Thread by @JoelBaden

#Exodus 22:15-16

So you seduced a virgin...

It’s not a coincidence that this law follows on the ones about what happens if your neighbor’s property gets damaged while in your possession. Because this law is pretty much about property damage. Just the property is the girl.

This law is the equivalent of “you broke it, you buy it” where the thing you’re breaking and buying is a person. The girl’s value is attached to her virginity. She’s worth more that way. You remove that from her, and she’s a tougher sell for her father.

(Just to be provocative for fun: the word used here for virgin, בתולה, is, you know, the word for virgin. As opposed to the other word that’s used in Isaiah 7:14.m, which, you know, doesn’t mean virgin. Okay back to our regularly scheduled programming.)

So if you sleep with a virgin without having paid for her, it’s akin to theft: you’ve stolen her value and there’s no way to restore it. So you have two choices: you can take her or you can reject her. But either way you’re paying the same amount.

The father shouldn’t be financially harmed just because you decided to break his valuable property. She was worth a certain amount, and he should be compensated for her regardless.

If it wasn’t clear, the girl herself has no agency here, at least not in the business side of the transaction. She may have allowed herself to be seduced - this isn’t a case of rape, that’s a different law - but she has no say in the marriage (or not). She’s a pure commodity.

I’m sure some folks spin this to make it sound like the Bible places such high value on the pure state of virginity, or like daughters are precious in the eyes of their fathers, or whatever. Miss me with that shit. This is minor females as property, to be sold for a price.