Deuteronomy 22:13-30: Laws Concerning Sexual Immorality

Introduction:

Introduction: As we come to the Law of God, it may begin to feel like God is constantly being negative. “Don’t do this, Don’t do that, make sure you do this, etc.” To a degree that is the case. Remember, we are reading a divine legal system given specifically to the Children of Israel. Parent, if we collated all of the rules you had for your children as they grew, we could also say you were quite negative “Thou shalt make your bed in the morning, Thou shalt brush your teeth, thou shalt be in bed by 9pm, thou shalt have permission before playing your video games, etc.” But just as you parents had those rules/laws revealed your desire for the good of your children, God had put these Laws into place for the good of His Nation. Today, we begin to look into laws concerning Sexual Immorality. Side Note: Lest someone hears this and thinks that “Love is Love” and therefore people should be able to have sex with whoever they want, I would remind that person that we have laws restricting who a person can have sex with. So, both the atheist agrees with the OT that there should be legislation in regards to who a person can have sex with. They just disagree on where those boundaries should be drawn. Alright, let us get into the text.

Text Read:

Deuteronomy 22:13–30 13 “If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her 14 and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16 And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17 and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. 20 But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 25 “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, 27 because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her. 28 “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days. 30  “A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.

Text Explained:

Clarification of Terms: There are a few terms used that I want to remind us of before we get into the text.

Biblical Marriage: Biblical marriage is one man and one woman. First, the words used are gender specific and thus biblical marriage cannot be anything other than male and female. Second, marriage is intended to be for life. There was no escape clause written into the first marriage, nor was an escape clause ever intended. Marriage was designed and established by God prior to sin entering the world. Third, biblical marriage was designed and intended to be monogamous. Again the words used in scripture are singular. This is Biblical Marriage. One man & One woman for life. The joining together of this covenant is so strong that God says the two become one. Matthew 19:6 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. However, while scripture clearly teaches these things, we know that sin entered the world. So that things that were meant to be one way were broken, twisted, and perverted. We know that death brings an end to the marriage union. We know that polygamy began to be embraced, we know that divorce also came about. However, I would have us remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:3-9 “3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them,Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” When we come to the Law, certain Laws were put in place, not as an endorsement of an action, but to mitigate the abuses of sinful humanity. For the sinful hardness of the human heart there are merciful exceptions that God permitted under specific situations.

Biblical Betrothal: The closest thing to we have is engagement, yet this is not a strong enough comparison. Legally, once a couple was officially betrothed, they were both under the marriage covenant and thus, to have sex with someone else would fall under the category of adultery. In the eyes of the Law, you were basically married.

Sex: Sex is a wonderful gift from God that is to be embraced as God has given it. Sex is the physical representation of what marriage is. Sometimes Christians get called prudes or some such because we seem to think sex is some dirty thing. No, scripture contains an entire book on the sexual love of a husband and wife. Sex is a tremendous gift of God for marriage. However, sin has perverted that as well.

Adultery: As one scholar notes: “The word adultery is etymologically related to the word adulterate, which means “to render something poorer in quality by adding another substance.” Adultery is the adulteration of marriage by the addition of a third person. Adultery is voluntary sexual activity between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse.” (What does the Bible say about adultery? | GotQuestions.org)

Now that we have covered our bases, let’s get in to the text.

False Accusations of Infidelity

“If any man takes a wife and goes in to her and then hates her 14 and accuses her of misconduct and brings a bad name upon her, saying, ‘I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her evidence of virginity,’ 15 then the father of the young woman and her mother shall take and bring out the evidence of her virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16 And the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to marry, and he hates her; 17 and behold, he has accused her of misconduct, saying, “I did not find in your daughter evidence of virginity.” And yet this is the evidence of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloak before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man and whip him, 19 and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days. This Law is focusing on answering the question: what do you do if a man makes a false allegation? Here is the setting: A man who marries a woman. They consummate the marriage, but for whatever reason, he hates her. He does not like her and wants to get out of the marriage. However, he cannot do so without bringing shame to himself. So he makes up a story that she was actually unfaithful prior to the consummation of the marriage. This is a heavy accusation and if true would be considered adultery on the part of the woman & a point of shame on the woman’s parents. So this accusation goes to the courts/elders of the city. At this point the evidence is brought forward by the father that yes indeed his daughter was a virgin and this man is simply trying to sleep with the woman, keep her dowry, shame her family, and all the while he plays the victim in the community. As the Court examines the evidence, they find the man guilty of this false accusation. His punishment for such an extreme accusation is to be publicly flogged/whipped/beaten and to pay the father 100 shekels of silver. For a point of reference, 2Samuel 24:24b tells us that David bought the threshing floor and the (yoke of) oxen for 50 silver shekels. That is to say 100 shekels of silver was not a small fine. The man who made the false accusation was never allowed to divorce his wife for any reason. A person may say well that is a trap for her. However, we need to remember a couple things: First, this was happening before she knew if she had gotten pregnant after their wedding night. If she was, this requirement have made sure that this child, especially if he was the firstborn son, would receive the inheritance. It would also require the man to care for her all the days of his life. He was not allowed to walk away from the consequences of his actions. She would be cared for and any child born would be cared for. Even more, the public shame this man would bear from the community for what he attempted to do would follow him the rest of his life. He had attempted to call his wife an adulteress. In Ancient Israel that was a serious crime against the nation as the text reads he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel.

True Allegations of Infidelity

20 But if the thing is true, that evidence of virginity was not found in the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father's house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. If the accusation is true. If she had indeed committed adultery prior to her consummation, then the penalty for that adultery was death. Now, lest someone says that it isn’t fair for a woman to bare the blame of adultery and the man go free, well, the man in this situation does not go free. If the husband makes a false accusation, he is publicly beaten, pays a big fine, and is responsible for her care and well being for the remainder of his life. If she is guilty of adultery, then she is executed. However, this penalty for adultery was not for women only.

Clearly Adultery

22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. So we find that the penalty for adultery is death for those involved. It does not matter who that person is. Adultery equals death. But what if she says she was not willing participant?

Most Likely Adultery: Assumed Consensual

23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. Here we find that if a couple is caught in act, then they are both to be stoned. However in this instance, there is more explanation given. The question may arise, how do we know she was a willing participant? What if they get caught, yet in an effort to escape punishment, she lies and says he forced her? The response is: did you call for help? The assumption is that if she called for help “in the city” someone would have heard her and come to her aid. Remember last week, the Israelites were required to help one another. So the assumption is that if she was not willing, she would have done the bare minimum and called for help. Before you say “that doesn’t give the woman the benefit of the doubt, we read on...

Assumed Non-Consensual

25 “But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no offense punishable by death. For this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor, 27 because he met her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her. You see, unlike the previous case, in the country, there is the assumption that the betrothed woman did cry for help, and no one heard her.

The Responsibility of Sex

28 “If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days. Here we have a man and a woman, neither of them are betrothed/married. What do you do if they are found having relations? They are to be wed. Remember, sex is to be reserved for for marriage since it is the physical representation of the covenant the two have entered. The man would not get away with simply sleeping around. He would be required to take full responsibility for his actions which would include paying a dowry, being responsible for any possible children that he sired, and being responsible to care for the woman he slept with all her life. He desired to partake of something reserved for marriage and thus he bears responsibility of becoming the husband. Finally...

Don’t Sleep with a Step-mom

30  “A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness. This one I think kind of speaks for itself so ...

Application

As we look at these laws we can see three different truths I want us to see.

The Sanctity of Marriage

The Law’s we examined are struck by the, what seems to us, extreme punishment for adultery. That is because our culture views marriage as nothing more than two people who are attracted to each other and make each other happy. This sounds good on the surface, but what happens if the attraction fades or the other person does something that doesn’t make you happy? Our culture says, you deserve to be happy therefore divorce. This view of marriage is absolutely destructive to people. If you are looking for someone to excite you and make you happy, you have the world’s view of marriage. Excitement and happiness is not inherently sinful, but if that is the sum of what you are looking for you will be disappointed. Biblical Marriage is a Covenant between a man and a woman that God has brought together. “As husband and wife, the couple is united by God as “one flesh” both legally and spiritually (Genesis 2:24). This three-way union, with God at the center, forms the foundation on which to build a godly marriage.” (How can I have a godly marriage? | GotQuestions.org) In the OT, marriage was pictured by God’s Covenant with Israel. In the NT, marriage is pictured as Christ’s relationship with His bride the Church.

Sexual immorality

A Parent’s/Father’s Responsibility