Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

VIRGIN

Heb. bĕṯûlâ, typically translated “virgin,” is more accurately understood as designating a female who had reached puberty and who therefore was potentially able to bear children. This potential fertility meant that the young woman was, according to the customs and values of her culture, of marriageable age.

In Gen. 24 Abraham’s servant is on a quest for a bride for Isaac when he encounters Rebekah, described as “a very attractive girl, a bĕṯûlâ whom no man had known” (v. 16). Similarly, in the context of finding marriage partners for the survivors of the defeated Benjaminites, 400 young women of Jabesh-gilead are depicted as bĕṯûlâ, again with the qualification “whom no man had carnally known” (Judg. 21:12). In both passages either the qualification is redundant or bĕṯûlâ does not mean virgin. As well, both passages are concerned with procuring brides. The book of Esther provides additional evidence. In ch. 2, the young women whom King Ahasuerus has already bedded in his search of a new wife and who, therefore, clearly are not virgins, are nevertheless referred to as bĕṯûlôṯ. While these texts make it clear that bĕṯûlâ and “virgin” are not synonymous terms, a related term, bĕṯûlîm, may have had the specialized meaning “virginity” in a strictly legal context (Deut. 22:13-19).

Ancient Israel’s patriarchal culture closely regulated female sexuality. The patrilineal system of reckoning descent and the concomitant transfer of property was premised on controlling female sexuality so that paternity could be reliably determined. Thus, once a young woman’s family had formally committed her to a future marriage partner in exchange for a bride-price (mōhar), she was expected to remain sexually continent. Willing transgression of this restriction was punishable by death, both for herself and for her illicit sexual partner (Deut. 22:13-21, 23-27). Males who had sexual intercourse with potentially fertile young women who had not been formally pledged for marriage were obliged to marry them. According to Exod. 22:16-17(MT 15-16) the young woman’s father had to consent to the marriage, but a bride-price was to be paid in any event. Deut. 22:28-29 does not specify paternal consent, and the wording strongly implies that the male in this case had forced the young woman to comply. Chillingly, this law prescribes that a woman thus sexually violated was to marry her assailant, who was not permitted to divorce her. Desirable virgins captured on the battlefield could be forced to marry their captors. Should the man subsequently deem such a wife unsatisfactory he could divorce her, but could not sell her as a slave (Deut. 21:10-14). Fathers could sell their (virgin) daughters as debt slaves to other Israelites. Unlike male debt slaves, females were not released from servitude after six years of service. Rather, because the servitude included sexual access, and presuming that the owner wanted to maintain the arrangement, female debt slaves were not freed after a specified length of service. They could be “redeemed” (i.e., their freedom could be purchased by payment of the debt) if the owner agreed to terminate the arrangement, and were to be released without payment should the owner fail to meet prescribed obligations (Exod. 21:2-11).

Bibliography. J. Bergman, H. Ringgren, and M. Tsevat, “b^{emûlâ (b^ethûlāh),” TDOT 2:338-43; P. L. Day, “From the Child Is Born the Woman: The Story of Jephthah’s Daughter,” in Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (Minneapolis, 1989), 58-74; G. J. Wenham, “b^etûlāh ‘A Girl of Marriageable Age,’ ” VT 22 (1972): 326-48.}

Peggy L. Day

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

VIRGIN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)