Did David rape Bathsheba?
“If reasonable arguments can be made exegetically then perhaps we ought not to anathematize people who believe differently than we do on issues such as this. Perhaps someone can believe that David and Bathsheba committed adultery and still support the #metoo and #churchtoo moments.” - Dave Miller
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I have no problem saying that David raped Bathsheba if the text says so. That fact is that it doesn’t. It is up to the person making the assertion to prove it. I know you know this from the recent music threads. I simply don’t think you have done so. There is not enough to go on to say one way or the other.
If you are going to claim I’m using bad exegetical methods, and you do, the onus is indeed on you to either demonstrate that is true, or else apologize for an unsustainable accusation. You and a bunch of others, really. For the case which you mentioned, the kind of appeal to the context is the classic literary way of interpreting these things.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Josh, making the accusation is not the same as proving it. You have to prove that I’m stretching an analogy.
In this case, again, it’s all about the fact that in Nathan’s story, we start with the position that everything but the guest and the daughter matches up with reality save the disputed phrase. Ordinarily, when a story matches up that well, and the phrase in question is a key part of Nathan’s accusation, you go with the conclusion “this is not just a throwaway line.” And when we’re talking about “dressing” the lamb, the clear inference is that even if the lamb (Bathsheba) is not literally killed, there’s been some huge damage to it.
Again, alone, that’s not enough to make the case, but there’s a host of things where people here are just mocking the argument instead of responding to it. And that’s NOT what you saw on the music threads. People responded to Rajesh with counter-arguments.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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