The book of Judges (along with some other of the prophets) often provides the historical kernel for the incidents in the Humash. One story that has got a lot of attention in this regard is the harrowing story of Pilegish BGibeah, juxtaposed with the story of Sodom. I will not go through all the parallel details, others have done that just as well as I can or better (not the least Ramban albeit with different conclusions). But the primary contrast, the ending; has been ignored. The ending is that the woman dies, and a civil war breaks out resulting in the near genocide of an entire tribe. There is no reason to doubt this as historical. This is raw, real life, as we know it to this day. Justice? What justice? The innoccent women was gang raped and died; and an nearly an entire tribe was killed, in revenge for the actions of the few. Fast forward to Sodom. Nobody gets raped or killed and the potential male victims turn out to be angels who quickly shuttle the other wou...
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