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 Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 6:29 pm
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edited to move the silver note & add number of witnesses
minor [major?] correction:
No, it's not the same punishment for the rape of a female slave as for the rape of a free Israelite citizen (for instance, the betrothed female slaves vs. the free, betrothed women):
Leviticus 19:20 New International Version
20 “‘If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment.[a] Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.
Footnotes
a. Leviticus 19:20 Or be an inquiry
Deuteronomy 22:22-27 New International Version
22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.
Whether Leviticus 19:20 is commenting on behavior between foreign slave and another foreign slave, or between free Israelite (citizen), men with a foreign slave, it doesn't specify. But the punishment is actually harsher when both parties involved are free citizens; implication: have greater familiarity with YHWH and should know better. The foreign slaves may not even be acquainted well with the Law to begin with, let alone speak the same language (difficult to assess justice by the courts/judges in all fairness—can the female even give testimony? did anyone understand the language of their protest against the rape...? did she know to scream? many factors. And along another vein, there may even be concepts of slavery relating to citizen vs. foreign / mere-resident that we may not understand yet that God wanted / still wants to illustrate (even prophetically, for instance Isaiah 14:2, and Messianic reign prophetic shadows) that are typified by this way of relating [that citizens, native or foreigner who gets grafted in, adopted to sonship may enjoy more freedoms / benefits—than someone who does not get redeemed, even in the future?]).
Isaiah 14:2 New International Version
2 Nations will take them
and bring them to their own place.
And Israel will take possession of the nations
and make them male and female servants in the Lord’s land.
They will make captives of their captors
and rule over their oppressors.
Galatians 4:30 New International Version
30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[a]
Footnotes
a. Galatians 4:30 Gen. 21:10
Revelation 2:26-27 New International Version
26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’[a]—just as I have received authority from my Father.
Footnotes
a. Revelation 2:27 Psalm 2:9
1 Corinthians 6:3 New International Version
Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
Revelation 20:4-6 New International Version
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Footnotes
a. Revelation 20:4 Or God; I also saw those who
Revelation 21:22-27 New International Version
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Isaiah 66:23-24 New International Version
23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Zechariah 14:16-19 New International Version
16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord[a] will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
Footnotes
a. Zechariah 14:18 Or part, then the Lord
It appears that everyone will have to serve Him in the future (to live well)...but not everyone will serve Him as a son / adopted-slave-turned-son (grafted in), but stay...out...even cursed/plagued...? Not that they have a choice to NOT be His slave on earth. They're just a faithless, wicked, lazy, rebellious one. And certainly not one of His sons or daughters. But disowned. They stay "non-citizen" slave out of their own choosing. They're not enjoying the same benefits to say the least.
But prophetic pictures aside, in terms of right-ruling in the nation of Israel (set-apart community of believers), YHWH showed mercy towards a situation when foreign slaves / those unfamiliar were involved, less punishment but still punishment; in either case, YHWH clearly shows disapproval of dishonoring the promises / Lawful marriage covenants people make; ergo some punishment expected, but it could not be assessed with all fairness to punish to death when a foreigner is involved]; there is one less layer of familiarity with YHWH when it comes to foreigners. But citizens (whom He has given direct revelation to in their own language) are held to a higher standard because they should know better. [As an aside, I feel like the one whom she already belonged to by Law who is doing the physical caring / providing for her needs, the slaveowner, is also being shown mercy in case he may not have known that she belonged to another man already [due to language barrier], not just showing mercy to the foreigner who is unfamiliar and may not speak the language—whether well or at all.]
And having said that, the Father's Law views the rape of a betrothed, free woman [as opposed to betrothed, enslaved woman] to be the same crime as adultery having been committed after marriage / someone is either committing disloyalty to their own covenant partner / to one's promised spouse whom you pledge loyalty to for life until death do you part or disrespecting someone else's Lawful oath to be married until death do them part.
If the pledged-to-be-married woman showed indication/signs of distress, not wanting the illicit sexual encounter, then only the free Israelite man at that point is being the disloyal one / dis-respecter of one's pledge to be loyal and deserves being put to death (he's the only one who wanted to violate the Lawful marriage covenant in question); otherwise, if both the man and the pledged-to-be-married / betrothed woman were enjoying the illicit sex act, then they both are equally engaging in adultery (either being disloyal to their Lawful marriage covenant/Lawful promise to marry and/or showing disrespect to someone else's Lawful marriage covenant) and both deserve the death penalty.
Leviticus 20:10 New International Version
10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Same idea echoed by Dt 22:22 I quoted earlier without bolding since it pertained to the already-married.
Your heart should belong to your husband / being loyal to your husband; thus signs of protest / disapproval expected from the already-betrothed.
*emphasis on deserves death penalty. Adultery / disloyalty / "not being faithful" may be punished to the maximum (death) if actually prosecuted in the courts, enough truthful witnesses [two to three] testify, after a careful investigation. Thus, not a case of Hosea who forgives his adulterous wife... and doesn't bring the adulteress for stoning but wants to reconcile with her (the opposite extreme of the spectrum). There are lesser punishments as well in the Law; even in the Old Testament, the Father there too allows you to divorce when sexual immorality has occurred (Dt 24:1-4, what Jesus is referring to when teaching, legitimate excuse for divorce, sexual immorality; ergo, the punishment being divorce, not death penalty); so, you don't have to punish to the maximum extent of the Law (death penalty) in certain cases if you didn't want to and would rather save the relationship or their life. God loves mercy. And yes, God also hates divorce, but allows it under certain conditions.
I wouldn't entirely equate slavery to divorce though because one seems to be going extinct in the age to come, but does anyone stop serving God / being as His slave at any point? No. It's a matter of whether you're a faithful servant or a faithless, wicked, lazy one. People can try to call it by other names (working for someone / serving someone / even serving Satan and his angels; there's no escape you're a slave to someone) but slavery isn't going anywhere, the way marriage and divorce seem to be going extinct (unless we should expect another rebellion in the new heavens and the new earth for there to be more divorce to be prophetic of God's divorce against the faithless...?)
Luke 20:35-36 New International Version
35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
Revelation 22:3-5 New International Version
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
If marriage is Lawfully uniting with your Husband so that you can finally live with Him as one under one roof, face to face, then marriage will be fulfilled (no more new marriages between humans to exemplify this). And by extension no more new divorces neither between humans to exemplify God's divorcing from the faithless nor God separating again (?) from anyone in the future after that point. But there still seems to be serving even under human leadership, hierarchy (kings, plural) not just serving Him/God/Lord of lords [Master of masters] and King of kings. Serving someone else (even other humans?) will continue forever (if there are human kings). But I don't know what that looks like in perfect, Eden-like conditions.
All I know is...when the tree of life has been restored, we still have this sight:
Revelation 22:14-15 New International Version
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
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