(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 22:13–30, “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. 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; 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. A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.”
When the Lord originally created Adam, He saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone so He made Eve to be Adam’s companion. Together, they were complementary, making a complete unit to work with each other and complete the task that the Lord gave Adam, that was to live in the garden. When Adam and Eve came together they were joined together, that is, they were joined in their souls. If people are joined together and they try to join with a third person then their souls are wounded, eventually they become scarred and they are no longer able to form relationships that are loving and supportive. The bride price was to intended to be set aside so that the bride could use that money later if something went wrong with the marriage. On the other hand, sometimes a couple would decide that they didn’t like each other after they were married. In that case, the woman had left her home but was not welcome in her new home so she had nowhere to go and no means of support. The Lord had compassion for a woman, under those circumstances and gave her support and different ways of protecting herself. The groom could not just make any accusation against his bride but he had to support his complaints with evidence. If he couldn’t support his claims then he would be punished for defaming a good woman and a good family in Israel. If there was a case of rape the girl had to call out to protect herself or she would be accused of compliance. On the other hand, if a girl was out in the county, where people couldn’t hear her cries then the man was considered to be guilty and would have to bear his punishment. This passage also prohibits incest of any kind. When close relatives have a relationship that produces children then there is a very high chance of the children being disabled. Disability occurs naturally in any society and those children must be treated with compassion and given every encouragement possible but it is wrong for relatives to go out of their way to cause problems like this.
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