Deuteronomy 22:23-27 - Do nothing to the woman

22:23,24

The rest of the chapter deals with rape and other cases of sexual sin, starting with rape. Rape is a very difficult crime to deal with. There are cases where it is absolutely clear, such as the case of stranger rape. However, where the victim and perpetrator know each other it is simply a lot more difficult. To claim otherwise is to deny reality (though denying reality doesn’t seem to trouble our society much these days!). Here we have a recognition of that problem. So here if the incident takes place in the city then it is assumed that the woman could have cried out for help if she wanted to. This may seem rather unrealistic to us, but we should recognise that “city” in those days was very different from our cities, so crying out would have been much easier. In this case both the man and the woman are held equally responsible. Note that “betrothal” is considered essentially equal to marriage. 

“So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” In our society the attitude is as long as it is consensual, then it is OK. This is not the attitude of the Bible. It must match with God’s standards.

22:25-27

We now get the case where the act takes place in the country. The previous case may seem to some to be too onerous on the woman, in this case no duty is placed upon the woman. She is assumed to be innocent, and all the guilt, and the subsequent punishment, is placed upon the man. It is assumed that the woman did cry out for help, and it is accepted that this could not be proved, and no proof is required.