Like all ancient Near Eastern law collections, Deuteronomy has laws pertaining to marriage, the family, and sexual relationships. In fact, it has more to say on these subjects than other legal sections of the Bible. Many recent studies have asked what these laws reveal about Deuteronomy’s attitude towards women. They have come to diverse, if not contradictory, conclusions. Moshe Weinfeld sees Deuteronomy as espousing a “particularly humanistic attitude towards women,” a position consistent with his observation that Deuteronomy is generally more humanistic than other biblical books.2 Carolyn Pressler, opposing Weinfeld, argues rather that “the Deuteronomic family laws presuppose and undergird male headed and male defined hierarchical family structures, in which women hold subordinate and dependent statuses.”3 She does, however, acknowledge that Deuteronomic legislation also protects dependent family members. Eckart Otto, much more forcefully than Weinfeld, insists that the laws of Deuteronomy are progressive and protect the legal status of women, to the extent of making women legal subjects of their own.4 Taking the opposite position from Otto, in the same volume, Harold Washington complains that Deuteronomy does nothing to prevent or punish violence against women and that women are not independent legal persons. The laws, says Washington, “function as a discourse of male power. Far from ameliorating male domination, they install it and circulate its force.”5
There is some truth in all these statements. Deuteronomy is indeed more humanistic, more centered on human (“secular”) society and its moral values than Exodus and Leviticus, and this humanistic attitude applies to women as well as to men. At the same time, Deuteronomy maintains unquestioningly the patriarchal structure of society, with the male head of household and dependent wives and children. However, it deprives the male head of household of ultimate power to punish his dependents, according that power to society as a whole, through the courts, the judges or the elders. In that sense, dependents have certain protections under the law. That may make Deuteronomy seem progressive, although it falls short of making women full legal entities in their own right or equal to men in all matters.
The point is, however, that Deuteronomy did not set out either to ameliorate or to constrict the status of women, since women, in and of themselves, are not its primary concern. The primary concern of Deuteronomy is to create a moral society. In this society, certain types of sexual misconduct, by men and by women, have moral implications. But not all types of sexual misconduct are condemned on moral grounds, although they may be undesirable. The laws indicate when an action is immoral and when it is not. Immoral sexual conduct is marked by a “value judgment” like “you must sweep out evil from your midst,” and by the death penalty. Sexual behavior not so marked is not deemed immoral, although it is discouraged and the law seeks to neutralize it.6
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Author: Adele Berlin
Keywords: Rape, Rapist, Forced to marry, Forced to marry her rapist, Woman forced to marry her rapist, Victim, Victim forced to marry her rapist, Legal Rape, Raper, Sexual assault, Sexual crimes, Betrothal, Betrothed, Pre marital sex, Premarital sex, Sex before marriage, Having sex before marriage, Single women, Marrying her rapist
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 22
Source: “Sex and the Single Girl in Deuteronomy 22,” Mishneh Todah: Studies in Deuteronomy and Its Cultural Environment in Honor of Jeffrey H. Tigay. Edited by Nili Sacher Fox, David A. Glatt-Gilad, and Michael J. Williams. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2008), pp. 131-148.
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