hbk

I am talking about commans that seem weird today. Such as "once you got married you can't get divorced, even if you do you can't remarry" command. Are there more of these "weird" commands?

michabo

My favorite: if an unmarried girl has sex in the country then she must be killed, but if she has sex in the country, then she doesn't get punished.

Amaleq13

First, I think there is a negative missing here because she is having sex in the country in both conditions.

Second, could you provide the specific location for this verse?

Peter Kirby

I was reading through Exodus while on a car trip today. I noticed the degree to which the "eternal Word of God" presupposes a society that is agrarian, patriarchal, and accepting of the institution of slavery.

Exodus 21
1 `And these [are] the judgments which thou dost set before them:
2 `When thou buyest a Hebrew servant -- six years he doth serve, and in the seventh he goeth out as a freeman for nought;
3 if by himself he cometh in, by himself he goeth out; if he [is] owner of a wife, then his wife hath gone out with him;
4 if his lord give to him a wife, and she hath borne to him sons or daughters -- the wife and her children are her lord's, and he goeth out by himself.
5 `And if the servant really say: I have loved my lord, my wife, and my sons -- I do not go out free;
6 then hath his lord brought him nigh unto God, and hath brought him nigh unto the door, or unto the side-post, and his lord hath bored his ear with an awl, and he hath served him -- to the age.
7 `And when a man selleth his daughter for a handmaid, she doth not go out according to the going out of the men-servants;
8 if evil in the eyes of her lord, so that he hath not betrothed her, then he hath let her be ransomed; to a strange people he hath not power to sell her, in his dealing treacherously with her.
9 `And if to his son he betroth her, according to the right of daughters he doth to her.
10 `If another [woman] he take for him, her food, her covering, and her habitation, he doth not withdraw;
11 and if these three he do not to her, then she hath gone out for nought, without money.
12 `He who smiteth a man so that he hath died, is certainly put to death;
13 as to him who hath not laid wait, and God hath brought to his hand, I have even set for thee a place whither he doth flee.
14 `And when a man doth presume against his neighbour to slay him with subtilty, from Mine altar thou dost take him to die.
15 `And he who smiteth his father or his mother is certainly put to death.
16 `And he who stealeth a man, and hath sold him, and he hath been found in his hand, is certainly put to death.
17 `And he who is reviling his father or his mother is certainly put to death.
18 `And when men contend, and a man hath smitten his neighbour with a stone, or with the fist, and he die not, but hath fallen on the bed;
19 if he rise, and hath gone up and down without on his staff, then hath the smiter been acquitted; only his cessation he giveth, and he is thoroughly healed.
20 `And when a man smiteth his man-servant or his handmaid, with a rod, and he hath died under his hand -- he is certainly avenged;
21 only if he remain a day, or two days, he is not avenged, for he [is] his money.
22 `And when men strive, and have smitten a pregnant woman, and her children have come out, and there is no mischief, he is certainly fined, as the husband of the woman doth lay upon him, and he hath given through the judges;
23 and if there is mischief, then thou hast given 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 when a man smiteth the eye of his man-servant, or the eye of his handmaid, and hath destroyed it, as a freeman he doth send him away for his eye;
27 and if a tooth of his man-servant or a tooth of his handmaid he knock out, as a freeman he doth send him away for his tooth.
28 `And when an ox doth gore man or woman, and they have died, the ox is certainly stoned, and his flesh is not eaten, and the owner of the ox [is] acquitted;
29 and if the ox is [one] accustomed to gore heretofore, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he doth not watch it, and it hath put to death a man or woman, the ox is stoned, and its owner also is put to death.
30 `If atonement is laid upon him, then he hath given the ransom of his life, according to all that is laid upon him;
31 whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment it is done to him.
32 `If the ox gore a man-servant or a handmaid, thirty silver shekels he doth give to their lord, and the ox is stoned.
33 `And when a man doth open a pit, or when a man doth dig a pit, and doth not cover it, and an ox or ass hath fallen thither, --
34 the owner of the pit doth repay, money he doth give back to its owner, and the dead is his.
35 `And when a man's ox doth smite the ox of his neighbour, and it hath died, then they have sold the living ox, and halved its money, and also the dead one they do halve;
36 or, it hath been known that the ox is [one] accustomed to gore heretofore, and its owner doth not watch it, he certainly repayeth ox for ox, and the dead is his.

Exodus 22
1 `When a man doth steal an ox or sheep, and hath slaughtered it or sold it, five of the herd he doth repay for the ox, and four of the flock for the sheep.
2 `If in the breaking through, the thief is found, and he hath been smitten, and hath died, there is no blood for him;
3 if the sun hath risen upon him, blood [is] for him, he doth certainly repay; if he have nothing, then he hath been sold for his theft;
4 if the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether ox, or ass, or sheep -- double he repayeth.
5 `When a man depastureth a field or vineyard, and hath sent out his beast, and it hath pastured in the field of another, [of] the best of his field, and the best of his vineyard, he doth repay.
6 `When fire goeth forth, and hath found thorns, and a stack, or the standing corn, or the field, hath been consumed, he who causeth the burning doth certainly repay.
7 `When a man doth give unto his neighbour silver, or vessels to keep, and it hath been stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he repayeth double.
8 `If the thief is not found, then the master of the house hath been brought near unto God, whether he hath not put forth his hand against the work of his neighbour;
9 for every matter of transgression, for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any lost thing of which it is said that it is his; unto God cometh the matter of them both; he whom God doth condemn, he repayeth double to his neighbour.
10 `When a man doth give unto his neighbour an ass, or ox, or sheep, or any beast to keep, and it hath died, or hath been hurt, or taken captive, none seeing --
11 an oath of Jehovah is between them both, that he hath not put forth his hand against the work of his neighbour, and its owner hath accepted, and he doth not repay;
12 but if it is certainly stolen from him, he doth repay to its owner;
13 if it is certainly torn, he bringeth it in -- a witness; the torn thing he doth not repay.
14 `And when a man doth ask [anything] from his neighbour, and it hath been hurt or hath died -- its owner not being with it -- he doth certainly repay;
15 if its owner [is] with it, he doth not repay, -- if it [is] a hired thing, it hath come for its hire.
16 `And when a man doth entice a virgin who [is] not betrothed, and hath lain with her, he doth certainly endow her to himself for a wife;
17 if her father utterly refuse to give her to him, money he doth weigh out according to the dowry of virgins.
18 `A witch thou dost not keep alive.
19 `Whoever lieth with a beast is certainly put to death.
20 `He who is sacrificing to a god, save to Jehovah alone, is devoted.
21 `And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, nor crush him, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.
22 `Any widow or orphan ye do not afflict;
23 if thou dost really afflict him, surely if he at all cry unto Me, I certainly hear his cry;
24 and Mine anger hath burned, and I have slain you by the sword, and your wives have been widows, and your sons orphans.
25 `If thou dost lend My poor people with thee money, thou art not to him as a usurer; thou dost not lay on him usury;
26 if thou dost at all take in pledge the garment of thy neighbour, during the going in of the sun thou dost return it to him:
27 for it alone is his covering, it [is] his garment for his skin; wherein doth he lie down? and it hath come to pass, when he doth cry unto Me, that I have heard, for I [am] gracious.
28 `God thou dost not revile, and a prince among thy people thou dost not curse.
29 `Thy fulness and thy liquids thou dost not delay; the first-born of thy sons thou dost give to Me;
30 so thou dost to thine ox, to thy sheep; seven days it is with its dam, on the eighth day thou dost give it to Me.
31 `And ye are holy men to Me, and flesh torn in the field ye do not eat, to a dog ye do cast it.

Exodus 23
1 `Thou dost not lift up a vain report; thou dost not put thy hand with a wicked man to be a violent witness.
2 `Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;
3 and a poor man thou dost not honour in his strife.
4 `When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou dost certainly turn it back to him;
5 when thou seest the ass of him who is hating thee crouching under its burden, then thou hast ceased from leaving [it] to it -- thou dost certainly leave [it] with him.
6 `Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one in his strife;
7 from a false matter thou dost keep far off, and an innocent and righteous man thou dost not slay; for I do not justify a wicked man.
8 `And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open-[eyed], and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 `And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, and ye -- ye have known the soul of the sojourner, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.
10 `And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast gathered its increase;
11 and the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard -- to thine olive-yard.
12 `Six days thou dost do thy work, and on the seventh day thou dost rest, so that thine ox and thine ass doth rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the sojourner is refreshed;
13 and in all that which I have said unto you ye do take heed; and the name of other gods ye do not mention; it is not heard on thy mouth.
14 `Three times thou dost keep a feast to Me in a year;
15 the Feast of Unleavened things thou dost keep; seven days thou dost eat unleavened things, as I have commanded thee, at the time appointed [in] the month of Abib; for in it thou hast come forth out of Egypt, and ye do not appear [in] My presence empty;
16 and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of thy works which thou sowest in the field; and the Feast of the In-Gathering, in the outgoing of the year, in thy gathering thy works out of the field.
17 `Three times in a year do all thy males appear before the face of the Lord Jehovah.
18 `Thou dost not sacrifice on a fermented thing the blood of My sacrifice, and the fat of My festival doth not remain till morning;
19 the beginning of the first-fruits of thy ground thou dost bring into the house of Jehovah thy God; thou dost not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

best,
Peter Kirby

michabo

Heh, yup. It's deceptive how even these simple sentences can be so hard to get straight! Sex in the city - girl dies; sex in the counry - girl lives.

Deut 22:21-26

mrmoderate

IF you would simply take the time to read the passage within it's context you would have your answer straight from the bible itself;

Deuteronomy 22:23-27 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death_the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the girl; she has commited no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor, for the man found the girl out in the country, and though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

This is a logically legalistic way of dealing with these similar crimes commited under different circumstances. In a court of law today a judge would be more inclined to rule for a woman who claims to have screamed for help in a rural area than one who claims to have been raped in an area where had she screamed her screams would have easily been heard.

Amlodhi

A girl could certainly use this to her advantage. However, don't leave out verse 27: "For he found her in the field and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her."

IOW, the idea is that a woman being threatened with rape in the close confines of the city could scream and be rescued, whereas, the screams of a woman being raped in the country would go unheeded.

Amlodhi

[edited to add: Please excuse the redundancy; the above was cross-posted simultaneously with mrmoderate.]

mrmoderate

My all time favorite is Deuteronomy 25:11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

This passage really makes ya wonder what kind of people the bible is dealing with here that an actual punishment had to be devised for this obviously reoccuring action.

mrmoderate

How about a reference for this. It has already been discussed on another thread that the cannot marry thing is not an absolute command for all times and cultures and is debatable to be an issue even where it seems to be one.

michabo

Answer, what answer? What's the question?

I know it isn't errant nonsense, it's just a weird/funny law, that's all.