We here at the Freethought Mecca have already put forth the theory that the Qur'an is a work of multiple hands, and have made similar claims about the gospels as well. This sort of theory was originally applied to the Hebrew scriptures, and it is that sort of method that is used as a blue print when viewing the Qur'an or gospels.

The stories of the Hebrews are not historical accounts. These are popular tales that existed among the tribal nomads of Western Asia. The story of Noah's flood is almost undoubtedly taken from the Epics of Gilgamesh, and other parts of the Torah seem to be a regurgitation of other, earlier Semitic folklore. The book we call TaNaKh, or Old Testament, is really just a compilation of numerous texts written by people who were totally unaware of the other books that would eventually be grouped together with their own.

Here we will take a look at the book of Genesis and the book of Judges. It is almost certain that the person who wrote the book of Judges had not read the book of Genesis, and vice versa. The respective authors were totally unaware of of the other text. This is the case with almost all the books of the TaNaKh.

This segment will focus on a specific story that was popular among the superstitious nomads of the ancient Jewish world. The story of men surrounding a house, demanding that the head of the household turn over his male guests to this mob of homosexual rapists. The head of the household begs them not to rape his male guests, and offers his daughter(s) instead. That is the basic skeleton of the tale, but it repeats itself in different versions throughout the TaNaKh. It is clear that for different groups of Jews, there were different contexts to what was essentially the same legend.

The story appears in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis, as well as the nineteenth chapter of Judges. We will give each verse in Hebrew, followed by a personal transliteration, and then the English translation as found in the JPS TaNaKh.

Genesis 19:4

 
Terem ishkaavu V'anshei Ha'ir anshei S'dom naasabu al-habayit mina'ar V'ad-zaqen kal-Haa'aam miqatseh.

They had not yet lain down, when the townspeople, the men of Sodom, young and old - all the people to the last man- gathered about the house.

Genesis 19:5

 
V'iqru el-Lot Va'imru Lo ayeh Ha'anashim asher-ba'u eleyka halaylah hotsiem eleinu V'nedaah otam.

And they shouted to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them."

Genesis 19:6

 
Va'yetse alehem Lot hapetchaah V'hadelet saagar acharayv.

So Lot went out to them to the entrance, and shut the door behind him,

Genesis 19:7

 
Va'yomar al-naa achai tere'u.

And he said, "I beg you, my friends, do not commit such a wrong."

Genesis 19:8

 
Hineh-naa li sh'tei banot asher Lo-yaadu ish otsiyah-naa et'hen aleikhem va'asu Laahen Kaatov B'eineikhem raq La'anaanashim ha'el al-ta'asu davar ki-al-ken ba'u B'el qoraati.

"Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please; but do not do anything to these men, since they have come under the shelter of my roof."

Judges 19:22

 
Hemah meitivim et-libaam V'hineh anshei ha'ir anshei B'nei-V'liya'al naasabu et-habayit mitdapqim al-hadalet vayomru el-ha'ish ba'al habayit hazaqen lemor hotse et-ha'ish asher-ba el-beytka V'neda'enu.

While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the town, a depraved lot, had gathered about the house and were pounding on the door. They called to the aged owner of the house, "Bring out the man who has come into your house, so that we can be intimate with him."

Judges 19:23

 
Vayetse aleihem ha'ish ba'al habayit vayomer alehem al-achai al-taare'u naa acharai asher-ba ha'ish hazeh el-beyti al-ta'asu et-hanvalah hazot.

The owner of the house went out and said to them, "Please, my friends, do not commit such a wrong. Since this man has entered my house, do not perpetrate this outrage."

Judges 19:24

 
Hizeh viti hab'tolah ufilagshehu otsiyah-naa otam V'anu otam va'asu lahem hatov B'eineikhem V'la'ish hazeh lo ta'asu d'bar hanvalah hazot.

"Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. Let me bring them out to you. Have your pleasure of them, do what you like with them; but don't do that outrageous thing to that man."

We might have been tempted to call this story an urban legend had it not obviously originated in a nomadic setting. The story about the preternatural homosexual rapist is one that still is put forth by Judeo-Christian fanatics to this day. The usenet news group alt.atheism is often the home of one or two stories about "sodomites rape boy again," or some other sensationalist homophobic propaganda being spewed by various Christian fundamentalists.

Now we know that this sort of tale goes back thousands of years. Still, one is bothered by the fact that the ancient Hebrew version of this legend always ends with the master of the house trying to pacify the crowd of rapists by offering his own daughter(s). Obviously this was some sort of tale that was well known to the Hebrews, and it made its way into different pieces of writing.

The stories are the same, but the people and the town are different. The number of daughters and the number of potential male victims is also different in each story. Still, it is obvious that this is the same story. One can only conclude that the characters mentioned in these stories are not historical figures. This was a popular tale passed by way of oral tradition, and the exact details and context were different for different groups.