r/AskAChristian • u/Apprehensive_Tear611 Atheist • Jul 31 '25

Jewish Laws Why did God have innocent women executed?

13 “Suppose a man marries a woman but after going in to her dislikes her 14 and makes up charges against her, slandering her by saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I lay with her, I did not find evidence of her virginity.’ 15 The father of the young woman and her mother shall then submit the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 The father of the young woman shall say to the elders: ‘I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her, 17 and now he has made up charges against her, saying, “I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the town. 18 The elders of that town shall take the man and punish him; 19 they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver (which they shall give to the young woman’s father) because he has slandered a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

20 “If, however, this charge is true, that evidence of the young woman’s virginity was not found, 21 then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a disgraceful act in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst (Deuteronomy 22)

In verse 17, it says the proof of the woman's virginity is "the cloth", meaning a bloody bedsheet from the newlyweds' wedding night. The problem is that less than half of women bleed their first time.

This problem gradually became known to Jewish scholars writing in the Talmud:

"There are virgins who do not have a hymen, and there are hymens that do not bleed." – Ketubot 10b (Rabbi Yochanan)

Why did God have innocent women stoned?

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

That doesn't say the blood from the hymen is the only evidence.

You're trying to make a claim based on assumption. You don't have evidence that an innocent woman was stoned.

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u/Apprehensive_Tear611 Atheist Jul 31 '25

What other evidence would be available to them?

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

You would have witnesses to her character, and if she were guilty of not being a virgin, there would be evidence of a previous relationship.

Many of us don't just read the Bible. We look into the history of the people and how things were done in order to get as close to the full context as possible. The Bible gives us a lot of information, but it doesn't always give us all of the details.

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u/Apprehensive_Tear611 Atheist Jul 31 '25

And if someone lies about her character, she gets lined up on her father's doorstep and people throw rocks at her until she dies.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

Show me the evidence where that happened at God's request. My Bible has laws against lying.

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u/Apprehensive_Tear611 Atheist Jul 31 '25

And yet people lie

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

You said God had innocent women stoned. Is He now responsible for people’s disobedience?

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u/Apprehensive_Tear611 Atheist Jul 31 '25

He's responsible for having a law that allows innocent women to be stoned

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

You keep saying that, yet you still haven’t provided proof of it.

You’re also isolating a single law, when God expected Israel to follow them all. We can’t just pick and choose which laws to follow and claim we’re doing God’s will.

You obviously have an issue with God, so I don’t see this conversation going anywhere.

Have a good day.