28 "In case a man finds a girl, a virgin who has not been engaged, and he actually seizes her and lies down with her, and they have been found out, 29 the man who lay down with her must also give the girl’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife due to the fact that he humiliated her. He will not be allowed to divorce her all his days.
Oompa, I think you might be a little bit wrong on this one. I don't think verses 28 and 29 indicate rape. Jewish law, much like modern American law, places the responsibility and much of the punishment on the males when it comes to sex. Even if a girl consents to sex but the girl is too young under the law, the male participant is considered a rapist. In most states it is referred to as Statutory Rape. So, in much of history, the male has always been considered the agressor, even if that wasn't the case. In ancient times, and even now in some countries, girls are married off or betrothed to a man when they reach the age of sexual maturity. The country where my wife is from still practices this. When she reached puberty, she had men comming to her house offering her parents money for her hand. So, trust me, it still happens. In bible times, young girls were often engaged and married when they reached the age of sexual maturity. I think for the perposes of these few verses, an engaged girl means a girl that has reached the age of sexual maturity that has already been promised to a man for marriage. I think an unengaged girl means a girl that has reached the age of sexual maturity, but has not yet been promised in marriage.
I think the first two verses indicate a rape scenario, because the girl is screaming for help. Under such a circumstance, there would be no punishment for the girl, because she did nothing wrong. She was a victim.
OK, so here's what I think the last two verses mean.... Notice in verse 28 where it say that he lies down with her and "they have been found out". I think that means that they were having sex together and they got caught. It doesn't say that the girl is screaming for help, as in verse 27. I think that what it means is that if the man and woman were having consentual sex together, and the girl wasn't engaged and promised to another man (aka another man's property) they must marry. The man who is having sex with her has claimed her for himself by virtue of having sex with her. After all, I think finding two people in the bushes having sex is a pretty good indicator that they are attracted enough to each other to have sex, so since they've already committed the marriage act, they might as well be married. Also, he must pay a fine for his transgression to the father, because after all if these two were found screwing in the bushes by somebody, it is a shame for the family, and the father is the head of the family in all matters, so he must be the one to collect the fine. In modern terms, this would be considered a "Shotgun Wedding". I don't think that these two verses necessarily indicate pedophilia, because no ages are mentioned. I would assume under the situation I have outlined, the girl involved would have been at least sexually mature enough to be a willing participant in sexual intercourse.
At least, that's what I think it would mean, knowing what I know about how things were in ancient times and their view of sex, marriage and the view of society that women were property.
All this being said, I, myself, would think that something so important as this would be better explained by the bible, so we wouldn't think things like pedophilia were happening back then. It leaves too much to interpretation, and I think that all of us can read these same verses and have a completely different understanding of it. Kinda sucks.
