Did the Old Testament Law allow for men to buy and sell young women for use as sex slaves?
According to some skeptics, the Bible says just that in Exodus 21:7-9 which reads as follows:
"When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. If she does not satisfy her owner, he must allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her. But if the slave’s owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave but as a daughter." ~Exodus 21:7-9 New Living Translation (NLT)
If one were to take this passage at face value without understanding the cultural context, it would be easy to mistakenly assume that this passage is speaking about sex slavery. However, this is simply not the case. The first and foremost reason being that both prostitution and the act of selling one's daughter into prostitution were specifically condemned by the Hebrew Law. (Leviticus 19:29, 21:9, Deuteronomy 23:17)
Since prostitution was forbidden under Jewish Law we must therefore ask several questions of this passage.
First of all, the English translation of verse eight speaks of a broken contract. Yet no contract is mentioned in the preceding verses. This, of course, raises the question of what contract has been broken? Furthermore, why does the breaking of this unspecified contract allow for the woman to be returned to her father's house? If this woman is a sex slave, as the skeptic claims, then why can't her owner sell her to a foreigner when he is finished with her?
The answer, while obscure in English translations of the Bible, is quite obvious in the Hebrew text. In the original langue this passage says that by purchasing the woman as a slave, the man has "betrothed her to himself." (יְעָדָ֖הּ) This means that the woman was sold as a slave with the expressed intent of marriage. Being betrothed to a man is not the same as sex slavery. Neither is marriage to a slave woman.
According to the very next passage (Exodus 21:10) a slave-wife (concubine) was entitled to the same rights and privileges of a free-born woman. The one exception being that the children of a slave-wife did not have an automatic share of their father's inheritance, while those children born to a free woman did.
The case of Abraham and his many sons is a great example of this cultural practice. Issac was born of Abraham's free-born wife, Sarah, while Ishmael was the child of Abraham and Hagar—Sarah's maidservant. Abraham also had six more sons by a slave-wife named Keturah in Genesis 25:1-6. Ishmael was Abraham's firstborn, but Isaac was his heir because he was born of a free woman. That said, if a man wanted to pass on his inheritance to the son of a slave-wife then he would have to publicly name that child as his heir. Which was not uncommon.
In the case of Exodus 21:7-9, if a man bought a young woman as a slave-wife but did not marry her himself, he was then required to give her in marriage to his son or to another servant within his household within seven years. Otherwise the woman's father could buy her back at that time. (According to the the Jewish Laws recorded in Exodus 21:2-3, every seventh year all Hebrew slaves would be freed, and all of their debts would be canceled). This is why a slave woman would not be freed at the end of the six year period as the men were; because she was expected to be married to a member of the household by that time.
In the culture of ancient Israel, it was considered a public disgrace for a woman of marrying age to remain unmarried. This is why the man was required to allow the woman to return to her father if he broke his contract to marry her. If he failed to do so and kept her as a servant in his household, he would be condemning her to a life of shame. Furthermore, he himself would be disgraced for failing to find her a suitable husband, thus breaking his pledge to her father. The original Hebrew actually accuses the man of treachery and deceit (בְּבִגְדוֹ־) if he did not marry the woman he purchased. In this way, the purchase of a young woman from her father was not unlike the practice of paying a dowry for her betrothal, and showed the serious intentions of the husband-to-be.
That being said, the man in this scenario also had the ability to choose to marry the woman himself or to give her in marriage to another man within his household (ie. his son) if she did not satisfy him.
It is important to note here that the Hebrew word translated as "satisfy" or "please" in some English translations does not imply anything sexual. It simply means that the man likes the woman. Or, to phrase it another way, she is pleasing in his eyes. This does not mean that the man got to sample her sexually before deciding whether or not to marry her. Such practices were not only condemned by the Old Testament Law but would also have prevented the man from giving her to his son (or anyone else) as a wife. (Leviticus 18:8, Deuteronomy 22:28-30)
Furthermore, the language used in this particular case implies the negative; that the woman is displeasing (רָעָ֞ה) in the eyes of her master rather than pleasing. That is to say, the woman is so disagreeable that marriage to her would result in nothing but misery on the part of the man who married her.
To summarize: what this passage is really saying is that if a man found himself in a position of financial desperation and could no longer provide for the members of his family, he could sell his daughter as a servant with the understanding that the man who bought her would marry her himself. If the man found that he did not really get along with the woman, then he had seven years to find her a husband within his household. If the man failed to do so, then the girl's father reserved the right to buy her back again once his debts had been canceled. The man who paid for the woman's hand in marriage could not keep her as a servant, nor could he sell her to someone else if he failed to uphold his end of the bargain. In this way, the act of selling ones daughter as a servant was a desperate father's final attempt to insure that she would be provided for when he could no longer insure her well-being.
Another passage commonly referred to by skeptics seeking to support their position on sex slavery in the Bible is Numbers 31:25-50, which details the division of plunder after a battle between Israel and Midian.
In verse 35 we find 32,000 virgin girls listed among the spoils taken by the Israelite men. Were these women taken as sex slaves by the victorious Israelites? What about those women given to God as His share (Numbers 31:36-40)? Were these virgins brutally sacrificed to the Hebrew God as some skeptics claim?
As with the previous case, the truth becomes apparent when we examine the context of this passage. The first question we should ask ourselves is: why did the Israelites go to war against the people of Midian in the first place? Both Israel and Midian were descendants of Abraham. (Genesis 25:1-6) Moses himself was married to a Midianite (Exodus 2:11-22) and clearly had no quarrel with his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. (Exodus 18) Why then did Moses suddenly decide to go to war against his family's kinsmen?
The answer can be found a few chapters earlier in Numbers 22-25, which recounts Israel's journey through Midian and the land of Moab. Numbers 22:1-7 introduces us to Balak, the king of Moab, and describes how both he and his people were filled with terror at the arrival of the Israelites in their land. In an attempt to destroy Israel, Balak and the elders of Midian sent messengers to enlist the help of the sorcerer Balaam, hoping that he would be able to place a curse on the people of Israel. However, we read in Numbers 23-24 that God prevented Balaam from cursing Israel. Instead, God caused the pagan sorcerer to pronounce blessing after blessing upon His people.
Having failed to curse Israel, Balaam instead persuaded the women of Midian and Moab to seduce the Israelite men in Numbers 25 so that God Himself would strike Israel for their sin. As Balaam predicted, the sexual debauchery of Israel caused the Lord's anger to "blaze against His people," resulting in a plague that killed some 24,000 Israelites. This is why Israel went to war against Midian in Numbers 31.
Realizing this, we must ask the obvious question: would the Israelite men be willing to indulge themselves in sexual sin with Midianite captives when it was sex with the women of Midian and Moab that had caused the plague in the first place? 24,000 of their kinsman had just died as a result of God's wrath, so the possibility of this seems remote. Furthermore, we must also consider Moses's statements concerning ritual purification after the battle as recorded in Numbers 31:18-19.
According to Leviticus 15:16-18 sexual intercourse would cause both men and women to become ceremonially unclean. This means that the men would not have been able to have sex with the captive women, since they were required to purify themselves and their captives for seven days.
We must also realize that in most ancient near-eastern cultures women were married off as soon as they reached puberty. This meant that if a girl was prepubescent, she was in all likelihood still a virgin. Additionally, married women in the near-east also wore veils or other special headwear while unmarried women did not. The same can be said of temple prostitutes who wore distinctive clothing, jewelry and hairstyles to represent their status as holy vessels of the gods. This meant that it would have been easy for the Israelites to recognize who was a virgin and who wasn't. If a captive girl was under the age of twelve or was not wearing a veil or the attire of a temple prostitute, then it was safe to assume that she was a virgin.
Thus it can be concluded with a high degree of certainty that most, if not all, of the virgins given to the Israelite men were children under the age of twelve, as these would have been the obvious virgins among the captives and would not have been involved in the plot to lead the men of Israel into sexual sin. (Which was the entire reason why Israel went to war against Midian in the first place.) This fact combined with the Hebrews' stringent laws on sexuality (Exodus 22:16-17, Leviticus 18, 20:10-24, Deuteronomy 21:10-14, 22:13-30) and the fair treatment of slaves (Exodus 21:1-11, 16, 20-21, 26-27, Leviticus 26:35-55, Deuteronomy 15:12-18) makes it highly unlikely that these children were ever used as sex slaves. If anything, they would be wards in the care of their master until they were old enough to work as servants in his household.
One final point worth mentioning here is the issue of whether or not some of the captives taken from Midian were sacrificed to the Hebrew God. As mentioned earlier, some would claim that Numbers 31:36-41 says just that. However, human sacrifice—especially child sacrifice—was condemned by the Law of Moses. (Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:9-12) This means that these young girls were not sacrificed to God. Rather they were given to God as servants to the priests in the tribe of Levi. Again, this is apparent in the original Hebrew which states that the virgins set aside as the Lord's share, or "tribute" (הַמֶּ֥כֶס), were part of the "heave offering" (תְּרוּמַ֣ת); the portion of the sacrifice reserved for the priests or otherwise set apart for holy use. (see Leviticus 7:14, 31-34, Numbers 18:19)
In closing, it is clear from the cultural, historic, and textual context of the passages in question that sex slavery, rape, and prostitution were never permissible under Old Testament Law. However, it is fair to point out that sinful man is not above misusing God's Word to justify actions that are contrary to the Scriptures' intent. The people of Israel themselves would violate God's Law time and time again throughout history, as would countless others.
That said, in order to violate God's Law, one must first divorce Scripture from its context. Once this is done, it is easy to twist God's Word to justify every whim of man's sinful heart. That is why it is so important to understand Scripture in its entirety; to view the Bible through the lens of the culture and history of those to whom it was originally written, and to understand the languages in which the Scriptures were originally penned. To do otherwise is to resign oneself to an interpretation of Scripture limited only to a superficial understanding, rife with misinterpretation and misunderstanding. In this way, the skeptic is no better than the man who distorts the Scripture to justify immorality. Both choose to ignore those portions of Scripture that conflict with their presuppositions and as a result, both are misinformed. One uses Scripture to justify the very evil the Scriptures condemn. The other uses Scripture to accuse the Scriptures of supporting what the Scriptures actually condemn. In both cases truth is lost.
Therefore it is the responsibility of the individual to take the time to study the Scriptures for themselves so that the lies of those who misuse God's Word can be exposed and refuted.
It is important to note here that the Hebrew word translated as "satisfy" or "please" in some English translations does not imply anything sexual. It simply means that the man likes the woman. Or, to phrase it another way, she is pleasing in his eyes. This does not mean that the man got to sample her sexually before deciding whether or not to marry her. Such practices were not only condemned by the Old Testament Law but would also have prevented the man from giving her to his son (or anyone else) as a wife. (Leviticus 18:8, Deuteronomy 22:28-30)
Furthermore, the language used in this particular case implies the negative; that the woman is displeasing (רָעָ֞ה) in the eyes of her master rather than pleasing. That is to say, the woman is so disagreeable that marriage to her would result in nothing but misery on the part of the man who married her.
To summarize: what this passage is really saying is that if a man found himself in a position of financial desperation and could no longer provide for the members of his family, he could sell his daughter as a servant with the understanding that the man who bought her would marry her himself. If the man found that he did not really get along with the woman, then he had seven years to find her a husband within his household. If the man failed to do so, then the girl's father reserved the right to buy her back again once his debts had been canceled. The man who paid for the woman's hand in marriage could not keep her as a servant, nor could he sell her to someone else if he failed to uphold his end of the bargain. In this way, the act of selling ones daughter as a servant was a desperate father's final attempt to insure that she would be provided for when he could no longer insure her well-being.
Another passage commonly referred to by skeptics seeking to support their position on sex slavery in the Bible is Numbers 31:25-50, which details the division of plunder after a battle between Israel and Midian.
In verse 35 we find 32,000 virgin girls listed among the spoils taken by the Israelite men. Were these women taken as sex slaves by the victorious Israelites? What about those women given to God as His share (Numbers 31:36-40)? Were these virgins brutally sacrificed to the Hebrew God as some skeptics claim?
As with the previous case, the truth becomes apparent when we examine the context of this passage. The first question we should ask ourselves is: why did the Israelites go to war against the people of Midian in the first place? Both Israel and Midian were descendants of Abraham. (Genesis 25:1-6) Moses himself was married to a Midianite (Exodus 2:11-22) and clearly had no quarrel with his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. (Exodus 18) Why then did Moses suddenly decide to go to war against his family's kinsmen?
The answer can be found a few chapters earlier in Numbers 22-25, which recounts Israel's journey through Midian and the land of Moab. Numbers 22:1-7 introduces us to Balak, the king of Moab, and describes how both he and his people were filled with terror at the arrival of the Israelites in their land. In an attempt to destroy Israel, Balak and the elders of Midian sent messengers to enlist the help of the sorcerer Balaam, hoping that he would be able to place a curse on the people of Israel. However, we read in Numbers 23-24 that God prevented Balaam from cursing Israel. Instead, God caused the pagan sorcerer to pronounce blessing after blessing upon His people.
Having failed to curse Israel, Balaam instead persuaded the women of Midian and Moab to seduce the Israelite men in Numbers 25 so that God Himself would strike Israel for their sin. As Balaam predicted, the sexual debauchery of Israel caused the Lord's anger to "blaze against His people," resulting in a plague that killed some 24,000 Israelites. This is why Israel went to war against Midian in Numbers 31.
Realizing this, we must ask the obvious question: would the Israelite men be willing to indulge themselves in sexual sin with Midianite captives when it was sex with the women of Midian and Moab that had caused the plague in the first place? 24,000 of their kinsman had just died as a result of God's wrath, so the possibility of this seems remote. Furthermore, we must also consider Moses's statements concerning ritual purification after the battle as recorded in Numbers 31:18-19.
According to Leviticus 15:16-18 sexual intercourse would cause both men and women to become ceremonially unclean. This means that the men would not have been able to have sex with the captive women, since they were required to purify themselves and their captives for seven days.
We must also realize that in most ancient near-eastern cultures women were married off as soon as they reached puberty. This meant that if a girl was prepubescent, she was in all likelihood still a virgin. Additionally, married women in the near-east also wore veils or other special headwear while unmarried women did not. The same can be said of temple prostitutes who wore distinctive clothing, jewelry and hairstyles to represent their status as holy vessels of the gods. This meant that it would have been easy for the Israelites to recognize who was a virgin and who wasn't. If a captive girl was under the age of twelve or was not wearing a veil or the attire of a temple prostitute, then it was safe to assume that she was a virgin.
Thus it can be concluded with a high degree of certainty that most, if not all, of the virgins given to the Israelite men were children under the age of twelve, as these would have been the obvious virgins among the captives and would not have been involved in the plot to lead the men of Israel into sexual sin. (Which was the entire reason why Israel went to war against Midian in the first place.) This fact combined with the Hebrews' stringent laws on sexuality (Exodus 22:16-17, Leviticus 18, 20:10-24, Deuteronomy 21:10-14, 22:13-30) and the fair treatment of slaves (Exodus 21:1-11, 16, 20-21, 26-27, Leviticus 26:35-55, Deuteronomy 15:12-18) makes it highly unlikely that these children were ever used as sex slaves. If anything, they would be wards in the care of their master until they were old enough to work as servants in his household.
One final point worth mentioning here is the issue of whether or not some of the captives taken from Midian were sacrificed to the Hebrew God. As mentioned earlier, some would claim that Numbers 31:36-41 says just that. However, human sacrifice—especially child sacrifice—was condemned by the Law of Moses. (Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:9-12) This means that these young girls were not sacrificed to God. Rather they were given to God as servants to the priests in the tribe of Levi. Again, this is apparent in the original Hebrew which states that the virgins set aside as the Lord's share, or "tribute" (הַמֶּ֥כֶס), were part of the "heave offering" (תְּרוּמַ֣ת); the portion of the sacrifice reserved for the priests or otherwise set apart for holy use. (see Leviticus 7:14, 31-34, Numbers 18:19)
In closing, it is clear from the cultural, historic, and textual context of the passages in question that sex slavery, rape, and prostitution were never permissible under Old Testament Law. However, it is fair to point out that sinful man is not above misusing God's Word to justify actions that are contrary to the Scriptures' intent. The people of Israel themselves would violate God's Law time and time again throughout history, as would countless others.
That said, in order to violate God's Law, one must first divorce Scripture from its context. Once this is done, it is easy to twist God's Word to justify every whim of man's sinful heart. That is why it is so important to understand Scripture in its entirety; to view the Bible through the lens of the culture and history of those to whom it was originally written, and to understand the languages in which the Scriptures were originally penned. To do otherwise is to resign oneself to an interpretation of Scripture limited only to a superficial understanding, rife with misinterpretation and misunderstanding. In this way, the skeptic is no better than the man who distorts the Scripture to justify immorality. Both choose to ignore those portions of Scripture that conflict with their presuppositions and as a result, both are misinformed. One uses Scripture to justify the very evil the Scriptures condemn. The other uses Scripture to accuse the Scriptures of supporting what the Scriptures actually condemn. In both cases truth is lost.
Therefore it is the responsibility of the individual to take the time to study the Scriptures for themselves so that the lies of those who misuse God's Word can be exposed and refuted.
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