God is not silent on rape. The Bible records rapes by family members, gang rapes, and the threat of rape. It also records the social consequences of it.
The Bible is a diverse book including history, poetry and letters. It is the means through which God has declared who He is and His means (the death and resurrection of Christ) of saving people from His own righteous judgment, which would otherwise condemn them to hell. Through this we understand the moral standards expected of those created in His image. These standards are evidenced in both declarations of what we should and shouldn’t do, and in the documentation of the consequences of our sinful nature.
Please be aware that
what follows may ‘trigger’ some individuals.
Rape in the family
In 2 Samuel 13, the rape of a woman by her half-brother is documented. Amnon declared love for his sister Tamar and set up a situation whereby his lust would be expressed in rape. Tamar had no witnesses since Amnon had sent his servants away. After the rape, his so-called ‘love’ turned to hatred and he sent her away knowing that she would now face destitution because of no longer being a virgin and therefore being unable to marry.
Gang rape resulting in death
Judges 19 records the gang rape of a woman. Whilst against what God intended (Genesis 2:24), Israelite society allowed for a man to have a concubine, a woman who had the role of a wife in both sexual and household matters but with few of the privileges such as inheritance rights for her children. Travelling from the concubine’s parental home back to her master’s home, an elderly man invited them to stay overnight. During the evening, what the Bible describes as ‘the wicked men of the city’ surrounded the house and demanded that the elderly man’s male guest be brought out to have sexual relations with them. Rather than taking a courageous stance, the man offered both his daughter and the concubine to them. Eventually both men agreed to send out the concubine who was raped throughout the night until near death from her injuries. By morning, left at the doorway of the house where the elderly man and her master slept, she was dead.
Read the recorded account in the Bible here
Threat of rape
In Genesis 19,Lot is visited by two angels who had the appearance of men. Offering them hospitality, that evening ‘…all the men from every part of the city of Sodom-both young and old-surrounded the house.’ They demanded that the two men be brought out to them in order to have sex.Lot instead offered his own two daughters to the men. This potential gang rape of two young women was averted by the angels who blinded the men who had surrounded the house, enabling them to leave the city before it was destroyed by God.
Read the recorded account in the Bible here
These three examples are documented in the Bible to reveal the depravity of man in his sinful nature. Whilst God has revealed Himself in creation, people ignore Him and in doing so their hearts become increasingly ‘darkened’: ‘Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity …and to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.’ (Romans 1:7). These actual and would-be rapes contravene God’s purposes regarding sexual relationships between a man and woman and express the essential sinfulness of mankind. Whilst we live in a fallen world, our depravity will be revealed in many ways. Nevertheless, God has not left us without hope.
