Rape in the Bible

[Nope]

Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)

"When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house. But before she may live there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her captive's garb. After she has mourned her father and mother for a full month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife. However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

There isn't any way to defend this passage. Religious people can't get around the passage by saying that it is only reporting historical events in a neutral fashion. Obviously, god is telling the Hebrews how to treat female captives.

Imagine, you are a young woman and have just seen your family slaughtered. The person who might have personally killed your parents, kidnaps you and forces you to be his bride. That would be nightmarish.

Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)

They attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had returned from the battle. "Why have you let all the women live?" he demanded. "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's people. Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

Again, the Israelites massacred a town and kept the young women for themselves.

Let's don't forget Lot. When the crowd were demanding to rape the angels, Lot offered his two daughters to be raped. Although the angels prevent the attack, the bible says that Lot was a righteous man

2 Peter 17

But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him.

[Chad32]

I like how it acts like there's going to be a loving spousal relationship between the female captive, and the guy who killed all her family and friends. How could she have anything but fear and animosity for him?

[JonDarbyXIII]

It's worse than that - Deuteronomy 22:28-29 says that women should be forced to marry their rapists. The punishment for rape.... marriage!!!

As for Lot, many Christians will say that just because the Bible records the event, it doesn't mean that God condones it. Yet, Lot was the very person god had deemed righteous enough to save--and that was immediately after he had offered his daughters up to gang rape. It would seem that God was saying, "Hey, I like your style."

[Nope]

I like how it acts like there's going to be a loving spousal relationship between the female captive, and the guy who killed all her family and friends. How could she have anything but fear and animosity for him?

I have had conversations with religious people who have defended the verse by saying that god was just accepting that the Hebrews were going to rape and murder so he made a rule so it wouldn't be too harsh of rape and murder. This is the same nitpicky god that supposedly told people to not mix fibers but he couldn't tell his people not to rape?

Here is a WTF story that doesn't actually say that god approves but also doesn't condemn any of the men in the story. This is the same god who killed a man named Uzzah for putting out his hand to prevent the ark from falling to the ground in . 2 Samuel 6:1-7. Yet, this same god couldn't be bothered to save some poor woman from being raped to death. We often don't think of bible characters as human beings with real feelings but if this actually happened,the pain and fear the woman suffered is unbelievable and far worse then some schmuck accidentally touching the ark.

Judges 19
In those days Israel had no king.

Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, 3 her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4 His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.

5 On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.” 6 So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.” 7 And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 8 On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.

9 Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, said, “Now look, it’s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.” 10 But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

11 When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.”

12 His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” 13 He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” 14 So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15 There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night.

16 That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. 17 When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

18 He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord.[a] No one has taken me in for the night. 19 We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”

20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

Footnotes:

[Chad32]

If Yahweh isn't doing something to stop what's happening, he either isn't powerful enough, or he doesn't care. It's like when they try to defend slavery by saying Yahweh put up a few ground rules. He's still saying slavery and rape are ok, within certain bounds. There is nothing in there to say Yahweh thinks either of them are wrong. It shouldn't be difficult to make people stop buying and selling human beings, and raping people. He told some of his followers to kill a guy for picking up sticks on the wrong day of the week. how hard would it be to tell people that a woman shouldn't be stoned to death for not screaming loud enough while being raped, and shouldn't be forced to marry her rapist? What's wrong with saying that virginity should not define the value of a woman?

[JonDarbyXIII]

Rape is actually one of my favorite examples to use in the argument on morality. Whether it condones it or not, the Bible never actually says rape is wrong--in any way. Therefore, I like to ask, "why is rape wrong?" Even though it's not in the Bible, there are plenty of objective reasons why rape is wrong. And if these reasons exist outside any command or mandate from God, then morality obviously exists outside of God. If this is true of rape, then why can't all morality exist independently from God?

[Cato]

I would consider looking at this from another perspective. Men created, memorialized, and codified religion. I cannot feign shock or horror when the subjugation and oppression of women, a practice that assuredly predates religion, is found in ancient religious texts; therefore, I do not blame religion. What I think is fair to say is that the divine ordinance served to perpetuate the idea of women being second class citizens and the ill treatment that usually accompanies the assumed inferiority of others. Examples today are not hard to find.

Western liberal democratic ideas concerning the equality of women is relatively new.

1776 - Abigail Adams to John Adams at the time of the Continental Congress

I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.

Not only did Abigail not get what she was looking for, but the road to improve women's rights regarding divorce, property, employment, suffrage, etc. was long and arduous extending well into the second half of the 20th century.

Religion certainly exacerbates the problem, but is not its cause.

[robvalue]

Rape wasn't illegal then. I mean, it was ok in that culture. If God said it was ok, it was ok. You can't apply the rules of one society to another. God created people and knew what they would do, it's not his fault that he decided they would rape people.

Because of free will. Because some fucking bitch ate an apple. Because...because God moves in ways we can't understand. Except I know all about them somehow.

Wait... You atheists worship science! You probably eat your own poo!

[Tonus]

Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)

However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.

It's an interesting way to view marriage, at least under the circumstances described. She can be "given her freedom," which means that she is a slave. And not just by implication, since the verse admits that she was married "under compulsion." So her choices, once the Israelites conquered her people, is to be struck dead or to become a sex toy until her master has had his fill, after which she is "granted her freedom." Just imagine the prospects for a woman of a conquered race who was only spared because she looked pretty enough to fuck, and who now has been thrown out of her home. The compassion is thick enough to cut with a knife!

[robvalue]

You're not looking at it in context.

I'm training to be a professional apologist, seems like easy money. How am I doing?