The first theme is prophecy, which is utilized extensively in both the book of Samuel and the Ramayana to foreshadow ruin. In the book of Samuel, the catalyst for the Rape of Tamar was King David’s own sexual immorality with Bathsheba and his indirect responsibility for the death of her husband. In the nevi’im, the prophet Nathan rebukes David in the name of God, prophesying “…The sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me [God] and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.” These words are the prelude for the destruction of King David’s family line. The divine retribution which follows is relentless and ruthlessly swift: before the chapter has ended, King David’s first
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The conclusion of the nevi’im is the eventual destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the Israelite people’s exile to Babylon. A striking similarity is found in Sarga 39 of the Aranya Kanda, where the demon Maareecha advises Ravana that abducting Sita is a foolhardy endeavor that will surely be punished by the destruction of the entire demon race. Even after Ravana refuses to heed Maareecha’s warning, he is confronted again by Sita, Hanuman, and even his own wife Mandodari with similar warnings and prophesies foretelling the doom of his kingdom and people. In both texts, the message that lust and sexual sin bears consequences whose implications are not tied solely to the perpetrator is quite evident; in Abrahamic religions especially, divine judgement which targets family as collateral loss is quite prevalent. In addition, it is clear for both David and Ravana that their misfortunes lay within their failure to abide by a divine mandate: for David, this breach lay in the covenant he made with God when he was appointed king. For Ravana, it was his willful negligence of
The conclusion of the nevi’im is the eventual destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the Israelite people’s exile to Babylon. A striking similarity is found in Sarga 39 of the Aranya Kanda, where the demon Maareecha advises Ravana that abducting Sita is a foolhardy endeavor that will surely be punished by the destruction of the entire demon race. Even after Ravana refuses to heed Maareecha’s warning, he is confronted again by Sita, Hanuman, and even his own wife Mandodari with similar warnings and prophesies foretelling the doom of his kingdom and people. In both texts, the message that lust and sexual sin bears consequences whose implications are not tied solely to the perpetrator is quite evident; in Abrahamic religions especially, divine judgement which targets family as collateral loss is quite prevalent. In addition, it is clear for both David and Ravana that their misfortunes lay within their failure to abide by a divine mandate: for David, this breach lay in the covenant he made with God when he was appointed king. For Ravana, it was his willful negligence of