Some people have been talking about the Bible, some saying (in disgust) how pro-men it is, some lying christians then claiming it is an early pro-feminist tome. This has been discussed before: (note: I'm happy the Bible is pro-men)
Some facts: Deut 22 28-29, in the hebrew, allows unbetrothed virgin girls (yes the word in hebrew is girl) to be raped by a man, she must become his woman (ie: basically a slave wife), he cannot send her away, he has to pay her father 50 silver, 50 silver sheckles is about 1 1/4th lb of silver: about 600 US dollars today, which was about the cost of 2 months of bread for a roman. Not an insurmountable sum... atleast for people that... you know... live and eat food and keep doing that to continue to live and eat food.**
The kidnapping law talks about kidnapping a man (as opposed to a woman) (seemingly in-order to sell the man as a slave) [exodus], or kidnapping a brother of the sons of Israel to sell as a slave or keep as merchandise (Deuteronomy)****, and one is not allowed to kill someone breaking into your house during the day. So basically a path is cleaved through the law for every man to take a young bride if he so wishes.
Other thoughts is that it seems, at least in deuteronomy, that betrothed girls are in the custody of the man they are married to, they live in his house but he has not yet had sexual intercourse with her (law talks about returning to your house to be with your betrothed).
Anyway, go debate. Or, just read and accept. I mean, cmon don't you notice that the Isrealites were raping hundreads of virgin girls and forcing them into marraige? Didn't you even notice Jacob's reaction when his 2 sons killed the guy (and his town) that raped and then fell in love with Dinah was to CURSE his 2 sons YEARS, DECADES, later for their act (on his deathbed: he never forgot the evil his sons did to that man and the man's people). Don't you kinda notice that his wish is just a /little/ bit consistent with the deuteronomical law to have the girl be a wife of the man who raped her? Ever notice how later (outside of the first 5 law books) the girl Tamar who was raped by some relative begged him not to send her away... ever notice that this harkens back to the deuteronomical law that the girl must be the mans wife and he must not send her away?
Ever notice that husbands were called ba'al : master (yes the same title the cannanites refered to their various local gods as (master)). Ever notice that wives are just called the man's woman in the hebrew? Ever notice that daughters do not inherit a dime unless every single son of the father (who may very well be a polygamist) is dead and gone, and the "wives" inherit nothing?
Did you ever weave all these points of fact together in your head and sorta imagine the society, and the girls, the young girls married to men, calling the man master, owning nothing, inheriting nothing (unless the male lineage is dead)?
Ever even come to grips with the fact that the word translated as take-hold, seize, rape, etc in Deut 22 28-29 is used elsewhere primarially when the hebrews are taking a city by force, weilding a sword, dragging a disobedient child to the town elders to be stoned untill he is dead...
No?
Your god is a ultra-loving pro-women's rights God who is on the side of feminism and equality and justice.
My God is not.
Basically you got a really-trashy romance novel, that you created in your own mind, as your god... and he loves you specifically... and will let you do anything in love. And he loves the colors light blue and light pink for some reason too, and doves flocking everywhere all the time as tokens of love and kindness and raising women up in equality. Your god hates the most men who force young girls into marraige: see they hurt the 'children' and the 'most prescious' and innocent of all virgin girls!
Don't know what book you're reading, but it certainly isn't the Bible, definitly not the Old Testament, and probably not the New either (not one iota of the law... kill the son that curses the parents... etc)
**
Some additional information on the hebrew word "taphas":
[
link to www.theologyonline.com]
****
One thing I wonder is if, when the hebrew says man, any brethren Isralite, etc. Does it mean everyone including women, or just the men:
"" A primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance (like H0001)):--another, brother (-ly), kindred, like, other. Compare also the proper names beginning with "Ah-" or "Ahi-". ""
""" 1) brother
1a) brother of same parents
1b) half-brother (same father)
1c) relative, kinship, same tribe
1d) each to the other (reciprocal relationship)
1e) (fig.) of resemblance
""""
If it means "any human" as many have decided to believe now, then someone could use this law to have the man that raped the unbetrothed young girl killed anyway (even though that law says that she is to be his woman and he must not send her away all his life (the one using the other law would then say "heh heh, which won't be very long!"))
This would be legalism (something Jesus taught against). And it is deadly (taking the good Law of God, where the men can have the sweet young brides they desire, and fathers and others who do not want men to have young brides cannot hoard the daughters away from the man who wishes to not be alone, and nullifying it by applying some other (less-specific?) law).
Were girls even considered children of Isreal? In the geneologies it's all sons listed.
The spirit of the law seems to be that girls belong to men: they shall be men's, whether they or their fathers want this or not (what use does a father have for a daughter? She is to be a man's bride, not kept in her fathers house forever gathering dust), and as we saw before in deuteronomy the Law states that one may not kill a man breaking into one's house to steal, so THAT idea, which gets thrown at the deut 22 rape of virgin girls law won't work (peeps don't even know about the leniency theives get (pay back 2x) nor the provisions aliens, levites, widows, the poor get (people can take grain in their hands from any farm they are passing through)).
United States
