Deuteronomy 21 Sleeping with the captive

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 21:10 When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13 and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.​

This is from the bibletrack.org site.

Here's an interesting law. She's a prisoner of war and now you want to marry her. According to this provision of the law, she may be taken as a wife by the Hebrew captor after she is given a full month to mourn the loss of her family. She shaves her head and pares her nails to indicate a new life as a Hebrew wife. Notice the disposition of this woman if the Hebrew husband tires of her. Before marriage as a slave, she could have been sold. After marriage, however, she must be given her freedom to go wherever she pleases. Of course, she has no family to which she may return.

This is from the easy English site this morning.

They allowed the woman a month to be sad for her parents. Perhaps her father had died in the battle. Her mother then would belong to another master. The woman had to shave her head and she had to change her clothes. That meant that her previous life had ended. At the end of the month, the man could marry her. If later the man did not like her, he could divorce her. He must not sell her as a slave, but she could go free. The Israelites dealt with women better than any other country did. The Israelites acted in a way that showed sympathy.​

Women were second rate citizens according to the law. Yes, it says here that the Israelites treated the captive women and children in a way that showed sympathy.... but remember... Moses is talking to men who have been drawn to shiny idols... and these women had their own idols. Wait.... aren't they supposed to kill all the women and children in Canaan? We just read that in Deuteronomy 20:16-18.

So these comments from biblehub.com are supposed to clean it up.

But it may well apply to the recent case of the Midianitish maidens (Numbers 31:15-18https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+31:15-18&version=NIV), who had been taken captive in great numbers, and would naturally be reduced to slavery. It is clear from this passage that they could not be treated as concubines.

The long hair is to be cut off, and the nails pared. If the intention was any kind of purification, and long or taper nails were considered an ornament, it is more probable that the nails were to be cut short.

it is clear that the law is intended to encourage lawful marriage, and no other form of union. In this view it throws an important light upon the treatment of the Midianitish captives in Numbers 31.

This shows that, in ordinary cases, these captives would be sold as slaves, without the restrictions imposed on Israelitish slavery. (See Leviticus 25:44-46.)​

Such a complicated life...

:coffee:
 
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