‘This man has come into my house’: Hospitality in genesis 19; 34; and judges 19

Abstract

This article explores narratives wherein themes of hospitality, sexual violence against women, and migration coalesce. The presence of migration and the theme of ‘guest’ and ‘host’ make Genesis 19, and in the linked tradition in Judges 19, particularly apt for analysis that uses modern literature coupling hospitality and migration as a heuristic tool. Indeed, as well as being thematic, hospitality may also function in the narratives as a metaphor for immigrants and host communities. In Genesis 34, the metaphor of hospitality and the consequences of hospitality broken are also important thematically as is the desire for revenge. The article argues that in all three cases, group boundaries reach a new level of significance in response to migration, but are violently concretised through acts of sexual exploitation.