Deuteronomy 22:13-30 (NKJV)
13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ 15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.
20 “But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall [d]put away the evil from among you.
22 “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
25 “But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28 “If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
30 “A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s bed.
Marriage—the lifelong union of a man and a woman in body and life—is divinely instituted. The laws in today’s reading taught Israel to honor marriage and the sexual union, as well as the consequences of violating His will. Fornicators, adulterers, and those who rape betrothed women were to be stoned to death. This punishment demonstrates what is written in Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” God highly exalts marriage and abominates those who defile it.
These laws would also teach Israel that marriage is not something to be taken lightly and that sexual relations are reserved only for that lifelong union. The man who dishonors his wife by false accusations of infidelity must remain married to her so that he can bear the fruit of repentance in his life by devoting himself to her and caring for her. The man who forces himself upon a woman who is not betrothed to a man must take the maiden as his wife for the same reason, that he may demonstrate his repentance and care for the woman whom he humiliated. While these laws seem harsh by modern standards, they reminded Israel to curb their wicked lusts. If they let sin reign in them, then these laws demanded them to honor and care for the women whom they humiliated.
The last verse of today’s reading, “A man shall not take his father’s wife,” leads us think of the man who took his father’s wife as his own in Corinth (1 Cor. 5:1ff). The civil law of Israel being abrogate, that man was not killed, but excommunicated so that he might repent and amend his ways. We know from 2 Corinthians 2 that he repented, put the evil away, and amended his life. Despite deserving death under the law, he received the apostle’s forgiveness as Christ’s forgiveness. This is the gospel for everyone—male or female—who has violated God’s will for marriage and sexual relations. He removes evil from among His people, not by executing the offenders, but forgiving the penitent. By faith, sinners are pure in God’s sight, and, as His forgiven people, honor marriage and the marriage bed. Let us pray: Give us pure hearts, O Lord, that we may glorify You with our bodies and honor marriage as holy. Amen.