During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. – Judges 20:5

Today's Scripture Reading (March 4, 2022): Judges 20

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues that "It doesn't matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just." Maybe that is why politicians seem to spend so much of their time trying to spin the truth. Both sides try to use the same facts to prove that their position is the righteous one, and often there are exaggerations along the way. But one constant is that it is always the other side that is unjust. I admit, I usually don't have the patience to play the game. Truth and justice often seem to live in-between two divergent political positions. Maybe we all need to acknowledge that the truth is not something to be managed, but rather it is something to be told.

The Levite has cut up his murdered concubine and sent her out to the tribes as part of a gruesome message. The tribes respond by coming to meet with the Levite. The Levite tells the story of Gibeah, but he manages his truth. Everything the Levite says is completely true, and yet it is a truth that has been carefully shaped to place him in a better light. That men came and surrounded the house intent on killing him is true, at least to a point. He left out that they came intending to have sex with him. Likely, the purpose was not to kill him, although keeping the Levite happy and healthy was also not on the agenda. Instead, the men of Gibeah wanted to create a cautionary tale that would be told among the people of the area so that strangers would stay away from the town. But the Levite leaves that out. Even more importantly, he also omits his act of cowardice by abandoning his concubine on the house's doorstep and then going to bed. The Levite tells his audience that "They raped my concubine, and she died," but he leaves out the fact that he did not lift a finger or risk anything to keep his concubine safe. He surrenders his concubine to the mob, knowing that the likelihood was that she would be gang-raped, precisely the same action with which they had threatened him. The Levite tells the tribe the truth, but only to the extent that he leaves himself in a good light. There is no question that the Levite's cause is just; no woman deserves the treatment that his concubine had received. But the whole truth would have made him look a little less just. The cruel way with which he had treated his concubine would have made him a part of the problem.

As a result, the truth needed a little help and some spin which the Levite gladly provided.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 21