Deuteronomy 22:13-21

13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,

14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:

16 And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;

17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;

19A nd they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:

21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

According to this passage from Deuteronomy 22, it is more shameful for a man to defame a virgin than to rape a virgin. In this instance, the man pays 100 shekels of silver to the woman’s father. In Deuteronomy 22:28-29, the man only pays fifty shekels for the rape of a virgin.

Additionally, any woman who has sex before she is married may be stoned to death on her father’s doorstep. As it is a common practice among people from many nations to engage in the practice of trying before buying and indeed have premarital sex, this little-known Biblical law is rarely if ever enforced, with the notable exceptions of certain third-world and third-rate countries.

Tags: adultery, death, father, Israel, man, marriage, payment, premarital sex, sex, shekels, woman
Posted in Immorality, Scripture | No Comments »

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

According to Deuteronomy 22, a man may rape a virgin and as punishment for violating her, he must pay fifty shekels of silver to her father. This implies that women are property to be sought and traded, and that a virgin is only worth fifty shekels, which is approximately 0.6 kg. Then, he must never divorce her.

Deuteronomy is full of laws devoted to various things, including sexual morality. Not surprisingly, it seems as if the rights of women are never even considered in this passage. If the man obeys the law and indeed pays for and marries her, she will never be able to divorce him. Luckily, this man doesn’t seem like the type to obey the law, since he’s a rapist in the first place.

Even if he refuses, there is no suggestion as to what the man’s punishment might be. Judging by the rest of Deuteronomy, it seems that stoning may be an acceptable punishment. Even if that is the case, the rapist can easily escape death by marrying his victim.

It has been suggested that the words lay hold on her and lie with her do not necessarily mean rape. However, if you read the entire chapter, we can see other laws that refer to sexual morality and use even less violent language to suggest forceful sex. The words “lay hold” is often used in the King James Bible to suggest forcefulness. Upon researching other translations of this verse, we find that the term rape is the most commonly used, followed by lay hold and lie with and seize and lie with, all of which suggest force. Even if this verse doesn’t specifically mention rape, it works just as well for rape as it does for consensual sex. In addition, it would protect lovers and predators alike.

Tags: damsel, death, immoral laws, law, man, marriage, payment, punishment, rape, sexual morality, shekels, virgin
Posted in Immorality, Scripture | No Comments »