Question: Why are Female Lives so Devalued?

The question posed before this one -- Does God Value Males Above Females? -- could very well have been the title of this post. We find a story in the Book of Judges, Chapter 19, that is very similar to one found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 19. Both stories seem to point to the fact that the lives of females are not looked upon in the same way a male's life is looked upon.

In the Genesis story, two angels come to assess Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot takes the "men" into his house. The men of the city arrive and demand that Lot bring the men out so that the crowd can abuse them. Lot refuses, but offers his two virgin daughters in their place. The text indicates that the angels intercede before this need happen.

In Judges, the traveler is no angel; he is a flesh-and-blood man of high standing. Traveling with his servants and daughter, the entourage arrives in the town of Gibeah. Initially, no one takes them in for the night. Later, an old field hand notices them tarrying in the street and invites the group to his humble abode.

As in the Genesis story, the men of the town arrive and demand that the traveler be presented so that they may abuse him.

Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. (Judges 19:24-28)

Unlike the Genesis story, the town of Gibeah is not destroyed by God, but it precipitates a battle in which tens of thousands of people are killed on both sides. So, the lessons I draw from this are: 1) Abusing men is a big no-no, but abusing women is not so bad; and 2) Threaten angels and your town gets destroyed; threaten a man and abuse his concubine and a lot of innocents are slaughtered.

It seems that the ancient Israelites don't hold the female gender in much esteem and these chauvinistic traits are then passed on to their deity. If God created male AND female in his image, why then does he seem to value the former, but not the latter?

To see what other questions I've asked about the Christian Bible, go here.