Ted Walther's Private Diary

Roxanne from the Atlanta Atheists Meetup Group recently wrote in, asking if God allows rape of captured women.

Date: Day 1, Month 8, Year 2729 of Our Exile (October 11, 2007)
From: Roxanne Karnick
Subject: Bible

...young soldier must wait a month before sampling his well-earned spoils....

God sanctions the rape of captives?

Roxanne appears to be quoting the Law of the Captive Maiden, which reads:

Deuteronomy 21:10-14
10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

My short answer to Roxanne is no. The Bible does not endorse rape of captive women. Numbers 31:19 mandates a cleansing period of seven days for soldiers and their captives. This is the same as the menstrual cleansing. During a woman's menstruation, a man is to be killed if he has sex with her. By analogy, and by looking at other examples of seven day cleanses in scripture, the soldiers would not be allowed to take sexual advantage of their captives during the seven days outside the camp. Everyone was unclean, and having sex would be punishable by death. The soldiers couldn't even return home to their wives until the seven day quarantine was finished.

Stockholm Syndrome only takes three days to take effect. Seven days together with their captors is enough for the captives to take stock and cast in their lot with their new tribesmen. By the end of the seven days the captives realize that there are no rescuers coming to save them, to bring them back to their home. So they form new attachments in their new land. All the menfolk are dead, so there are no men to lead an uprising. If the women want to continue their nation and race, they have to do it with the men who are available to them; their captors.

Captured women are slave women. Marrying one of her captors is a big step up to freedom and full citizenship in the Commonwealth of Israel. This is a step few women would reject or turn up their noses at. Thirty days of no work, no labor, just to mourn, is pretty good. After thirty days of such isolation, any normal woman would be eager for human contact, even the touch of her Israelite captor. Once the marriage takes place, the same laws apply to the captive woman that apply to all free Israelite women

This leads into the larger topic of marital rape. There is a lot of material to take into consideration on the issue of marital rape. For practical reasons, a man would not rape his wife. But to forbid it, one would need to show a specific damage which one is calling "rape". Did you know the word "rape" is not used in the Bible? Not even once!

Numbers 31:17-20
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.

Numbers 31 is speaking about a campaign against Midian, who seduced Israel into idolatry. Were the married women and little boys always supposed to be killed when capturing a city? Deuteronomy 20 gives more information, showing that the slaughter of the married women and male children was specific to the Midianite campaign:

Deuteronomy 20:10-20
10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
13 And when Jehovah thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 But of the cities of these people, which Jehovah thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee:
18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against Jehovah your God.
19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:
20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

Well, what are a woman's divorce rights?

Exodus 21:7-11
7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

What are a man's divorce rights?

Deuteronomy 24:1-5
1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

What are the rights of a slave who is mistreated?

Exodus 21:18-27 18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27 And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

What are the rights of a maiden who is seduced, or who otherwise sleeps with a man?

Exodus 22:16,17
16 And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.
17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

Leviticus 19:20-22 20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto Jehovah, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.
22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before Jehovah for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.

Deuteronomy 22:13-29
13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14 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:
15 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:
16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 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.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 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.
20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21 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.
22 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.
23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 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.
25 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:
26 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:
27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
28 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;
29 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.

This is a lot of material to comb through. If it is any help, God made woman to be man's "help meet". (Genesis 2:18) This should have been translated as "ally". You don't act like a bully toward your ally if you want to keep them as an ally. So it is with men and women. The Bible doesn't address marital rape because it is a no brainer. A husband and wife who have a good relationship will never be concerned about "rape". Having children is a woman's primary duty, so it is wierd for her to even think of refusing sex to her husband. A woman can leave a man if he doesn't have sex with her as often as he agreed to in the marriage contract. The reverse situation is unusual, but logical; a man can divorce his wife if she with-holds sexual congress. A Godly man who wasn't getting laid would most likely skip the divorce and just add a second and third wife to his family.

If a woman can go free for neglect, she can certainly consider herself free of the marriage if she is abused. A free woman has more rights than a slave. Even slaves can go free if they sustain a permanent injury. It would make sense that a free woman can leave a marriage on lesser grounds, namely, that she has credible grounds to believe she would likely suffer a permanent injury by staying in the marriage.

Eight months ago I wrote a blog entry about the famous poem coming "Coming Through the Rye". My grandmother said the Rye was a river; I thought the poem was about a young couple having a good time in a field of rye grain.

My grandma was right; you can read the details in the original blog entry, which I have updated with new information about the "Rye Water", the river near Robbie Burns home town that couldn't be found by web searches until recently.

Original blog entry (with updates) is here: Coming through the Rye; it's not what you think!

I am not the only person who thought the poem was about a tryst in a dewy field of rye. Here is an article written more than a hundred years ago, whose author got the same impression I did:

Date: September 24, 1898 (sent by post)
Date: October 8, 1898 (published)
To: Editor of The New York Times
From: Thomas Wilson (Washington, D.C.)

The internal evidence that Burns in his celebrated song meant the rye field and not the River Rye appears satisfactory.

1. He sang about many rivers and burns of his neighborhood, but he never left any doubt that he meant a stream.

"Adown winding Nith I did wander."

"Behind yon hills where Stinchar flows."

"Amang the bonnie winding banks, where Doon rins wimpling clear."

2. He sang quite as many times about the fields and grain and never left any room for doubt on that score.

"Corn rigs are bonnie."

"Wi' sma' persuasion she agreed
To see me thro' the barley."

"The rustling corn, the fruited thorn."

"The waving grain, wide o'er the plain."

"While the bloom is on the rye."

3. Among the country people it is the rule to rise early, while the dew is still on the grass. Work is begun generally before it has dried off. The flocks are afield and must be brought home, the horses fed, and cows milked, &c. So, it not only is not uncommon but is usual for the lads and lasses to go out into the fields, getting their feet wet and "petticoats draigl't" in the dew. What more natural than that the incident described should have happened. It undoubtedly did happen to Burns, probably many times, and whether so or not, it has happened (and will again) to many another. What more natural than that Burns should commemorate it with a song, especially as it was in his line, both of thought and poetry?

Compare the sentiment of the described meeting happening in a rye field and in the crossing of a river, and the great probability in favor of the former will be apparent.

Perhaps the reason "Coming through the Rye" is Burns most remembered poem, is exactly because it is so ambiguous. People that know where Burns lived, know about the Rye Water river and the famous ford crossing the river. But the way the poem is written, the first thought that springs to mind is a youthful love tryst, hidden in a fertile field of grain. The poem is sexy and chaste, and its references to the rye bespeak primeval fertility rituals, grain offerings, wave offerings, heave offerings and the blood of virginity on an altar of the rich, fertile earth. It really speaks to all levels of the human experience.

Anything good can also be twisted to bad. Burn's poem is ambiguous and short enough you can't really tell if he was using the symbolism of "dew" in the good Biblical sense, or in the bad Canaanite sense. In Canaanite religion, dew on the ground and rain from heaven were considered the same as human sperm; the stuff of fertility. That is why the Canaanites spread their seed all over everything in disgusting yearly orgies, to encourage the fertility of the land.

The poem John Barleycorn is even more explicit in its description of an ancient grain and wine offering sacrifice ritual. I don't have space or time here to go into the fact that Robbie Burns lived in a hotbed of Knight Templars, or his connection to Rosslyn Chapel and participation in Free Masonry.