Deuteronomy 22:26

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing,.... Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed might dismiss her from himself by a bill of divorce: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; as when a man comes unawares upon another, and lays hold on him, and kills him, being stronger than he, and none to help; so is the case of a woman laid hold on by a man in a field, and ravished by him, where no help could be had; and depriving a woman of her chastity is like taking away a man's life; from this passage Maimonides (c) concludes, that impurities, incests, and adulteries, are equal to murder, to capital cases relating to life and death. (c) Hilchot Yesode Hattorah, c. 5. sect. 10.

The fine was to be paid to the father, because the slander was against him principally as the head of the wife's family. If the damsel were an orphan the fine reverted to herself. The fact that the penalties attached to bearing false witness against a wife are fixed and comparatively light indicates the low estimation and position of the woman at that time.

13-30. If a man take a wife, &c.—The regulations that follow might be imperatively needful in the then situation of the Israelites; and yet, it is not necessary that we should curiously and impertinently inquire into them. So far was it from being unworthy of God to leave such things upon record, that the enactments must heighten our admiration of His wisdom and goodness in the management of a people so perverse and so given to irregular passions. Nor is it a better argument that the Scriptures were not written by inspiration of God to object that this passage, and others of a like nature, tend to corrupt the imagination and will be abused by evil-disposed readers, than it is to say that the sun was not created by God, because its light may be abused by wicked men as an assistant in committing crimes which they have meditated [Horne].

26 . thou shalt do nothing ] Sam. LXX, ye shall , Pl. as in Deuteronomy 22:24 . no sin worthy of death ] See introd. to Deuteronomy 22:13-30 . riseth against … and slayeth him ] Deuteronomy 19:11 , but here Heb., using a stronger vb, unnecessarily adds life from Deuteronomy 19:6 ; Deuteronomy 19:11 . Deuteronomy 22:26

Of Dishonouring an Unbetrothed Virgin ( Deuteronomy 22:28 f.); while the 6th forbids Marriage with a Father’s Wife (30 [ Deuteronomy 23:1 ]). Of the first five each opens similarly to each of the group Deuteronomy 21:15-23 , i.e. with an if , and differently from those of the group Deuteronomy 22:1-12 , and they share with the former group and with Deuteronomy 19:1-13 , and other laws, these marks:— the elders are the public authority, Deuteronomy 22:15 ff., cp. Deuteronomy 19:12 , Deuteronomy 21:3 ; Deuteronomy 21:19 f.; neighbour (not brother , characteristic of the Sg. passages) is used, Deuteronomy 22:24; Deuteronomy 22:26 , cp. Deuteronomy 19:4 f., Deuteronomy 19:11; Deu 19:14 ; field ( sadeh ) in its wider sense, Deuteronomy 22:25; Deuteronomy 22:27 , cp. Deuteronomy 21:1 ; and sin worthy of death ( ḥeṭ’-maweth ), Deuteronomy 22:26 , cp. Deuteronomy 19:6 , Deuteronomy 21:22 . The direct address to Israel is seldom used, and the form varies. In the closing formulas, Deuteronomy 22:21-22; Deuteronomy 22:24 , it is Sg. and Sg. also in the body of the 4th law, Deuteronomy 22:24 (unless this be editorial), but Sam. LXX have Pl. In the body of the 3rd law, Deuteronomy 22:24 , it is Pl. In considering these plain-spoken laws it is just to remember that with all their imperfections they represent an advance in social ethics; an upward stage in the struggle against debasing practices and the animal passions of men.

If, on the other hand, a man met a betrothed girl in the field, and laid hold of her and lay with her, the man alone was to die, and nothing was to be done to the girl. "There is in the damsel no death-sin (i.e., no sin to be punished with death); but as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him, even so is this matter." In the open field the girl had called for help, but no one had helped her. It was therefore a forcible rape.