Episode 187: Hospitality or not? Rahab, Yael, Abigail, and Lydia in Context

Now that we’ve covered the ancient rules for hospitality, I want to talk about the commonly misunderstood accounts of Rahab, Yael and Abigail. And we’ll also talk about how the world had changed by the time of the apostles with a quick look at Lydia.

If you can’t see the podcast player, click here. If you want to watch this on YouTube, click here.

Last time, I taught about hospitality in the ancient Near East and how incredibly important it was—sacred even—within communities regardless of religion or nationality. This week, I am going to go deeper and beyond the examples of Abraham and Lot (which were important for laying the foundation for the next two chapters of Genesis that I am teaching for Context for Kids) and I want to talk about famous examples of things that might or might not be or be mistaken for hospitality throughout the Bible. As important as it is to know what hospitality is, it is also important to understand what didn’t count and also how it changed from Abraham’s time to the days of Yeshua/Jesus and the early church. As the world changed, so did hospitality—although it really stayed the same far more than it changed. It was a great system, one we would do well to emulate more today even though I am not crazy about many other aspects of honor/shame culture and wouldn’t want all the rest that went with it. Really, hospitality as practices in the Biblical era can’t exist without honor/shame culture and we are way too individualistic to go along with that now anyways. So, let’s look at Rahab, Yael, Nabal, and whoever else I can think of to figure out whose behavior did and didn’t fall under the rules of ancient hospitality.

Hi, I am Tyler Dawn Rosenquist, and welcome to Character in Context, where I teach the historical and ancient sociological context of Scripture with an eye to developing the character of the Messiah. However, everything changed last year when the Lord told me in no uncertain terms that my days of teaching adults are over, so now this portion of my ministry is devoted to teaching adults how to teach kids by making sure that we are supporting their growth and faith in the Messiah instead of hijacking it. Which is super easy to do, by the way—hijacking it. I’ve done it, and you’ve done it. Let’s stop doing it and teach kids how to take Yeshua/Jesus seriously as the greater Moses, greater Temple, and greater Prophet whom Matthew tells us He is. So, from now on, this is a satellite ministry of Context for Kids, which has become my primary ministry. Lots for adults to learn still, but geared more toward discipleship and less toward context studies—but still very much contextual. I still have a ton of teachings for grownups at theancientbridge.com and on my YouTube channel, and I think that most of the listeners to Context for Kids are probably grownups anyway so you can catch me there as well if you enjoy crawling through Genesis at a snail’s pace. I also have curriculum books and all that jazz available on Amazon. All Scripture this week is from the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible, unless I say otherwise.

I am going to quickly review the guidelines of hospitality during the early biblical period that we see mirrored in Scripture. A male head of a household who was in good standing with the community or head of a camp had the authority to invite a stranger into his home for a short period of time—extending to that person temporary community membership. During this time, the guest was safe and also could not do harm to the host or his community. The potential host would approach the stranger, offer him bare basic hospitality and perhaps lodging depending on the time of day, and the stranger would usually refuse the first offer in order to preserve their own honor. At this point, the host would repeat the offer with a stronger sense of urgency and the stranger would accept and return with the host to his dwelling. The basic offer of bread and water could then be upgraded according to the means of the host, magnifying the honor of both the host and the guest. The guest was not permitted to ask for anything, and the host wasn’t permitted to ask the guest any questions about their mission, travel, or intentions. No prying allowed. The offer of hospitality was not open ended but came with strict time limits. Upon leaving, the guest was required to place a blessing of life upon the host and his household. It was like a dance that everyone knew the steps to and was really something that everyone in the ancient world could depend upon—which made the deviations from hospitality in Genesis and Judges 19 so shocking to the original audience.

As I mentioned last time, during the early Biblical period, a woman couldn’t offer hospitality—only a man of good standing within the community could and we talked about why that was. By the first century, that had changed and women could and did offer hospitality provided they could do so in a way that didn’t compromise their reputation. Obviously, a woman who ran a large household with male and female servants and children would have no reason not to serve as host to travelers, which is exactly what we see happening with Paul on his journeys as a large number of the people named as benefactors and leaders of local congregations were women.

I want to start with two rather scandalous stories—the first being Rahab in Joshua who was, yes, a prostitute but not specifically a cult prostitute as that terminology isn‘t used. In the ancient world, prostitutes would often have their dwellings within the casement walls of the city—which were two serious stone walls filled with rubble in between. Prostitutes often had their homes/offices there, as it was a very useful place to advertise their business to passersby and would even have windows in the outer wall where they would appear in order to attract clients. As Rahab has such a dwelling—we know this because she lowered the two unnamed spies to safety outside the city after nightfall, there is little doubt as to her profession. People get antsy about the two spies visiting a prostitute but let’s not forget that in the ancient Near East, there were still some serious double standards between what adultery meant with men versus women. From last week, if you recall, Judah had no qualms about visiting a temple prostitute—literally binding himself to another god—but wanted to burn Tamar for her perceived infidelity. Yeshua and Paul both had things to say about this sort of double standard, but we all know the wilderness generation of Israelites weren’t exactly known for their moral excellence. We do see Rahab protecting them and giving them shelter, but as she was not a man within the community, she had no ability or authority to offer the two spies formal hospitality and temporary community status. Not only that, but she refuses to let them go until they swear to protect her and her family. So, although we see things that look like hospitality, it is most likely that Rahab sees an opportunity to ally herself with the God who decimated the Egyptians, as well as the two Amorite kingdoms on the other side of the Jordan. She is staking her claim to the superior God and bargaining for her own safety. She clearly knew who they were and what they were up to. The Bible makes no attempt to hide the sexual nature of the entire episode.

Our next misunderstood example of “not” hospitality concerns the episode in Judges 4 where, at first glance in English, this appears to be an example of a woman offering hospitality to the defeated general Sisera, with whom her husband had been an ally. When we are unfamiliar with hospitality rules, this seems like a clear case of betrayal of hospitality but what we see here is as important as what we do not see. Her husband isn’t there, Sisera’s entire army has been destroyed. He has been completely shamed and has nothing left except his mommy waiting at home for him (according to Deborah’s song). Sisera comes purposefully to Yael’s tent—a clear violation of his alliance with her husband. Yael’s greeting, which is often translated as “come inside” can also mean “turn away”—as in, “Get out of here, you have no business here.” Soldiers who came into a camp of women while their men were away generally had one thing in mind and it is more than likely that Yael assumed that rape was in her future. Such was the way of the world and Sisera, by raping Heber’s wife, could take control of his household. It’s complicated but this is exactly why Solomon had his brother killed for wanting to take Abishag, their father’s newest wife before dying, for his own. To possess the women of the King was to be the king—Absalom also did this when he raped David’s concubines on the roof of the palace.

One thing is certain, Yael was not offering hospitality because she had none to give. At best, she was scrambling to make the best of a bad situation while she figured out how to save both her virtue and her husband’s honor. Sisera certainly didn’t see this as a hospitality situation because he begins ordering her around in her own tent in the absence of her husband. Although some translations say “please give” because of the use of the emphatic “na”, it can just as easily be translated as “give me” and making it a command. “Give me water to drink!” She very wisely gives him fermented milk instead, no doubt hoping that after the exhaustion of battle that he will fall asleep and buy her some time. He then commands her to lie if anyone asks if a man is in the tent—which is actually played to comic effect because she can honestly say that no man is in her tent since he has shamed himself so deeply that the term no longer applies. He falls asleep and she takes the only weapon in the tent, the mallet and tent peg she uses when she pitches her own tent, and drives it through his skull. Instead of him penetrating her, she penetrates his skull. So, like Rahab, not a hospitality situation and unlike the residents of Sodom, who are lambasted and decried by the prophets as violators of hospitality despite having great resources, she is called a hero.

What about the situation with Nabal, Abigail, and David in I Sam 25? David is still a fugitive on the run from King Saul, who has been trying unsuccessfully for years to kill him. He’s been camping out with his six hundred men (probably an exaggeration) on Nabal’s land while raiding Philistine encampments and cities. While there, their presence alone is enough to ensure the safety of Nabal’s shepherds along with his three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. Yeah, the dude is loaded for sure. And we are uncertain as to whether or not Nabal knew they were there but if he did, he never turned David in. Likely it was a win/win situation for them both as David was protecting what was Nabal’s while refraining from stealing any of those critters for dinner. Certainly this is no hospitality situation. As we come to find out, Nabal wasn’t really a hospitable guy. In fact, according to his wife, he’s the worst sort of fool and idiot.

Along comes a festival day and David and his men are feeling peckish and probably tired of living off Philistine rations. Nabal is nearby shearing his huge flocks and David sends ten of his soldiers (armed? We really don’t know) to Nabal and “ask” him for whatever he has to eat so that they can celebrate, reminding Nabal that they’ve been protecting his people and that they haven’t stolen anything. Remember, in a hospitality situation, the guests can’t demand anything or even ask for it. Nabal has never extended hospitality to them and they are not under his protection. Whether they should be is another matter entirely and not a hospitality one because hospitality has time limits and they have obviously been there a lot longer than a few days. Nabal responds to what might have been an affront to his honor like the fool he is and provokes David by insulting him in front of both their men. This is just a mess. Fortunately, Nabal’s wise wife Abigail saves the day by going behind her husband’s back and providing a feast for David and his men complete with wine, meat and even dessert. But this still isn’t hospitality as she has no authority to provide it—this is tribute, a bribe, whatever you want to call it. This is a ransom to buy the lives of all the men in her household. She even offers David a rebuke for wanting to commit mass murder over an insult from one fool.

So, we can see how stories can have elements that appear to fall under the ancient rite of hospitality without actually being that. But during the first century, we can see that hospitality has really changed a lot. We see that travel is no longer quite the oddity and deviant activity that it once was—even if it did make you a bit suspicious to the locals. As the early apostles and evangelists and teachers spread the Gospel, they were only able to succeed as well as they did because of hospitality. We can see from the book of Acts especially that Paul tended to go to areas of the city where he could meet up with fellow artisans who would extend hospitality toward Him, and would offer him space in their courtyards to teach and preach. In those days, formal synagogues were a rarity within the Roman Empire and so meeting in homes wasn’t so much a “business model” as much as a necessity. Rome didn’t care much for people gathering in groups without permission, and so gathering in private/public settings (because there was really no privacy in the public areas of homes) depended upon the gracious hospitality of local households. Many of these households were run by women, who would then be the leaders of the local congregation—one could hardly be a leader in someone else’s home. That wasn’t how things worked in those days.

The early church really changed things up as far as hospitality went because the church as a whole was considered to be family, and the church itself a community within the community. That doesn’t mean that the early leaders didn’t have to crack down on those who abused the generosity of others—there were terrible problems with people travelling from place to place, not working, and imposing upon the local body. Paul had to tell some to work instead of abusing their family status. Others used their status as teachers to prey upon the good graces of their hosts to overstay their welcome. But when we think of classic first century Christian hospitality, we can go to the story of Lydia in Acts 16. She was a dealer in purple cloth and so she had money, and she is described as the head of her household, where she extended an invitation to Paul, Silas, and Timothy to stay with her after her entire household heard the Gospel and was baptized. She continued in loyalty to them through thick and thin until they were forced to leave the city by the local magistrates.

Really, the book of Acts is just teeming with examples of hospitality offered by both men and women, Jews and Gentiles alike. Oftentimes, in Paul’s letters, his reprimands have to do with breaches in the sort of hospitality that family members should have been able to anticipate from one another but were being withheld due to status differences. I am going to cut this short because I believe between this time and last that I have given enough examples to outline how to approach the text in terms of looking for hospitality and what does and doesn’t qualify. Our modern use of hospitality just means being generally welcoming but in the ancient world it was a sacred social contract that wasn’t optional for honorable or even dishonorable people.

The next time you hear from me, I will probably be talking about the very awful reality of shaming men in the ancient world through rape. It was something that heterosexual men would do as a power play, and I will be citing some ancient near eastern literature in context. Nasty bit of context, but if you want to understand what was going on in both Sodom and Gibeah and how it differs from homosexuality (which is mentioned elsewhere as in Lev 18:22 so doesn’t need to be read into these accounts), it’s needful.