Today’s Scripture Reading (August 20,
2013): 1 Chronicles 7
The term “genocide”
did not exist before 1944. It was not that the action of genocide was unknown;
we just did not have a name for it. And it was not until 1996 that someone
finally described the process of genocide. According to Gregory Stanton, the
President of Genocide Watch, there are eight stages of the genocide process.
The process starts with Classification
– the task of dividing people into us and them. The second stage involves Symbolization – the act of forcing
symbols onto one group of people. Stage three is Dehumanization – the group identified as ‘they’ is now described as
something less than human. The next stage of the process is Organization – the dominant group
begins to form a way to round up and persecute the group of people that are
already described as less than human. Stage five is Polarization – propaganda begins to be disseminated throughout the
general populace describing the target group. Stage six is Preparation – it is at this moment that the over whelming reason
and need for extermination of the people group begins to be broadcast. They are
blamed for some social problem of the culture and the only way through the
problem is if these people can be removed. The next step is the actual Extermination of the people. But the
last step might be the most important. Stage eight is Denial. Denial is summed up as the belief that no wrong was ever
committed. The perpetrator of the action does not see that any crime was
committed. It was all very necessary. And it might be that it is the
overwhelming truth of this final step that makes genocide so hard to see – and has
made the concept of genocide an idea without a term to describe it - at least
until 1944.
But genocide
is an ancient idea. And it is a story that is told regularly in the Hebrew
Bible (the Old Testament.) In fact, in modern times the existence of genocide
all through history, including in the Hebrew Bible, is one of the reasons why
detractors of the Bible refuse to believe in a loving God. Unfortunately, it is
a good argument against a loving God.
Part of what
we need to remember is that while the message of the Bible is eternal, it was
originally written for a specific time and space. To totally remove the Bible
from the time in which it was written is a guarantee that we will misunderstand
its message. And the time in which the Bible was written was a day in which
genocide was common – even within the tribes of Israel.
For the
Israelite standing at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, to read about these
three sons of Benjamin was to tell a story. Genesis tells us a different story.
Benjamin had ten sons. A few verses after this list in Chronicles we are
reminded of five of Benjamin’s sons, but here there are only three. And there
is a reason. Benjamin was almost exterminated – genocide almost became a
reality of the tribe’s existence. And if it were not for the intervention of God,
Benjamin would have disappeared then and there. But instead, a few people
survived. Not the descendants of ten sons of Benjamin – or even five – but the
descendants of three sons of Benjamin. The list served as a reminder of the
great dangers of genocide – and the great mercy of a God that was willing to
step in and stop the killing.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Chronicles 8
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