Perry, I guess if that is the best arrangement God could come up with for the innocent girls, and letting little boys be murdered instead of converting them and using them as servants, then he needs all the help he can get.....
Oompa,
This was an execution of judgment. It was an expression of God's justice on a wicked people. They seem to have been the principal instigators of the infamous scheme of seduction, planned to entrap the Israelites into the double crime of idolatry and licentiousness [Numbers 25:1-3,17,18] by which, it was hoped, the Lord would withdraw from that people the benefit of His protection and favor. Moreover, the Midianites had rendered themselves particularly obnoxious by entering into a hostile league with the Amorites (Joshua 13:21).
Apparently, they picked a fight with God and lost. It is not wise to fight against God. He always wins in the end. You may not like God and his judgments, but the simple fact is that this was a military manuever. The entire human race is under a death sentence. A death brought about before old age doesn't discount the guilt or deservedness, nor does it make God a sinner.
It is accounts like these that do absolutely NOTHING to draw me close to God, and make it impossible to understand him.....How could any of the people in these accounts say "God is Love?"
Doesn't make much sense does it? Unless, of course you take into consideration that God punishes sin. God is irrelevant and shouldn't even be discussed among intelligent people if sin doesn't exist. However, if sin does exist we would naturally expect God to punish those who do it. We should also expect God's mercy toward those that accept his method of getting rid of it out of our lives.
BS I say, and so would the young Jewish non engaged virgin who gets raped, and then gets to marry her rapist if he can give her dad 50 shekels.........great...................oompa
It is hard for me to imagine what life was like in ancient cultures. Here's one view.
RE: Deuteronomy 22:28-29
First, it is important to recognize that these very verses prescribe a punishment of sorts for the crime of rape, namely the payment of a fine and indissoluble marriage to the raped woman (marriages were normally dissoluble under the proper circumstances). Second, the verses immediately preceding these indicate the death penalty for rapists and adulterers. Vv. 23-24 describe consensual sex with an engaged woman, in which case there is no rape and both parties are put to death. Vs. 25-27 describe the rape of an engaged woman, in which case the lack of the woman's consent is indicated by the fact that the man "forces" her, and the assumption that she cried out for help. Here the rapist is put to death.
It is in this context of having already established that rape is a capital offense that vs. 28-29 then speak of a man who has probably non-consensual sex with an unengaged virgin. The crime here is a slightly lesser crime because there is no offended husband. Moreover, the lesser penalty also reflects an attempt to mitigate the damages of the crime. That is, in this case the offender and the woman are both eligible for marriage, and it is unlikely that anyone will want to marry the woman because she is no longer a virgin. She will thus have no one to provide for her later in life, and will have not chance of children. This would increase her victimization. Practically speaking, the offending man is more use to her alive than dead. He is allowed to live in order that he might make lifelong restitution to the woman.
