by Over There » Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:20 pm
Way to be selective about what you read in numbers 31. Let's visit the rest of what it says:
27 Divide the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. 29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part. 30 From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.” 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
So the spoils are to be divided. Let's look at what's in the spoils:
³² The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys ³⁵ and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.
The virgins here are a part of the "spoils".
³⁶ The half share of those who fought in the battle was: 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ of which the tribute for the Lord was 675; ³⁸ 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord was 72; ³⁹ 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord was 61; ⁴⁰ 16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the Lord was 32. ⁴¹ Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part, as the Lord commanded Moses.
At least the Lord got 32 of those virgins, so maybe they won't be forced into marriage and raped.
53 Each soldier had taken plunder for himself.
Each soldier gets a woman and the other women go to the Levites. What exactly do you think these men wanted with virgins?
Let's also take a look at Deuteronomy 21:10-14:
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.
So after you slaughter this poor girl's family, you can take her as your wife. You just first need to let her grieve for her family that you killed, of course. I'm sure a woman would love to consent to marrying the person who murdered her family (out of fear of her own life). And if she doesn't "please" you, you have to let her go. How kind.
Exodus 21:7-11 shows us how to handle girls who were sold into slavery by their fathers:
7 “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her[a] for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt faithlessly with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money.
So if she doesn't "please" her master, he can marry her to his son.
Even if you think that somehow none of that is rape (which is an incredible feat of mental gymnastics), let's look at how rape is punished in Deuteronomy 22:28-29:
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 put her away all his days.
So if a man seizes a virgin, rapes and violates her, the man is forced into marrying the woman. Can you imagine a woman wanting to marry her rapist?