{"id":2682,"date":"2014-07-23T14:47:51","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T14:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2014-07-23T14:47:51","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T14:47:51","slug":"gods-concern-for-the-marginalized-in-the-ot-part-3-joshua-2-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/2014\/07\/23\/gods-concern-for-the-marginalized-in-the-ot-part-3-joshua-2-kings\/","title":{"rendered":"God's Concern for the Marginalized in the OT, Part 3: Joshua – 2 Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is from a paper I wrote for an Old Testament class at\u00a0Wycliffe College<\/a>. \u00a0The prompt was as follows: \u00a0Discuss God\u2019s concern for the outsider (the poor, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized, etc.) in Genesis\u20132 Kings.<\/p>\n

Here is Part 3: \u00a0Joshua – 2 Kings.<\/p>\n

The theme of the marginalized and outsider in Joshua \u2013 2 Kings presents the same meta-difficulty as does this theme in connection with the Law:\u00a0 these are narratives that describe or presume military conquest and displacement of \u201cnative\u201d people.\u00a0 Once again, we can draw on the concept that Israel<\/em> is the \u201cmarginalized\u201d or \u201coutsider\u201d character in relation to the violent Canaanite nations and in relation to Babylon if parts of the final text are post-exilic.\u00a0 This will not satisfy all our contemporary objections to the notion of herem<\/em> warfare, but it is a fair characterization of the texts.<\/p>\n

At the same time, these texts offer some wonderful micro-examples that demonstrate God\u2019s concern for particular marginalized or \u201coutsider\u201d individuals.\u00a0 A prime example is that of Rahab. \u00a0(See <\/em>Joshua 2).\u00a0 As the lecture notes on Rahab indicate, there is debate about whether Rahab was a \u201cprostitute\u201d \/ Madame or merely an innkeeper.\u00a0 I think the former interpretation is most likely correct because it fits the canonical context of women who have been treated as prostitutes and then vindicated, including Dinah (Gen. 34:1-31); Tamar (Gen. 38:12-30); and the Levite\u2019s concubine (Judges 19).\u00a0 The example of Tamar is particularly interesting because of the motif of a \u201cscarlet thread\u201d (cf.<\/em> Gen. 38:27-30; Joshua 2:17).\u00a0 That one of the heroes of the conquest \/ historical narratives was a non-Jewish prostitute demonstrates vividly God\u2019s concern for the outsider.<\/p>\n

The Levite\u2019s concubine is another basic example of this concern.\u00a0 (Judges 19).\u00a0 Indeed, I think the Levite\u2019s concubine narrative is a paradigmatic text in the Hebrew Scriptures.\u00a0 The story is complex because the concubine seems in some respect to have \u201cdeserved\u201d her \u201coutsider\u201d status since she was \u201cunfaithful\u201d to her husband \/ master.\u00a0 (Judges 19:1-2).\u00a0 But there are hints that the husband \/ master might have also been at fault and perhaps was abusive or at least had treated her unfairly.\u00a0 The fact that the woman returned to her father, who had the means to entertain the Levite and was able to persuade the Levite to accept four days of hospitality, suggests there are tribal or economic issues bubbling under the surface.\u00a0 Perhaps the woman and her father were trying to persuade the Levite to make his \u201cconcubine\u201d a \u201clegitimate\u201d or primary wife or to become a subsidiary part of the father-in-law\u2019s household.<\/p>\n

It seems, however, that the Levite would not agree.\u00a0 (Judges 19:10).\u00a0 The Levite departed from the concubine\u2019s father\u2019s house and then failed to protect the concubine while he was a guest at a Benjamite\u2019s home.\u00a0 (Judges 19:16-26).\u00a0 Instead of feeling remorse and caring for the concubine\u2019s burial after her abuse, the Levite cut her body into twelve pieces \u201cand sent them into all the areas of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 (Judges 19:29-30), provoking a civil war between the other tribes of Israel and the Benjamites that culminated in atrocities by the Benjamites and the other tribes together against Jabesh Gilead.\u00a0 (Judges 19:30 \u2013 21:24).\u00a0 The d\u00e9nouement of this bizarre sequence of events is the familiar refrain:\u00a0 \u201cIn those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.\u201d\u00a0 (Judges 21:25).<\/p>\n

The Levite\u2019s concubine, I think, represents the poor and oppressed in Israel.\u00a0 She is not herself perfect, but she presents the Levite \u2013 the representative of the Priestly class, tasked with ensuring that the law is kept \u2013 with an opportunity for reconciliation and mercy.\u00a0 Instead, the Levite chooses a course of action that leads to violence and social fracture.\u00a0 The Levite\u2019s failure to care for an outcast, a scorned concubine, led to violence that prefigured the final dissolution of the nation.<\/p>\n

After Judges in the Old Testament canon, the book of Ruth is a classic text regarding God\u2019s concern for the outsider and marginalized.\u00a0 Ruth determines to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi even though Ruth\u2019s immediate fortunes undoubtedly would have risen had she returned to Moab after Naomi\u2019s sons Mahlon and Kilion died.\u00a0 (Ruth 1:1-18).\u00a0 Ruth is then taken in by Boaz and becomes a link in the line of King David.\u00a0 (Ruth 2:1 \u2013 4:22).\u00a0 The obvious lesson here is that God remembers and honors ordinary faithful people such as Ruth.\u00a0 It is important to note, however, that Ruth also took advantage of the opportunities presented to her, not least when she took the provocative and perhaps sexually daring step of uncovering Boaz\u2019s feet and sleeping in his presence.\u00a0 (Ruth 3:1-18).\u00a0 A further lesson might be that God expects everyone, even the poor and marginalized, to use whatever opportunities are provided to them.<\/p>\n

1 Samuel is yet another example of God\u2019s care for women who are socially marginalized because of childlessness.\u00a0 (1 Sam. 1:1-19).\u00a0 Hannah\u2019s prayer after she dedicates Samuel to God\u2019s service reflects this theme directly:<\/p>\n

[The Lord] raises the poor from the dust
\nand lifts the needy from the ash heap;
\nhe seats them with princes
\nand has them inherit a throne of honor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(1 Sam. 2:8) (NIV).\u00a0 Hannah\u2019s prayer prefigures God\u2019s choice of David as King.\u00a0 David was an ordinary shepherd boy, \u00a0\u201cruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features,\u201d but not respected by his brothers.\u00a0 (1 Sam. 16:12, 17:1-58) (NIV).\u00a0 In 2 Samuel 9, David himself reenacts the truth of Hannah\u2019s prayer by honoring Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan (and grandson of Saul) who was afforded an honored place at the King\u2019s table.\u00a0 (2 Sam. 9:1-13).<\/p>\n

David\u2019s story itself, however, soon becomes complicated.\u00a0 In 2 Samuel 12, after David has committed adultery with Bathseeba and murdered her husband Uriah, the prophet Nathan confronts David with the parable of the poor man and his lamb. \u00a0(2 Sam. 12:1-7).\u00a0 The remainder of 2 Samuel treats the rebellions against David by Absalom and Sheba, the revenge of the Gibeonites, and David\u2019s legacy.\u00a0 There are many difficulties in these texts for the theme of this paper, such as the fact that David handed over seven of Saul\u2019s descendants to the Gibeonites \u201cto be killed and exposed before the Lord\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 (2 Sam. 21:6).\u00a0 Even in the context of this tribal vengeance practice, however, David spared Mephibosheth, and subsequently gave Saul, Jonathan, and those killed by the Gibeonites honored burials.\u00a0 (2 Sam. 21:7-14).<\/p>\n

1 Kings describes the rise of Solomon and the division of Israel and Judah after Solomon\u2019s death.\u00a0 Solomon famously began to follow other gods when his many non-Israelite wives and concubines led him astray in his old age, and this kindled God\u2019s anger and set the stage for the united monarchy\u2019s fall.\u00a0 (1 Kings 11).\u00a0 Solomon\u2019s idolatry was linked to greed, which produced heavy burdens of taxation on the people.\u00a0 His son Rehoboam followed in these footsteps and increased the quotas of forced labor, cementing the division of Israel and Judah.\u00a0 (1 Kings 12).\u00a0 This demonstrates once again the theme that failure to give proper worship to God is linked to exploitation of people without power, resulting in war and violence.<\/p>\n

The last word, however, always belongs to God, and it is always a word of vindication.\u00a0 This is one of the themes of the story of Naboth\u2019s Vineyard, another longer narrative interlude in the cycles of rebellion and return throughout Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings.\u00a0 (1 Kings 21).\u00a0 King Ahab desired the vineyard of an apparently ordinary man, Naboth, ultimately resulting in Naboth\u2019s murder through the scheming of Ahab\u2019s wife, Jezebel.[1]\u00a0 God pronounced judgment on Ahab of a particularly ugly sort \u2013 Ahab\u2019s house would be destroyed and Jezebel would be eaten by dogs \u2013 although because of Ahab\u2019s repentance God relented until after Ahab\u2019s death in battle.\u00a0 (1 Kings 21:20-29).<\/p>\n

God\u2019s judgments and deliverances in these texts are mediated by prophets, that is, by individuals chosen and gifted by God to speak truth to power.\u00a0 The final vignette I will focus on in this paper is that of the resuscitation of the Shunammite\u2019s Son by the great prophet Elisha.\u00a0 (2 Kings 3:8-36).\u00a0 The Shunammite was a wealthy woman who regularly housed Elisha.\u00a0 (2 Kings 3:8-10).\u00a0 Although she was wealthy, like so many other women profiled in these texts, she was barren, and God surprisingly provided her with a son.\u00a0 (2 Kings 3:15-17).\u00a0 Her son died, perhaps of a heat stroke.\u00a0 (2 Kings 3:18-21).\u00a0 Through Elisha, the boy was miraculously revived.\u00a0 (2 Kings 4:28-37). \u00a0It is unclear whether this is a narrative of a \u201cmiracle\u201d or of some sort of physical resuscitation, given the precise description of Elisha\u2019s actions:\u00a0 \u201cmouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands.\u201d\u00a0 (2 Kings 4:34) (NIV).<\/p>\n

Looking back at this text with a post-Easter hermeneutic, there are obvious resonances with the death and resurrection of the Son of God and with the Christian resurrection hope.\u00a0 Perhaps more immediate to the redactors of the story\u2019s canonical form, the text offers hope to Israel that the nation might yet again live after the Exile.\u00a0 Even though 2 Kings ends with the fall of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25), God will send His prophets to give the nation breath, sight, and strength once again.\u00a0 From Genesis 1 through 2 Kings, the \u201coutcast\u201d and \u201cmarginalized\u201d is<\/em> Israel, the people whom God will never abandon.<\/p>\n

[1] Since Naboth is known by name and the vineyard is a family inheritance, however, it seems that Naboth was relatively prosperous.\u00a0 (See <\/em>1 Kings 21:1-3).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is from a paper I wrote for an Old Testament class at\u00a0Wycliffe College. \u00a0The prompt was as follows: \u00a0Discuss God\u2019s concern for the outsider (the poor, the widow, the orphan, the marginalized, etc.) in Genesis\u20132 Kings. Here is Part 3: \u00a0Joshua – 2 Kings. The theme of the marginalized and outsider in Joshua […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2674,"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":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biblical-studies","category-scripture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-Hg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}