Biblical Immorality part 2: Rape

(part one in the series was posted on my hubpages account under JMcFarland. They don’t want to publish this one, since it mentions the word “rape” so I thought I’d cross-post it here. As always, comments welcome)

Continuing on in the series, if there is one thing that can generally be classified as objectively immoral, it’s the concept of rape. Forcing someone to have sex against their will. Forcing yourself upon someone else, regardless of the consequences. Ironically, the Bible not only refuses to condemn rape across the board, it orders it. Repeatedly. Trust me, I wish I was kidding. Rape is a huge part of the culture of the Old Testament, and unlike god’s commandment against murder, rape is ordered by this supposedly divine being – over, and over and over again.

There are 611 commandments in the Old Testament, and they range in scope. Everything from what can be planted and harvested where to sexual laws, purity laws, sacrificial laws and laws to govern society and social interactions. The god of the old testament has absolutely no compunction against ordering his chosen people to do something. He has no problem ordering them NOT to do something. On the subject of rape, however, he is all for it. This is the typical example of a misogynistic ancient people who created a deity to govern their lives – who agreed with their own social depravity. In the bronze age throughout the time of the old testament, women were the property of their fathers until they were married. Then a man (usually arranged and chosen by her father) paid her father a pre arranged sum of money or property, and the woman then became the property of her husband. In fact, women were often valued less than cattle. This is abundantly clear throughout the old testament.

Rape on Divine Command:
Judges 21:10-24
“So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin.” Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the little remnant of Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon. Then the men of Benjamin returned to their homes, and the four hundred women of Jabesh-gilead who were spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women for all of them. The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had left this gap in the tribes of Israel. So the Israelite leaders asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since all the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel will not be lost forever. But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”

Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh, between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be understanding. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find enough wives for them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not give your daughters in marriage to them.'” So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they rebuilt their towns and lived in them. So the assembly of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.”

This story would be disturbing enough on its own, but it is repeated time and time again throughout the old testament. Not only were the men ordered to kill every man, woman and child within the city – therefore committing genocide – but they kidnapped the virgins and forced them into marriage – raping them, because I doubt highly that these women were willing participants, especially given the knowledge that their family, friends and neighbors had just been brutally murdered and probably watched it happen. If that wasn’t enough, though, they realized that there simply weren’t enough virgins in the city to go around. Their solution was not to just go without. They instead laid in wait and kidnapped MORE women, raping them as well and forcing them into a horror marriage. It’s safe to say that this is more than immoral. It’s heinous. The idea that a deity would be okay with this behavior, let alone command it is repugnant.

Numbers 31:7-18
“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.”

In this story, you have god commanding the people of Israel to attack a whole race of people and kill everyone they find since they “caused the plague”. When the soldiers spare the women and children, they are berated by Moses. They then are ordered to kill all the women and children – unless they’re a virgin. Then they can keep the virgins for themselves. Sounds like a great plan. This makes sense when you realize that women are nothing more in the eyes of god or his minions than property – equal to a sheep, a cow or other plunder. Therefore you can do whatever you want with them and it doesn’t matter. It’s not like they’re PEOPLE or anything.

Deuteronomy 20:10-14
“As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.”

Perhaps god is being more merciful, or maybe he’s just off of his game during this particular set of orders. Instead of murder and mayhem right off the bat, god allows his people to offer peace. If the residents of the poor city in question agree to their terms, they’re mercifully allowed to be slaves! What could be better?! If not, then god will give them the victory (or god will ensure that they win) and they need to kill every male that lives there. Luckily for the women and children, however, they’re considered plunder and they’re allowed to live – still as slaves, though. Basically, your choices are: Be a slave willingly or watched your male relatives, friends and neighbors be slaughtered and be a slave anyway. Makes sense to me. This passage equates both women and children as plunder. They have a monetary value. Rape, murder and slavery all in the same place – and all from the supposed mouth of god.

Laws Regarding Rape and Rapists:
If you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you were wrong. Not only does god order rape and slavery for his chosen people (clearly the god of the new testament that loved all of his children and wanted them to be saved was MIA throughout the entire old testament. Maybe he’s schizophrenic) but he actually does make laws concerning rape. Maybe there’s hope for womankind yet.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
“If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.”

So the penalty for rape in the age of the old testament is stoning – no, wait. The man has to pay for her, since her entire value has been diminished to nearly nothing (since she’s no longer a virgin, after all, and we’ve seen how highly god values virgins) so the price for a deflowered virgin is a mere 50 silver pieces – then he has to marry her. What kind of evil tyrant makes a woman marry the man who violated her, who raped her, who stole her innocence and made sure she was worth nothing at all? The answer is simple. God. How is this moral? How is this just? I have heard apologists say over and over again that this was done for the woman’s own good. Since she’s practically worthless through no fault of her own, she is guaranteed a family, a husband and a life where she can do something profitable. No one else would want her, apparently. She has to have sex with a man who raped her. She has to bear his children. She has to see him every single day, and he’s never allowed to divorce her. This is torture. Can you imagine the outrage if this was enforced in western society today? It would be a riot, an outrage. Something like this is simply unthinkable – yet there it is, in plain black and white. There is no “contextual” issue. There is just no justification or rationalization for this kind of mandate. This is immoral to the extreme, and it makes me sick. It probably makes you sick. Yet it’s there. For those who claim they want to go back to biblical “moral values” this is it at its finest. I have a feeling that legislating something like this would not go over too well.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it does actually get worse. Want to know what happens if the woman doesn’t happen to scream loudly enough as she’s being raped? She’s executed. For being raped. Against her will.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24
If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors wife.

The crux of the matter here, context included, is that an engaged woman is going to be executed – put to death – for something she had absolutely no control over. I maintain that when you are in a state of shock, as a rape entails, it is nearly impossible to scream. This verse also has no distinction or regard for the fact that it would be easy enough to cover her mouth and make screaming next to impossible. It simply doesn’t matter. The man basically ruined the potential property of another man. It is for that crime that he is put to death, not the rape itself. The woman is killed for being a victim. The god that would give his law to his people is unjust, immoral and a sociopath. He has no regard for the woman, the victim. Nowhere does god say “thou shalt not rape”. He does make the distinction, however, that you should not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his donkey, or his house in one version of the ten commandments. Not because it’s wrong to covet, per se, but because it’s wrong to covet your neighbor’s property – his wife.

Additionally, god allows people to sell their daughters as sex slaves (Exodus 21:7-11) and even lends a helping hand to enable rape (Zechariah 14:1-2). The list is endless and there are dozens more verses that could be quoted. Claim contextual error all you’d like, but the fact of the matter is that rape is not just allowed – it’s encouraged, and even ordered. If you can’t manage to carry off the deed by yourself, don’t fret. God himself will lend a helping hand. If you’re a woman, however, you’re in a rather dire plight. Should your city fall prey to the Israelites, you’ll be killed if you’re already married. If not, you may be in luck – you can always be raped, be a sex slave or even be executed if you’re raped.

These passages must be where Aiken got his material. I wonder if he’d consider them legitimate rape – or if it’s just every-day, run-of-the mill rape because god says it’s okay. The body has a way of shutting that down, after all.

This work by JMcFarland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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