The seventh commandment

Deuteronomy 22.23, 24

“If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 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 for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”

A betrothed woman was one who had committed to marriage and was, thus, considered to be married, to be a “wife.” Thus, for a man to have sex with a betrothed woman, even consensual sex, was a violation of the seventh commandment and was to be treated with the most severe punishment. The situation covered in this statute is considered to be consensual – the woman did not cry for help.

This series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Book Store.