Should the Biblical Position on Rape Be Our Model?

Question

Christians seem to assume that God condemns rape and that this His condemnation can be supported from reading the Bible.in some passages God seems to tacitly sanction rape.In the Old Testament Moses encourages his men to use captured virgins for their own sexual pleasure, i.e. to rape them. After urging his men to kill the male captives and female captive who are not virgins he says: "But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves (Num. 31: 18)." God then explicitly rewards Moses by urging him to distribute the spoils. He does not rebuke Moses or his men (Num. 31: 25-27).when rape is condemned in the Old Testament the woman's rights and her psychological welfare are ignored. For example: (Deut:22; 28-29)."

"If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the father fifty skelels of silver, and she shall be his wife, and he may not put her away all of his days (Deut:22; 28-29)."
Here the victim of rape is as treated the property of the father. Since the rapist has despoiled the father's property he must pay a bridal fee. The women apparently has no say in the matter and is forced to marry the person who raped her. Notice also if they are not discovered, no negative judgment is forthcoming. The implicit message seems to be that if you rape an unbetrothed virgin, be sure not to get caught.

Answer 1

As a woman who was date raped by her "Christian" boyfriend, you have hit the nail on the head why I strongly dislike the Bible.

There is another instance where the tribe of Benjamin is repopulated via the rape of a group of sisters. God actually ordered this, nice guy that he is.

EDIT: Neil, I can see how "seized" doesn't imply force. /sarcasm
EDIT: Stephanie, you have ice in your veins. "It told women they better fight"?!? You have no idea what rape is like; I hope you never do.

Answer 2

NO!

1. You have to remember that this was an Iron Age gathering of twelve separate tribes trying to establish a new nation in a hostile land with no infrastructure. The rules during this time were just one above Judges 21:25 where it says "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (In other words, it was Wild Wild West cowboy!).

1b. In our modern world now have the resources and infrastructure to put these perps in jail for a long time (but we don't even do that now).

2. Having to marry the woman and "He can never divorce her as long as he lives." should be punishment enough. I don't think she will treat him with much respect. Can you imagine the terror that would inflict on the other men??

Deuteronomy 22:28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

3. The Isreali warriers were rebuked for allowing the women to live at all.
Numbers 31:15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them.

4. The North American Indians were treated similarly.

4b. These things are happening today some places in this world..

It still doesn't make it right.
.

Answer 3

Oh, but wait, that's in the section of the Bible that Jesus said you didn't have to pay attention to anymore.

Still baffles me how the Bible can be considered the word of God when the majority of the book - and the Old Testament IS the majority of the book - doesn't matter anymore because Jesus conveniently said so. And also how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies, but the Old Testament doesn't matter, except for all the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled.

)O(

Answer 4

You must realize this was societies of the time. 4-5 thousand years ago all society was barbaric. They were just barley out of the caves for Christ sake. They were just in the process of inventing their God. At least they were requiring some compensation. You can't expect them to live by today's morals. Some people were still hitting their women over the head with clubs and dragging them off by the hair of the head. So the model they had was pretty damn good compared to some. BB

Answer 5

Well I suppose the response will be Jesus came and the Old testament didn't apply anymore.

Well Jesus was jewish and conformed to the laws set out by Moses. If we believed he was the new law He would have said so, maybe in a parble or something. It was later beleivers who said he was the new law and the jewish law was no longer binding.


Is a sheckel a lot? I suppose it would have to be adjusted for inflation.

Answer 6

This won't be a popular answer but...

Genesis 3:16 (NIV)

16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

Genesis 3:16 (KJV)

16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.


This was amonst the punishments that God dished out after the fruit eating, He was pissed, but not without mercy.

That is why it is a grevious ERROR to engage in the mind the notion of benevolence, it's just not so. Yes God does love us and is not without mercy, but generally speaking we begin to intellectuallize things and WE need to see Him as all benevolent. When it's clear in the scriptures that he is all things. The ying and the yang, loving and intolerant.

Also God sent Moses to this war, why would he rebuke him for following his commands. Also in those days the men would need to care for the woman and why would they if they didn't get something for it.

Numbers 31

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

Answer 7

u should also look at the places in Deuteronomy where it says that these men are to marry these slaves girls and to give them time to greive before they sleep with them. To let them go if they want. I believe I've got that right.

The "take them for yourselves" doesn't necessarily mean rape. It seems like you're just adding that to make your argument.

and the law on rape was a good one if you ask me.

It told women that they better fight and they better scream and they would be punished if they just let some man rape them.
Inside the city gates, if she doesn't scream. Both she and the man will be stoned.
Outside the city gates, if she screams maybe no one hears her so she shouldn't be punished. Only the man should stoned.

That's a lot more liberating that some places where the woman is stoned if she can't produce 4 witnesses or where a woman thought that she was too weak to fight men.

I think this "lieing with virgins" means consentual sex. otherwise the man would be stone.

Answer 8

I'm no Christian, but there are some unecessary asumptions in your reading. The first quote does not necessarily imply keeping them for sex, and even if one takes it that way it could be after you get to know one another and fall in love.

The second quote does not imply force either, though it does imply the woman being property, which is bad enough. But perhaps this was meant to protect the girls in case such trists left them pregnant, or because they would not be accepted as brides once their virginity was lost.

Answer 9

Oi, you havent read any history have you?

In the olden days, anyone who went to war KNEW that if they lost the war, everything that belonged to them was taken over as spoils of war. This was a generally accepted notion.

Most of the believers and God fearing men, did not rape the women, they took them in as concubines or wives and took care of them for the rest of their lives.

Granted, it makes the women look like things to be won, but that was how society was like back then. It was the norm.

Currently its not. But currently we buy and sell land for example.

What if in the future we decide that its not ethical anymore? Are you going to blame God for it for not whiping everyone off the planet for letting them buy and sell land?

Edit: Neil here has spoken sense I wish I cud write but got carried away by historical references ^^

Answer 10

The entire work of fiction.....known as the bible....is as misogynistic as it gets. It was written by men.....for men. It is a 2000yr old fictional narrative written by poverty stricken, bronze age goat herders and warriors. They wanted to justify their actions....and so they have done. There is plenty of misogynistic, woman hating references in the NT too.

I agree....WHY would any woman want to be xtian, jewish or muslim is beyond me! Must be low self esteem issues.