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  • From: <michaelabernat9001 AT sbcglobal.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virginity & Deuteronomy 22
  • Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:07:24 -0500

Bryant,
I cannot see how Wenham's interpretation fits eiter Josephus or Philo.
Josephus comments on this passage, ". . .let her be stoned, because she did not preserve her virginity till she were lawfully married. . ."

Philo refers to the same passage in The Special Laws III, "When those men who marry virgins in accordance with the law, {6}{#de 22:13.} and who have sacrificed on the occasion and celebrated their marriage feast, and who yet afterwards preserve no natural affection for their wives but treat them with insolence, and behave to freeborn citizens as if they were courtesans, if they seek to procure a divorce, and to being able to find any pretext for such a separation, then betake themselves to bringing forward false accusations, and from an absence of any clear grounds of impeachment direct all their charges at things which cannot be made certain, and come forward and accuse them, saying that though they fancied that they had been marrying virgins, they found on the first occasion of their having intercourse together, that they were not so. When, I say, these men make such charges let all the elders be assembled to decide on the case, and let the parents of the woman who is accused also appear, to make their defence in this their common danger. (81) For in such a case, not only are their daughters themselves in danger, as to their reputation as having preserved the chastity of their bodies, but their guardians are likewise imperilled, not only because they have not kept them safe till the important period of their marriageable age, but because they have given in marriage as virgins those who have been defiled by others, deceiving and imposing upon those who have taken them to wife. (82) Then if they appear to have justice on their side, let the judges impose a pecuniary fine on those who have invented these false accusations, and let them also sentence those who have assaulted them to corporeal punishment, and let them also pronounce, what to those men will be the most unpleasant of all things, a confirmation of their marriage, if their wives will still endure to cohabit with them; for the law permits them at their own choice to remain with them or to abandon them, and will not allow the husbands any option either way, on account of the false accusations which they have brought."

Further, Rashi's comments on Deuteronomy 22:20 makes it clear that the husband was falsely accusing her of having sex with another man after they became engaged.

Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy



----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>
To: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>; "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 11:49 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virginity


Dear Isaac,

In a article by Bruce Waltke, TWOT, Vol. 1, pp. 137-138. In commenting on an
article by Gordon Wenham, "Betulah 'A Girl of Marriageable Age,'" VT
22:326-348, Waltke says,

"But Wenham does call into question the conclusion that word must mean
'virgin' in Deut 22:13-21 because he offers a plausible interpretation
assuming the general meaning "nubile adolescence." In the first place,
'betulim,' tokens of virginity (vv 14, 15, 17, 18) is morphologically the
regular form for abstract nouns in biblical Hebrew designating age groups
(cf. NE'URIM, "youth" ZEQUNIM, "old age"). Moreover, according to him, the
"tokens of virginity" called for by the elders are not the sheets of the
wedding night but garments stained by blood during her last period, and by
producing these the girl's parents count refute the jealous husband's
complaint that his wife was with child by another man while she was still in
her Father's house. Finally, he argued that this interpretation admirably
suits the sentence that if such tokens could be produced she should be
stoned to death "because she wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot
IN HER FATHER'S HOUSE" (Deut 22:21). Thus the "tokens" served as a test.
proving that she was not pregnant when was married. If she was not pregnant,
she was presumed to be a virgin. If this interpretation of 'betulim' is
correct then this would further sustain the thesis that 'betula' is a "girl
of marriageable age," since the onset of menstruation would be the clearest
sign that she had attained that age.

Since Wenham has presented a strong case that the interpretation test
not one of virginity but of chastity, one must concede that 'betulim' or
'betula' does not speak of virginity in this disputed text."

Furthermore, Waltke comments, "Like Greek PARQENOS, Latin VIRGO, German
JUNGFRAU, Betula originally meant "young marriageable woman" but since she
was normally a virgin it not difficult for this meaning to become attached
to the word. This more technical meaning is a later development in Hebrew
and Aramaic and is clear it meaning by the Christian era. When the change
took place is not clear.

What is clear is that one cannot argue that if Isaiah (7:14) in his
famous oracle to Ahaz had intended a virgin he could used betula as more
precise term that alma."

It would seem, then, that Waltke and Wenham agree that since betula is a
young girl of marriageable age, then alma would necessarily mean about the
same, but closer to the "ladies in waiting." These "ladies in waiting" would
also be of marriageable age and, possibly, married (young woman). This would
mean that alma would include the daughters of the queens and concubines of
the harem which would fit quite well with the context of Song of Solomon 8.

The fact that alma is used in Isaiah 7:14 gives enough ambiguity to the
prophecy to allow the angel in Matthew 1 to refer to this passage as a
fulfillment of it in the dream to Joseph, Son of David.

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- From: "Isaac Fried" <if AT math.bu.edu>
To: "Uri Hurwitz" <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 4:20 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] virginity


Uri,

It would be interesting to hear from you what you think the bible
means by BTULAH and BTULYIM. According to Deuteronomy 22:13-21 the
life of a woman may depend on this definition.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jul 16, 2007, at 8:14 PM, Uri Hurwitz wrote:

> Now that the discussion took a clear anatomical turn,one
> may ask whether such anatomical aspects really belong
> in a list dealing with linguistic matters?
>
> Uri Hurwitz
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Get your own web address.
> Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
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> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
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