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A special welcome to off-campus
visitors who are here.

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If I can count
halfway correctly,

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00:00:17,430 --> 00:00:21,630
this is the 34th
annual Weter Lecture.

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Will be delivered by
someone who is in

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his 35th year

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of service to Seattle
Pacific University.

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He has a little bit
of experience about

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what happens at these occasions.

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I want to especially recognize

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Dr. Spina's a family who's

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sitting up here
and close friends.

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I'll let you take care of
personal introductions.

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Son and daughter. I
want to say Tony,

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but it should be
Anthony and Stephanie.

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It's great to have
you here and spouse,

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Dr. Jo-Ellen Watson,
here with us.

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Thank you. Again for
off campus visitors.

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Thank you for your
presence here.

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This is a great occasion
for us, for faculty,

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staff, and students.

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Welcome to you.

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I bring you greetings,

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and regrets from the President

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of the University, Dr. Eaton,

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who always loves to be

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a part of this particular
occasion but unfortunately,

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Westmont College scheduled it's

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new president's
inauguration for tonight,

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tomorrow, and Saturday.

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They're milking it
for all it's worth.

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Due to family connections,

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he needed to be there.

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He sends his welcome and
congratulations to Dr. Spina,

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and greetings to you.

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As I said, this is the
34th Weter Lecture.

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Weter Lecture was founded,

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endowed by wonderful people,

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Dr. Ross Shaw and
his wife Barbara.

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Where are you? There
you are over here.

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It is

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a wonderful gift.

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The endowment is named
after Dr. Winifred Weter,

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who taught classics
and lead the way

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and what it means to think

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about our disciplines
in a Christian manner,

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which is what this
lecture is all about.

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There's deep connection
between Ross and Frank,

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but I'll leave that
alone for now.

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I must say too that as
you look at the list,

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you see a great
cloud of witnesses.

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A number of you
are here tonight,

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which is wonderful
to see and to have.

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If Dr. Weter were
alive and here,

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she would have an
encouragement and I want

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to give that encouragement
and also add to it.

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She would be saying,

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where are the women faculty
to deliver this lecture?

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A word to you from Dr.

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Weter of the women faculty
who are here, where are you?

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Applications are due fairly
soon for next year's lecture.

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I'm somewhat reminiscent of

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the movie Dead Poets Society

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where there's a moment
when Robin Williams

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says to the class
lean in and there's

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a trophy case and

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saying in their stories
and there's deep history.

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You may want to think of
leaning into this list

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of lecturers and faculty

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and the deep stories
that are there.

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For the young faculty over
here, it's Olympic summer,

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I say, I call upon you
to be here next year.

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I challenge you, young faculty,

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to submit applications for

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this lecture and be a
part of this great,

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wonderful tradition
of this faculty.

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Sorry, yes, that's
something that

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we have to do as a
part of this occasion.

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What will happened tonight will

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be I'll get out of
the way here very

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soon and we will have an
introduction of Dr. Spina.

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He will give his lecture.

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He will fill the questions and
answers for a few moments.

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Then after that we will have

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implementation of
the Weter medallion.

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Then there are cookies and
punch in the hall to follow.

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They introduce Dr.
Spina tonight.

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I've got to tell you too,
this is especially to me.

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I'm sorry, Frank,

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I'm taking your time I know.

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I'll pay.

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When I first

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arrived after Dr. Spina
had been here for years

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he couldn't wait

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to get a game of heart's
going to put me in my place.

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I remember one time

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when we were having
some struggles in this,

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then School of Religion,

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which was very unusual for us.

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I said,

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"I can just imagine a time,

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but sometime will
be just walking

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across campus holding
hands together."

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Dr. Spina looks at me and says,

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"I ain't holding my
hands with you."

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That's the relationship I

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have with this wonderful friend,

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colleague and an
incredible mentor

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to students and faculty alike.

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To introduce him is

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another one of those great
gifts to the university,

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the holder of the
Paul T. Walls Chair

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in Scripture and
Wesleyan Studies,

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Dr. Rob Wall.

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Indeed, the 2008
Weter Faculty Lecture

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is the Reverend Dr.
Frank Anthony Spina.

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Dr. Spina earned his BA
from Greenville College,

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his divinity degree from
Asbury Theological Seminary,

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and completed his
graduate apprenticeship

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at the University of Michigan,

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where he earned his MA and

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his PhD in Near Eastern studies.

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Since 1973 he has
been professor of

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Old Testament biblical theology

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at Seattle Pacific University.

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In 2005, Dr. Spina

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published the Faith
of the Outsider and

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is currently completing a
major theological commentary

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on 1 and 2 Kings.

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In addition, Dr.
Spina has published

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many scholarly articles in

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professional journals
and collections,

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as well as providing resources
for clergy and laity.

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Professors Spina is a
renowned classroom teacher.

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One of our universities,
very finest,

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who was known for his comic wit

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and incisive
challenging lectures.

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The Reverend Spina is

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associate priests at St.

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Margaret's Episcopal
Church in Bellevue.

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His ministry of the word

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throughout the Northwest
and over many years to

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congregations of various
faith traditions has

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deepened the faith of literally
thousands of Christians,

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many of whom are here.

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I have been Frank's friend
and colleague for 30 years.

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Through thick and thin.

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I stand before you as

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a trusted witness of

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his profound and persistent
service to God's kingdom.

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As a scholar, a teacher,

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and a priest for and
among God's people.

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Please welcome the Reverend Dr.

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Professor Frank Spina,

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whose Weter Lecture is

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entitled Multiplying Division:

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A Figural Reading of the Story
of the Levites Concubine.

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I think we should go
straight to the cookies.

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Thank you Rob

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for that very gracious
introduction.

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In the interest of time,

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I'm going to start
with a brief word of

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personal privilege,
if you don't mind.

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Dr. Steel mentioned that Dr.

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Shaw and I go back a long way,

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indeed we do go back to

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1961 when he was

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my teacher in Biology
at Greenville College.

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I don't know that I
remember this explicitly,

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but somewhere along the time he

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communicated that I
should probably not try

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science as a career.

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He's always graciously
repressed that, however.

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Not only was he my
teacher in those days,

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but we also spend

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one summer on the college
work crew together where

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we cleaned the chandeliers
in the library,

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like they had never
been cleaned before.

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In the meantime,

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we talked about this and that,

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and that was the first
time I think I really

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realized not only his great
commitment to science,

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but his great commitment
to liberal arts,

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which of course
has eventuated in

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his and Barbara's
endowing of this lecture.

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It is my honor therefore

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tonight to dedicate my
lecture to Dr. Ross Shaw.

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I call him

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here simply but profoundly
with great affection Ross,

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teacher, colleague and friend.

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Now the lecture. I propose
this evening to carry out

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a figural reading
of the story of

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the Levites concubine in
Judges Chapter 19-21,

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which prompts and
immediate question,

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why this text at this time.

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Since this passage
does not appear in

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any lectionary has
never been considered

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crucial for any
aspect of Christian

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thought is avoided
in Sunday school,

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and I would never be chosen

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by any sane preacher,

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its selection requires
ample justification.

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Given the Bible's
sumptuous resources,

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why call attention to
an episode so darkly

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disturbing that it's obscurity

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is more blessing than bane?

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I begin my answer with
another question,

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00:11:03,780 --> 00:11:07,650
why is this text so unfamiliar?

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00:11:07,650 --> 00:11:09,870
After all, once

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00:11:09,870 --> 00:11:13,380
read the story is
impossible to forget.

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00:11:13,380 --> 00:11:17,040
How can we suppress the image of

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00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:21,210
a brutal gang rape after
which the victim is

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dismembered by her husband
who did not lift a finger

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00:11:25,230 --> 00:11:30,090
in her behalf and was
complicities in her torture.

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00:11:30,090 --> 00:11:34,755
Even to skim this account
is to remember it.

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00:11:34,755 --> 00:11:37,230
Perhaps the story
has traumatized

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00:11:37,230 --> 00:11:40,529
the church into a
collective repression.

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00:11:40,529 --> 00:11:45,390
Still, the story manages
to insert itself.

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00:11:45,390 --> 00:11:47,190
It is found after all,

219
00:11:47,190 --> 00:11:49,635
as part of former prophets

220
00:11:49,635 --> 00:11:52,110
in the Hebrew textual tradition.

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00:11:52,110 --> 00:11:53,850
With the latter Prophets,

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00:11:53,850 --> 00:11:55,260
this constitutes one of

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00:11:55,260 --> 00:11:58,590
the Bible's most
prominent sections.

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How has such an unforgettable
prophetic story

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00:12:02,790 --> 00:12:05,820
become so obscure?

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00:12:05,820 --> 00:12:09,420
Keep in mind that the
story is part of a book

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which features famous
characters liked Deborah,

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00:12:12,915 --> 00:12:14,565
Gideon, and Samson,

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00:12:14,565 --> 00:12:16,830
which do make it
into Sunday school.

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00:12:16,830 --> 00:12:21,345
Indeed, judges plays a vital
role in the biblical epic,

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00:12:21,345 --> 00:12:24,870
following Joshua and
preceding Samuel.

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00:12:24,870 --> 00:12:29,655
Not only that, absent the story
of the Levites concubine,

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00:12:29,655 --> 00:12:32,205
the final part of judges loses

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00:12:32,205 --> 00:12:35,025
a key transitional passage.

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00:12:35,025 --> 00:12:37,290
Since typically
the beginning and

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00:12:37,290 --> 00:12:40,485
ending of books are
particularly significant,

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00:12:40,485 --> 00:12:45,330
Judges 19-21 should
all priory get

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00:12:45,330 --> 00:12:48,735
close scrutiny as the
final installment

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00:12:48,735 --> 00:12:52,095
of a strategically
situated narrative.

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00:12:52,095 --> 00:12:55,710
Additionally, since
this story immediately

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precedes one in which
Hannah prepares

242
00:12:58,950 --> 00:13:01,290
the way for her son Samuel to

243
00:13:01,290 --> 00:13:05,580
replace priestly with
prophetic ministry,

244
00:13:05,580 --> 00:13:09,225
and in which Israel for the
first time demands a king,

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00:13:09,225 --> 00:13:11,850
the last three chapters
of judges ought

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00:13:11,850 --> 00:13:15,345
not to be dismissed
as inconsequential.

247
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As a whole,

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00:13:17,175 --> 00:13:20,414
Judges is a counterpoint
to the book of Joshua,

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which praises an
obedient Israel.

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00:13:23,415 --> 00:13:26,040
Judges though excoriates

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00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,105
Israel for habitual
disobedience.

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00:13:30,105 --> 00:13:33,585
Israel's prodigality
is emphasized

253
00:13:33,585 --> 00:13:35,835
by the judges themselves,

254
00:13:35,835 --> 00:13:38,550
who progressively become more

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00:13:38,550 --> 00:13:42,480
immoral than his or
her predecessor.

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00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,525
But the last two
stories in Judges

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00:13:45,525 --> 00:13:48,570
are not about Judges per se,

258
00:13:48,570 --> 00:13:52,440
which makes them
literarily conspicuous.

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00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,420
As such, it takes

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00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:57,000
a concerted and
conscious effort to

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00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,050
bypass the story of
the Levites concubine.

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00:14:01,050 --> 00:14:03,930
Though unquestionably
disturbing,

263
00:14:03,930 --> 00:14:07,740
our own cultural and
theological blinders are to

264
00:14:07,740 --> 00:14:11,955
blame for we have averted
our eyes from the narrative,

265
00:14:11,955 --> 00:14:14,400
not because of its positioning,

266
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,950
which is strategic,
but because of

267
00:14:16,950 --> 00:14:20,160
its content, which is repugnant.

268
00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,745
This brings us back to
our original question,

269
00:14:23,745 --> 00:14:27,045
why would a story
about infidelity,

270
00:14:27,045 --> 00:14:30,720
family dysfunctionality,
hospitality,

271
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,655
which is either suffocating
excessive or non-existent,

272
00:14:35,655 --> 00:14:37,980
and unprincipled husband who's

273
00:14:37,980 --> 00:14:40,140
cruelty defies description,

274
00:14:40,140 --> 00:14:44,370
a ruthless gang rape,
internecine war,

275
00:14:44,370 --> 00:14:48,840
and a level of sin that
accent stupidity as much as

276
00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:52,380
perversion play
such a crucial role

277
00:14:52,380 --> 00:14:57,000
standing as it does
between Judges and Samuel?

278
00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,520
The answer is that the story

279
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:03,330
features Israel in
a particular line.

280
00:15:03,330 --> 00:15:05,490
But this is real as presented,

281
00:15:05,490 --> 00:15:08,115
not as an ancient
Nerister people

282
00:15:08,115 --> 00:15:11,580
whose misogyny was
typical for the times,

283
00:15:11,580 --> 00:15:14,640
or as a sociopolitical entity

284
00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:18,285
which was more violence
prone than most.

285
00:15:18,285 --> 00:15:20,190
The Israel central to

286
00:15:20,190 --> 00:15:23,910
this story is none other
than the Israel of God.

287
00:15:23,910 --> 00:15:26,490
The people whose
ancestors the Lord

288
00:15:26,490 --> 00:15:30,000
specifically elected for
the purpose of redeeming,

289
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,125
reconciling, and restoring
the created order.

290
00:15:34,125 --> 00:15:37,410
What is related in the
concubine story would have

291
00:15:37,410 --> 00:15:39,900
solid the reputation of even the

292
00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:42,870
most barbarous of
ancient peoples.

293
00:15:42,870 --> 00:15:45,315
But encountering it as part of

294
00:15:45,315 --> 00:15:50,355
Israel's story renders it
all but in explicable,

295
00:15:50,355 --> 00:15:53,160
for the Israel in
this narrative is

296
00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,790
first and foremost God's elect.

297
00:15:56,790 --> 00:16:00,255
Perhaps focusing on
Israel still gives

298
00:16:00,255 --> 00:16:03,690
us a measure of
comfortable distance.

299
00:16:03,690 --> 00:16:07,845
Surely Israel is them, not us.

300
00:16:07,845 --> 00:16:11,640
But may Christian so
easily make that claim.

301
00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,575
The answer would seem to
be resoundingly negative.

302
00:16:15,575 --> 00:16:17,600
If we take it all seriously that

303
00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:19,850
Christian scripture consists of

304
00:16:19,850 --> 00:16:22,040
the Old and New Testaments.

305
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:23,780
Christians have to deal with

306
00:16:23,780 --> 00:16:25,550
the reality that the story of

307
00:16:25,550 --> 00:16:27,620
the Levites concubine is

308
00:16:27,620 --> 00:16:31,720
their story as long as it is
part of the sacred Canaan.

309
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:33,890
To be sure almost

310
00:16:33,890 --> 00:16:35,840
from the beginnings of
the Christian church,

311
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,060
efforts have been made to remove

312
00:16:38,060 --> 00:16:41,120
outright or at least
deauthorize parts

313
00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:42,485
of the Old Testament.

314
00:16:42,485 --> 00:16:45,020
Discarding or
ignoring a story like

315
00:16:45,020 --> 00:16:48,155
this is much easier
than dealing with it.

316
00:16:48,155 --> 00:16:50,240
But the church has steadfastly

317
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:52,220
resisted all such attempts to

318
00:16:52,220 --> 00:16:56,555
neutralizing the Old
Testament, at least formally.

319
00:16:56,555 --> 00:17:00,095
Christians still confess
it as Christian scripture.

320
00:17:00,095 --> 00:17:02,180
That should not be a problem.

321
00:17:02,180 --> 00:17:04,930
It was Jesus' scripture too.

322
00:17:04,930 --> 00:17:08,600
So we may struggle with
this story, despise it,

323
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:09,875
be shocked by it,

324
00:17:09,875 --> 00:17:13,240
get frustrated, trying
to interpret it.

325
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,150
Or hope fervently that
it will eventually

326
00:17:17,150 --> 00:17:19,340
die from the studied neglect

327
00:17:19,340 --> 00:17:21,425
to which we have subjected it.

328
00:17:21,425 --> 00:17:25,175
Yet our efforts not
withstanding it is still there

329
00:17:25,175 --> 00:17:29,810
concluding Judges and
preparing us for Samuel.

330
00:17:29,810 --> 00:17:31,850
As a story about Israel,

331
00:17:31,850 --> 00:17:35,225
it remains an aspect
of our story.

332
00:17:35,225 --> 00:17:38,060
At the same time, this story is

333
00:17:38,060 --> 00:17:41,640
about Israel from a
singular perspective.

334
00:17:42,300 --> 00:17:47,185
These three chapters
present Israel as divided,

335
00:17:47,185 --> 00:17:51,820
increasingly divided,
hopelessly divided.

336
00:17:51,820 --> 00:17:53,140
As we shall see,

337
00:17:53,140 --> 00:17:57,490
once there is division,
it grows exponentially.

338
00:17:57,490 --> 00:17:59,755
In short, once begun,

339
00:17:59,755 --> 00:18:03,220
the divisions multiply
to the extent that

340
00:18:03,220 --> 00:18:07,075
we are the least bit interested
in God's chosen people,

341
00:18:07,075 --> 00:18:12,205
this story cannot help but
capture our attention.

342
00:18:12,205 --> 00:18:16,870
Theological terms, Israel
as the elect people of God,

343
00:18:16,870 --> 00:18:19,450
the Kingdom of God
announced by John

344
00:18:19,450 --> 00:18:22,045
and embodied by
Jesus the Christ.

345
00:18:22,045 --> 00:18:24,760
The church, which is
the body of Christ as

346
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:27,670
in gendered and sustained
by the Holy Spirit,

347
00:18:27,670 --> 00:18:30,745
are organically
related to each other.

348
00:18:30,745 --> 00:18:33,040
For that reason, any story

349
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,290
dealing with Israel is vital and

350
00:18:35,290 --> 00:18:37,080
indispensable to

351
00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,809
the one Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church.

352
00:18:40,809 --> 00:18:43,210
Expressing the issue
in these terms is

353
00:18:43,210 --> 00:18:45,655
another factor in my choice

354
00:18:45,655 --> 00:18:48,519
of this text on this occasion.

355
00:18:48,519 --> 00:18:51,250
On this point, I
further contextualize

356
00:18:51,250 --> 00:18:53,980
the story by calling
attention briefly

357
00:18:53,980 --> 00:18:56,545
to one of Seattle
Pacific universities,

358
00:18:56,545 --> 00:19:00,355
descriptors ecumenical.

359
00:19:00,355 --> 00:19:02,740
Ecumenical is, of course,

360
00:19:02,740 --> 00:19:05,155
part of our quadrilateral,

361
00:19:05,155 --> 00:19:09,955
along with evangelical,
Wesleyan, and Orthodox.

362
00:19:09,955 --> 00:19:13,105
These four terms are helpful for

363
00:19:13,105 --> 00:19:17,965
situating this university
historically and theologically.

364
00:19:17,965 --> 00:19:20,410
But they also speak
to the dynamism,

365
00:19:20,410 --> 00:19:24,325
growth, and perhaps maturity
of the institution.

366
00:19:24,325 --> 00:19:27,250
In my judgment, for
all the imprecision

367
00:19:27,250 --> 00:19:30,070
that attaches to
each of these terms,

368
00:19:30,070 --> 00:19:34,465
they provide an excellent
start at self-identification.

369
00:19:34,465 --> 00:19:36,025
At the same time,

370
00:19:36,025 --> 00:19:38,920
I venture to say
that for most of

371
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:42,550
our internal and
external constituents,

372
00:19:42,550 --> 00:19:45,970
the loss of the
ecumenical descriptor

373
00:19:45,970 --> 00:19:48,740
would be the least lamented.

374
00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:53,990
After all, ecumenical was
the last to be added,

375
00:19:53,990 --> 00:19:56,955
has the least purchase
among institutions in

376
00:19:56,955 --> 00:19:59,130
our orbit and remains

377
00:19:59,130 --> 00:20:02,435
arguably the most
controversial descriptor.

378
00:20:02,435 --> 00:20:04,810
It is widely rumored
that this was

379
00:20:04,810 --> 00:20:07,345
the president's
most difficult sell

380
00:20:07,345 --> 00:20:09,505
to the Board of Trustees.

381
00:20:09,505 --> 00:20:11,920
Of course, I'm not in the
room or business anymore.

382
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,980
Lucky for you.

383
00:20:16,980 --> 00:20:25,885
But why should this be?

384
00:20:25,885 --> 00:20:28,150
The easy answer I suppose is

385
00:20:28,150 --> 00:20:30,070
that the modern
Ecumenical movement

386
00:20:30,070 --> 00:20:32,095
has been largely associated

387
00:20:32,095 --> 00:20:34,675
with mainline liberal
Protestantism.

388
00:20:34,675 --> 00:20:37,615
Churches which called
themselves Evangelical,

389
00:20:37,615 --> 00:20:41,170
have therefore kept at
ecumenism at arm's length.

390
00:20:41,170 --> 00:20:42,655
The logic is simple.

391
00:20:42,655 --> 00:20:45,580
Ecumenism cannot be a
positive development

392
00:20:45,580 --> 00:20:48,685
given the folk who have
historically promoted it.

393
00:20:48,685 --> 00:20:52,000
But it's that cogent reasoning
on the part of those who

394
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,645
consider themselves
theologically conservative.

395
00:20:55,645 --> 00:20:59,110
Theologically and
historically ecumenical is

396
00:20:59,110 --> 00:21:03,190
a property of the church
as the body of Christ.

397
00:21:03,190 --> 00:21:06,775
Ecumenical accents the
unity of this body

398
00:21:06,775 --> 00:21:10,810
as one Holy Catholic
and Apostolic.

399
00:21:10,810 --> 00:21:13,450
Ecumenical underscores
that Christians

400
00:21:13,450 --> 00:21:16,344
everywhere are brothers
and sisters in Christ,

401
00:21:16,344 --> 00:21:18,610
making a common confession,

402
00:21:18,610 --> 00:21:21,085
serving a common Lord,

403
00:21:21,085 --> 00:21:23,845
participating in
a common baptism,

404
00:21:23,845 --> 00:21:25,960
engaging in a common mission,

405
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,290
and meeting most humbly
and repeatedly at

406
00:21:29,290 --> 00:21:34,165
a common table where we
share one bread and one cup,

407
00:21:34,165 --> 00:21:36,250
which is Sacramentally
the body and

408
00:21:36,250 --> 00:21:38,515
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

409
00:21:38,515 --> 00:21:41,680
An Ecumenical church is
one that is sustained and

410
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,025
lead and all its parts
by the Holy Spirit.

411
00:21:45,025 --> 00:21:47,290
Christian unity is
not a function of

412
00:21:47,290 --> 00:21:49,975
our will, our deliberations,

413
00:21:49,975 --> 00:21:52,390
our best efforts to get along

414
00:21:52,390 --> 00:21:55,210
our tolerance or our commitment

415
00:21:55,210 --> 00:21:58,180
to the lowest common
theological denominator.

416
00:21:58,180 --> 00:22:00,940
Christian unity is a
function of being called to

417
00:22:00,940 --> 00:22:03,669
be one people from
the beginning.

418
00:22:03,669 --> 00:22:06,190
As confirmed at Pentecost,

419
00:22:06,190 --> 00:22:08,410
we follow that same spirit and

420
00:22:08,410 --> 00:22:10,870
our common lives
together and are taught

421
00:22:10,870 --> 00:22:12,880
by that spirit what
it means to live

422
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,000
our lives as Christ's body.

423
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,055
Consequently,

424
00:22:18,055 --> 00:22:22,060
a divided church is not only
an uneconomical church,

425
00:22:22,060 --> 00:22:25,720
it is a church in which the
Holy Spirit is compromised.

426
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,090
If being the Church means being

427
00:22:28,090 --> 00:22:30,760
led by the Spirit
which Christ promised,

428
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:32,799
what does it say
that the community

429
00:22:32,799 --> 00:22:35,065
is many rather than one?

430
00:22:35,065 --> 00:22:37,795
Does the spirit foster division?

431
00:22:37,795 --> 00:22:40,015
Is Christ divided?

432
00:22:40,015 --> 00:22:43,870
These rhetorical questions
stress that ecumenism is

433
00:22:43,870 --> 00:22:47,780
a new mythological as well
as an ecclesial issue.

434
00:22:47,780 --> 00:22:51,690
Consequently, I firmly believe
that ecumenical should be

435
00:22:51,690 --> 00:22:55,675
seen on a par with our
other descriptors.

436
00:22:55,675 --> 00:22:57,370
Do we not need to ask

437
00:22:57,370 --> 00:23:00,490
ourselves why a divided
church does not shake

438
00:23:00,490 --> 00:23:02,890
us to our foundations and

439
00:23:02,890 --> 00:23:05,830
prompt the direction
of our prayers.

440
00:23:05,830 --> 00:23:08,905
Should not our sisters
and brothers in Christ

441
00:23:08,905 --> 00:23:12,445
be flocking as one
to the Lord's table?

442
00:23:12,445 --> 00:23:14,920
Alienation and division should

443
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,425
never characterize the church.

444
00:23:17,425 --> 00:23:20,575
We should be multiplying
loaves and fish,

445
00:23:20,575 --> 00:23:23,950
not divisions, not incidentally,

446
00:23:23,950 --> 00:23:26,530
I confess that the tremors
that are convulsing

447
00:23:26,530 --> 00:23:29,620
the worldwide Anglican
communion and threatening

448
00:23:29,620 --> 00:23:32,770
still one more schism
have contributed to

449
00:23:32,770 --> 00:23:36,520
my sense of urgency
about this topic.

450
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,730
This brings us
back to our story.

451
00:23:39,730 --> 00:23:42,820
If I am correct, that this
story is indeed about

452
00:23:42,820 --> 00:23:46,255
multiplying divisions
in God's elect people,

453
00:23:46,255 --> 00:23:51,339
then that cannot help but
catch us up short, I repeat.

454
00:23:51,339 --> 00:23:53,560
To the extent that Judges 19 to

455
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,620
21 puts Israel in an
unfavorable light,

456
00:23:56,620 --> 00:24:00,700
it potentially puts us
in an unfavorable light.

457
00:24:00,700 --> 00:24:02,665
How is this so?

458
00:24:02,665 --> 00:24:05,020
How can scripture
be construed to

459
00:24:05,020 --> 00:24:07,600
have such an immediate
effect on us?

460
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,410
What makes this
biblical word so fresh?

461
00:24:11,410 --> 00:24:13,870
I contend that the answers to

462
00:24:13,870 --> 00:24:17,545
these questions
involves figuration.

463
00:24:17,545 --> 00:24:19,540
Now we should not recoil

464
00:24:19,540 --> 00:24:21,370
from figuration
as though it were

465
00:24:21,370 --> 00:24:24,160
a simplistic reversion to

466
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,715
pre-modern biblical
interpretation without remainder.

467
00:24:27,715 --> 00:24:29,290
Or as though it involves

468
00:24:29,290 --> 00:24:31,975
some new methodological outcome

469
00:24:31,975 --> 00:24:35,125
in which only specialists
may participate.

470
00:24:35,125 --> 00:24:37,090
For the purposes
of this lecture,

471
00:24:37,090 --> 00:24:38,770
I think it is
instructive to think of

472
00:24:38,770 --> 00:24:41,350
figuration in three ways.

473
00:24:41,350 --> 00:24:44,920
First, figuration
follows the very nature

474
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,635
of the biblical text
in its canonical form.

475
00:24:47,635 --> 00:24:50,035
Properly considered, the text,

476
00:24:50,035 --> 00:24:52,150
even at its most
literal dimension

477
00:24:52,150 --> 00:24:53,980
is essentially figural.

478
00:24:53,980 --> 00:24:55,510
This is because there is

479
00:24:55,510 --> 00:24:58,210
no one-to-one direct
correlation between

480
00:24:58,210 --> 00:25:02,560
the text and the God
of whom it testifies.

481
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,825
Christian scripture is primarily

482
00:25:04,825 --> 00:25:06,595
a revelatory texts

483
00:25:06,595 --> 00:25:09,550
whose languages
necessarily metaphoric,

484
00:25:09,550 --> 00:25:14,575
parabolic, symbolic art,
full poetic and imaginative.

485
00:25:14,575 --> 00:25:19,210
I use the word figuration to
capture all these nuances.

486
00:25:19,210 --> 00:25:21,430
The biblical tradition
is rooted in

487
00:25:21,430 --> 00:25:24,070
history unnecessarily so in

488
00:25:24,070 --> 00:25:26,290
the sense that the
deity whose story is

489
00:25:26,290 --> 00:25:28,795
told participated in space,

490
00:25:28,795 --> 00:25:31,690
in time, in the life
of the elect people,

491
00:25:31,690 --> 00:25:35,785
Israel, and incarnational
in Jesus the Christ.

492
00:25:35,785 --> 00:25:37,750
However, technical language is

493
00:25:37,750 --> 00:25:40,180
inadequate for
narrating this story.

494
00:25:40,180 --> 00:25:42,790
Critical biblical
scholarship picked

495
00:25:42,790 --> 00:25:45,010
up on this by demanding that

496
00:25:45,010 --> 00:25:47,259
its proponents
conduct their study

497
00:25:47,259 --> 00:25:50,200
as methodological atheists.

498
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,920
But this is only possible
if one studies the Bible as

499
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,180
a haphazard and arbitrary
collection of ancient texts,

500
00:25:58,180 --> 00:26:01,855
it is not possible when reading
the Bible as scripture.

501
00:26:01,855 --> 00:26:04,810
For the ladder,
reading scripture as

502
00:26:04,810 --> 00:26:08,440
a witness to divine
revelation is requisite.

503
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,005
That is where attention
to scriptures,

504
00:26:11,005 --> 00:26:14,065
Figural makeup is crucial.

505
00:26:14,065 --> 00:26:17,920
Second. Figuration comes into

506
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,140
play when one realizes
that scripture

507
00:26:20,140 --> 00:26:23,050
speaks a fresh word from God to

508
00:26:23,050 --> 00:26:26,710
the community that hears
it precisely as scripture.

509
00:26:26,710 --> 00:26:29,875
The literal meaning
is not exhaustive.

510
00:26:29,875 --> 00:26:33,370
Already at the level
of intertextuality,

511
00:26:33,370 --> 00:26:37,285
the biblical writers and
editors made use of figuration.

512
00:26:37,285 --> 00:26:42,310
Linguistic and literary clues
are replete in scripture.

513
00:26:42,310 --> 00:26:44,470
They draw our attention to

514
00:26:44,470 --> 00:26:48,280
the text nuance, depth,
and multivalency.

515
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,050
These clues prevent

516
00:26:50,050 --> 00:26:53,120
an uncontrolled
allegorizing of scripture.

517
00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,710
Plus scriptures
figural dimension

518
00:26:55,710 --> 00:26:57,120
may be seen in the light

519
00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:01,125
of later events which
place old texts in a new,

520
00:27:01,125 --> 00:27:03,995
different, and often
brighter light.

521
00:27:03,995 --> 00:27:05,680
This is seen, for example,

522
00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:07,465
in the New Testament
authors reading

523
00:27:07,465 --> 00:27:12,295
their Jewish scripture in the
light of the Jesus event.

524
00:27:12,295 --> 00:27:15,430
Finally, there is an aspect of

525
00:27:15,430 --> 00:27:18,610
figuration that is
inherently theological.

526
00:27:18,610 --> 00:27:20,920
It is based on the
conviction that

527
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,230
the God who is
depicted as acting and

528
00:27:23,230 --> 00:27:25,465
speaking throughout
the biblical witness

529
00:27:25,465 --> 00:27:27,550
is always the same God.

530
00:27:27,550 --> 00:27:28,930
From the perspective of

531
00:27:28,930 --> 00:27:31,015
the Christian churches
rule of faith,

532
00:27:31,015 --> 00:27:33,250
this means that we
always encounter

533
00:27:33,250 --> 00:27:35,965
the same deity in biblical writ.

534
00:27:35,965 --> 00:27:38,545
The biblical text is diverse,

535
00:27:38,545 --> 00:27:41,320
complex, highly nuanced, and at

536
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,600
times apparently
discuss consonant.

537
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,330
Nevertheless, the deity
to whom that texts

538
00:27:46,330 --> 00:27:49,420
refers is one, not many.

539
00:27:49,420 --> 00:27:53,110
For Christians, this is the
God of Abraham and Sarah,

540
00:27:53,110 --> 00:27:56,260
the other ancestors,
the God of Israel,

541
00:27:56,260 --> 00:27:57,730
and as well the God who was

542
00:27:57,730 --> 00:27:59,815
incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth,

543
00:27:59,815 --> 00:28:02,125
who was there isn't
an exalted Lord

544
00:28:02,125 --> 00:28:04,705
is the second person of
the blessed Trinity.

545
00:28:04,705 --> 00:28:07,810
From this perspective,
figural reading is not

546
00:28:07,810 --> 00:28:09,955
one more interpretive strategy

547
00:28:09,955 --> 00:28:12,715
among any number
of viable options.

548
00:28:12,715 --> 00:28:16,285
Figural reading gets at the
heart of reading the Bible,

549
00:28:16,285 --> 00:28:19,600
the whole Bible as
Christian scripture.

550
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,065
Christopher sites has
expressed this well.

551
00:28:23,065 --> 00:28:26,500
"Figural reading is
historical reading,

552
00:28:26,500 --> 00:28:28,420
seeking to comprehend
the work of

553
00:28:28,420 --> 00:28:30,800
God in Christ in Israel,

554
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,030
in the apostolic witness,

555
00:28:33,030 --> 00:28:36,839
and in the Holy Spirit's
ongoing word to the church

556
00:28:36,839 --> 00:28:41,390
conveyed now through the
legacy of prophet and apostle,

557
00:28:41,390 --> 00:28:43,525
Old and New Testament,

558
00:28:43,525 --> 00:28:48,050
the two Testament canon
of Christian scripture."

559
00:28:48,930 --> 00:28:52,480
Being guided now
by these remarks,

560
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,785
let us turn to the story
of the Levite's concubine.

561
00:28:56,785 --> 00:28:59,140
Like a Hollywood movie,

562
00:28:59,140 --> 00:29:02,575
our story begins
with a screen flash.

563
00:29:02,575 --> 00:29:06,400
In those days there
was no king in Israel.

564
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,940
At once, we prick up our
ears for a variation of

565
00:29:09,940 --> 00:29:14,185
this phrase has already occurred
in the previous episode.

566
00:29:14,185 --> 00:29:16,690
There the formula
is more elaborate

567
00:29:16,690 --> 00:29:18,955
and those days there
was no king in Israel.

568
00:29:18,955 --> 00:29:21,925
Everyone did what was
right in their own eyes.

569
00:29:21,925 --> 00:29:26,830
The shorter form pops up once
before in the first part,

570
00:29:26,830 --> 00:29:29,920
and then again in 19:1,

571
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,425
and the longer statement
at the end of the story.

572
00:29:32,425 --> 00:29:34,149
As the story unfolds,

573
00:29:34,149 --> 00:29:36,880
we are aware that it is
a time when there is

574
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:41,980
no monarchy and consequently
no controlling moral vision.

575
00:29:41,980 --> 00:29:44,500
The episode proper begins by

576
00:29:44,500 --> 00:29:46,765
establishing the
cast of characters,

577
00:29:46,765 --> 00:29:50,470
their relationships, and
their territorial origins.

578
00:29:50,470 --> 00:29:52,300
No one is named,

579
00:29:52,300 --> 00:29:54,415
but other markers are present.

580
00:29:54,415 --> 00:29:56,860
There is a Levite man.

581
00:29:56,860 --> 00:30:01,105
A designation perhaps
suggesting a modicum of status.

582
00:30:01,105 --> 00:30:02,410
Yet the Levite and

583
00:30:02,410 --> 00:30:05,200
the immediately preceding
story is ambiguously,

584
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,195
if not negatively portrayed.

585
00:30:07,195 --> 00:30:09,415
We cannot be sure.

586
00:30:09,415 --> 00:30:12,130
This particularly Levite was

587
00:30:12,130 --> 00:30:14,605
traveling somewhere in Ephriam.

588
00:30:14,605 --> 00:30:17,605
During his travels,
he takes for himself

589
00:30:17,605 --> 00:30:22,285
a plugish or concubine
from Bethlehem in Judah.

590
00:30:22,285 --> 00:30:24,610
Typically, a concubine is

591
00:30:24,610 --> 00:30:28,150
a legitimate marriage
partner of a lesser status.

592
00:30:28,150 --> 00:30:31,955
But no primary wife is ever
mentioned in this story.

593
00:30:31,955 --> 00:30:35,040
Before long, we will realize
that even if we were to

594
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:39,330
infer that her position was
inferior to a proper wife,

595
00:30:39,330 --> 00:30:43,200
the concubine nevertheless
does not play at a time.

596
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,840
For now, we have to
be content to know

597
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,270
that this particular Levite took

598
00:30:48,270 --> 00:30:49,740
for himself a woman of

599
00:30:49,740 --> 00:30:53,085
ambiguous standing from
Bethlehem in Judah,

600
00:30:53,085 --> 00:30:56,930
either while on this trip
or sometime previously.

601
00:30:56,930 --> 00:30:58,735
At the same time,

602
00:30:58,735 --> 00:31:00,400
the Levite is the subject of

603
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,920
the verb and the
concubine is the object,

604
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:04,240
which hints that whatever

605
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,570
her relationship to
other co-wives might be,

606
00:31:07,570 --> 00:31:08,890
there is little doubt about

607
00:31:08,890 --> 00:31:11,245
the pecking order
with her husband.

608
00:31:11,245 --> 00:31:14,320
That changes abruptly.

609
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,705
In the very next
narrative breath,

610
00:31:16,705 --> 00:31:19,794
the woman becomes subject
rather than object.

611
00:31:19,794 --> 00:31:23,125
Unfortunately, her verb
is hardly flattery.

612
00:31:23,125 --> 00:31:26,815
His concubine committed
adultery against him.

613
00:31:26,815 --> 00:31:29,645
The operative word here is anon,

614
00:31:29,645 --> 00:31:34,005
which usually signals literally
prostituting oneself,

615
00:31:34,005 --> 00:31:36,750
or figuratively being idolatrous

616
00:31:36,750 --> 00:31:38,865
by consorting with other gods.

617
00:31:38,865 --> 00:31:41,219
The Levites concubine appears

618
00:31:41,219 --> 00:31:43,430
simply to have been unfaithful.

619
00:31:43,430 --> 00:31:45,955
One Greek tradition reads,

620
00:31:45,955 --> 00:31:49,150
his concubine got
angry with him.

621
00:31:49,150 --> 00:31:51,805
My judgment, the verb suggesting

622
00:31:51,805 --> 00:31:54,010
untoward sexual behavior is

623
00:31:54,010 --> 00:31:58,390
most act for reasons that
will become clear later.

624
00:31:58,390 --> 00:32:01,825
The woman soon
acquires another verb.

625
00:32:01,825 --> 00:32:04,000
After betraying her husband,

626
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,930
she leaves him to return
to her father's house.

627
00:32:07,930 --> 00:32:10,210
In most domestic situations

628
00:32:10,210 --> 00:32:11,995
reflected in the Old Testament,

629
00:32:11,995 --> 00:32:14,740
an unfaithful woman
would either be punished

630
00:32:14,740 --> 00:32:18,550
severely or sent away
by the wrong husband.

631
00:32:18,550 --> 00:32:21,790
In this case though
the guilty party,

632
00:32:21,790 --> 00:32:24,040
she leaves on her own.

633
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,580
Even where we surmise that
she does this knowing

634
00:32:27,580 --> 00:32:30,865
that staying with her
husband could be dangerous,

635
00:32:30,865 --> 00:32:33,115
her leaving on her
own initiative

636
00:32:33,115 --> 00:32:37,135
is completely counter intuitive.

637
00:32:37,135 --> 00:32:40,764
Nothing happens for four months.

638
00:32:40,764 --> 00:32:43,150
In the stories timeframe,

639
00:32:43,150 --> 00:32:45,655
this notation draws out

640
00:32:45,655 --> 00:32:48,175
the effects of this
domestic riff.

641
00:32:48,175 --> 00:32:50,620
This is more than a quarrel.

642
00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:52,090
At the same time,

643
00:32:52,090 --> 00:32:53,560
we are prompted to ponder

644
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,615
the initial screen flash

645
00:32:55,615 --> 00:32:58,840
about Israel's being
without kings at the time.

646
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,240
So far we are being told about

647
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:05,350
marital crisis being experienced
by an insignificant,

648
00:33:05,350 --> 00:33:08,380
no named couple whose
extended family

649
00:33:08,380 --> 00:33:10,000
is not worth mentioning.

650
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:15,235
What possible relevance to
kingship could that have?

651
00:33:15,235 --> 00:33:18,610
This biblical soap operas
seems rather limited in

652
00:33:18,610 --> 00:33:23,545
its consequences and the
reference to kingship grandiose.

653
00:33:23,545 --> 00:33:25,660
But we shall see.

654
00:33:25,660 --> 00:33:29,350
After this time the man reacts.

655
00:33:29,350 --> 00:33:32,080
It takes him four months
to get another verb.

656
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:39,250
The woman's previous action
had the effect of tilting

657
00:33:39,250 --> 00:33:41,320
the story a little in that she

658
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,005
has taken over as protagonist.

659
00:33:44,005 --> 00:33:46,390
When the man acts
he is no longer

660
00:33:46,390 --> 00:33:49,870
the Levite, but her husband.

661
00:33:49,870 --> 00:33:53,185
Two verbs accent
the man's resolve,

662
00:33:53,185 --> 00:33:56,185
which the four month
hiatus has intensified.

663
00:33:56,185 --> 00:33:59,065
Her husband arose
and went after her.

664
00:33:59,065 --> 00:34:01,120
Yet in case we think this is

665
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,625
patriarchy reasserting itself,

666
00:34:03,625 --> 00:34:07,900
we are surprised if not delighted
by the reason given for

667
00:34:07,900 --> 00:34:10,090
the man's Hosea-like movement

668
00:34:10,090 --> 00:34:12,310
toward his estranged concubine,

669
00:34:12,310 --> 00:34:14,620
namely, ''To speak to

670
00:34:14,620 --> 00:34:18,790
her heart and bring
her back home.''

671
00:34:19,260 --> 00:34:23,440
The Levite's unexpected
journey to win back

672
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,220
his woman is matched
by her unexpectedly

673
00:34:27,220 --> 00:34:28,930
meeting him on the outskirts of

674
00:34:28,930 --> 00:34:35,214
her father's residence and
escorting him into the house.

675
00:34:35,214 --> 00:34:38,500
Should we conclude from this
gesture that the woman will

676
00:34:38,500 --> 00:34:42,055
be receptive to her
husband's ministration?

677
00:34:42,055 --> 00:34:45,430
Perhaps. But we quickly
notice that while

678
00:34:45,430 --> 00:34:48,865
the man's intent was
to speak to her heart,

679
00:34:48,865 --> 00:34:51,730
no words, not even

680
00:34:51,730 --> 00:34:55,225
those of a simple
greeting are exchanged.

681
00:34:55,225 --> 00:34:58,270
Their reunion is a silent one.

682
00:34:58,270 --> 00:35:00,490
Nevertheless, there are signs of

683
00:35:00,490 --> 00:35:03,790
a possibly happy conclusion
to the domestic dilemma,

684
00:35:03,790 --> 00:35:05,890
in that the young
woman's father is

685
00:35:05,890 --> 00:35:08,230
pleased to receive
his son-in-law,

686
00:35:08,230 --> 00:35:10,255
though we're not told why.

687
00:35:10,255 --> 00:35:12,820
In any case, consonant with

688
00:35:12,820 --> 00:35:16,285
the father's good mood
celebration follows.

689
00:35:16,285 --> 00:35:19,059
However, there is a
disquieting undertone

690
00:35:19,059 --> 00:35:20,575
to the festivities.

691
00:35:20,575 --> 00:35:22,840
For one thing, the verb used to

692
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:27,340
describe the father's offer
of hospitality is odd.

693
00:35:27,340 --> 00:35:31,915
He pressed him or he
strongly insisted.

694
00:35:31,915 --> 00:35:36,565
Even if we let this pass
as unbridled exuberance,

695
00:35:36,565 --> 00:35:38,920
in that he was
unusually fond of his

696
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,980
son-in-law or more
likely that another man

697
00:35:41,980 --> 00:35:44,440
would soon have the
responsibility of feeding

698
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:47,350
his daughter or even that

699
00:35:47,350 --> 00:35:50,650
grandchildren were soon to be
once again on the horizon,

700
00:35:50,650 --> 00:35:53,315
there are other
cautionary notes.

701
00:35:53,315 --> 00:35:55,920
For example, the purpose of

702
00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,030
the Levite's journey to speak

703
00:36:00,030 --> 00:36:02,295
tenderly to his
disaffected partner

704
00:36:02,295 --> 00:36:04,415
and convince her to return home,

705
00:36:04,415 --> 00:36:07,750
is all but forgotten
in the five-day eating

706
00:36:07,750 --> 00:36:11,440
and drinking extravaganza
which ensues.

707
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:15,025
The silence that was curious
when the couple first met

708
00:36:15,025 --> 00:36:18,685
outside the home
becomes conspicuous.

709
00:36:18,685 --> 00:36:21,910
Not only that, it is
uncertain that the woman

710
00:36:21,910 --> 00:36:25,405
participated in table
fellowship with the men.

711
00:36:25,405 --> 00:36:26,935
Pointedly,

712
00:36:26,935 --> 00:36:29,905
the narrator stresses once

713
00:36:29,905 --> 00:36:31,870
that the two of
them sat, and ate,

714
00:36:31,870 --> 00:36:33,115
and drank together,

715
00:36:33,115 --> 00:36:35,035
the man and the father-in-law,

716
00:36:35,035 --> 00:36:38,515
and once that the two
of them ate together,

717
00:36:38,515 --> 00:36:40,675
again, the man and
his father-in-law.

718
00:36:40,675 --> 00:36:43,210
Only the grammar
in one verse can

719
00:36:43,210 --> 00:36:46,510
be construed to give the
woman a seat at the table.

720
00:36:46,510 --> 00:36:49,795
That is confined to
the first three days.

721
00:36:49,795 --> 00:36:51,730
The impression is that the woman

722
00:36:51,730 --> 00:36:54,070
has been shunted
into the background.

723
00:36:54,070 --> 00:36:57,610
Indeed, having so recently
been the subject of verbs

724
00:36:57,610 --> 00:37:01,990
indicating purpose of if
not astonishing action,

725
00:37:01,990 --> 00:37:03,310
it seems odd that in

726
00:37:03,310 --> 00:37:05,515
the several days at
her father's house,

727
00:37:05,515 --> 00:37:09,040
she is the subject of
no verbs whatsoever.

728
00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:11,830
During these days,
the woman seems to be

729
00:37:11,830 --> 00:37:15,445
devoured along with the
rest of the food and drink.

730
00:37:15,445 --> 00:37:17,590
Even the reason for the party in

731
00:37:17,590 --> 00:37:19,690
the first place is downplayed.

732
00:37:19,690 --> 00:37:22,090
For after re-entering
her father's house,

733
00:37:22,090 --> 00:37:25,240
we are reminded of her
presence exclusively

734
00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:29,485
with references to the
father of the young woman.

735
00:37:29,485 --> 00:37:31,390
1, 2, 3,

736
00:37:31,390 --> 00:37:32,830
4, 5 times.

737
00:37:32,830 --> 00:37:34,510
That's how she's referred to.

738
00:37:34,510 --> 00:37:37,930
Only on the last day when
the father's efforts to keep

739
00:37:37,930 --> 00:37:41,440
his guest around
indefinitely finally fail,

740
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,160
is she called his young woman.

741
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:48,310
Meaning the Levite's spouse.

742
00:37:48,310 --> 00:37:50,635
What are we to make of this?

743
00:37:50,635 --> 00:37:52,510
Certainly the woman's father is

744
00:37:52,510 --> 00:37:54,595
the epitome of a gracious host.

745
00:37:54,595 --> 00:37:57,460
His hospitality knows no bounds.

746
00:37:57,460 --> 00:38:00,640
The Levite barely
manages to extricate

747
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:04,240
himself late in the
afternoon of the fifth day,

748
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:05,710
even though he tried to leave

749
00:38:05,710 --> 00:38:08,815
initially on the morning
of the fourth day.

750
00:38:08,815 --> 00:38:11,890
But is this gracious hospitality

751
00:38:11,890 --> 00:38:14,965
or excessive hospitality?

752
00:38:14,965 --> 00:38:18,580
Presumably, hospitality exists

753
00:38:18,580 --> 00:38:22,540
for guests rather than
the other way around.

754
00:38:22,540 --> 00:38:25,270
Surely hospitality
moves from being

755
00:38:25,270 --> 00:38:28,150
gracious and welcome
to uncomfortable,

756
00:38:28,150 --> 00:38:29,890
if not oppressive, when

757
00:38:29,890 --> 00:38:33,365
the recipient is kept
from important business.

758
00:38:33,365 --> 00:38:35,550
The Levite needed to speak to

759
00:38:35,550 --> 00:38:40,465
his concubine and begin the
work of reconciliation.

760
00:38:40,465 --> 00:38:43,180
The two of them had to get
home where they could restart

761
00:38:43,180 --> 00:38:45,955
their marriage on a
more solid footing.

762
00:38:45,955 --> 00:38:48,820
Before the Levite
entered this home,

763
00:38:48,820 --> 00:38:51,145
we were primed to witness
something that was

764
00:38:51,145 --> 00:38:54,490
potentially groundbreaking
for an Old Testament story.

765
00:38:54,490 --> 00:38:57,670
A wrong husband wanting
his unfaithful woman

766
00:38:57,670 --> 00:38:59,350
back and willing to speak

767
00:38:59,350 --> 00:39:01,795
tenderly to her to
make that happen.

768
00:39:01,795 --> 00:39:04,900
Alas, all we get to witness is

769
00:39:04,900 --> 00:39:07,450
nonstop revelry while we

770
00:39:07,450 --> 00:39:11,300
imagine growing piles
of dirty dishes.

771
00:39:12,030 --> 00:39:16,705
Due to the fathers
overweening hospitality,

772
00:39:16,705 --> 00:39:19,675
it is late in the day
before the Levite

773
00:39:19,675 --> 00:39:22,810
manages to set out for home with

774
00:39:22,810 --> 00:39:25,450
his concubine and
an accompanying

775
00:39:25,450 --> 00:39:28,690
servant. If we thought the trip

776
00:39:28,690 --> 00:39:30,430
back would afford
the couple a chance

777
00:39:30,430 --> 00:39:32,830
to talk, we're mistaken.

778
00:39:32,830 --> 00:39:34,990
There is nary a word.

779
00:39:34,990 --> 00:39:37,390
As well, the woman's
relationship to

780
00:39:37,390 --> 00:39:39,820
the traveling party on
the journey back is

781
00:39:39,820 --> 00:39:42,070
troubling since the man is

782
00:39:42,070 --> 00:39:44,680
the subject of the
verbs of locomotion.

783
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,930
Whereas the concubine and

784
00:39:46,930 --> 00:39:50,275
the two donkeys are
merely with him.

785
00:39:50,275 --> 00:39:55,075
Disconcertingly, she is
included with the livestock.

786
00:39:55,075 --> 00:39:57,850
When the group reaches Jebus,

787
00:39:57,850 --> 00:40:01,780
that is Jerusalem, the
silence is at last broken.

788
00:40:01,780 --> 00:40:05,815
But by an unexpected
act, the young servant.

789
00:40:05,815 --> 00:40:08,020
He suggests booking lodging in

790
00:40:08,020 --> 00:40:10,195
Jebus because it is so late.

791
00:40:10,195 --> 00:40:14,680
An idea the Levite
immediately squelches.

792
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:19,449
Why? Because Jebus
is a foreign city.

793
00:40:19,449 --> 00:40:22,330
The implication is that
Israelites could not

794
00:40:22,330 --> 00:40:25,555
count on foreigners
to be hospitable.

795
00:40:25,555 --> 00:40:28,300
Late or not, they
will continue on to

796
00:40:28,300 --> 00:40:32,350
the Israelite town of
Gibeah or perhaps Ramah.

797
00:40:32,350 --> 00:40:35,110
Anything but Jebus
would be fine.

798
00:40:35,110 --> 00:40:38,230
As long as it is Israelite.

799
00:40:38,230 --> 00:40:42,730
By nightfall, they arrive
at Gibeah of Benjamin.

800
00:40:42,730 --> 00:40:45,040
All this time, the Levite and

801
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:50,335
his concubine have still
said nothing to each other.

802
00:40:50,335 --> 00:40:54,445
Plopping themselves down
in the village square,

803
00:40:54,445 --> 00:40:56,380
apparently hoping to attract

804
00:40:56,380 --> 00:40:59,425
attention and maybe
wrangle an invitation,

805
00:40:59,425 --> 00:41:01,990
they rouse no one.

806
00:41:01,990 --> 00:41:05,200
Having just that
morning left behind

807
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,250
five full days of a
fuse of hospitality,

808
00:41:09,250 --> 00:41:12,370
these wayfarers
find themselves in

809
00:41:12,370 --> 00:41:14,290
an Israelite town that does

810
00:41:14,290 --> 00:41:17,260
not so much as notice
their presence.

811
00:41:17,260 --> 00:41:19,645
Their luck changes however,

812
00:41:19,645 --> 00:41:21,520
when an old man returning from

813
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,875
his work late happens upon her.

814
00:41:23,875 --> 00:41:26,260
The man is an Ephraimite who

815
00:41:26,260 --> 00:41:29,485
himself happens to be
a visitor in Gibeah.

816
00:41:29,485 --> 00:41:31,750
The narrator reminds us, again,

817
00:41:31,750 --> 00:41:33,205
that the town is Benjaminite,

818
00:41:33,205 --> 00:41:34,870
even though we
already know that.

819
00:41:34,870 --> 00:41:36,985
Why does this bear repeating?

820
00:41:36,985 --> 00:41:39,895
Was the city
notoriously unfriendly?

821
00:41:39,895 --> 00:41:41,950
Was this a dangerous area to be

822
00:41:41,950 --> 00:41:44,485
outdoors and unguarded at night?

823
00:41:44,485 --> 00:41:48,460
The Benjaminites have
an unsavory reputation.

824
00:41:48,460 --> 00:41:50,860
In any case, the
old man strikes up

825
00:41:50,860 --> 00:41:52,720
a conversation and learns

826
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,015
that the Levite is
on his way home.

827
00:41:55,015 --> 00:41:57,700
As the Levite explains
his circumstance,

828
00:41:57,700 --> 00:41:59,935
he adds an anomalous statement.

829
00:41:59,935 --> 00:42:03,685
"And now I am also on the way
to the house of the Lord."

830
00:42:03,685 --> 00:42:06,370
This comes out of the blue.

831
00:42:06,370 --> 00:42:09,160
Commentaries typically
adopt the reading

832
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,995
of the Greek version
of the scriptures,

833
00:42:11,995 --> 00:42:13,420
in which the Levite says

834
00:42:13,420 --> 00:42:16,060
simply that he's
on the way home.

835
00:42:16,060 --> 00:42:19,480
Yet as in congruence as
it is for the Levite

836
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:22,780
to indicate that he is headed
for the house of the Lord,

837
00:42:22,780 --> 00:42:25,615
regardless of what location
that might suggest,

838
00:42:25,615 --> 00:42:28,750
we should not be too
hasty in rejecting it.

839
00:42:28,750 --> 00:42:31,510
The statement plays the
most interesting role

840
00:42:31,510 --> 00:42:34,075
by accenting religious devotion.

841
00:42:34,075 --> 00:42:36,880
The Levite suddenly
makes himself out to be

842
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,855
a God-fearing temple
attending Israelite.

843
00:42:40,855 --> 00:42:43,270
If an ordinary
Israelite deserves

844
00:42:43,270 --> 00:42:45,760
hospitality in an
Israelite city,

845
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:47,890
then an exemplar of

846
00:42:47,890 --> 00:42:51,850
Israelite piety should
be even more deserving.

847
00:42:51,850 --> 00:42:54,550
The Levite makes no bones about

848
00:42:54,550 --> 00:42:56,710
his disappointment that no offer

849
00:42:56,710 --> 00:42:59,035
of lodging has been forthcoming,

850
00:42:59,035 --> 00:43:02,710
even though the group is
self-sufficient. Thank you.

851
00:43:02,710 --> 00:43:06,490
Finally, upon hearing
the Levite's complaints,

852
00:43:06,490 --> 00:43:09,130
the old man tenders
an invitation,

853
00:43:09,130 --> 00:43:10,840
"come stay with me."

854
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:13,690
The trio accepts a
generosity and heads for the

855
00:43:13,690 --> 00:43:16,344
man's dwelling where
animals are grained,

856
00:43:16,344 --> 00:43:17,710
feet are washed,

857
00:43:17,710 --> 00:43:19,360
and a meal is served.

858
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:20,650
To some extent,

859
00:43:20,650 --> 00:43:25,075
this old man has saved
Gibeah's reputation.

860
00:43:25,075 --> 00:43:29,290
All this changes when
the people safe inside

861
00:43:29,290 --> 00:43:32,185
the old man's house are suddenly

862
00:43:32,185 --> 00:43:36,190
disturbed by an unexpected
pounding on the door.

863
00:43:36,190 --> 00:43:38,440
The intruders are referred to

864
00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:42,835
as the men of the
city, worthless men.

865
00:43:42,835 --> 00:43:47,304
The Jewish Publication
Society translates aptly,

866
00:43:47,304 --> 00:43:49,900
a depraved lot.

867
00:43:49,900 --> 00:43:52,075
Make no mistake.

868
00:43:52,075 --> 00:43:55,540
These are not
mischievous use set on

869
00:43:55,540 --> 00:43:59,350
an impish prank calculated
a rattled nerves.

870
00:43:59,350 --> 00:44:03,460
These are execrable street
toughs who demand that

871
00:44:03,460 --> 00:44:05,620
the old man deliver
the Levite to

872
00:44:05,620 --> 00:44:09,550
them so that they can
possess him sexually.

873
00:44:09,550 --> 00:44:12,820
Now we realize that
the visitors had not

874
00:44:12,820 --> 00:44:16,225
gone unnoticed in
the town square.

875
00:44:16,225 --> 00:44:18,430
They were being watched so

876
00:44:18,430 --> 00:44:21,250
closely that their
whereabouts were known.

877
00:44:21,250 --> 00:44:26,010
Gibeah has
collectively committed

878
00:44:26,010 --> 00:44:31,320
a sin of omission by not
offering hospitality.

879
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:33,840
But these awful men
are about to commit

880
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:37,775
an egregious sin of commission.

881
00:44:37,775 --> 00:44:39,370
It does not escape

882
00:44:39,370 --> 00:44:41,710
our attention that the
only other place in

883
00:44:41,710 --> 00:44:43,825
the Bible where
something like this

884
00:44:43,825 --> 00:44:46,120
is described is Sodom,

885
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:49,225
alas Gibeah,

886
00:44:49,225 --> 00:44:50,710
an Israelite city in

887
00:44:50,710 --> 00:44:52,660
which any Israelite
should be able to

888
00:44:52,660 --> 00:44:55,990
count on hospitality is

889
00:44:55,990 --> 00:45:00,710
indistinguishable from
perfidious Sodom.

890
00:45:03,270 --> 00:45:07,465
What transpires in Gibeah is
actually worse than Sodom.

891
00:45:07,465 --> 00:45:10,820
Since in the latter the
rape was prevented.

892
00:45:10,860 --> 00:45:15,925
The scene in Gibeah is
all but indescribable.

893
00:45:15,925 --> 00:45:19,555
At first, the old man
stands his ground,

894
00:45:19,555 --> 00:45:23,260
begging for these low lives
to come to their senses.

895
00:45:23,260 --> 00:45:25,240
He employs the hooligans to

896
00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:28,885
appreciate his
responsibility as a host.

897
00:45:28,885 --> 00:45:31,510
The man's fortitude is
remarkable and that

898
00:45:31,510 --> 00:45:34,195
the intruders were intent
on homosexual rape.

899
00:45:34,195 --> 00:45:38,710
Thus, he might himself
had fallen victim.

900
00:45:38,710 --> 00:45:40,630
But our admiration for

901
00:45:40,630 --> 00:45:45,580
the man's courage instantly
morphs into revulsion.

902
00:45:45,580 --> 00:45:49,525
Before the mob responds
to the man's pleas,

903
00:45:49,525 --> 00:45:51,715
he makes a counteroffer,

904
00:45:51,715 --> 00:45:56,560
"Leave my male guest alone and
instead satisfy yourselves

905
00:45:56,560 --> 00:46:01,780
with either my virgin daughter
or the man's concubine."

906
00:46:01,780 --> 00:46:07,060
Heartlessly he says, "let
me deliver them to you,

907
00:46:07,060 --> 00:46:09,325
then do to them what you will."

908
00:46:09,325 --> 00:46:12,280
Literally do what is good
in your eyes which is

909
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,700
a play in those days there
was no king in Israel,

910
00:46:15,700 --> 00:46:19,075
everyone did what they
wanted in their own eyes.

911
00:46:19,075 --> 00:46:22,390
In the end, the old man
pleads that these men

912
00:46:22,390 --> 00:46:25,930
forego only the folly
of homosexual rape.

913
00:46:25,930 --> 00:46:32,005
Raping one woman or two women
is somehow less heinous.

914
00:46:32,005 --> 00:46:34,930
The next part is confusing.

915
00:46:34,930 --> 00:46:36,835
The text says,

916
00:46:36,835 --> 00:46:38,260
"So the man seized

917
00:46:38,260 --> 00:46:41,590
his concubine and thrust
her out to them."

918
00:46:41,590 --> 00:46:44,590
Which man is the
subject of the verb?

919
00:46:44,590 --> 00:46:46,930
Supposedly it is the old man

920
00:46:46,930 --> 00:46:49,360
for he is the last
to have spoken,

921
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:53,779
but the woman is
not his concubine.

922
00:46:53,910 --> 00:46:57,025
Has the Levite entered the fray

923
00:46:57,025 --> 00:46:59,770
and pushed the woman outside?

924
00:46:59,770 --> 00:47:03,190
Or is there an
intentional ambiguity

925
00:47:03,190 --> 00:47:07,880
to ensure that we
assign equal blame?

926
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:10,690
Answers elude us.

927
00:47:10,690 --> 00:47:12,820
But in a way it does not matter.

928
00:47:12,820 --> 00:47:16,900
The Levite's concubine
is thrown to the wolves.

929
00:47:16,900 --> 00:47:19,060
The virgin daughter recedes from

930
00:47:19,060 --> 00:47:22,540
the episode and is
not spoken of again.

931
00:47:22,540 --> 00:47:25,615
It is the smallest of mercies.

932
00:47:25,615 --> 00:47:29,590
The gang rape goes on all night.

933
00:47:29,590 --> 00:47:32,560
In the morning the
despicable perpetrators

934
00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:36,040
toss aside their victim
as so much trash.

935
00:47:36,040 --> 00:47:40,600
Incredibly, the woman manages
after this atrocity to

936
00:47:40,600 --> 00:47:41,800
crawl back to the door of

937
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:45,310
the house where the men
folk are inside safe,

938
00:47:45,310 --> 00:47:47,860
sound, and completely
insulated from

939
00:47:47,860 --> 00:47:51,115
the barbarity in which
they had been complicit.

940
00:47:51,115 --> 00:47:54,280
Neither the Levite nor
his host were huddled at

941
00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:56,170
the door waiting for

942
00:47:56,170 --> 00:47:58,765
the first chance to
retrieve the woman.

943
00:47:58,765 --> 00:48:02,950
Instead, on that
dreadful morning,

944
00:48:02,950 --> 00:48:05,860
the woman's husband
got up and opened

945
00:48:05,860 --> 00:48:09,640
the doors in preparation for
continuing his journey home.

946
00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:11,680
It is as though
nothing out of the

947
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,705
ordinary had taken place.

948
00:48:13,705 --> 00:48:16,420
Instead of the blackest
of days that would

949
00:48:16,420 --> 00:48:19,390
live in biblical infamy.

950
00:48:19,390 --> 00:48:23,275
Did the Levite not know
what the old man had done?

951
00:48:23,275 --> 00:48:26,590
Could the husband have
been that obtuse?

952
00:48:26,590 --> 00:48:31,915
Had the old man been too
ashamed or afraid to tell him?

953
00:48:31,915 --> 00:48:34,030
What if it had been a Levite who

954
00:48:34,030 --> 00:48:35,980
shoved the woman outside?

955
00:48:35,980 --> 00:48:40,405
Had he and his host then
gone casually to bed?

956
00:48:40,405 --> 00:48:44,260
Did they have no
conscience whatsoever?

957
00:48:44,260 --> 00:48:49,345
These questions overwhelm us
as they cry out for answers.

958
00:48:49,345 --> 00:48:53,930
We are in the presence
of incalculable evil.

959
00:48:53,940 --> 00:48:56,050
At this point something

960
00:48:56,050 --> 00:48:57,940
happens that was
supposed to happen when

961
00:48:57,940 --> 00:49:01,810
the Levite first saw
his alienated spouse.

962
00:49:01,810 --> 00:49:05,665
The man at long last
speaks to his concubine,

963
00:49:05,665 --> 00:49:07,990
though certainly
not to her heart.

964
00:49:07,990 --> 00:49:10,120
Seeing her lying at the door,

965
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:13,495
gripping the threshold
the man coldly says,

966
00:49:13,495 --> 00:49:16,405
"Get up, let's go."

967
00:49:16,405 --> 00:49:19,240
An agonizing understatement.

968
00:49:19,240 --> 00:49:21,310
The narration says simply,

969
00:49:21,310 --> 00:49:23,380
there was no answer.

970
00:49:23,380 --> 00:49:25,480
As the journey resumes,

971
00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:27,250
the woman has become
little more than

972
00:49:27,250 --> 00:49:32,590
cargo as she is loaded on the
donkey for the return trip.

973
00:49:32,590 --> 00:49:36,520
Arriving home the man
grabs a knife and cuts

974
00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:40,075
up his concubine into 12 pieces.

975
00:49:40,075 --> 00:49:43,674
Each of these he sends
throughout Israel,

976
00:49:43,674 --> 00:49:47,635
one part for each
Israelite unit.

977
00:49:47,635 --> 00:49:51,310
While we are still reeling
from the lurid account and

978
00:49:51,310 --> 00:49:52,480
trying to deal with

979
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:55,525
the macabre dispersing
of the woman's body,

980
00:49:55,525 --> 00:49:58,270
something occurs to
us that makes us

981
00:49:58,270 --> 00:50:01,300
recoil to the depths
of our souls.

982
00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:03,910
We were never told that
the woman was already

983
00:50:03,910 --> 00:50:06,970
dead when the man butchered her.

984
00:50:06,970 --> 00:50:11,155
Shock overloads our
emotional ability

985
00:50:11,155 --> 00:50:15,355
to absorb this horrendous datum.

986
00:50:15,355 --> 00:50:18,760
The only mitigating
elements in this whole

987
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:22,045
sorted mess is
Israel's reaction.

988
00:50:22,045 --> 00:50:24,220
With a blanket statement we hear

989
00:50:24,220 --> 00:50:27,070
Israel lament that the savagery

990
00:50:27,070 --> 00:50:29,800
to which this
woman's divided body

991
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:33,265
testifies is unprecedented.

992
00:50:33,265 --> 00:50:37,435
There is no attempt to cover
up or to offer excuses,

993
00:50:37,435 --> 00:50:42,550
Israel is well aware that
they must respond decisively.

994
00:50:42,550 --> 00:50:44,920
As the story proceeds,

995
00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:46,765
it is no longer local.

996
00:50:46,765 --> 00:50:50,590
It involves more than a
couple, a father-in-law,

997
00:50:50,590 --> 00:50:52,225
a small traveling party,

998
00:50:52,225 --> 00:50:55,945
and an old man, a small
town and a gang of rapists.

999
00:50:55,945 --> 00:50:59,935
Israel as a whole is
now center stage.

1000
00:50:59,935 --> 00:51:01,900
The collective gathering is

1001
00:51:01,900 --> 00:51:05,365
boldly underscored
with redundancy.

1002
00:51:05,365 --> 00:51:08,500
Then every Israelite
went forth and

1003
00:51:08,500 --> 00:51:12,490
the congregation from
Dan to Beersheba,

1004
00:51:12,490 --> 00:51:17,740
and the land of Gibeah assembled
as one person at Mizpah.

1005
00:51:17,740 --> 00:51:20,515
The officers of all the people,

1006
00:51:20,515 --> 00:51:24,730
down to the last tribe
gathered in a congregation

1007
00:51:24,730 --> 00:51:29,200
of God's people, including
400,000 infantry.

1008
00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:31,750
This cluster of
words and phrases

1009
00:51:31,750 --> 00:51:34,480
could not more
emphatically juxtapose

1010
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,030
Israel as a single entity

1011
00:51:37,030 --> 00:51:40,660
over against one of
its constituent parts.

1012
00:51:40,660 --> 00:51:42,730
The phrasing prompts us to

1013
00:51:42,730 --> 00:51:45,475
reconfigure the first
part of the story.

1014
00:51:45,475 --> 00:51:47,950
Looking back we realize that in

1015
00:51:47,950 --> 00:51:54,385
each successive scene,
greater division obtains.

1016
00:51:54,385 --> 00:51:57,040
First a married
couple separates,

1017
00:51:57,040 --> 00:51:59,800
then division affects
the woman's family

1018
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:02,440
during the five day
feasting frenzy.

1019
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,830
There is a divide between
an Israelite town and

1020
00:52:05,830 --> 00:52:08,260
Israelite warfares made all the

1021
00:52:08,260 --> 00:52:11,035
more conspicuous by
the old man's role.

1022
00:52:11,035 --> 00:52:13,090
The worst division
of all was between

1023
00:52:13,090 --> 00:52:15,160
the folk who thought
they were safe in

1024
00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:16,810
the old man's home and the

1025
00:52:16,810 --> 00:52:19,570
townsmen who acted
so abominably.

1026
00:52:19,570 --> 00:52:23,680
All of these divisions are
subsequently repressed in

1027
00:52:23,680 --> 00:52:25,840
a most gasoline manner when

1028
00:52:25,840 --> 00:52:28,570
the Levite dismembers
his concubine.

1029
00:52:28,570 --> 00:52:33,280
Ironically, it is this
last gruesome division

1030
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:34,855
that is the catalyst for

1031
00:52:34,855 --> 00:52:38,365
Israel's collective
communal appearance.

1032
00:52:38,365 --> 00:52:40,510
At the breaking point,

1033
00:52:40,510 --> 00:52:43,615
the many has become one.

1034
00:52:43,615 --> 00:52:46,390
There is a twist, however,

1035
00:52:46,390 --> 00:52:49,360
Israel is not quite one.

1036
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:53,650
Benjamin whose town offered
atrocity rather than

1037
00:52:53,650 --> 00:52:58,060
hospitality is not included
in the Israelite gathering,

1038
00:52:58,060 --> 00:53:01,735
even though they too
assembled at Mizpah.

1039
00:53:01,735 --> 00:53:03,490
At one level, this is

1040
00:53:03,490 --> 00:53:06,205
a dislocation in the
narrative structure.

1041
00:53:06,205 --> 00:53:08,260
At another level, Benjamin is in

1042
00:53:08,260 --> 00:53:10,405
a position to overhear Israel

1043
00:53:10,405 --> 00:53:15,430
questioning the Levite as a
prelude to exerting justice.

1044
00:53:15,430 --> 00:53:18,700
No matter how unified
Israel appears to be,

1045
00:53:18,700 --> 00:53:21,775
its sins are showing.

1046
00:53:21,775 --> 00:53:26,155
With Benjamin we get to
over hear the Levite.

1047
00:53:26,155 --> 00:53:28,180
When Israel asks him,

1048
00:53:28,180 --> 00:53:31,240
how did this evil thing happen?

1049
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,330
The man tells the awful story,

1050
00:53:34,330 --> 00:53:38,245
though he spends it
to exonerate himself.

1051
00:53:38,245 --> 00:53:40,390
He acknowledges that he and

1052
00:53:40,390 --> 00:53:43,150
his concubine
arrived at Gibeah to

1053
00:53:43,150 --> 00:53:45,760
spend the night and then
some of Gibeah's men folk

1054
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:48,205
attempted to get their
clutches on him,

1055
00:53:48,205 --> 00:53:51,775
but settled on brutalizing
his concubine.

1056
00:53:51,775 --> 00:53:54,400
However, he deflects
any criticism.

1057
00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:57,415
He omits the part
about the old man,

1058
00:53:57,415 --> 00:53:59,890
including the offer of women,

1059
00:53:59,890 --> 00:54:01,840
nor is he forthcoming about how

1060
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:04,330
the concubine ended up outside.

1061
00:54:04,330 --> 00:54:06,610
Even more telling, he lets

1062
00:54:06,610 --> 00:54:09,160
on that the woman
died during the rape,

1063
00:54:09,160 --> 00:54:12,940
something which the
narration does not confirm.

1064
00:54:12,940 --> 00:54:15,940
He does tell the truth
about the dismemberment,

1065
00:54:15,940 --> 00:54:18,520
and he actually refers to
the deed as wanton and

1066
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:22,225
folly as he demands
redress of grievance.

1067
00:54:22,225 --> 00:54:26,770
Still, not even the man
self-serving testimony keeps

1068
00:54:26,770 --> 00:54:32,065
you and me from wanting these
thugs to get their due.

1069
00:54:32,065 --> 00:54:36,340
A measure of sanity is
injected as Israel resolves

1070
00:54:36,340 --> 00:54:40,360
to make the administration
of justice their priority.

1071
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:43,599
The action remains
on Israel's unity.

1072
00:54:43,599 --> 00:54:45,715
The Levite had alluded to it,

1073
00:54:45,715 --> 00:54:49,195
since you are all
Israelites, he had said.

1074
00:54:49,195 --> 00:54:51,610
Then later they rose as

1075
00:54:51,610 --> 00:54:54,835
a single person to
declare their intentions.

1076
00:54:54,835 --> 00:54:56,650
Finally yet later,

1077
00:54:56,650 --> 00:54:58,720
all the Israelites
deployed against

1078
00:54:58,720 --> 00:55:01,645
the city united as
a single person.

1079
00:55:01,645 --> 00:55:04,060
With a spotlight on unity,

1080
00:55:04,060 --> 00:55:06,820
the story clarifies
that the punishment

1081
00:55:06,820 --> 00:55:10,475
Israel has devised
is proportion.

1082
00:55:10,475 --> 00:55:13,275
While deployed against Gibeah,

1083
00:55:13,275 --> 00:55:15,780
Israel sends
representatives throughout

1084
00:55:15,780 --> 00:55:19,205
Benjamin to request that they
hand over the guilty party.

1085
00:55:19,205 --> 00:55:21,205
The penalty is harsh,

1086
00:55:21,205 --> 00:55:25,119
death, but only the
perpetrators are targeted.

1087
00:55:25,119 --> 00:55:27,460
If Benjamin complies,

1088
00:55:27,460 --> 00:55:30,804
not only will the appropriate
punishment be applied,

1089
00:55:30,804 --> 00:55:34,120
but Israel's unity will
be further strengthened.

1090
00:55:34,120 --> 00:55:39,145
After all, Benjamin is an
integral part of Israel.

1091
00:55:39,145 --> 00:55:40,765
Tragically,

1092
00:55:40,765 --> 00:55:45,310
Benjamin responds tribally
rather than communally.

1093
00:55:45,310 --> 00:55:48,505
Regardless of the
relationship to Israel,

1094
00:55:48,505 --> 00:55:52,195
Benjamin refuses the
community's demand.

1095
00:55:52,195 --> 00:55:56,040
Sadly, Benjamin has
sided with the criminals

1096
00:55:56,040 --> 00:56:00,749
for no other reason than that
they are Benjamin nights.

1097
00:56:00,749 --> 00:56:04,050
Benjamin's insular actions not

1098
00:56:04,050 --> 00:56:07,565
withstanding Israel persists
in doing the right thing.

1099
00:56:07,565 --> 00:56:09,850
To be sure Benjamin's behavior

1100
00:56:09,850 --> 00:56:12,055
has made the task
more difficult,

1101
00:56:12,055 --> 00:56:14,020
but surely God will stand with

1102
00:56:14,020 --> 00:56:16,975
the administrators of
justice in this instance.

1103
00:56:16,975 --> 00:56:21,055
In fact, even though Benjamin
is hopelessly outnumbered,

1104
00:56:21,055 --> 00:56:24,040
Israel still elicits God's help.

1105
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,500
For the first time
in this story,

1106
00:56:26,500 --> 00:56:29,605
someone decides to consult God.

1107
00:56:29,605 --> 00:56:32,080
It is about time.

1108
00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:36,295
As adverse to any more
violence as we might be,

1109
00:56:36,295 --> 00:56:40,330
we are hardly conflicted
that Israel represents the

1110
00:56:40,330 --> 00:56:45,025
good over against
the Benjaminite bad.

1111
00:56:45,025 --> 00:56:48,070
Apparently, the Lord agrees.

1112
00:56:48,070 --> 00:56:52,480
For the deity answers
Israel's question about who

1113
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:57,490
should engage Benjamin first
with the words Judah first.

1114
00:56:57,490 --> 00:57:01,345
The outcome is all
but guaranteed.

1115
00:57:01,345 --> 00:57:04,720
But we are wrong. For Benjamin

1116
00:57:04,720 --> 00:57:07,585
decisively wins the encounter.

1117
00:57:07,585 --> 00:57:10,330
This makes no sense.

1118
00:57:10,330 --> 00:57:12,040
What could

1119
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:15,205
possibly justify
Benjamin's victory?

1120
00:57:15,205 --> 00:57:19,165
Plus, what are we to make
of the Lord's instruction?

1121
00:57:19,165 --> 00:57:22,300
No answers present
themselves before there is

1122
00:57:22,300 --> 00:57:25,585
a second battle with
the same outcome.

1123
00:57:25,585 --> 00:57:28,600
Israel suffered fewer
casualties this time

1124
00:57:28,600 --> 00:57:31,990
around but was nevertheless
soundly beaten.

1125
00:57:31,990 --> 00:57:34,975
Adding insult to this injury,

1126
00:57:34,975 --> 00:57:37,930
prior to this
ignominious outcome,

1127
00:57:37,930 --> 00:57:42,040
Israel had pled with God
weeping all day and into

1128
00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:44,140
the evening before inquiring of

1129
00:57:44,140 --> 00:57:47,065
God whether to engage Benjamin.

1130
00:57:47,065 --> 00:57:49,735
There is no mistaking
the Lord's answer,

1131
00:57:49,735 --> 00:57:51,505
"Go up against them."

1132
00:57:51,505 --> 00:57:54,985
Was Almighty God teasing Israel?

1133
00:57:54,985 --> 00:57:57,700
Had God become a jokester?

1134
00:57:57,700 --> 00:58:00,910
Was a holy and righteous
God willing to allow

1135
00:58:00,910 --> 00:58:04,615
the men of Gibeon
to go unpunished?

1136
00:58:04,615 --> 00:58:08,020
The answers to these troubling
questions emerged when

1137
00:58:08,020 --> 00:58:11,755
Israel approaches the
Lord for the third time.

1138
00:58:11,755 --> 00:58:14,860
Only then do we
realize that there has

1139
00:58:14,860 --> 00:58:17,965
been a pattern in
the approach to God.

1140
00:58:17,965 --> 00:58:21,640
One revealing that
Israel as a whole

1141
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:26,530
has forgotten how to
communicate with their deity.

1142
00:58:26,530 --> 00:58:29,725
The first time
Israel sought God,

1143
00:58:29,725 --> 00:58:35,200
they got up and went to
God's house and asked, "God,

1144
00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:38,470
going to a temple is
appropriate enough,

1145
00:58:38,470 --> 00:58:41,710
but Israel uses the generic God

1146
00:58:41,710 --> 00:58:47,270
instead of the specific
Lord in their request."

1147
00:58:47,640 --> 00:58:50,950
All the Lord says in response to

1148
00:58:50,950 --> 00:58:55,010
this request is, "Judah first."

1149
00:58:55,010 --> 00:58:56,940
Nothing about who would win.

1150
00:58:56,940 --> 00:58:59,640
The reason why that

1151
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:02,340
is a worrisome answer would
be clear momentarily.

1152
00:59:02,340 --> 00:59:04,960
The second time

1153
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:06,970
Israel brought
inquires to the deity,

1154
00:59:06,970 --> 00:59:09,430
there are approaches
preceded by weeping

1155
00:59:09,430 --> 00:59:13,105
before the Lord all day
and into the evening.

1156
00:59:13,105 --> 00:59:14,680
This appears to signal

1157
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:17,050
an increase in
Israel's openness to

1158
00:59:17,050 --> 00:59:21,445
the Lord and not simply God.

1159
00:59:21,445 --> 00:59:23,890
In addition to weeping
before the Lord,

1160
00:59:23,890 --> 00:59:27,230
they direct their questions
to the Lord as well.

1161
00:59:27,230 --> 00:59:31,155
Also, instead of asking
who should deploy first,

1162
00:59:31,155 --> 00:59:33,645
they asked whether we,

1163
00:59:33,645 --> 00:59:35,280
meaning all of Israel,

1164
00:59:35,280 --> 00:59:37,474
should march against Benjamin.

1165
00:59:37,474 --> 00:59:41,155
The Lord says in effect, "Yes."

1166
00:59:41,155 --> 00:59:44,230
Once more, however,
God's response

1167
00:59:44,230 --> 00:59:49,045
is confusing in light of
Israel's second reversal.

1168
00:59:49,045 --> 00:59:52,330
The third time Israel
approaches the Lord,

1169
00:59:52,330 --> 00:59:54,009
the mystery is solved.

1170
00:59:54,009 --> 00:59:57,235
On this go around
the whole of Israel,

1171
00:59:57,235 --> 01:00:00,190
all Israel and all
the troops goes

1172
01:00:00,190 --> 01:00:03,385
up to God's house
where they weep,

1173
01:00:03,385 --> 01:00:05,170
sit before the Lord,

1174
01:00:05,170 --> 01:00:08,785
fast, present offerings
before the Lord.

1175
01:00:08,785 --> 01:00:11,950
Israel has their
liturgical, religious,

1176
01:00:11,950 --> 01:00:13,735
and theological house in

1177
01:00:13,735 --> 01:00:17,305
order when they approached
the Lord this third time.

1178
01:00:17,305 --> 01:00:19,225
Not surprisingly,

1179
01:00:19,225 --> 01:00:22,885
the Lord's answer on this
occasion is more fulsome,

1180
01:00:22,885 --> 01:00:28,255
"Go up for tomorrow I will
give them into your hand."

1181
01:00:28,255 --> 01:00:31,450
That response recalls Judges 1.

1182
01:00:31,450 --> 01:00:34,420
When Israel for the
very first time asked

1183
01:00:34,420 --> 01:00:38,155
the Lord who should deploy
first against the Canaanites.

1184
01:00:38,155 --> 01:00:40,240
The answer then was,

1185
01:00:40,240 --> 01:00:43,615
"Judah should go up
for I have given

1186
01:00:43,615 --> 01:00:47,500
the land into his hand."

1187
01:00:47,500 --> 01:00:52,375
There follows a string
of Israelite victories.

1188
01:00:52,375 --> 01:00:54,115
As it turns out,

1189
01:00:54,115 --> 01:00:57,505
all Israel had been
neglectful of the Lord,

1190
01:00:57,505 --> 01:00:59,470
such that it took a
while before they

1191
01:00:59,470 --> 01:01:01,555
could appeal to
their God properly

1192
01:01:01,555 --> 01:01:06,005
or recall how they used
to hear the divine voice.

1193
01:01:06,005 --> 01:01:07,365
In that state,

1194
01:01:07,365 --> 01:01:10,440
even the solemn task of
administering justice to

1195
01:01:10,440 --> 01:01:14,905
a renegade rabble in their
midst had been delayed.

1196
01:01:14,905 --> 01:01:17,140
Finally, Israel is able to be

1197
01:01:17,140 --> 01:01:20,470
an instrument of judgment
and justice in God's hands.

1198
01:01:20,470 --> 01:01:22,690
Benjamin now receives its just

1199
01:01:22,690 --> 01:01:25,490
do for protecting
those awful men.

1200
01:01:25,490 --> 01:01:28,620
So much carnage could
have been avoided had

1201
01:01:28,620 --> 01:01:30,150
Benjamin been reasonable from

1202
01:01:30,150 --> 01:01:32,715
the beginning by turning
over the guilty.

1203
01:01:32,715 --> 01:01:35,250
A truly unified
Israel would not have

1204
01:01:35,250 --> 01:01:38,324
been so badly rent asunder.

1205
01:01:38,324 --> 01:01:40,410
Benjamin has caused

1206
01:01:40,410 --> 01:01:44,640
a catastrophically deep
division of God's people.

1207
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:47,610
Israel didn't help
matters and with

1208
01:01:47,610 --> 01:01:51,580
her inability to
approach and hear God.

1209
01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:55,420
Though difficult to imagine,

1210
01:01:55,420 --> 01:01:57,400
the situation gets worse.

1211
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:01,300
We discover that

1212
01:02:01,300 --> 01:02:03,970
prior to the move
against Benjamin,

1213
01:02:03,970 --> 01:02:06,730
Israel had vowed not to allow

1214
01:02:06,730 --> 01:02:09,590
their daughters to
marry Benjaminites.

1215
01:02:09,590 --> 01:02:11,760
While this pledge was perfectly

1216
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:14,625
understandable given
the circumstances,

1217
01:02:14,625 --> 01:02:16,980
the unintended
consequence is that

1218
01:02:16,980 --> 01:02:20,195
Benjamin now stood on
the brink of extinction.

1219
01:02:20,195 --> 01:02:25,870
Only 600 Benjaminite males
remained after their defeat.

1220
01:02:25,870 --> 01:02:28,540
The oath would now prevent
the Benjaminites from

1221
01:02:28,540 --> 01:02:31,750
rebuilding their tribe
with Israelite women.

1222
01:02:31,750 --> 01:02:34,090
Foreign women were
not an option.

1223
01:02:34,090 --> 01:02:36,970
Once again, Israel
weeps bitterly before

1224
01:02:36,970 --> 01:02:39,879
God at God's house
as they plaintively

1225
01:02:39,879 --> 01:02:43,030
asked the Lord how it could've
happened that they are

1226
01:02:43,030 --> 01:02:46,675
on the verge of being
bereft of an entire tribe.

1227
01:02:46,675 --> 01:02:50,665
Israel had set out to
purge one small group of

1228
01:02:50,665 --> 01:02:52,660
evildoers but ended up

1229
01:02:52,660 --> 01:02:55,915
inadvertently endangering
a whole tribe.

1230
01:02:55,915 --> 01:02:57,700
Equally ironic,

1231
01:02:57,700 --> 01:03:00,640
Benjamin had responded
tribal leader preserve

1232
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:03,160
themselves an action that

1233
01:03:03,160 --> 01:03:06,685
had exactly the opposite effect.

1234
01:03:06,685 --> 01:03:09,250
Israel's solution to the dilemma

1235
01:03:09,250 --> 01:03:11,770
derives from the realization
that the town of

1236
01:03:11,770 --> 01:03:15,100
Jabesh-Gilead had
not participated

1237
01:03:15,100 --> 01:03:17,245
in Israel's effort
against Benjamin.

1238
01:03:17,245 --> 01:03:19,045
A stroke of luck.

1239
01:03:19,045 --> 01:03:22,030
This is bad news in
that it chose Israel

1240
01:03:22,030 --> 01:03:24,850
had not been as unified
as for a start,

1241
01:03:24,850 --> 01:03:29,185
but good news and that these
folk had not taken the oath.

1242
01:03:29,185 --> 01:03:33,250
However, Jabesh-Gilead's
non-participation

1243
01:03:33,250 --> 01:03:34,510
in such a violation of

1244
01:03:34,510 --> 01:03:38,080
Israelite unity was such that

1245
01:03:38,080 --> 01:03:41,875
now they were subject to
the band or prescription,

1246
01:03:41,875 --> 01:03:43,960
something to the which
the Canaanites as

1247
01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:47,245
a whole were liable in
the Book of Joshua.

1248
01:03:47,245 --> 01:03:50,320
Like the Canaanites,
the population of

1249
01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:54,145
Jabesh-Gilead now
suffers the same fate.

1250
01:03:54,145 --> 01:03:57,820
Once again, the effects
of Israel's disunity

1251
01:03:57,820 --> 01:04:02,425
cannot be contained as a
whole town is eliminated.

1252
01:04:02,425 --> 01:04:04,930
The only ones who are spared are

1253
01:04:04,930 --> 01:04:07,510
400 virgins who may

1254
01:04:07,510 --> 01:04:11,810
now be married off to the
remaining Benjaminite men.

1255
01:04:12,090 --> 01:04:16,150
While we are still trying
to grasp our breath at

1256
01:04:16,150 --> 01:04:18,880
an Israelite action that
wipes out of town to

1257
01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:22,210
save a tribe but there is
another bizarre twist.

1258
01:04:22,210 --> 01:04:24,430
Benjamin is 200 women

1259
01:04:24,430 --> 01:04:27,040
shy of having enough
Israelite wives.

1260
01:04:27,040 --> 01:04:33,115
For reasons that
pass understanding,

1261
01:04:33,115 --> 01:04:35,890
no one seems to think
that Benjamin could

1262
01:04:35,890 --> 01:04:38,620
have started over
with 400 couples.

1263
01:04:38,620 --> 01:04:41,470
Ross,

1264
01:04:41,470 --> 01:04:43,810
they didn't do very well in
your biology class either.

1265
01:04:43,810 --> 01:04:49,600
Somehow 600 were requisite.

1266
01:04:49,600 --> 01:04:53,800
If this is not a gothic
tail, it should be.

1267
01:04:53,800 --> 01:04:57,730
What Israel concocts

1268
01:04:57,730 --> 01:05:01,630
to make up for this shortfall
is patently absurd.

1269
01:05:01,630 --> 01:05:04,030
It so happens that

1270
01:05:04,030 --> 01:05:07,645
an annual religious feast
at Shiloh is underway.

1271
01:05:07,645 --> 01:05:09,925
A feast means celebration,

1272
01:05:09,925 --> 01:05:13,420
and celebration means
dancing maidens.

1273
01:05:13,420 --> 01:05:17,590
By the way,

1274
01:05:17,590 --> 01:05:20,740
I've told my students for
years that this text is

1275
01:05:20,740 --> 01:05:22,480
precisely why Seattle Pacific

1276
01:05:22,480 --> 01:05:23,890
has been against this thing.

1277
01:05:23,890 --> 01:05:36,640
We needed a little
levity at this point.

1278
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:39,550
Israel, therefore,

1279
01:05:39,550 --> 01:05:43,000
instructs the remaining
wifeless Benjaminites

1280
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:44,995
to hide out in the vineyards

1281
01:05:44,995 --> 01:05:47,215
until the dancing women appear.

1282
01:05:47,215 --> 01:05:49,795
When the moment is opportune,

1283
01:05:49,795 --> 01:05:52,030
the men are to seize any women

1284
01:05:52,030 --> 01:05:54,625
to their liking and
make off with them.

1285
01:05:54,625 --> 01:05:57,820
Should brothers or
fathers complain,

1286
01:05:57,820 --> 01:06:01,420
Israel will justify
this brazen behavior

1287
01:06:01,420 --> 01:06:05,305
with the most ridiculous
of justifications namely,

1288
01:06:05,305 --> 01:06:07,990
that at least the
Benjaminites did not spear

1289
01:06:07,990 --> 01:06:11,140
the women away in a
military confrontation.

1290
01:06:11,140 --> 01:06:14,590
Israel will also explain
that they did not have

1291
01:06:14,590 --> 01:06:18,220
enough women to supply
Benjamin and as a bonus,

1292
01:06:18,220 --> 01:06:20,110
the folk at Shiloh cannot be

1293
01:06:20,110 --> 01:06:23,110
charged with violating
the oath about not

1294
01:06:23,110 --> 01:06:25,480
giving daughters to the
Benjaminites because

1295
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:28,090
the women were in fact
stolen rather than given.

1296
01:06:28,090 --> 01:06:32,140
Is there any part

1297
01:06:32,140 --> 01:06:33,370
of that you don't understand?

1298
01:06:33,370 --> 01:06:37,090
This would be

1299
01:06:37,090 --> 01:06:39,865
hilarious if it
were not so tragic.

1300
01:06:39,865 --> 01:06:42,730
The Benjaminites
follow their orders,

1301
01:06:42,730 --> 01:06:46,495
steal their wives, and
the tribe is saved.

1302
01:06:46,495 --> 01:06:49,435
The story concludes as it began,

1303
01:06:49,435 --> 01:06:52,239
except that in light of
the episode's content,

1304
01:06:52,239 --> 01:06:55,285
it is fitting that the
full formula be cited.

1305
01:06:55,285 --> 01:06:58,405
In those days there
was no king in Israel.

1306
01:06:58,405 --> 01:07:02,569
Everyone did what was
right in their own eyes.

1307
01:07:02,790 --> 01:07:06,160
In light of this
formulated framing,

1308
01:07:06,160 --> 01:07:08,020
the interpretive
implications for

1309
01:07:08,020 --> 01:07:10,345
this episode seem
straightforward.

1310
01:07:10,345 --> 01:07:12,460
Without a monarchy,
history will be

1311
01:07:12,460 --> 01:07:14,200
prone to other
incidents in which

1312
01:07:14,200 --> 01:07:15,970
the social fabric is ripped to

1313
01:07:15,970 --> 01:07:20,065
shreds because of the
unrestrained depravity of a few.

1314
01:07:20,065 --> 01:07:22,120
A unified Israel would be

1315
01:07:22,120 --> 01:07:24,700
immune from dark
moments like this one,

1316
01:07:24,700 --> 01:07:28,270
but unity requires a king.

1317
01:07:28,270 --> 01:07:31,120
Had the crowns soldiers
been patrolling,

1318
01:07:31,120 --> 01:07:33,670
Gibeon streets that awful night,

1319
01:07:33,670 --> 01:07:35,650
none of this would've happened.

1320
01:07:35,650 --> 01:07:37,779
When crimes were committed,

1321
01:07:37,779 --> 01:07:41,530
swift and severe royal
justice would punish

1322
01:07:41,530 --> 01:07:43,510
the offenders and act as

1323
01:07:43,510 --> 01:07:47,465
a debt deterrent for
future miscreants.

1324
01:07:47,465 --> 01:07:52,110
Monarchies have flows but
they promote stability.

1325
01:07:52,110 --> 01:07:55,800
Surely law and order would
be preferable to what was

1326
01:07:55,800 --> 01:07:59,780
witnessed at Gibeon and
its awful aftermath.

1327
01:07:59,780 --> 01:08:02,320
Affirming this analysis,

1328
01:08:02,320 --> 01:08:06,670
ideological critics argue that
stories like the one found

1329
01:08:06,670 --> 01:08:10,555
in Judges 19-21 were
written to convince

1330
01:08:10,555 --> 01:08:13,030
Israelites that a
strong monarchy was

1331
01:08:13,030 --> 01:08:16,465
necessary to avoid social chaos.

1332
01:08:16,465 --> 01:08:18,190
The reasoning goes that

1333
01:08:18,190 --> 01:08:20,620
no sensible Israelite would

1334
01:08:20,620 --> 01:08:22,885
be more frightened
of the royal court

1335
01:08:22,885 --> 01:08:25,900
than situations in which
Israelites are left

1336
01:08:25,900 --> 01:08:29,754
to tear themselves asunder
without restraint.

1337
01:08:29,754 --> 01:08:33,310
The ideological critics
may have a point,

1338
01:08:33,310 --> 01:08:37,240
but Judges 19-21 no longer is

1339
01:08:37,240 --> 01:08:39,280
an isolated narrative with

1340
01:08:39,280 --> 01:08:42,190
a singular sociopolitical
application.

1341
01:08:42,190 --> 01:08:45,025
The story is now part of Judges,

1342
01:08:45,025 --> 01:08:47,200
which is part of
former prophets,

1343
01:08:47,200 --> 01:08:49,210
which is part of
the Old Testament,

1344
01:08:49,210 --> 01:08:51,565
which is part of
Christian scripture,

1345
01:08:51,565 --> 01:08:54,355
which consists of Old
and New Testaments.

1346
01:08:54,355 --> 01:08:57,475
That canonical arrangement
alters everything.

1347
01:08:57,475 --> 01:08:59,680
It changes the way we interpret

1348
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:02,200
the last three
chapters of Judges,

1349
01:09:02,200 --> 01:09:06,235
and it changes the way
we interpret kinship.

1350
01:09:06,235 --> 01:09:09,400
Relative to the Old
Testament contexts,

1351
01:09:09,400 --> 01:09:11,725
two things need to
be kept in mind;

1352
01:09:11,725 --> 01:09:14,170
one is that Israel is depicted

1353
01:09:14,170 --> 01:09:16,570
as either divided
or threatened with

1354
01:09:16,570 --> 01:09:19,405
division ever since entering

1355
01:09:19,405 --> 01:09:22,615
into a covenant
relationship with the Lord.

1356
01:09:22,615 --> 01:09:27,340
For example, Joshua 22
recounts the time when

1357
01:09:27,340 --> 01:09:30,190
the whole assembly of the
people of Israel gathered at

1358
01:09:30,190 --> 01:09:33,220
Shiloh to square off
against Reuben, Gad,

1359
01:09:33,220 --> 01:09:35,320
and the Transjordanian half of

1360
01:09:35,320 --> 01:09:38,260
Manasseh over the
building of an altar that

1361
01:09:38,260 --> 01:09:40,900
the larger segment
of Israel feared was

1362
01:09:40,900 --> 01:09:42,370
idolatrous and would bring

1363
01:09:42,370 --> 01:09:44,515
divine judgment on
the whole nation.

1364
01:09:44,515 --> 01:09:46,990
But the Transjordanian group

1365
01:09:46,990 --> 01:09:50,425
insisted that their altar
was not only not idolatrous,

1366
01:09:50,425 --> 01:09:53,260
but was erected
expressly to prevent

1367
01:09:53,260 --> 01:09:58,360
a permanent division in
Israel and to maintain

1368
01:09:58,360 --> 01:10:01,540
unity in spite of the fact
that the larger group and

1369
01:10:01,540 --> 01:10:03,460
the smaller group were separated

1370
01:10:03,460 --> 01:10:07,250
literally and
symbolically by a river.

1371
01:10:07,380 --> 01:10:10,510
Israel was badly
divided also when

1372
01:10:10,510 --> 01:10:12,910
Abimelech the son of Gideon pits

1373
01:10:12,910 --> 01:10:15,280
one portion of Israel
against the other by

1374
01:10:15,280 --> 01:10:18,115
unilaterally installing
himself as king,

1375
01:10:18,115 --> 01:10:20,230
a position based entirely on

1376
01:10:20,230 --> 01:10:23,320
fracture side and intimidation.

1377
01:10:23,320 --> 01:10:26,200
Presumably in the
first instance,

1378
01:10:26,200 --> 01:10:28,795
Israel would have avoided
the misunderstanding

1379
01:10:28,795 --> 01:10:32,125
had there been centralized
monarchical control.

1380
01:10:32,125 --> 01:10:33,670
In the second instance,

1381
01:10:33,670 --> 01:10:35,470
the blame should be
placed squarely on

1382
01:10:35,470 --> 01:10:39,915
Abimelech's twisted thinking
and despicable tactics.

1383
01:10:39,915 --> 01:10:42,090
That's the formula which framed

1384
01:10:42,090 --> 01:10:44,760
the concubine story and
the previous account.

1385
01:10:44,760 --> 01:10:48,320
Could still be credited
with making a valid point.

1386
01:10:48,320 --> 01:10:53,110
But given the way the story
of Israel's monarchy unfolds,

1387
01:10:53,110 --> 01:10:55,255
we have to rethink the matter.

1388
01:10:55,255 --> 01:10:59,590
The unpalatable fact
is this: Not only was

1389
01:10:59,590 --> 01:11:01,960
Israel's monarchy
unable to maintain

1390
01:11:01,960 --> 01:11:05,710
Israel's unity throughout
former prophets,

1391
01:11:05,710 --> 01:11:06,940
it is accused of being

1392
01:11:06,940 --> 01:11:11,260
the main cause of
Israel's divided state.

1393
01:11:11,260 --> 01:11:15,205
Israel enjoyed only
a precarious unity

1394
01:11:15,205 --> 01:11:18,940
during the relatively brief
periods of Saul and David.

1395
01:11:18,940 --> 01:11:21,790
Solomon, the third king,

1396
01:11:21,790 --> 01:11:25,150
was the last to rule a united
Israel and the one most

1397
01:11:25,150 --> 01:11:29,065
responsible for the schism
under his son Rehoboam,

1398
01:11:29,065 --> 01:11:31,585
from which the community
never recovered.

1399
01:11:31,585 --> 01:11:33,565
Post-Rehoboam,

1400
01:11:33,565 --> 01:11:38,395
Israel's most market
characteristic is division.

1401
01:11:38,395 --> 01:11:41,230
The prominence of
this division is what

1402
01:11:41,230 --> 01:11:43,720
led many Christian
interpreters to

1403
01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:48,790
see a fractured Christian
church as figured by Israel.

1404
01:11:48,790 --> 01:11:51,850
Indeed, what would have been
more natural than seeing

1405
01:11:51,850 --> 01:11:54,220
the church's various
divisions as

1406
01:11:54,220 --> 01:11:57,325
mirroring those of God's
biblical community.

1407
01:11:57,325 --> 01:12:01,420
But an interpretive mood along
these lines, while Cogen,

1408
01:12:01,420 --> 01:12:02,890
from one perspective,

1409
01:12:02,890 --> 01:12:05,860
has an inherent
difficulty from another.

1410
01:12:05,860 --> 01:12:09,220
The problem involves
a theological stance

1411
01:12:09,220 --> 01:12:11,125
in which by definition,

1412
01:12:11,125 --> 01:12:13,000
the church cannot experience

1413
01:12:13,000 --> 01:12:17,395
true disunity because it
is the body of Christ.

1414
01:12:17,395 --> 01:12:21,505
Christ's body can only
be one body, not many.

1415
01:12:21,505 --> 01:12:25,389
Cyprian argued that a
high just torn cloak,

1416
01:12:25,389 --> 01:12:27,010
height was the
prophet that toward

1417
01:12:27,010 --> 01:12:31,180
his globe robe in symbolism
of the divided kingdom.

1418
01:12:31,180 --> 01:12:33,340
That height is torn cloak,

1419
01:12:33,340 --> 01:12:36,490
which symbolize the rending
of Israel into two,

1420
01:12:36,490 --> 01:12:40,255
could not be figuratively
transferred to the church.

1421
01:12:40,255 --> 01:12:42,610
The more apt figure
for the church he

1422
01:12:42,610 --> 01:12:46,705
insisted was Jesus seamless rob,

1423
01:12:46,705 --> 01:12:50,485
and the soldiers
refusal to tear it.

1424
01:12:50,485 --> 01:12:53,950
Such a view of the
church's unity

1425
01:12:53,950 --> 01:12:57,160
reflecting nothing less than
the unity of the triune in

1426
01:12:57,160 --> 01:12:59,830
God either requires one to use

1427
01:12:59,830 --> 01:13:02,260
Israel's division as a figure

1428
01:13:02,260 --> 01:13:05,050
for another disunity or more

1429
01:13:05,050 --> 01:13:09,100
commonly to see Israel's
division as a characteristic

1430
01:13:09,100 --> 01:13:13,990
of a riff between a true
and a false church.

1431
01:13:13,990 --> 01:13:17,380
This line of reasoning
led to identifying

1432
01:13:17,380 --> 01:13:21,220
one segment of the
church as true Israel,

1433
01:13:21,220 --> 01:13:24,520
my group, and

1434
01:13:24,520 --> 01:13:27,790
the other as apostate
Israel, your group.

1435
01:13:27,790 --> 01:13:30,475
Typically,

1436
01:13:30,475 --> 01:13:33,114
Judah was associated
with the former,

1437
01:13:33,114 --> 01:13:34,840
especially given its ties with

1438
01:13:34,840 --> 01:13:37,795
David and Israel
with the latter.

1439
01:13:37,795 --> 01:13:40,495
Calvin, for instance,

1440
01:13:40,495 --> 01:13:44,260
viewed the doctrine of
transubstantiation as

1441
01:13:44,260 --> 01:13:48,835
comparable to the golden
calves erected by Jeroboam,

1442
01:13:48,835 --> 01:13:52,555
Israel's first king
after the Great Rift.

1443
01:13:52,555 --> 01:13:56,290
As bad as Rehoboam
Judah's first king was,

1444
01:13:56,290 --> 01:13:59,245
he was still in the
Davidic line, after all,

1445
01:13:59,245 --> 01:14:01,540
Calvin concluded from this that

1446
01:14:01,540 --> 01:14:04,405
Rome had cut herself
off from God's people,

1447
01:14:04,405 --> 01:14:06,325
as figured by Judah,

1448
01:14:06,325 --> 01:14:10,720
and cannot be
reformed, only fled.

1449
01:14:10,720 --> 01:14:12,820
As one might imagine,

1450
01:14:12,820 --> 01:14:15,475
and the charged atmosphere
of the reformation,

1451
01:14:15,475 --> 01:14:17,230
there were numerous folk who saw

1452
01:14:17,230 --> 01:14:19,524
themselves as the true church,

1453
01:14:19,524 --> 01:14:21,875
identified with David Judah,

1454
01:14:21,875 --> 01:14:23,670
whereas their apostate and

1455
01:14:23,670 --> 01:14:25,695
heretical opponents represented

1456
01:14:25,695 --> 01:14:30,455
an idolatrous non-Davidic
Israel under judgment.

1457
01:14:30,455 --> 01:14:34,060
However, this will
not work biblically.

1458
01:14:34,060 --> 01:14:38,605
The Judah Israel dichotomy
is easy to challenge.

1459
01:14:38,605 --> 01:14:42,400
For David's dynasty under
Solomon was condemned by

1460
01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:47,845
the Lord and torn apart at
the deities' instigation.

1461
01:14:47,845 --> 01:14:50,140
Further, all of

1462
01:14:50,140 --> 01:14:54,205
Solomon's adversaries were
raised up by the Lord,

1463
01:14:54,205 --> 01:14:58,720
who additionally sent the
Prophet Elijah to announce

1464
01:14:58,720 --> 01:15:00,790
the divine plan about

1465
01:15:00,790 --> 01:15:03,880
dividing the kingdom
as an act of judgment.

1466
01:15:03,880 --> 01:15:06,160
Any in the church who claimed to

1467
01:15:06,160 --> 01:15:08,065
represent Judah over against

1468
01:15:08,065 --> 01:15:13,400
Israel have to deal with
this inconvenient truths.

1469
01:15:13,970 --> 01:15:18,315
Thanks to our God for
that turn a phrase.

1470
01:15:18,315 --> 01:15:20,820
At the same time,

1471
01:15:20,820 --> 01:15:24,300
the Israel whom God used as
an instrument of judgment

1472
01:15:24,300 --> 01:15:28,545
against Judah became
themselves apostate.

1473
01:15:28,545 --> 01:15:32,670
The remainder of the narrative
in one and two kings after

1474
01:15:32,670 --> 01:15:37,470
the schism condemns
both kingdoms equally.

1475
01:15:37,470 --> 01:15:41,010
Most decisive of all is
the fact that Israel and

1476
01:15:41,010 --> 01:15:45,255
Judah suffer the same
ultimate fate exile.

1477
01:15:45,255 --> 01:15:47,700
Therefore, to the extent
that the church of

1478
01:15:47,700 --> 01:15:51,240
Jesus Christ is to be seen
as a figure of Israel,

1479
01:15:51,240 --> 01:15:56,970
the whole divided church
remains under condemnation.

1480
01:15:56,970 --> 01:15:59,490
In some, not only did

1481
01:15:59,490 --> 01:16:02,280
the monarchy do little
to keep Israel unified,

1482
01:16:02,280 --> 01:16:05,250
it was most responsible
for disunity.

1483
01:16:05,250 --> 01:16:07,890
This datum in turn impels us to

1484
01:16:07,890 --> 01:16:11,340
reconsider the nature
of biblical kingship.

1485
01:16:11,340 --> 01:16:14,040
Relative to assessing
the significance of

1486
01:16:14,040 --> 01:16:16,995
the formula which
frame our story,

1487
01:16:16,995 --> 01:16:21,450
the issue revolves on what
sort of kings are in mind.

1488
01:16:21,450 --> 01:16:24,660
Further the matter cannot
be settled by considering

1489
01:16:24,660 --> 01:16:28,275
whether a particular
king is good or bad.

1490
01:16:28,275 --> 01:16:30,809
The very nature of the kingship

1491
01:16:30,809 --> 01:16:33,300
in vision is what matters.

1492
01:16:33,300 --> 01:16:36,390
Indeed, all our former prophets

1493
01:16:36,390 --> 01:16:39,390
demonstrates that
conventional kingship,

1494
01:16:39,390 --> 01:16:42,240
that is one like all
the other nations,

1495
01:16:42,240 --> 01:16:44,625
will have a
deleterious effect on

1496
01:16:44,625 --> 01:16:47,520
Israel, exile proves that.

1497
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:49,920
The sort of king appropriate to

1498
01:16:49,920 --> 01:16:53,790
the Lord's elect people is
described in Deuteronomy 17,

1499
01:16:53,790 --> 01:16:55,530
which calls for the king to

1500
01:16:55,530 --> 01:16:58,620
forego conventional
military, political,

1501
01:16:58,620 --> 01:17:00,300
and monetary strength,

1502
01:17:00,300 --> 01:17:03,075
and instead embrace Torah,

1503
01:17:03,075 --> 01:17:06,600
which is to read and
enact continually.

1504
01:17:06,600 --> 01:17:08,850
The latter activity
the king is to

1505
01:17:08,850 --> 01:17:11,205
embody a righteous Israel.

1506
01:17:11,205 --> 01:17:15,225
For Israel and any future
king the words of Torah,

1507
01:17:15,225 --> 01:17:17,370
meaning words which
are inclusive of

1508
01:17:17,370 --> 01:17:20,220
Israel's comprehensive
traditions of

1509
01:17:20,220 --> 01:17:22,035
election and covenant,

1510
01:17:22,035 --> 01:17:25,230
are to be on the heart,

1511
01:17:25,230 --> 01:17:27,060
taught to the children,

1512
01:17:27,060 --> 01:17:30,060
spoken of whoever
one happens to be,

1513
01:17:30,060 --> 01:17:32,385
bound as a sign on the hand,

1514
01:17:32,385 --> 01:17:34,680
situated as front-lines between

1515
01:17:34,680 --> 01:17:36,570
the eyes and written on

1516
01:17:36,570 --> 01:17:39,210
the door posts of
houses and gates.

1517
01:17:39,210 --> 01:17:43,500
Such obedience is also
constitutive of wisdom.

1518
01:17:43,500 --> 01:17:45,330
Again in Deuteronomy,

1519
01:17:45,330 --> 01:17:47,010
a passage admonishing

1520
01:17:47,010 --> 01:17:50,625
thorough and far-reaching
obedience concludes by saying,

1521
01:17:50,625 --> 01:17:52,800
for this is your wisdom and

1522
01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:56,159
your understanding
in people's eyes.

1523
01:17:56,159 --> 01:17:58,980
No king is depicted
more prominently as

1524
01:17:58,980 --> 01:18:02,114
combining Torah and
wisdom than Solomon.

1525
01:18:02,114 --> 01:18:04,455
Yet even in his case,

1526
01:18:04,455 --> 01:18:08,430
Solomon finally
attenuates Torah and uses

1527
01:18:08,430 --> 01:18:12,840
wisdom for acquisitive and
self aggrandizing purposes.

1528
01:18:12,840 --> 01:18:15,660
In the end, the only king whom

1529
01:18:15,660 --> 01:18:18,975
the tradition valorizes
into whom it looks forward,

1530
01:18:18,975 --> 01:18:20,970
is the ideal David,

1531
01:18:20,970 --> 01:18:22,890
the one who is completely

1532
01:18:22,890 --> 01:18:27,765
obedient and blamelessly
follows Torah.

1533
01:18:27,765 --> 01:18:30,060
The ideal David is depicted in

1534
01:18:30,060 --> 01:18:32,550
the last chapters
of second Samuel.

1535
01:18:32,550 --> 01:18:34,620
Once the ideal David is

1536
01:18:34,620 --> 01:18:37,395
projected into the
eschatological future,

1537
01:18:37,395 --> 01:18:40,650
that king becomes the
basis for Israel's rescue

1538
01:18:40,650 --> 01:18:44,475
from exile and their
ultimate future hope.

1539
01:18:44,475 --> 01:18:47,340
It goes without saying
that the New Testament

1540
01:18:47,340 --> 01:18:50,025
presents Jesus not
only in the line of,

1541
01:18:50,025 --> 01:18:51,945
but as the ultimate David,

1542
01:18:51,945 --> 01:18:54,180
as the embodiment of Torah,

1543
01:18:54,180 --> 01:18:56,805
obedience and its fulfillment

1544
01:18:56,805 --> 01:19:00,540
and as one endowed with
wisdom from above.

1545
01:19:00,540 --> 01:19:03,780
In addition, the four gospel
tradition consistently

1546
01:19:03,780 --> 01:19:06,960
puts Jesus forward
as Israel's Messiah,

1547
01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:10,230
that is Christ,
and Israel's king.

1548
01:19:10,230 --> 01:19:13,455
Also in the spirit
of Deuteronomy 17,

1549
01:19:13,455 --> 01:19:15,840
Jesus as Israel's kings were

1550
01:19:15,840 --> 01:19:18,855
admonished in the
temptation stories,

1551
01:19:18,855 --> 01:19:21,720
categorically rejects
power, wealth,

1552
01:19:21,720 --> 01:19:24,855
and status as a function
of his mission.

1553
01:19:24,855 --> 01:19:27,495
From a New Testament
perspective,

1554
01:19:27,495 --> 01:19:29,130
Jesus is everything that

1555
01:19:29,130 --> 01:19:32,235
Israel's kings
were to have been.

1556
01:19:32,235 --> 01:19:35,580
This same Jesus prays
for the unity of

1557
01:19:35,580 --> 01:19:39,510
his disciples and all others
who eventually follow him.

1558
01:19:39,510 --> 01:19:44,325
It is a powerful prayer with
startling implications.

1559
01:19:44,325 --> 01:19:46,935
"Not only for them do I pray,

1560
01:19:46,935 --> 01:19:50,125
but also for those who believe
in me through their word,

1561
01:19:50,125 --> 01:19:52,985
in order that all might be one

1562
01:19:52,985 --> 01:19:56,045
just as you Father are
in me and I'm in you,

1563
01:19:56,045 --> 01:19:58,940
so that they might
be in us so that

1564
01:19:58,940 --> 01:20:02,990
the world will believe
that you have sent me."

1565
01:20:02,990 --> 01:20:05,750
This is the
quintessential connection

1566
01:20:05,750 --> 01:20:07,250
between Jesus the Christ,

1567
01:20:07,250 --> 01:20:10,520
son of David, Israel's
Messiah and King,

1568
01:20:10,520 --> 01:20:13,505
and the elect community
of God which fulfills

1569
01:20:13,505 --> 01:20:18,420
its mission calling and the
divine will by being one.

1570
01:20:18,420 --> 01:20:20,610
In St. Paul's words,

1571
01:20:20,610 --> 01:20:23,070
there is one body
and one Spirit,

1572
01:20:23,070 --> 01:20:25,170
one Lord, one faith,

1573
01:20:25,170 --> 01:20:29,610
one baptism, one God
and Father of all.

1574
01:20:29,610 --> 01:20:33,375
This is the oneness that
is to typify the church,

1575
01:20:33,375 --> 01:20:35,505
and the same oneness
that was to be

1576
01:20:35,505 --> 01:20:38,415
exemplified in God's
people, Israel.

1577
01:20:38,415 --> 01:20:42,435
But Israel was divided
hopelessly so,

1578
01:20:42,435 --> 01:20:44,430
a prime illustration of which is

1579
01:20:44,430 --> 01:20:46,635
found in the story of
the Levites concubine.

1580
01:20:46,635 --> 01:20:51,780
A king was needed to prevent
division on this scale,

1581
01:20:51,780 --> 01:20:54,420
but Israel's kings precipitated

1582
01:20:54,420 --> 01:20:56,760
rather than prevented division.

1583
01:20:56,760 --> 01:21:00,150
Now however, with Jesus as king,

1584
01:21:00,150 --> 01:21:02,835
the king of kings
and Lord of Lords,

1585
01:21:02,835 --> 01:21:06,330
such unity becomes a
glorious possibility

1586
01:21:06,330 --> 01:21:08,595
under the grace
and power of God.

1587
01:21:08,595 --> 01:21:11,370
This is the king for
whom the community has

1588
01:21:11,370 --> 01:21:15,885
waited except for this
terrible reality.

1589
01:21:15,885 --> 01:21:18,180
The Church of Jesus Christ,

1590
01:21:18,180 --> 01:21:19,709
the body of Christ,

1591
01:21:19,709 --> 01:21:23,100
the one Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church,

1592
01:21:23,100 --> 01:21:27,030
is as divided as her
type and figure, Israel.

1593
01:21:27,030 --> 01:21:30,555
The seamless garment
has been torn.

1594
01:21:30,555 --> 01:21:34,575
Christians today inhabit
a divided church.

1595
01:21:34,575 --> 01:21:37,620
Arguably it is more
divided than it has ever

1596
01:21:37,620 --> 01:21:42,885
been and teeters on the
verge of yet more division.

1597
01:21:42,885 --> 01:21:48,510
Israel at least had the virtue
of being divided into two.

1598
01:21:48,510 --> 01:21:53,295
The church however, as in
the concubine per recopy,

1599
01:21:53,295 --> 01:21:56,310
exists in multiple divisions.

1600
01:21:56,310 --> 01:21:59,070
For all the value
of Protestantism in

1601
01:21:59,070 --> 01:22:02,310
its efforts to reform a
church that needed reforming,

1602
01:22:02,310 --> 01:22:06,030
the centrifugal pressure to
atomize and break off into

1603
01:22:06,030 --> 01:22:08,400
more pieces not only continues

1604
01:22:08,400 --> 01:22:11,715
but seems diabolically
to gather energy.

1605
01:22:11,715 --> 01:22:14,940
Keep in mind that we're
not talking about

1606
01:22:14,940 --> 01:22:18,675
minimal differences or
trivial differences.

1607
01:22:18,675 --> 01:22:21,090
We are talking about
the inability for

1608
01:22:21,090 --> 01:22:23,415
all brothers and
sisters in Christ,

1609
01:22:23,415 --> 01:22:25,650
all the saints, to sit at

1610
01:22:25,650 --> 01:22:29,550
the Lord's table and partake
of one bread and one cup.

1611
01:22:29,550 --> 01:22:33,075
According to Christ prayer
in the Gospel of John,

1612
01:22:33,075 --> 01:22:35,850
this has the effect
of undercutting

1613
01:22:35,850 --> 01:22:37,680
the world's ability to

1614
01:22:37,680 --> 01:22:41,760
believe that he has
been sent by God.

1615
01:22:41,760 --> 01:22:48,030
Is there a more serious
dilemma bedeviling the church.

1616
01:22:48,030 --> 01:22:50,280
I conclude by returning

1617
01:22:50,280 --> 01:22:53,295
one final time to
the story in Judges,

1618
01:22:53,295 --> 01:22:55,740
and especially the dual symbolic

1619
01:22:55,740 --> 01:22:59,130
value of the concubine herself.

1620
01:22:59,130 --> 01:23:03,375
Her actions generated the
first small-scale division,

1621
01:23:03,375 --> 01:23:06,720
but later was acted on in such
a way that she represented

1622
01:23:06,720 --> 01:23:11,295
the possibility of Israel's
healing and reunification.

1623
01:23:11,295 --> 01:23:15,780
In effect, her body was
broken for Israel and that

1624
01:23:15,780 --> 01:23:16,890
her dismemberment was

1625
01:23:16,890 --> 01:23:21,155
a possible catalysts for
Israel's rememberment.

1626
01:23:21,155 --> 01:23:24,910
In that light, we cannot avoid

1627
01:23:24,910 --> 01:23:28,975
standing in numbed
silence, heads bowed.

1628
01:23:28,975 --> 01:23:30,910
Devastated by the thought that

1629
01:23:30,910 --> 01:23:32,740
her grotesquely, dismembered,

1630
01:23:32,740 --> 01:23:35,170
divided broken body did

1631
01:23:35,170 --> 01:23:37,825
not accomplish the
intended effect.

1632
01:23:37,825 --> 01:23:41,529
Instead, her broken
body tragically

1633
01:23:41,529 --> 01:23:46,015
potentiated the impulses for
division already in Israel.

1634
01:23:46,015 --> 01:23:50,830
Leading as we saw to a
multiplication of divisions in

1635
01:23:50,830 --> 01:23:52,540
which each rupture was

1636
01:23:52,540 --> 01:23:56,275
greater and deeper
than the previous one.

1637
01:23:56,275 --> 01:24:00,280
There was no compelling reason
why the initial division

1638
01:24:00,280 --> 01:24:03,835
between the woman and
her husband had to grow.

1639
01:24:03,835 --> 01:24:06,160
Had the man immediately spoken

1640
01:24:06,160 --> 01:24:08,664
tenderly to her as
he had planned,

1641
01:24:08,664 --> 01:24:10,540
the situation in her home

1642
01:24:10,540 --> 01:24:12,355
might have turned
out differently.

1643
01:24:12,355 --> 01:24:15,550
She had take gone
half the way already,

1644
01:24:15,550 --> 01:24:18,580
had the woman's father
thought first of his guests,

1645
01:24:18,580 --> 01:24:20,125
rather than his own interests,

1646
01:24:20,125 --> 01:24:22,300
his hospitality would
not have been so

1647
01:24:22,300 --> 01:24:25,720
excessive as to prevent
a timely departure.

1648
01:24:25,720 --> 01:24:27,880
Had the inhabitants of Gibeah a

1649
01:24:27,880 --> 01:24:30,040
thought of themselves
first as God's people,

1650
01:24:30,040 --> 01:24:32,620
Israel, the traveling
party would not have been

1651
01:24:32,620 --> 01:24:36,250
in the square of that night
hoping for a welcome.

1652
01:24:36,250 --> 01:24:38,920
Had the thugs in
Gibeah thought of

1653
01:24:38,920 --> 01:24:41,230
themselves first as God's elect.

1654
01:24:41,230 --> 01:24:43,420
The depraved plot
they were intent on

1655
01:24:43,420 --> 01:24:46,300
carrying out would never
have been matched.

1656
01:24:46,300 --> 01:24:48,490
Had the two men in the house

1657
01:24:48,490 --> 01:24:50,350
first thought of what
it means to be part of

1658
01:24:50,350 --> 01:24:52,330
the Lord's covenant community

1659
01:24:52,330 --> 01:24:54,775
of taking care of the widow,

1660
01:24:54,775 --> 01:24:58,030
the weak, the fatherless,
the marginalized.

1661
01:24:58,030 --> 01:25:00,640
They would've done
anything even including

1662
01:25:00,640 --> 01:25:03,070
their own self-sacrifice to

1663
01:25:03,070 --> 01:25:06,265
prevent the carnage that
they instead enabled.

1664
01:25:06,265 --> 01:25:08,830
I know the hour is late.

1665
01:25:08,830 --> 01:25:10,780
We mentioned questions
and answers.

1666
01:25:10,780 --> 01:25:12,520
We don't have to linger,
but if there are

1667
01:25:12,520 --> 01:25:14,710
any questions, you
can ask questions.

1668
01:25:14,710 --> 01:25:16,420
I'm not sure I have any answers,

1669
01:25:16,420 --> 01:25:19,120
but I'd be glad to
entertain them before

1670
01:25:19,120 --> 01:25:23,710
we turn it back
over to Dr. Steel?

1671
01:25:23,710 --> 01:25:27,535
Yes? Ms. Chambers?

1672
01:25:27,535 --> 01:25:30,280
Based on the church, you stated
that the church cannot experience

1673
01:25:30,280 --> 01:25:32,935
true disunity because it
is the body of Christ.

1674
01:25:32,935 --> 01:25:35,300
Do you agree on that?

1675
01:25:35,790 --> 01:25:39,865
Sort of, because

1676
01:25:39,865 --> 01:25:42,895
God obviously works
through all brokenness,

1677
01:25:42,895 --> 01:25:45,160
even the brokenness
of the church.

1678
01:25:45,160 --> 01:25:47,530
If you were to follow
that logically,

1679
01:25:47,530 --> 01:25:50,180
it would mean there
is no church.

1680
01:25:50,370 --> 01:25:53,305
Yes, God does work
through the church,

1681
01:25:53,305 --> 01:25:56,380
even though it is a disunified.

1682
01:25:56,380 --> 01:25:58,420
But my argument
there was that when

1683
01:25:58,420 --> 01:26:00,400
people believe that
obviously then

1684
01:26:00,400 --> 01:26:02,170
you have to say that somebody

1685
01:26:02,170 --> 01:26:04,570
else that cannot be a
table fellowship with you,

1686
01:26:04,570 --> 01:26:06,400
they can't be the church

1687
01:26:06,400 --> 01:26:09,410
that actually
magnifies the problem.

1688
01:26:17,430 --> 01:26:19,960
Matt, yes? Good to see you.

1689
01:26:19,960 --> 01:26:24,250
We go back to 1973.

1690
01:26:24,250 --> 01:26:25,390
Together back a long way.

1691
01:26:25,390 --> 01:26:26,740
Old men always do.

1692
01:26:26,740 --> 01:26:31,000
Seems to me that one of
the things I heard tonight

1693
01:26:31,000 --> 01:26:33,550
that needed to be heard is,

1694
01:26:33,550 --> 01:26:35,830
I'm wondering about the parallel

1695
01:26:35,830 --> 01:26:38,530
between outsiders looking at

1696
01:26:38,530 --> 01:26:40,840
on the church today
is unified and

1697
01:26:40,840 --> 01:26:43,510
the pagan nations
looking at on Israel.

1698
01:26:43,510 --> 01:26:47,200
Do you have any thoughts
on this story in light

1699
01:26:47,200 --> 01:26:48,760
of God's called the

1700
01:26:48,760 --> 01:26:51,430
Israel and their
setting, and famous?

1701
01:26:51,430 --> 01:26:53,230
Well, I guess the closest you

1702
01:26:53,230 --> 01:26:54,850
get into it in the Old Testament

1703
01:26:54,850 --> 01:27:00,340
is in the context of exile
and judgment on Israel.

1704
01:27:00,340 --> 01:27:02,065
The nations are all saying,

1705
01:27:02,065 --> 01:27:03,520
"Some God, you have,

1706
01:27:03,520 --> 01:27:05,200
some people you are,

1707
01:27:05,200 --> 01:27:06,880
no one can stop me."

1708
01:27:06,880 --> 01:27:08,500
I mean, this is witnesses what

1709
01:27:08,500 --> 01:27:10,690
the Rabshakeh says in Kings.

1710
01:27:10,690 --> 01:27:13,150
He says, "None of the
other city's gods

1711
01:27:13,150 --> 01:27:15,115
can stop us, you can't either."

1712
01:27:15,115 --> 01:27:16,570
Yes, you do get,

1713
01:27:16,570 --> 01:27:18,250
to the extent that
that's an equivalent

1714
01:27:18,250 --> 01:27:19,390
that they saw that too.

1715
01:27:19,390 --> 01:27:20,905
Why should we believe

1716
01:27:20,905 --> 01:27:23,110
that there's anything
different going on here?

1717
01:27:23,110 --> 01:27:23,621
Yeah.

1718
01:27:23,621 --> 01:27:23,790
Yeah.

1719
01:27:23,790 --> 01:27:29,680
It's just the contemporary issues today
that look like I'm criticizing another.

1720
01:27:29,680 --> 01:27:32,300
People have conceptions that are
based on some stuff we've done. .

1721
01:27:32,300 --> 01:27:37,305
Sure. Yes. Your own worst
enemies in the sense.

1722
01:27:37,305 --> 01:27:37,720
Yes. I saw another hand.

1723
01:27:37,720 --> 01:27:39,775
Did it go down? Yes, please.

1724
01:27:39,775 --> 01:27:40,420
Yeah.

1725
01:27:40,420 --> 01:27:41,245
Hi, Faith.

1726
01:27:41,245 --> 01:27:43,735
Hi. Good to see you again.

1727
01:27:43,735 --> 01:27:45,025
Good to see you.

1728
01:27:45,025 --> 01:27:47,170
I'm still a little upon

1729
01:27:47,170 --> 01:27:50,260
the action of dividing
the concubine's body.

1730
01:27:50,260 --> 01:27:52,120
I understand what a device it

1731
01:27:52,120 --> 01:27:54,445
was in terms of the
story as a whole.

1732
01:27:54,445 --> 01:27:57,490
But I'm looking at that
action in terms of culture.

1733
01:27:57,490 --> 01:28:02,680
I mean, how is that
in the culture?

1734
01:28:02,680 --> 01:28:03,955
I understand he's saying

1735
01:28:03,955 --> 01:28:05,200
this thing happened to me.

1736
01:28:05,200 --> 01:28:07,240
If there is a culture,

1737
01:28:07,240 --> 01:28:09,250
they would typically
divide the wives.

1738
01:28:09,250 --> 01:28:15,940
I realized sometimes
you said bits

1739
01:28:15,940 --> 01:28:17,650
in the military terms to

1740
01:28:17,650 --> 01:28:19,705
verify that something
that had happened.

1741
01:28:19,705 --> 01:28:22,330
We only have it twice
in the Old Testament.

1742
01:28:22,330 --> 01:28:25,645
Both times, it is
used for unity only.

1743
01:28:25,645 --> 01:28:32,245
Another time is Saul
does it in 1 Samuel 11,

1744
01:28:32,245 --> 01:28:34,810
where the Ammonites threatened,

1745
01:28:34,810 --> 01:28:37,555
and Saul to unify the people,

1746
01:28:37,555 --> 01:28:39,640
does that to his ox,

1747
01:28:39,640 --> 01:28:41,440
and that's how he
musters all Israel.

1748
01:28:41,440 --> 01:28:43,795
It is a motif of unity,

1749
01:28:43,795 --> 01:28:45,250
but this story utterly

1750
01:28:45,250 --> 01:28:48,295
radicalizes it by doing
it to a human being.

1751
01:28:48,295 --> 01:28:50,200
It's the exception
that proves the rule.

1752
01:28:50,200 --> 01:28:52,370
It's not a common thing.

1753
01:28:52,440 --> 01:28:54,730
How it's revealed .

1754
01:28:54,730 --> 01:28:58,180
But is calculated to traumatize.

1755
01:28:58,180 --> 01:28:59,410
Oh yeah.

1756
01:28:59,410 --> 01:29:02,720
It does that very
well. Jeff, go ahead.

1757
01:29:03,090 --> 01:29:06,010
I'm wondering if we could also

1758
01:29:06,010 --> 01:29:08,350
do a reverse
hermeneutic because I'm

1759
01:29:08,350 --> 01:29:13,360
concerned that a
Eucharistic reading

1760
01:29:13,360 --> 01:29:18,190
of that effect leads us into,

1761
01:29:18,190 --> 01:29:21,670
in some ways because of our
own surgical practices to

1762
01:29:21,670 --> 01:29:25,779
this anemic flaccid
come to the table.

1763
01:29:25,779 --> 01:29:27,730
Here's my investments pressed,

1764
01:29:27,730 --> 01:29:29,080
the chalice is gold,

1765
01:29:29,080 --> 01:29:30,340
the linens washed,

1766
01:29:30,340 --> 01:29:35,500
the port has been bought
that we move this texts of

1767
01:29:35,500 --> 01:29:37,255
terrors most people say

1768
01:29:37,255 --> 01:29:42,415
into this reduced
thing that I do.

1769
01:29:42,415 --> 01:29:45,325
Is it possible that actually

1770
01:29:45,325 --> 01:29:49,240
the judges should judge

1771
01:29:49,240 --> 01:29:52,915
our Eucharistic practices
that we have become so

1772
01:29:52,915 --> 01:29:55,180
unbelievably commonplace
at the table that we

1773
01:29:55,180 --> 01:29:58,315
need to be more violated
by what's happening here?

1774
01:29:58,315 --> 01:30:00,775
No, I think so.

1775
01:30:00,775 --> 01:30:04,000
Because I'm worried
about reading judges

1776
01:30:04,000 --> 01:30:07,435
now to reductionistical way.

1777
01:30:07,435 --> 01:30:10,360
Wow. I guess the other
thing I picked on,

1778
01:30:10,360 --> 01:30:13,255
if the unity is superficial

1779
01:30:13,255 --> 01:30:16,990
or sentimental or romanticized,

1780
01:30:16,990 --> 01:30:21,325
then it skirts over
the whole problem.

1781
01:30:21,325 --> 01:30:23,680
That is why, I think

1782
01:30:23,680 --> 01:30:28,330
the story is calculated to
call all that into question.

1783
01:30:28,330 --> 01:30:32,260
No, I think it provide a
very helpful nuance on that.

1784
01:30:32,260 --> 01:30:33,775
That sounds helpful.

1785
01:30:33,775 --> 01:30:35,275
That makes it.

1786
01:30:35,275 --> 01:30:37,720
Rick. Go easy on me, Rick.

1787
01:30:37,720 --> 01:30:43,285
First, a factual question.

1788
01:30:43,285 --> 01:30:45,850
Does the book of Ruth,

1789
01:30:45,850 --> 01:30:48,430
follow the book of
Judges in the Hebrew?

1790
01:30:48,430 --> 01:30:49,810
Not in the Hebrew tradition,

1791
01:30:49,810 --> 01:30:51,445
only in the Septuagint.

1792
01:30:51,445 --> 01:30:52,525
In the Septuagint?

1793
01:30:52,525 --> 01:30:52,810
Yeah.

1794
01:30:52,810 --> 01:30:55,060
As I was reading

1795
01:30:55,060 --> 01:30:58,450
this tonight and as I was
listening to you talk,

1796
01:30:58,450 --> 01:31:00,490
I turned the page,

1797
01:31:00,490 --> 01:31:03,190
the first verses of

1798
01:31:03,190 --> 01:31:07,855
Ruth sound to me like
a counter-story.

1799
01:31:07,855 --> 01:31:11,245
In the days when
the judges ruled,

1800
01:31:11,245 --> 01:31:14,590
there was a famine in the
land and a certain man of

1801
01:31:14,590 --> 01:31:18,805
Benjamin in Judah went to
live in the country of Moab.

1802
01:31:18,805 --> 01:31:23,680
You have a story of reconciliation
that is situated in

1803
01:31:23,680 --> 01:31:25,945
the same time and spatial

1804
01:31:25,945 --> 01:31:28,090
configuration as this-

1805
01:31:28,090 --> 01:31:29,350
I think you're exactly right.

1806
01:31:29,350 --> 01:31:31,855
That's exactly what
the Septuagint does,

1807
01:31:31,855 --> 01:31:34,060
but I did the Hebrew version.

1808
01:31:34,060 --> 01:31:36,700
I am perfectly happy,

1809
01:31:36,700 --> 01:31:38,140
and I think there's
going to be more and

1810
01:31:38,140 --> 01:31:40,135
more of this as we go on,

1811
01:31:40,135 --> 01:31:42,640
the Greek version of
the Old Testament,

1812
01:31:42,640 --> 01:31:46,705
this is called the Septuagint
for the uninitiated,

1813
01:31:46,705 --> 01:31:49,240
we should do separate
commentaries

1814
01:31:49,240 --> 01:31:51,895
and separate
explications of that,

1815
01:31:51,895 --> 01:31:53,980
and in some ways
that book of course,

1816
01:31:53,980 --> 01:31:55,360
has been more influential on

1817
01:31:55,360 --> 01:31:57,610
the church than has
the Hebrew tradition,

1818
01:31:57,610 --> 01:32:00,970
which really had to be revised
after the Reformation.

1819
01:32:00,970 --> 01:32:03,430
That was the Bible
of the Western and

1820
01:32:03,430 --> 01:32:05,949
the Eastern Church
until the Reformation,

1821
01:32:05,949 --> 01:32:07,945
which was basically
a historian move.

1822
01:32:07,945 --> 01:32:10,000
But I've tried to
do it in terms of

1823
01:32:10,000 --> 01:32:13,165
the Hebrew textual
tradition for tonight.

1824
01:32:13,165 --> 01:32:16,000
But no, I think that's
exactly right in that.

1825
01:32:16,000 --> 01:32:17,650
That shows you how

1826
01:32:17,650 --> 01:32:19,900
the arrangement changes
the way you read it.

1827
01:32:19,900 --> 01:32:21,880
Exactly right.

1828
01:32:21,880 --> 01:32:24,490
Yes?

1829
01:32:24,490 --> 01:32:25,780
How should we understand

1830
01:32:25,780 --> 01:32:30,490
communal sin through

1831
01:32:30,490 --> 01:32:34,910
the life of what
happened to Benjamin?

1832
01:32:36,000 --> 01:32:40,180
What I'm asking specifically
is its relevance to

1833
01:32:40,180 --> 01:32:44,710
the 21st century political
story that we have.

1834
01:32:44,710 --> 01:32:49,885
How should we as Christians,

1835
01:32:49,885 --> 01:32:54,820
look at the Levites
concubine story

1836
01:32:54,820 --> 01:32:58,105
and understand how
the responsibility,

1837
01:32:58,105 --> 01:33:00,190
communal responsibility
for things

1838
01:33:00,190 --> 01:33:02,575
that happen in our
main household?

1839
01:33:02,575 --> 01:33:08,050
I'm going to make sure I'm
understanding your point.

1840
01:33:08,050 --> 01:33:10,600
Are you saying that how do we

1841
01:33:10,600 --> 01:33:14,530
understand Benjamin's
reaction to say,

1842
01:33:14,530 --> 01:33:16,090
look, these are
Benjamites we're going to

1843
01:33:16,090 --> 01:33:19,360
protect rather than open
up to the punishment?

1844
01:33:19,360 --> 01:33:21,235
Is that, did I hear
you correctly?

1845
01:33:21,235 --> 01:33:26,110
Well, I guess this

1846
01:33:26,110 --> 01:33:36,309
requires an enormously
penitent stance in the church.

1847
01:33:36,309 --> 01:33:39,670
That I suppose is our most,

1848
01:33:39,670 --> 01:33:47,545
it's my most difficult
thing to have to give up,

1849
01:33:47,545 --> 01:33:50,770
to have to be vile for God,

1850
01:33:50,770 --> 01:33:52,390
to use that old
Wesleyan language,

1851
01:33:52,390 --> 01:33:53,920
and I don't like that very much.

1852
01:33:53,920 --> 01:33:56,140
I'm not very good at
being vile for anything.

1853
01:33:56,140 --> 01:34:00,250
Because otherwise,

1854
01:34:00,250 --> 01:34:03,550
we are all ultimately
tribal in some sense.

1855
01:34:03,550 --> 01:34:09,100
Our own group, our own
tradition, our own whatever.

1856
01:34:09,100 --> 01:34:11,530
We can do it with
Wesleyanism, with reform,

1857
01:34:11,530 --> 01:34:13,240
you can do it with denomination,

1858
01:34:13,240 --> 01:34:15,685
you can do it with a country.

1859
01:34:15,685 --> 01:34:18,145
There's no end to that.

1860
01:34:18,145 --> 01:34:19,855
Since the church is

1861
01:34:19,855 --> 01:34:21,895
mixed up in all of that,
it really becomes,

1862
01:34:21,895 --> 01:34:24,190
but I do think there's a story

1863
01:34:24,190 --> 01:34:26,590
like that which when
you keep looking at it,

1864
01:34:26,590 --> 01:34:30,235
starts to strip the
varnish off pretty badly.

1865
01:34:30,235 --> 01:34:32,920
Now I'm under no illusion

1866
01:34:32,920 --> 01:34:34,570
that the Levites
concubine couldn't

1867
01:34:34,570 --> 01:34:36,490
make itself into the
election area any time

1868
01:34:36,490 --> 01:34:38,620
soon, I understand that.

1869
01:34:38,620 --> 01:34:41,710
But still, it's a very
strategic story and

1870
01:34:41,710 --> 01:34:44,800
at least it gets us that far.

1871
01:34:44,800 --> 01:34:48,160
But there's a whole lot

1872
01:34:48,160 --> 01:34:50,665
of study right on that
question you've asked.

1873
01:34:50,665 --> 01:34:53,695
I don't know that I can
say anymore than that.

1874
01:34:53,695 --> 01:34:56,080
At least not off the
top of my head. Yes?

1875
01:34:56,080 --> 01:35:04,220
Israel was divided
and went into exile,

1876
01:35:04,220 --> 01:35:07,255
the church as it is
today is divided.

1877
01:35:07,255 --> 01:35:10,270
Can the church go into exile?

1878
01:35:10,270 --> 01:35:11,890
Can there be a form
of punishment-

1879
01:35:11,890 --> 01:35:14,905
Is the church already in exile?

1880
01:35:14,905 --> 01:35:15,910
That's a good question.

1881
01:35:15,910 --> 01:35:17,110
What would that look like?

1882
01:35:17,110 --> 01:35:22,000
Where are we? It would look

1883
01:35:22,000 --> 01:35:24,070
like a church in which
brothers and sisters in

1884
01:35:24,070 --> 01:35:26,020
Christ demonize each other

1885
01:35:26,020 --> 01:35:27,130
instead of praying
for each other.

1886
01:35:27,130 --> 01:35:29,065
It happens every day.

1887
01:35:29,065 --> 01:35:32,410
That's the point.

1888
01:35:32,410 --> 01:35:34,780
It's not like
judgment might come,

1889
01:35:34,780 --> 01:35:36,745
it's the judgment is here.

1890
01:35:36,745 --> 01:35:39,130
If you're going to read
it figuratively, oh,

1891
01:35:39,130 --> 01:35:43,555
dear, this is us. Kathleen?

1892
01:35:43,555 --> 01:35:46,060
What do you see ahead for

1893
01:35:46,060 --> 01:35:49,690
our community in our
community becoming

1894
01:35:49,690 --> 01:35:52,330
more the unity that you hope for

1895
01:35:52,330 --> 01:35:55,600
in the church or are we
multiplying division?

1896
01:35:55,600 --> 01:35:56,965
Are we in danger with that?

1897
01:35:56,965 --> 01:35:59,945
Now we being Seattle
Pacific University?

1898
01:35:59,945 --> 01:36:02,325
I guess what I would say,

1899
01:36:02,325 --> 01:36:03,600
I love our diversity,

1900
01:36:03,600 --> 01:36:06,165
I love our
multi-denominationalism.

1901
01:36:06,165 --> 01:36:09,090
I do think we have tended to
paper over the differences,

1902
01:36:09,090 --> 01:36:11,370
because we want to be so
blame-nice to each other.

1903
01:36:11,370 --> 01:36:14,290
The fact of the matter is,

1904
01:36:14,290 --> 01:36:17,020
we do not all belong to
churches where we can get

1905
01:36:17,020 --> 01:36:20,170
together at the table
without violating something.

1906
01:36:20,170 --> 01:36:21,670
We don't talk about that,

1907
01:36:21,670 --> 01:36:23,320
we don't theologize about it,

1908
01:36:23,320 --> 01:36:25,990
we don't really, it's out
of sight, out of mind.

1909
01:36:25,990 --> 01:36:27,160
We have a don't ask,

1910
01:36:27,160 --> 01:36:33,220
don't tell Eucharistic
policy, I'd say.

1911
01:36:33,220 --> 01:36:36,040
That would be a very
interesting conversation,

1912
01:36:36,040 --> 01:36:38,140
I think, for this
campus community.

1913
01:36:38,140 --> 01:36:44,660
It'd be well worthwhile.

1914
01:36:46,200 --> 01:37:01,390
Thank you very much.

1915
01:37:01,390 --> 01:37:02,860
One quick announcement before

1916
01:37:02,860 --> 01:37:05,170
the presentation of the
medallion and that is,

1917
01:37:05,170 --> 01:37:08,560
if you would like
a written text,

1918
01:37:08,560 --> 01:37:10,525
copy of the lecture,

1919
01:37:10,525 --> 01:37:12,310
there's a particular
pod back there,

1920
01:37:12,310 --> 01:37:13,750
you can sign up and get that.

1921
01:37:13,750 --> 01:37:17,380
If you are not of
the dinosaur era,

1922
01:37:17,380 --> 01:37:19,630
one paper,

1923
01:37:19,630 --> 01:37:22,240
but are the I-generation,

1924
01:37:22,240 --> 01:37:25,075
it will be on our
university on our website,

1925
01:37:25,075 --> 01:37:28,510
and you can see if
there's a link there,

1926
01:37:28,510 --> 01:37:31,075
so look for that.

1927
01:37:31,075 --> 01:37:33,490
It is my distinct honor,

1928
01:37:33,490 --> 01:37:36,055
and in the memory
of Winifred Weter

1929
01:37:36,055 --> 01:37:38,860
present Dr. Frank Anthony Spina

1930
01:37:38,860 --> 01:37:39,880
with the reader medallion.

1931
01:37:39,880 --> 01:38:04,810
It's taken 35 years for

1932
01:38:04,810 --> 01:38:06,220
an Academic Vice-President to

1933
01:38:06,220 --> 01:38:07,690
get something around my throat.

1934
01:38:07,690 --> 01:38:27,077
We're going to hold
hands on that.