{"id":317,"date":"2011-03-17T13:02:31","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T17:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/?p=317"},"modified":"2011-03-17T13:26:13","modified_gmt":"2011-03-17T17:26:13","slug":"her-body-broken-for-many-thursday-lent-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/her-body-broken-for-many-thursday-lent-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Her Body Broken for Many: Thursday, Lent 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many cultures, including the one in which this story from Judges 19 is set, hospitality is a sacred act. When one welcomes a guest, one ensures their safety and well-being. When the men of the town come to the house with violence on their minds, the host defends the husband of the concubine, yet this protection does not extend to the woman herself; the host, and then the husband, offers her up to the crowd. In this scene we catch also a glimpse of the host’s virgin daughter. In a chilling echo of last week’s tale, he offers her, along with the concubine, as an unholy sacrifice to the men. This is the only mention of the daughter; there is no indication of whether she was forced outside along with the other woman, or if she managed to escape.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re joining us for the first time, welcome; you can pick up the thread of this week’s reflections at Monday’s post<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Thursday<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is some kind of commotion outside. I hear voices, lots of men\u2019s voices. What is it that these men want? What . . . \u2014O God, he\u2019s coming for me! My husband, he has my arm, he\u2019s dragging me out\u2014out to these men! I hear the man of the house say, \u2018Ravish her, do with her what seems good to you.\u2019 What is happening? Why are you doing this, my husband? I don\u2019t like being your property, but even so\u2014protect me\u2014I am your property! Oh, my God . . . it hurts! . . . O God, where are you? . . . \u201d (From Dorri Sherrill)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Driving through town this evening, I turn on the radio to NPR. It\u2019s a report on domestic violence. They play an excerpt from a tape, a woman\u2019s call to a police station. She\u2019s screaming for help, screaming about her husband\u2014then, no, \u201cI just had a temper tantrum. It\u2019s okay. Don\u2019t come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am, do you need help?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, really. No.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can hear a man\u2019s loud voice in the background.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa\u2019am, if you don\u2019t need help, tell me a number between one and five.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I wonder if behind that door in Gibeah where stood the husband, the host, the servant, and the virgin daughter, any counting went on as their companion called for help. Whether they were counting seconds between screams, counting the laughs of the crowd outside, counting their own blessings, counting sheep in order to fall asleep that night behind the door.<\/p>\n

I wonder what they counted, and I wonder if somewhere, anywhere, someone heard the screams and cried out for the woman beyond the door—the woman who, in the eyes of that crowd, simply didn\u2019t count.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jan L. Richardson<\/p>\n

Questions for reflection<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How is it for you to journey with the woman of Judges 19 in these Lenten days? As you reflect on her story, what do you notice? What are the questions that surface for you, and what will you do with them?<\/p>\n

From Sacred Journeys<\/strong> \u00a9 Jan L. Richardson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many cultures, including the one in which this story from Judges 19 is set, hospitality is a sacred act. When one welcomes a guest, one ensures their safety and well-being. When the men of the town come to the house with violence on their minds, the host defends the husband of the concubine, yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent","category-sacred-time"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p190Xv-57","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}