What does the Bible say about rape?

A young woman might be engaged to be married, yet consent to have sexual intercourse with another man. If the man enticed her, being in a city, she could cry out for help (vs.22-23). If she did not, then she was implicated in the guilt of adultery, and both were to be put to death.

In contrast to being in the city, where a woman's cries for help could be heard, a man may have, in the country, forced a betrothed woman against her will in spite of her cries for help (v.25). This was rape, for which the man must die and the woman be held innocent (vs.26-27).

If a man and woman who were not married nor engaged were guilty of having sexual intercourse, the man must pay fifty shekels of silver to the woman's father and keep her as his wife, being forbidden to ever divorce her (vs.28-29). In all of these things God shows the seriousness of having sexual relationships. He intended this only within the marriage bond, and those who today violate this can expect unpleasant consequences, as well as the displeasure of the Lord.

David did not have to wait long to see the sad governmental results of his sin begin to be manifest in his own family His son Ammon was so attracted by the beauty of his half sister Tamar that he became sick in entertaining thoughts of her, though he knew well that his lust was improper.

When a friend of his, Jonadab, enquired about the cause of his indisposition, he confided in him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency, and was so crafty as to suggest a deceitful means of Ammon's getting his sister alone into his bedroom and forcing her. Ammon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the probable consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin. in spite of the earnest pleading of Tamar not to force her, her warning him that this would bring disgrace upon his own head as well as covering with shame the one he thought he loved, he went through with his evil intentions. This too reminds us of David's virtually forcing Bathsheba, for he brought her to his own house and since he was king she no doubt thought she could not withstand him.

Ammon having been guilty of the cruel rape of Tamar, his professed love for her was proven utterly false, for he turned against her with vicious hatred. This is what will often occur when one is led by infatuation. He knew he had done evil, and the one he had wronged is the one who becomes the object of his worst hatred. From then on, every time he saw her, his conscience would burn. For this reason he wanted her out of his sight, just as some men are hateful enough to murder a woman after they have raped her.

Tamar realized and told Ammon that his hateful action in wanting to get rid of her was worse than his first evil (v.16). But he called his servant and told him to "put this woman out," and to bolt the door behind her. Then he was left to himself to face the bitter trauma of an accusing conscience.

But the anguish and shame of what Tamar had borne gave her grief and sorrow. She had to tear her beautiful robe with which the king's virgin daughters were clothed, put ashes on her head in token of humiliation and mourning, and went away crying bitterly. How tragically sad is the fact of the great number of young women who have been similarly humiliated by the cruelty of wicked men!

According to the law, I judge that Amnon ought to have suffered death for his sin. (2 Sam. 13:4.) David fails to be "just, ruling in the fear of God." And judgment overtakes Amnon by the hand of his brother Absalom; who thus guilty of murder, flies the kingdom; but David, yielding to the stratagem of Joab, is weak enough, not only to allow him to return, but after a time to reinstate him in favour. (2 Sam. 14) This weakness and injustice before very long bears the bitterest fruits; for, when we unrighteously spare another in order to indulge our own feelings, we always expose ourselves to the evil of the nature which we should have controlled and condemned. The very next verse to the one which tells us of Absalom's reception by his father announces to us Absalom's parricidal rebellion. (2 Sam. 15:1.)

Divorce was only allowed for a physical cause of impediment, Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Adultery between otherwise married couples brought death, Deuteronomy 22:22-24; misconduct before marriage brought stoning to death, vs. 13-21. Rape brought either death or compulsory marriage, vs. 25-29. Causing wilful injury to any person brought identical retribution, “an eye for an eye” by public legal infliction, Leviticus 24:10-20. “Juvenile delinquency”, laziness, disobedience to parents, were punished by death, Deuteronomy 21:18-21. No usury, interest on loans to the poor, was permitted, Leviticus 25:35-37. Murder brought death, no reprieve, Leviticus 24:21.

Deuteronomy 22 appears to contain ordinances to guard the people from want of benevolence and mercy, and of that which would offend the sensibilities of nature, either with regard to tenderness or purity. So also all mixture was forbidden in ploughing or sowing. We find the same with regard to women: they were protected against the dishonour done to them by a brutish, inconsiderate husband; whilst impurity was punished with death.

David's soul is restored, his conscience is purified, and his heart is humbled; in spite of this the ways of God's government as they concern him must run their course. What Nathan had foretold: “The sword shall never depart from thy house … I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house … I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun” — all this must be fulfilled without fail: David will undergo this necessary discipline with a broken heart.

The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was infamy in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is “the truth” and depicts man as he is in all his ugliness so that we may abhor his corruption. These terrible acts of immorality and violence are the doings of two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, who are far from God, the one as much as the other. A friend named Jonadab who is a cousin and a counselor is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his miry path (vv. 4-5); this same man later knows of Absalom's plot but does nothing to oppose it (v. 32).

Sadly, here in Israel the wickedness of Sodom was repeated (Gen. 19:4-5). Perverted men surrounded the house and beat on the door, demanding that the visiting man would be given to them so they could abuse him homosexually. Though the old man pled with them, they were adamant, but they were given, not the Levite, but his concubine, whom they abused sexually all night, then let her go (vv.24-25). She was able only to get back to the door of the house before collapsing and dying (v. 26).

How could the Levite's conscience be clear before God in giving up the woman to this horrible violence? But we have seen there were previous steps of disobedience to God and spiritual degradation, and God allowed this to progress to this terrible point.

Please read Judges 19 and 20

A case occurred within Israel, in the town of Gibeah in Benjamin, of men coming at night to take a visiting woman from the house of an old man who had befriended her, and horribly abusing her all night long, which resulted in her death. This was reported to all the tribes of Israel, who quickly gathered together to learn what had actually happened. When the facts were established, the nation was scandalized and united in their purpose to punish the perpetrators of this dreadful crime (ch. 20:1).

However, the faithless, craven Levite sacrifices his concubine to save his own neck, and the evil manifests itself in all its horror, breaking out in cruel violence and moral corruption such as even in Sodom had been hindered by the angels, but in Israel is allowed to go to its awful extent of iniquity. At least, if we do not discern in the former things the low and defiled state of Israel, yet none would certainly raise a doubt as to the repulsive wickedness of this act of the men of Gibeah. It is a matter in which all that heard it were of one mind: such evil must be judged.