Comments/Questions from Readers

Question #4: I really appreciate your thorough research and I had come to the same conclusions in my studies. It's amazing how indoctrinated we are!

I had a question concerning sleeping with a girl who is not a virgin. Obviously there were occasions of virgins who had been raped, taken by men as war spoils or slaves and then either released for displeasure or rejected by the girl's parents. I can't find a scripture where a man was punished for sleeping with an unmarried non-virgin or a law that condemned such action. I only see scriptures pertaining to harlotry, which appears for the most part to be speaking of women selling their bodies. If a woman is a non-virgin non-harlot, which scripture or law covers that?


I'm glad you took the time to write with your question. It is very rare these days to find people willing to actually study their Bibles for themselves, and be willing to accept Scripture over our western traditions.

In your example, the virgin girl who was raped would be considered "defiled", but she would not be considered a whore or harlot because she was not given a choice in the matter. Physical or spiritual fornication requires making a choice to engage in the action. But in either case, she has been defiled by the act upon her. Your question seems to be whether or not the act of sexual relations with an unmarried non-virgin would be considered fornication, and therefore a sin.

From every Scripture reference I can find, there is no distinction between a whore/harlot/prostitute who engages in sexual relations for profit and one who does not. The motive behind the act is not in question anywhere in Scripture, although we can deduce that financial gain was the most likely reason. But it is the act of engaging in sexual relations that is the issue, not the motive behind the act.

Deuteronomy 22:13-15, 20-21: "When any man takes a wife, and shall go in to her, and shall hate her, and shall make abusive charges against her and bring an evil name on her and say, 'I took this woman, and when I came to her I did not find her a maiden,' then the father and the mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the proof of the girl's maidenhood to the elders of the city at the gate...But if the matter is true, that the girl was not found a maiden, then they shall bring out the girl 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 wickedness in Yisra'el, to whore in her father's house. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst."

Of course, this particular example is talking about a girl that was clearly being presented as a virgin wife. But the context is quite plain. If "the girl was not found a maiden", then "she has done wickedness...to whore in her father's house." The Hebrew word for whore in verse 21 is "zanah", demonstrating that she was a whore on her wedding night. It doesn't matter if she slept with one other or hundreds. It doesn't matter if her sexual acts were for money or not. Scripture makes no such distinction because "zanah" is the same in every case.

Your question seems to ask whether a woman who was defiled against her will is still committing fornication if she engages in sexual relations with a man other than her husband. I believe the Scriptures demonstrate that her previous state is not an issue at all. She could have been raped, but the same question could be asked of a widow. In both cases, she's an unmarried, non-virgin who is choosing to engage in sexual relations outside of securing a marriage covenant.

In this case, she was not a whore/fornicator UNTIL she chose to participate in the sexual activity. I only mention this because you might be asking from the perspective of a potential mate or perhaps you are simply curious as to the state of the woman before getting married. If her virginity was lost through no fault of her own, she did not commit fornication in the Biblical sense, unless she deliberately engages in sexual activity after losing her virginity and before entering into a marriage covenant.

Keep in mind that in any event, if the parties in question have repented of their past sinful activities, they are now clean as snow in Elohim's eyes. If a believing man should choose to take such a woman in marriage, and she has relationship with our Messiah and redeemer, she is no longer "defiled" in any context and they are free to marry in Him.

 
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