The Sin of Gibeah? : reading Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 in the context of migration and trauma

Date
2021-11-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation explores an intertextual connection of the texts Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 based on the phrase “the sin of Gibeah” through the methodological lenses of trauma hermeneutics and migration theory. With particular consideration of the impact of the Judean exile on texts not only in the exilic period, but also post-exilic, I propose in this study that the sin of Gibeah can best be understood as one of Othering. A central argument of this dissertation is that both Judges 19 and Hosea 9-10 can be read as stories of migration, as writing impacted by exile, depicting the horrors the community had experienced. In these texts, we find that the literary figures of the bodies of the women Gomer and the nameless Concubine are characters through whom the trauma of migration played out in order to make sense of the senseless for the community in the form of narratives. Yet, from the position of the authorship of both texts, this understanding is not necessarily to be condoned. The sin of Gibeah as Othering demands that the history of exile be told with all truth, with all horror, even as it calls many to account. The importance of these biblical narratives of migration is brought into sharper focus when read also in the context of contemporary narratives of migration. The role of trauma narratives as formative, enabling the re-making experience for both individuals and communities impacted by migrating, manifests in biblical as well as contemporary stories of migration. In exploring the intersection of trauma, migration, and gender in contemporary discussions on migration, specifically in my context of the United States, this study’s understanding of the sin of Gibeah as the sin of Othering continues to point the finger at those in power, asking if we too will bear witness.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die intertekstuele verband tussen Rigters 19 en Hosea 9-10, gebaseer op die frase “die sonde van Gibea” deur middel van die metodologiese lense van trauma-hermeneutiek en migrasie-teorie. Met besondere oorweging van die impak van die ballingskap van Judea op tekste, nie net ten tye van die ballingskap nie, maar ook ná die ballingskap, stel ek in hierdie studie voor dat die sonde van Gibea verstaan kan word as een van Othering (om mense of ʼn groep mense as inherent anders of vervreemd te beskou of behandel). 'n Sentrale argument in hierdie proefskrif is dat beide Rigters 19 en Hosea 9-10 gelees kan word as verhale van migrasie, as literatuur wat deur ballingskap gevorm is, wat die gruwels wat die gemeenskap ervaar het, uitbeeld. In albei tekste vind ons dat die literêre figure van die liggame van vroue, Gomer in Hosea 1-2 en die naamlose Byvrou in Rigters 19, karakters is op wie die trauma van migrasie uitspeel om sin van die sinnelose vir die gemeenskap te maak in die vorm van vertelling. Vanuit die posisie van die outeurskap van albei hierdie tekste, beteken dit egter nie noodwendig dat hierdie beginsel goedgekeur word nie. Die sonde van Gibea as Othering vereis dat die geskiedenis van ballingskap met alle waarheid en met afgryse vertel moet word, terwyl dit baie tot verantwoording roep. Die belangrikheid van hierdie Bybelse verhale van migrasie word skerper in fokus gebring as dit ook gelees word in die konteks van hedendaagse verhale oor migrasie. Ons sien in die Bybelse sowel as die hedendaagse migrasie-verhale dat trauma-narratiewe as vormend en sin-gewend vir beide individue en gemeenskappe wat deur migrasie beïnvloed is, kan wees. In die ondersoek na die interseksie van trauma, migrasie, en gender in kontemporêre besprekings oor migrasie, spesifiek in my konteks van die Verenigde State, wys hierdie studie se verstaan van die sonde van Gibeah as die sonde van Othering die vinger na maghebbers en vra of ook ons getuies sal wees.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.
Keywords
Bible -- Hermeneutics, Bible. Judges, XVIX -- Criticism, interpretation, etc., Bible. Hosea, IX-X -- Criticism, interpretation, etc., Feminism -- Religious aspects -- Christianity, Bible and feminism, UCTD
Citation