According to Herodotus’ account of the Trojan War, the Hellenes / indigenous Greeks escalated a trade war into a pitched battle when “they sailed in to Aia of Colchis and to the river Phasis.”
This was northeastern-most reach of Jason and the Argonauts.
So recently after the Flood, ergo still in the grip of an ice age, this would be the frontier of the habitable world. These peoples, like the Free Folk in Game of Thrones, struggled for existence in wilderness ecosystems too cold and inhospitable to provide more than survival of the fittest of hunters.
Like the Norsemen in the Middle Ages, they traded natural commodities like furs and wood for produced goods like grain and metal pots and weapons, or they raided. Hence they were called Barbarians.
and from thence, after they had done the other business for which they came, they carried off the king’s daughter Medea: and the king of Colchis sent a herald to the land of Hellas and demanded satisfaction for the rape / i.e. abduction and to have his daughter back;
but they answered that, as the Barbarians had given them no satisfaction for the rape of Io the Argive, so neither would they give satisfaction to the Barbarians for this.
We need some background on Medea. There is much more than family honor at stake here.
Medea is one of the most famous female characters in Greek mythology, appearing in the majority of the most ancient sources, including Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius, Histories by Herodotus, Theogony by Hesiod, and Metamorphoses by Ovid. There were also several plays in antiquity dedicated to Medea, including Medea by Euripides.
Her father was King Aeetes of Colchis, the son of the sun god Helios / Apollo, and her mother was an Oceanid, i.e. a female hybrid. So Medea was also a hybrid carrying hyper dimensional genes.
Breeding tactics were well known and used by experienced herdsmen.
“And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. ” (Genesis 30:41-43)
From a purely reproductive standpoint, breeding top quality children is no different. A man once told me he married a certain woman in order to have intelligent and attractive children. Union of spirit and soul in had nothing to do with his decision.
Herodotus’ account validates the biblical account of human breeding practices for which hyper dimensional genes were highly valuable assets for any aspiring warlord, and clues us in to the real purpose of Homer’s Trojan War. It’s the same into our time – control of valuable real estate and resources. Shorelines are the most valuable for seafaring peoples.
And women for growing the population.
And Herodotus confirms this conclusion.
Up to this point, they say, nothing more happened than the carrying away of women on both sides; but after this the Hellenes were very greatly to blame; for they set the first example of war, making an expedition [from Europe] into Asia before the [Phoenicians, Asians] Barbarians made any into Europe.
Now they say that in their judgment, though it is an act of wrong to carry away women by force, it is a folly to set one’s heart on taking vengeance for their rape / abduction, and the wise course is to pay no regard when they have been carried away.
The ancient Greeks considered war rape of women “socially acceptable behavior well within the rules of warfare”, and warriors considered the conquered women “legitimate booty, useful as wives, concubines, slave labor, or battle-camp trophy“…Conquering the…property of an enemy was regarded as legitimate reason for war in itself. Women were included with “property”…In this context, the rape of a woman was considered a property crime committed against the man who owned the woman.
The Greek’s attitude is recognized as being the same as the Canaanites.
“And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.” (Genesis 34)
However, Dinah’s brothers were not to be bought out at any price.
“Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house…and spoiled the city…took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive.” (Genesis 34)
Then there is the biblical account of the man from Ephraim who ran into a battle when he took a woman from the tribe of Judah.
“And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite [from the northern tribe of Ephraim] who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem of the [southern] tribe of Judah…(Judges 19)
Well, that was equivalent to theft of valuable resources, enriching Ephraim at the expense of Judah. If you know biblical history (see Genesis 48) there has been leadership rivalry between these two main tribes of Israel (see I Kings 11:26-12:24) that persists to this day (Hosea 11) (but is promised to be healed in the future Romans 9:25-27).
[And as he was traveling back to his home in the tribe of Ephraim]…[they spent the night in] Gibeah [of the tribe of Benjamin]… the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door.
Basically these are hoodlums looking for any excuse to jack up their adrenaline and other excitement hormones by stirring up trouble. We know that syndrome all too well.
In the last decade Congo has seen the loss of over four million lives as the country becomes increasingly fractured and dangerously insecure. This atmosphere of violence and insecurity has inspired an unprecedented amount of sexual violence. According to a director of United Nation’s emergency relief funds, rape has become a ‘cultural phenomenon’ in the Congo (Washington Post). Unfortunately, sexual exploitation is not a new development.
Slavers and Belgian colonists raped and tortured Congolese women for decades. Even after achieving independence, corrupt dictators allowed rape and abuse to continue with impunity. Today, the amount of rape that actually occurs is incalculable. Even conservative assessments from the United Nations estimate that 200,000 women have been raped in the last decade, while at least 40 women are raped each day in the Congo’s eastern province (Pisik, 2009).
“and [the sons of Belial] spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.”
This town is turning into vicious Sodom.
For centuries, rape and sexual violence have been used as tactics of war…In an attempt to express control over the enemy, the wives sisters, and mothers of soldiers are often captured and systematically raped and tortured. Women, however, are not the exclusive victims of sexual domination during conflict…
Although male rape has occurred in countless conflicts throughout history, it is a matter rarely discussed or addressed by traditional media, human rights groups, or other international organizations…a few situations which were riddled with horrendous instances of sexual violence have recently surfaced. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where war has raged on for years, male victims of rape are finally being acknowledged. The sexual humiliation of male prisoners at Abu Ghraib has also been exposed, drawing international attention to some of war’s greatest atrocities. These unique situations illustrate the way that war’s ceaseless association with masculinity drives its participants to do anything and everything to emasculate their enemy.
Male-on-male rape has been heavily stigmatized. According to psychologist Sarah Crome, fewer than 1 in 10 male-on-male rapes are reported...
Wartime sexual violence…particularly in ethnic conflict…has broader sociological motives…may also include gang rape… frequently used as a means of psychological warfare in order to humiliate the enemy.
The response by the master of the house indicates that there was indeed gang warfare going on.
“And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you…unto this man do not so vile a thing.
Within the context of the extensive three-chapter-account, there is certainly a war going on for a highly prized resource – women for breeding purposes. And the master of the house expressly states this.
“Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.”
The detail in the biblical account is there for a reason. The men from the tribe of Benjamin would be tapping an external sexual source since the concubine was from Judah..
“so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go…And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way:
Note – “his way”. Sounds like he had relinquished his rights to her.
and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And…none answered.
Raping and abducting is OK, but not the utter destruction of a valued resource, so this 6th generation descendant of Levi (Judges 20:28) reacts like Levi, with utter destruction.
“Then the man took her up upon an ass…And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.
Then congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan [in the north] even to Beersheba [in the south], with the land of Gilead [east of the Jordan River], unto the LORD in Mizpeh [center of worship before Jebus was taken by David]…400,000 footmen that drew sword.”
This is a reprise of Moses calling “Who is on the LORD’s side!” to slay the idolaters at Mount Sinai. Can we not recognize the high value the LORD placed on this one concubine, despite the fact that she “played the whore” against the Levite? He is calling for the same response as when he himself was abused.
People who reject the Bible by claiming it subjects women to subjugation are ignoring the context of society. Its guidelines are for protection of women in cultures that exploit and enslave and dehumanize and kill women, most of whom world-wide are left defenseless at home while men leave to farm, hunt and make war.
And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying…deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel…But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves…to go out to battle against the children of Israel…[there] fell that day of Benjamin 25,000 men that drew the sword….But 600 men [of Benjamin] turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock [mountain] Rimmon.
And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?
1st solution: Make War.
And the congregation sent thither 12,000 men…utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead 400 young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male…And the whole congregation sent some to speak / parley to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them…and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.
2nd solution: Kidnap.
Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place…Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards…if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes…And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 19-21)
The death penalty, like quarantine, masks, and restriction of normal social interaction by healthy people is a safeguard against exponential spread of evil in society which is written into the Melchizedekian Code of Law.
Abduction of women is not.
What was right in the Israelites’ eyes – that one time – was an ungodly practice they picked up from their surrounding neighbors.
the people of Asia, when their women were carried away by force, had made it a matter of no account.
but the Hellenes on account of a woman of Lacedemon gathered together a great armament, and then came to Asia and destroyed the dominion of Priam; and that from this time forward they [the Semitic / Eastern peoples, including the Persians referenced at the beginning of this account] had always considered the Hellenic race / Japhethites / Westerners to be their enemy:
Kingdom Come 