Stanek Sunday quote: Bible explains sex trafficking due to shortage of women
I read a Scripture passage this week with fresh eyes. It explains one reason for trafficking of women and children: a supply shortage.
Today’s shortage of women, and the overriding reason for the worldwide pandemic of sex trafficking, is not due to war, as it was then. It is due to abortion.
And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out….
“But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh….”
So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife….”
So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.
~ Judges 21:16-24, New International Version
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Thanks for the Serman Jill, this Sunday. We would never hear it anywhere else because it would not be “Politically Correct”.
It isn’t “regular correct”, either.
How is there a shortage of women when they make up 50+% of the population (49.7 Worldwide/51 US)? And since (outside of China) abortion is rarely based on gender, how does abortion reduce the number of available women?
No, it’s not. But I think when the act was compared to sex trafficking in today’s times, that was implying that both acts were not “regular correct”.
Sucks to be those Shiloh girls. I have to say that under those circumstances, they would be sending me back home. I would go out of my way to be the worst wife EVAR.
That passage was not an example to model. At all. In fact, it’s on par with the dude-lets-his-concubine-be-raped-to-death-then-cuts-her-up-and-mails-her-to-the-tribes-of-Israel story. It tells the story of massive wrong being done to innocent women who had no one to defend them and were unable to defend themselves. The reason sex trafficking happens is because some people can not stand not to have sexual partners over whom they do not have complete control. “We want to have childrenz!” may have been the excuse the Benjamites gave, but I don’t believe them for a second. Nor, even if it were true, does that remotely justify their actions (and, indeed, the Bible makes no attempt whatsoever to justify them).
Humans are not animals. Our actions should not be reduced to biological urges or even normal desires. We have the power and ability to master ourselves. I’m sorry, but I’m getting some really skeevy, quasi-justification (not actually there, but headed in that direction) vibes from interpreting this passage in this way.
It’s like the Boy Scout motto. “Be prepared.”
India’s male to female ratio is now 1,00 to 914. Some areas the ratio is 1,000 to 830 all due to “missing girls” according to The Economist of 4-7-11. China plus India make up 1/3rd +/- of the population.
Lots more males than females around military bases and migrant labor camps the world over. Lots of sex workers there and in tourist areas. Then there are those guys for whom a wife is not enough or those who want something ‘kinky’. And the list goes on.
Abortion is often called part of “women’s rights.” As abortion survivor Gianna Jessen has asked, “If abortion is about women’s rights, where were mine?”
In India and China, abortion is about the right of women to have sons instead of daughters.
Sex trafficking, wife sharing, forcing women to marry jerks, none of these things should be allowed. These practices need to be stompted out. The cultures that have a shortage of women are to blame for their own problems. If they’d let their women grow up, they wouldn’t have a shortage of women. Since they caused their own problems, they should just suffer the consequences.
Really? Explain why Seattle and Portland have a horrifyingly huge sex trafficking problem? There are plenty of both genders in the PNW.
The reason there is sex trafficking is because men and women CHOOSE to make sex trafficking profitable by using its “services” and because there are men and women in the world who would enslave others to be profitable.
The Bible explains it alright. Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Yeah, JK, I was gonna say… The US has a huge sex trafficking problem and we have more females than males. Miami is awful for it. And a lot of boys are trafficked along with the women and girls.
This story is as old as humanity. A musical about the more benign practice of “mail-order brides”, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers made a reference to the Romans and the Sabine women.
It used to stem from the results of war. Now it’s from dysfunctional and abortive families.
Poison spreads and seeks it’s own level as surely as water does.
1.) There are more women than men because women live longer. There are, however, more men born than women.
2.) Check the male to female ratio in any country pre and post legal abortion. When there are changes in the male to female ratio, it’s almost always that fewer females are born than males– yes, even in the US.
So your point is that a Biblical story presenting systematic rape as an acceptable means of producing heirs is somehow relevant to the contemporary abortion debate? Usually when pro-choicers accuse pro-lifers of wanting to create a real-life version of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, I think they are being hyperbolic. Posts like this one make it harder for me to maintain that belief.
To spell it out: the story of the Benjaminites (and the Sabine women) is abhorrent, but the men acted in order to obtain wives who would produce legitimate children, and they lived in a world in which the woman’s consent was not relevant to the legal and social acceptableness of the relationship. We don’t live in that world anymore. Modern sex trafficking is generally about the recreational abuse of vulnerable women and children by men who are seeking non-marital, non-procreative sex. Analogizing ancient marriage-by-abduction with modern-day forced prostitution comes disturbingly close to legitimizing sexual exploitation by treating it as normal behavior.
“Modern sex trafficking is generally about the recreational abuse of vulnerable women and children by men who are seeking non-marital, non-procreative sex. Analogizing ancient marriage-by-abduction with modern-day forced prostitution comes disturbingly close to legitimizing sexual exploitation by treating it as normal behavior.”
Yup. A lot of the men who abuse trafficked women and children are married, didn’t stop them from doing it. This almost seems like victim-blaming in a way, taking the responsibility away from the men (and a few women) who are participating in this, and trying to excuse it away.
I ran out of time to edit my post above, so as an addendum: the Benjaminite story is not an “explanation of sex trafficking” because it was not about sex trafficking. The Bible distinguished between “wives” and “prostitutes,” and the story is about creating wives, not consorting with prostitutes.
This almost seems like victim-blaming in a way,
I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘victim-blaming,’ but I’d agree that it’s heading in the direction of ‘victimizer-excusing.’
Well..I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t see a correlation between the way men in Biblical times sometimes obtained wives, and modern-day sex trafficking.
I would have been the very first commenter this morning, but I didn’t comment because I thought “Well..I don’t get it..but maybe it’s just ME”. ;)
I saw this post earlier, and I was not quite sure what to say. I guess I think this was a bit of a miss. Not sure how much this has to do with sex trafficing, and the connection to abortion is tenuous.
I don’t think anyone would read the biblical passage and say, “hey, there’s an acceptable way to find a wife!” I think it’s being used as an example of how women would NOT like to be courted, or kidnapped!
My, my. There’s a lot of house visiting while insulting the draperies going on here.
She (I assume Jill) only said that reading this passage reminded her of the shortage of women going on today. Only today it’s even more purposeful. Are we any less savage than our forebears?
(And I dare anyone to come up with poorer syntax than that first sentence.) :)
Have you all read Aesop’s Fables or Grimm’s Fairy Tales?
They are filled with examples of what NOT to do with all the crappy consequences.
This story reminds me of an example of what NOT to do. So that years later you can point out what happened and say, “You don’t want end up like those Benjaminites, do you? Well, DO YOU?!
Hippie, that’s the “reproach” and “byword” you’ve heard about… ;>)!
The outrages that occur in the last 3 chapters of the Book of Judges are examples of the real depths of depravity humans can sink to when they are free to “do what seems right in their own mind”. It is a good example of how unguided people in a desperate bind think. [Like with a panic pregnancy…how can I hide and fix this…I need an out…I need to get rid of it] The outrages in Judges are excellent examples of pro-choice logic. Seemed like a good solution at the time. And everyone agreed.
This is the reason why the tribes choose to move to having a king in Israel…so outrages like this could be avoided in the future.
LisaC, you have to remember, the Bible isn’t a manners handbook, it’s a history book that records what happened, especially in the case of the old testament. The Israelites were fighting the tribe of Benjamin and had taken the Lord’s name in vain and swore an oath to not let any of their daughters marry someone from the tribe of Benjamin. Then they questioned the wisdom of destroying a tribe of Israel and sought peace, but felt bound to their oath. So, to stay “true” to their oath they told them to kidnap women from a town, and when that town complained they said they should tell them “well, it’s not like you let them marry them, they just were kidnapped, that’s all.” If you think that’s bad, they actually first massacred a town but couldn’t find enough women from it. That chapter ends with “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The moral of the story is that revenge is bad and not of people’s judgement to make; one bad deed will follow another.
“LisaC, you have to remember, the Bible isn’t a manners handbook, it’s a history book”
The Bible is no more a history book than than the Odyssey or the Gilgamesh Epic. Like any origin myth, it’s probably based on general experiences of a particular group of people at a particular time. History demands much more exacting evidence than myths and legends.
I do love the “Old Testament” stuff about stoning adulterers and other fun stuff that is very much like the Taliban. And how bout all the polygamy amongst the patriarchs – not Adam and Steve but Adam and Eve, and Eve, and Eve…..and a few nice concubines, too.
The awkward moment when CC complains about the only part of the Christian Bible that Jewish faiths consider part of their tradition…while being obsessed with Judaism. Lolol.
@JackBorsch: For you, my friend.
:D
CC, every person mentioned in the Bible could be spotless, and would you still reject it and demean it? In your own eyes, who is the judge of what is right an wrong? “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
listen to Jack, he would know.
What are you referring to, Jake?
Take your own advice, Jake.
Jack, that was AWESOME.
I’m gonna start calling CC “Doug the Head”, because she reminds me of that character from the movie Snatch.
Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water. CC and Jake. What is this? Ewww-Harmony?
I just think it’s amusing that Jake thinks he is subtle with his little digs. He’s followed me to three different blogs, so far. I think his obvious crush is cute, but sadly I’m married and straight.
I guess things didn’t end up working out between Jake and Megan. :(
JDC wrote:
I guess things didn’t end up working out between Jake and Megan.
I seriously hope it’s not too wrong of me, for finding that hysterically funny! :)
@Paladin: I hope not, or else I’m in serious trouble. My thought was that I kind of feel Jake is barking up the wrong tree with CC, though. She and joan…
(I can not believe we’re almost writing comment-fic shipping our various trolls together. :P)
CC, every person mentioned in the Bible could be spotless, and would you still reject it and demean it? In your own eyes, who is the judge of what is right an wrong? “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
I would view it as any other ethnic/religious folk tale compilation. In the case of the bible, it’s a very violent folk tale.
Alice, your comment made me realize that I’m officially WAY too involved in this blog. :)
Hans: This story is as old as humanity. A musical about the more benign practice of “mail-order brides”, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers made a reference to the Romans and the Sabine women.
I once had a Swiss girlfriend named Sabine, the name deriving from that.
Steven D: How is there a shortage of women when they make up 50+% of the population
Because you have Mormons, somewhat like MITT ROMNEY, taking many wives for one man! :P
Just kidding. ;)
Sweet Marmot: ….forcing women to marry jerks, none of these things should be allowed.
:) :P Ha!
Some Guy: There are more women than men because women live longer. There are, however, more men born than women.
I may be wrong, but I thought it was 106 or 107 females born to every 100 males.
Pamela: Well..I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t see a correlation between the way men in Biblical times sometimes obtained wives, and modern-day sex trafficking.
I would have been the very first commenter this morning, but I didn’t comment because I thought “Well..I don’t get it..but maybe it’s just ME”.
I agree – there is an element of “taking” there, in both cases.