Why does the field case spare the betrothed woman while requiring the man’s death?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter says she is not guilty of death and compares what she suffered to a robber killing his brother. She was alone in the field, cried out, and had no one to help. In the described case, only the man who took hold of her and lay with her must die.

Chapter breakdown

Israel must not pass by a brother’s ox or sheep that has gone astray but must return it. If the owner is not nearby or is unknown, the finder must take it home and keep it until the owner seeks and receives it. The same applies to his donkey, clothing, and everything of his that is lost; the finder must not neglect it as belonging to someone else. If the brother’s donkey or ox has fallen on the road, Israel must not ignore it but must lift it with him.

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man women’s clothing; one who does these things is called abominable before God. If a person walking along the way finds a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground, with the mother sitting on young or eggs, he must not take her with her young. He must let her go, keeping the young he has caught, so it may be well with him and he may live a long time. Challoner’s separate note says the rule was meant to teach a measure of mercy even toward creatures without reason, training people to hate cruelty and practice humanity and mutual charity toward one another.

When building a new house, a person must make a protective wall around the roof, lest someone slip and fall headlong and blood be shed in the house with guilt on its owner. Challoner’s separate note says this precaution was necessary because all their houses had flat tops where people commonly walked and talked together. A vineyard must not be sown with different seeds, lest both the sown seed and vineyard fruit be sanctified together. Israel must not plough with an ox and donkey together or wear a garment woven of wool and linen together. Strings must be made in the hem at the four corners of the cloak used as a covering.

If a man marries a woman, later hates her, and seeks reasons to put her away by giving her a bad name and saying he did not find her a virgin when he went in to her, her father and mother must take her and the tokens of her virginity to the elders at the city gate. Her father must say that he gave his daughter to this man as wife and that the man hates her and makes this charge, and present the tokens of her virginity. They must spread the cloth before the elders. The elders must take the man and beat him, and also fine him one hundred sicles of silver, paid to her father, because he has defamed a virgin of Israel. She must remain his wife, and he may not put her away all his life.

If the charge is true and virginity is not found in the woman, she must be cast out of the doors of her father’s house, and the city’s men must stone her to death. The stated reason is that she has done a wicked thing in Israel by playing the whore in her father’s house; Israel must take evil from its midst. If a man lies with another man’s wife, both the adulterer and adulteress must die, and Israel must take evil away.

If someone finds a betrothed virgin in the city and lies with her, both must be brought to that city’s gate and stoned: the woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife. Israel must take evil from its midst. If a man finds a betrothed woman in the field, takes hold of her, and lies with her, only he must die. She must suffer nothing and is not guilty of death. The chapter compares what she suffered to a robber rising against his brother and taking his life. She was alone in the field, cried out, and there was no one to help her.

If a man finds a virgin who is not betrothed, takes her and lies with her, and the matter comes to judgment, he must give her father fifty sicles of silver and have her as wife because he humbled her. He may not put her away all his life. No man may take his father’s wife or remove his covering.

The story inside

The sexual cases distinguish marital or betrothal status and the setting described. Another man’s wife is the case in which both adulterers must die. The betrothed virgin in the city is given a separate direction and its own stated reasons. In the field case, the man takes hold of the betrothed woman; only he dies, while she suffers nothing and is not guilty of death. The text explains her suffering with the robber comparison and states that she cried out alone with no helper. The final case concerns a virgin who is not betrothed, the matter coming to judgment, a payment of fifty sicles to her father, marriage, and a lifelong bar on putting her away. These are the chapter’s stated cases, not accounts of actual trials or added theories about consent, concealment, or rescue.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Finding another person’s property carries a duty. The ox or sheep must be returned or kept until the owner seeks and receives it; the same applies to the donkey, clothing, and all lost property. A fallen animal must be lifted with its owner.
2
The bird and roof directions include their reasons. The verses connect release of the mother bird with well-being and long life and the roof wall with avoiding a fatal fall and guilt. Challoner separately explains mercy toward creatures and the use of flat roofs.
3
The field case states why the woman is spared. She suffered as someone attacked by a robber, cried out alone, and had no helper. The chapter expressly says she is not guilty of death and that only the man in that described case must die.

Test your recall

Why is the betrothed woman in the field case said to be not guilty of death?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 20840–20859
Deuteronomy Chapter 22 Humanity towards neighbours. Neither sex may use the apparel of the other. Cruelty to be avoided even to birds. Battlements about the roof of a house. Things of divers kinds not to be mixed. The punishment of him that slandereth his wife, as also of adultery and rape. 22:1. Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother’s ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother. 22:2. And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them. 22:3. Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother’s, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another. 22:4. If thou see thy brother’s ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.
Lines 20861–20875
22:5. A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doth these things is abominable before God. 22:6. If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird’s nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young: Thou shalt not take, etc. This was to shew them to exercise a certain mercy even to irrational creatures; and by that means to train them up to a horror of cruelty; and to the exercise of humanity and mutual charity one to another. 22:7. But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.
Lines 20877–20895
22:8. When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong. Battlement.... This precaution was necessary, because all their houses had flat tops, and it was usual to walk and to converse together upon them. 22:9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together. 22:10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. 22:11. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together. 22:12. Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.
Lines 20897–20920
22:13. If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her, 22:14. And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin: 22:15. Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate: 22:16. And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her, 22:17. He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city: 22:18. And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him, 22:19. Condemning him besides in a hundred sicles of silver, which he shall give to the damsel’s father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life.
Lines 20922–20933
22:20. But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel: 22:21. They shall cast her out of the doors of her father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee. 22:22. If a man lie with another man’s wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.
Lines 20935–20951
22:23. If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her, 22:24. Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee. 22:25. But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die: 22:26. The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death: for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer: 22:27. She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.
Lines 20953–20962
22:28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment: 22:29. He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sicles of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life. 22:30. No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove his covering.