In article , jb_is_not{at}home.yet
says...

>Matthew Johnson wrote:
>
>> 
>> 
>> In article , Edgar A
>> Pearlstein says...
>> 
>> [snip]
>> 
>>>   A man may forcibly take a woman from enemy captives and make her
>>>   his wife, after trying her out. (Deut 21:11-13)
>> 
>> Can't you READ? It says no such thing. Take a look at a more
>> responsible translation, namely:
>> 
>>    and seest among the captives a woman of goodly form,
>>    and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her
>>    to thee to wife;
>>    then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she
>>    shall shave her head, and pare her nails;
>>    and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off
>>    her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father
>>    and her mother a full month; and after that thou mayest go
>>    in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
>>    (Deu 21:11-13 JPS)
>> 
>> There is NOTHING here about "trying her out". That is your insane
>> bias. If you knew anything about ancient mourning custom, you would
>> know that during that month she was not in the mood for performing
>> conjugal duties for anyone.
>
>And the rest of the passage?
>
>   14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then 
>      thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell
>      her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her,
>      because thou hast humbled her.
>      (King James)
>
>Sounds like "trying out" to me.
>

Well, it is not. You are confusing the modern notion of 'marriage' with the
ancient. The poster I objected to claimed that the woman was "tried
out" first,
nd then taken to wife. But what we _clearly_ have here is the opposite: she is
taken for wife in 21:13 and let go (if let go at all) in 21:14.

So it is MUCH more accurate to understand it differently: instead of saying she
is "tried out", she is married and then if let go, divorced. For
notice that she
is let go as a free woman, NOT as a slave, which would be normal for a captive.
It is because she was the warrior's WIFE that she gets a permanent elevation in
social status.


-- 
---------------------------
Subudcat se sibi ut haereat Deo
quidquid boni habet, tribuat illi a quo factus est.
(St. Augustine, Ser. 96)

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