thinking about this concept, but it's a fascinating idea.

And I think the women as the spoils of war and battle will be a regular theme. I know enough about the Old Testament that this will not surprise me. And women so far have been very passive. Aside from Eve, who was active and then punished for it. I mean really, Sarai was acted upon in that entire chapter, just letting things go about without any input or anything. We can only assume she actually agreed to the whole plan. This I hope is not going to be a constant theme, though I'm sure it will be.

And just as a side note, why is it that God only talks to men? He only makes covenants with men and promises to men and gives land to men and gives commands to men. Maybe there will be a woman that talks to God eventually. Other than the virgin Mary and Eve. Something to keep an eye out for.

Tomorrow: Genesis 16-21