Father Fingers Daughter In The Bible?

Question

"If a man takes a wife and, after laying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, 'I married this woman but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,' then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof [how do you think they would do that?] that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' Then her parents shall display the cloth [the father would literally stick his two fingers covered with a piece of cloth into his daughter's vagina before she gets married and keep that bloody cloth for as long as his daughter is married] with before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. (From the NIV Bible, Deuteronomy 22:13-18)"

Answer 1

What is your question?

Answer 2

NO, it was NOT the parents that did this to the daughter!

In this ancient culture, it was CULTURAL TRADITION for the married couple to save the bedsheets/blanket/whatever, from the first night, without laundering them, and give them to the parents of the newly married woman. These were held in trust, with the bloodstain intact, as proof that the girl had indeed been a virgin on the night of her wedding.

That way, her family had "insurance" against a possibly unscrupulous son-in-law, who would only seek to marry their daughter so he could "bed" her. With the sheet in their possession, the new son-in-law could not divorce his wife for unfaithfulness prior to the marriage. If he tried, he would get a (literal!) whipping from the town fathers, and would not be allowed to divorce the woman FOREVER.

This was the 1,300 BC version of a "pre-nup", except that proof of the "contract" came from the couple's first night together as man and wife.

Seems there were unscrupulous guys who only wanted to bed women even 4,000 years ago. Gasp.

Personally, I appreciate the fact that the girl's reputation was protected by the local elders as well. They didn't slap such offenders on the wrist back then. Guys like that got the lash! Which at the very least made him an example to the rest of the guys in the community. Hopefully.

Answer 3

In a LOT of cultures, a girl is supposed to be a virgin on her wedding night, and her parents have to PROVE her virginity, or the marriage would be null and void. Back in the day, that meant the family checking the sheets on the wedding night to see if their was blood on the covers. And that often meant a pre-wedding visual inspection of the hymen by family members (usually by mom or another female relative) These days, in places like Saudi Arabia, or in the British Royal Family, a report from a gynocologist will do Back in 1981, that's what Princess Diana had to submit to before Queen Elizabeth would let her marry Prince Charles - a Royal Household gynocologist examined her to see if her hymen was intact - it was, and the marriage was OK'd by the House of Windsor

Answer 4

Hmmm... well it does refer to bloody sheets, but still this is a great example of the moronic, backwards barbarism of the Bible. Somehow modern Christians still think that this book of insanity is a source of "morality." They sure use it enough in judging others and calling every damn thing a sin. Any Christian who points to another's behavior and says "this is immoral" with the Bible as the basis of that accusation is a terminal fool.

Answer 5

the bible is a book of stories that a bunch of people have been brainwashed into believing is true(I truely feel sorry for them)... haven't you ever played telephone as a child... one person says one thing the next person says something slightly different and so on and so forth. Next you will be saying people can walk on water (yeah right). Minds think differently. You will do much better if you use use your own and not believe everything you read.

Answer 6

Grim stuff... Shows that most religions have been "developed" for power and control of the masses... Although original teachings may have been enlightening, they are tweaked and changed for gain and power. Isn't that what the conference of Constantinople was about in AD60? to change the parts that were not palatable to the patriarchal society that was prevalant and "had" to be promulgated at the time??

Answer 7

When a virgin has her first "sexual experience" she is meant to bleed, this bleeding on the bedsheet is considered proof that she was a virgin so if you were a virgin but were unlucky enough not to bleed (say new hubby was small) then that would be accepted as proof that you were a whore and unclean & your family and new husband would disown you forever

Answer 8

That's not how the sheet becomes bloody. As someone else has said, it's from the wedding night activities between the woman and her husband.

Answer 9

I would suggest before you post things like these you would realize there are different cultures and practices in this world.
Just because it is not done in 20th century America does not mean it was not correct for that time period.
You will understand this when you mature a little.

Answer 10

What nonsense, did they have some kind of blood test to prove that the blood on the sheet is from girl's hymen?

What if the girl was a whore and father put some blood of chicken or pig on the sheet? lol, pathetic.

Answer 11

Kjelstad is right. Though if you want to read about incest in the bible check out the story of Lot and his two daughters after Sodom and Gomorrah.