Invitation to murder

In the Hebrew Bible, hospitality creates social capital, forges alliances and marriages and is used as a literary tool to characterize both people and deities. Hospitality is also described as a high-risk, high-gain type of social practice because it renders both the guest and the host vulnerable to aggression and violence. This article explores the relationship between hospitality and violence in the Hebrew Bible, represented by the murder of Amnon at Absalom’s sheep-shearing feast in 2 Samuel 13 and the murder of Sisera in Judges 4. These texts seem to go directly against an ideal that is expressed elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, namely that a guest is sacred and entitled to protection (e.g. Gen 18 and 19).