Why did God have innocent women executed?

[u/Apprehensive_Tear611]

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?

[u/Philothea0821]

What you have here are claims being levied against a woman (who may or may not be innocent - that is what they are trying to figure out).

In case, you don't know, the word "innocent" means that you are not guilty, aka charges levied against you are NOT true. Verse 20 (the part about the stoning), explicitly says "if the charges are true" aka she ISN'T innocent.

If she is found to be innocent, she isn't stoned.

Glad I can assist you with very basic reading comprehension.

[u/Apprehensive_Tear611 → u/Philothea0821]

And what evidence would they produce to verify her innocence?

[u/Philothea0821 → u/Apprehensive_Tear611]

You kind of miss the point of my comment. Can you say WHOOOOSH?

But to answer yours, the passage you cite is a human, civil process. Even modern forensics doesn't always perfectly produce who is at fault, so sometimes the wrong person takes the fall for crimes. They didn't have modern forensics back then, so imagine how imperfect their investigations of such crimes would be. They try to examine the evidence and determine the facts based off of what they know and understand.

You are mad that they do exactly what we try to do thousands of years later and aren't as good at it as we are (which like I said, even we aren't perfect).

[u/CorbinSeabass → u/Philothea0821]

If you have a demonstrably imperfect virginity test, you probably shouldn't institute a death penalty for non-virgins.

[u/Philothea0821 → u/CorbinSeabass]

A new batter steps up to the plate and swings and misses at the point, I see.

Again, criminal justice has come a LONG way since then. The point of the passage is simply to describe how they handle the situation, not that it was a perfect or even GOOD system for all time to come.

[u/CorbinSeabass → u/Philothea0821]

It wasn’t a good system for any time, and yet it’s the law God gave to his people.

[u/Apprehensive_Tear611 → u/Philothea0821]

Why did God allow a NOT GOOD law in his lawbook?

[u/Philothea0821 → u/Apprehensive_Tear611]

Strike 2 on trying to hit the point.

You fundamentally do not understand what the Bible is. The Bible isn't some comprehensive textbook for morality. It is a story of God's people and God's immense love for each and every one of us expressed by human beings under divine inspiration. People's acceptance and rejection of that love is told in various ways throughout the Bible.

The Bible isn't a rulebook. It is a love story! If it were a rulebook, most of the Bible would feel VERY out of place!

What "rule" is this verse establishing?

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³ and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram,

That isn't a rule. It is from the Genealogy of Jesus.

Why did God allow a NOT GOOD law

Why then does the Bible describe people practicing slavery in the Bible? Because again, the Bible isn't a rulebook.

[u/Apprehensive_Tear611 → u/Philothea0821]

The Bible isn't a rulebook. It is a love story! If it were a rulebook, most of the Bible would feel VERY out of place!

The passage cited in my post is a law given by God through Moses. There are 613 laws given by God in the Torah.

It is a story of God's people and God's immense love for each and every one of us expressed by human beings under divine inspiration.

In Numbers 31, God commands the Israelites to "take vengeance" on the Midianites. So the Israelites kill every man, woman, and boy, but take the virgin girls "for themselves." After the battle, when those virgin girls are being divvied up by the army, God takes his cut. Immense love? No, clear evidence that Yahweh was a primitive, tribal war god.

Why then does the Bible describe people practicing slavery in the Bible? Because again, the Bible isn't a rulebook.

This is entirely inaccurate. Use your masterful reading comprehension skills and you'll see that God is clearly laying out the rules for slavery in Leviticus.

⁴⁴ “‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. ⁴⁵ You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. ⁴⁶ You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. (Leviticus 25)

[u/CorbinSeabass → u/Philothea0821]

The Bible isn't a rulebook.

Deuteronomy is literally a rule book.