Posts Tagged ‘virgin’

Lot Offers His Daughters to Rapists

October 5th, 2009

Genesis 19:1-8

1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

8 Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

This is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, from Genesis 19. Lot is deemed to be the only good man in the two cities, and God decides to spare him. When angels come to visit Lot and destroy Sodom, he takes them to his house. When a crowd comes to sodomize the angels, Lot offers up his virgin daughters in their place.

The angels do strike the would-be rapists with blindness, and the deed does not get done. However, the fact remains that the only person of the two cities that God deems a good person is willing to allow his daughters to be raped by a mob of men from a city so foul that God deemed they must be destroyed. These are supposedly some of the worst guys ever, yet Lot offers his daughters to them.

I do not have any respect for a man who would offer his daughters to be raped. I would rather fight the entire city to the death than allow any daughters of mine to be raped, and I would imagine that any decent father would do the same. This man, who had the favor of God, is a vile and pitiful excuse for a man. Is this the best that God could find? It might be appropriate for him to simply destroy the lot, Lot included.

Moses Sacrifices Virgins to God

October 2nd, 2009

Numbers 31:40

40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD’s tribute was thirty and two persons.

In Numbers 31, God has Moses destroy an entire city, steal all the loot, burn the city to the ground, and keep all the virgin girls for themselves. At the end of this, God demands that a portion of the spoils be sacrificed to him. This includes the virgin girls that they kept alive.

Of the 16,000 virgins that they spared, God demands that thirty-two be sacrificed to him. Let it never be said that only heathens perform human sacrifice. God seems to have no problem with having people slain in his name, ritually or otherwise. This is not something that a good god would demand.

Moses Advocates Homicide

October 2nd, 2009

Numbers 31:17-18

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

This is a simple story laid out in Numbers 31. God commands Moses to gather an army and destroy the Midianites. He gathers 12,000 men to destroy this city. They kill every man, take everything of value, and burn their homes to the ground. They take the women, children, and goods to Moses. Then, he tells them to kill all but the virgin girls, which they were to keep for themselves.

While God does not specifically command that Moses take the virgin girls, he does condone it. He demands that a portion of the spoils, including the virgins be sacrificed to him. Is this something that a good god would demand? Is this something that a good god would even allow to happen?

Moses, under the command of God, destroys an entire city, kills all but the virgin girls, sacrifices a portion of them to God, then allows all others to be divided up amongst the Israelites. God and Moses obviously have no respect for human life and even less respect for women.

The Price of Rape

September 23rd, 2009

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.