Judgets 19: The story of the unnamed woman

Unlike most stories in the Bible in which we can find a more polite and diluted way to teach the story in Sunday School, Judges 19 has no such luck. There is no triumph for God and His people and no hero to admire. Perhaps the most unfortunate part of reading this story is that it has no happy ending to come; the story only leads to unspeakable tragedy. Readers of this story have tried to find a way to make sense of this text but the question is how? How do we explain this text and even more complicated, what do we take from this text? In my own attempt to better understand this 'text of terror' I have reviewed numerous scholarly interpretations and perspectives on how this story can be read and the contexts these readings hold for readers. In addition to these Scholarly interpretations, I add in my own understanding of the text from my own cultural context as a Zimbabwe-American woman.