Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy provides case law for when a groom falsely accuses his bride of not being a virgin to escape marriage, following ancient Near Eastern laws from traditions such as the Code of Hammurabi that cover similar cases.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
158 If anyone is caught after his father's death with his father's chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father's house. 159 If anyone who has brought goods into his father-in-law's house and paid the purchase price turns to another woman and says to his father-in-law, "I do not want your daughter," the girl's father may keep everything he brought. 160 If a man brings goods into the house of his father-in-law and pays the purchase price, and the girl's father then says, "I will not give you my daughter," the father shall give back everything that was brought to him.
Deuteronomy 22:13
Hebrew Bible
12 You shall make yourselves tassels for the four corners of the clothing you wear. 13 Suppose a man marries a woman, sleeps with her, and then rejects her, 14 accusing her of impropriety and defaming her reputation by saying, “I married this woman but when I approached her for marital relations I discovered she was not a virgin!” 15 Then the father and mother of the young woman must produce the evidence of virginity for the elders of the city at the gate. 16 The young woman’s father must say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man and he has rejected her.
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Notes and References
"... I may single out here the case of ‘the slandered bride,’ which I identified over thirty years ago in an article of the same name. It appears both in the Laws of Hammurapi and in those of Deuteronomy, and has the further and rarer advantage of being illustrated by an actual court case from the practice of law. (The court case is dated to the reign of Hammurapi’s son and successor Samsu-iluna, ca. 1749-1712, specifically to his 23rd year, ca. 1727 B.C.) Or so I proposed in 1964. ... The laws are clear. According to Hammurapi, if a bridegroom, between the time that he contracts a marriage and its consummation, attempts to renege, he must forfeit the bridal price according to Paragraph 159; in addition, if on examination the bride could demonstrate her virginity, she could renege according to Koschaker’s interpretation of Paragraphs 142 and following. In Deuteronomy (22:13-21), if he makes the attempt at the time of consummation by falsely impugning the virginity of the bride, he is not only required to pay a penalty but also prevented forever after from divorcing his wife. ..."
Hallo, William W.
Origins: The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Some Modern Western Institutions
(pp. 247-248) E.J. Brill, 1996
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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