CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
A quick review of our present dispensation reveals a lot of immorality and degeneration all over the world, especially in Nigeria. There is an apparent decline of morality in Nigerian society especially among the youths. This has undoubtedly, made an in-road into various segments of human enterprise. Many people have expressed serious concerns over the high level of immoral acts that are enveloping Nigerian society. Admittedly, immoral forms of behaviour like rape, fornication, adultery, homosexuality (gay and lesbianism), unwanted pregnancy, and so on have attracted attentions of many researches. However, this work investigates the psychological effects of rape, borrowing insights from 2 Samuel 13:1-22.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The demand for a king by the Israelites at Ramah in order to be like other nations at a time that they were consistently being tormented by their neighbouring nations led to the appointment of Saul, the son of Kish as the first King of Israel. It is on records that shortly after his appointment, Saul recorded success when he defeated the Amnonites in a war but this success did not last for a long time because of the antipathy between him and Samuel, the priest, especially when he sacrificed at Gilgal before their war against the Philistines. Notably, his relationship with Samuel degenerated when he spared the life of King Agag and other valued animals in a war fashioned by Yahweh as a holy war. A holy war is a war directed by God against the enemies of His chosen nation which demands that the life of such people and the animals should not be spared, that is, total extermination.
Consequently, God rejected Saul because he failed to keep to His divine instruction. This resulted in the choice of David the son of Jesse as his replacement. King David is often described as the “man after God’s own heart”. King David enjoyed more success when compared to his predecessor, Saul, and in relation to the aim of the people for the demand of a new king because he fought gallantly and gave them relative peace. The evident of this is seen in his success over the Philistines, Amnonites, and Jebusites. He also captured the city of Jerusalem where he proposed to build a house for God. King David became famous among Israel and their neighbouring nations but soon declined because he failed to restrain himself from Bathsheba the wife of Uriah whom he committed adultery with. And in order to hide his adulterous act, he killed Uriah. Apparently, this evil deed by the King was revealed to Prophet Nathan by God. Nathan in a dramatic way revealed this to the king and the King suggested that the person who did this should die. Nathan told David that he was the person and David showed remorse for his sins and God forgave him but told him that the sword (sin) would never depart from his house.
Undoubtedly, it was the fulfillment of Nathan’s prophecy on the house of David that brought about the incestuous act between Amnon the first son of David and Tamar David’s daughter. In a dramatic way this incestuous act of David’s children led to the fratricide where Absalom killed Amnon in order to revenge the violation of his sister Tamar. The story has it that Absalom had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon son of David fell in love with her. Amnon’s love for Tamar made him sick because he could not do anything to her for she was a virgin. But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab. Jonadab was a wise man who used his wisdom to understand Amnon’s problem through his countenance and subsequently, he wrongly advised him on how to rape Tamar. Thus, Amnon followed Jonadab’s instruction religiously and got Tamar into his house where he violated and raped her and immediately developed hatred for her which made him to send her away from his house and Tamar returned to Absalom’s house rejected.
Obviously, Tamar faced a lot of psychological effect ranging from the lost of her virginity to the fact that she was thrown out of the house without consolation. Tamar, as a result of this lost her value, pride which was epitomized in her rope. She was rejected and as a result she lost her place hence she was forfeited.
It is against this backdrop of Amnon’s rape of Tamar and David’s inability to correct them that the discourse on rape is staged in this research. Discouraging youths, especially minors in Nsukka local Government Area of Enugu state against the heinous act of rape. The psychological effect of rape is also a major target of this research.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The seeds of adultery, murder, and rape that characterized David’s household were first sown by David himself. David having committed the sin of adultery and murder was no longer in the position to either punish his son or sanction them.
Arising from this, the problem that this research work wants to address is:
There is an increase in the rate of rape, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and so on. They have become the order of the day.
Rape has caused a lot of damage to the youths as so many victims have been diagnosed of sexually transmitted diseases, post traumatic stress disorder, disassociation from reality, depersonalization, they endure physical violence, avoid social life, encounter serious difficulty in remembering events, relieves moments of sexual assault among other ill.
A good number of minors are not given adequate attention by their parents, the adults. This is a parental gap and flaw which have resulted in moral degeneration in our society.
1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY
Having seen the problem facing the youths and society, this research work aims at achieving the following: