Why was rape deemed okay for Jews in the Old Testament? I refer here to one of may bible verses... namely...?

Question

Judges 21, for instance.

Answer 1

Rape isn't deemed okay. Notice something: they took them as wives. They didn't take them to sleep with. "...While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife..." Judges 21:23 It's not rape to sleep with your wife.

Plus, it never says that this was right. Judges 21:25 ends the chapter with "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." This means that they didn't do what was truly right, but they did what they felt they had to or what they wanted to.

Answer 2

Well, that's a can of worms. First off, you're talking about a time and place which had attitudes towards women that most of us today find horrendous. Women were considered property, valued in part for their ability to reproduce.

Second, Judges is a highly condensed history. In parts it's hard to decipher with much surety or accuracy. Chap 21 goes into a lot of detail, so it seems likely enough that it's describing a series of historical events. More importantly, it's interpreting them afterwards and we all know what tends to happen then.

Third, a lot of the old Hebrew law is about minimizing the damage of worst case scenarios. (So don't try to read them as describing typical behaviours, that just leads to confusion.) As awful as it is, rape happened. Law has to deal with the consequences.

Fourth, rape and war unfortunately go together way too often, even today. It's a method of demonstrating the victor's control over the conquered and -- perhaps more importantly -- confusing the identity and allegiance of the next generation. And like most histories, war gets a disproportionate amount of the attention.

Answer 3

It can hardly be argued that rape was advocated or deemed acceptable for the nation of Israel. Everywhere in scripture, rape is clearly condemned. That this is so can be seen right there in the book of Judges. During the period of the Judges, the tribe of Benjamin displayed unyielding behavior in refusing to hand over the perpetrators of a particularly vicious act of rape. This led to civil war with the other tribes of Israel who were determined not to let this reprehensible conduct go unpunished. It was this that led to the near extinction of the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 19 through 21) and that is what brings us to the method suggested by these other tribes for dealing with this near extinction – to which you (inaccurately) refer. The tribe of Benjamin took the suggestion of the other tribes under advisement and followed through, preserving the tribe which grew from about 600 to almost 60,000 warriors by the time David became king. The method, however, did not involve rape.

It should be noted that it was the other tribes who came up with this method of increase. It should also be noted that nowhere do we read of rape in either the suggestion or the carrying out of it. You will read that the Benjamites took wives – they did not rape. Even if we take issue with the method used to increase their number (as suggested by the other tribes), this does not mean that the method was approved of by God or that it was rubber-stamped by him. The Bible often reports on things as they occur with neither condemnation nor commendation.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 4

Could you perhaps point to exact verses where you think rape is condoned by God? I have read the chapter and I see men taking women for wives, but no indication of rape. Also remember, much of the Old Testament is historical information, it tells what happened, the good and the bad, it doesn't sugar coat events. This testifies as to its authenticity.

Answer 5

As with everything in the bible, you are interpreting a passage in the Old Testament, according to your beliefs.If I read it, which I am not going to, I would translate that according to what I did believe or didn't believe.

Read all your answers, and this will confirm what I stated above. Everybody has a different enterpretation.

Answer 6

Perhaps you did not read the whole chapter, nowhere in the OT or NT does God condone rape or fornication of any kind.

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Is this what you are doing?

Answer 7

Did God command them to do this, or was it all the people's idea? The answer can be found in the last verse...

"In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

That does not limit itself to an earthly king. It speaks of rulership, that is, not even God was ruling over them. Everything that happened, happened based on their own carnality.

The Bible presents people (warts an all) as they are--evil to the core. Judges drives home the point in spades. Now just because it documents evil events, does not mean it condones the attitude or actions. So know the difference according to context.

Answer 8

First of all there was no rape in that chapter

and again in the last verse you will see as it is written
"" Every man did that which was right in his own eyes""

AS HE STILL DOES TODAY

FOLLOW GOD

and leave the reasonings of man out of the mix

Answer 9

well there was very little cases of marraige

women generally were traded as property (see Jacob and Leah)

the 10th command wraps women with property as "things" not to covet

it's ok to ravish a woman in the OT but the men are sacred

see also in Deuteronomy what happens if a man looses his parts (not part of the sacred community anymore) for women? they already don't have phallic members

Answer 10

It was then as it is now. It still happens in many countries. Thankfully not the one I am raising three daughters in.