Honor and Shame: An Addendum to Lesson's I've Learned

Given all the recent chaos that is now the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this seems like a well-placed addition to key concepts that have shifted my thought process in Biblical studies.Generally speaking, the Middle East is a rather traditional culture, fastidiously maintaining traditions that, more or less, have been in play for thousands of years; some reach back to the Biblical era. One of these prominent social conventions is the honor and shame model which dominates the family structure. If a family member is somehow shamed and loses his/her dignity, compensatory action is required to regain the lost honor. When the taking of life is involved, revenge must be administered otherwise disrespect and shame is dispensed towards the family. In other words, it is incumbent upon a family member to avenge the wrong committed against the family or the family is shamed. In ancient times, from what I understand, the eldest son was charged with implementing retaliation tactics. Today, if an honor killing is involved, typically the youngest son is given marching orders to slay the individual because of the potential for a lighter legal penalty if he is caught.

Precedent for this lies within a few episodes of the Bible. For instance, Lot is taken hostage during a war near Sodom. Abraham catches wind of this, summons 318 of his trained men (warriors), and gallivants into to battle to rescue his nephew. Blood runs thicker than water in the ancient near east. Another instance occurs when Dinah is raped by Shechem. After Levi and Simeon discover their sister's dignity has been stripped, they devise a plan and convince all the males of the city of Shechem to circumcise themselves. At their most debilitated state, the brothers charge with revenge on their minds and lay waste to all the inhabitants of the town. These two examples illustrate the deeply embedded cultural custom that still resonate today. As a fascinating side note, Jesus was the blood avenger (redeemer) for lost relatives. However, instead of instigating violence, Jesus absorbed it. This runs completely counter-intuitive to the mainstream model of exacting revenge. Jesus' acquiescence to shame directly before and during the cross event cuts against the grain of conventional thinking in his day. Through subtle details, the NT authors propagated a social commentary that was taboo for its time and place.

Fast forward to the present. The 3 kidnapped yeshiva boys were were murdered, apparently by Hamas members but no hard evidence indicting Hamas has surfaced, nor has Hamas accepted responsibility for the murders. A group of 6 Israelis with nationalistic leanings retaliated by kidnapping a 16 year old Palestinian and burned him alive. Since this incident, both sides have repeatedly attempted to kidnap innocent people simply to display their willingness to avenge the blood of their kinfolk. Juvenile rhetoric has been spewed by Israel and Hamas, both guaranteeing a "high price" for previous actions perpetrated against them. And so, the cycle continues.

The longer I live here, the more I understand why God implored His people to forgive one another. Without forgiveness, especially in this land, violence erupts pretty quickly. Jesus' message of loving your enemies and forgiving those who hate you now speaks volumes to me as I witness the current situation in Israel.