On Sun, 27 Sep 1998, Doug Henwood wrote:
> I read in today's NY Times that the original Old Testament prohibition
> against adultery applied to married women, as part of the effort of keeping
> the lineage clear. So it was more a matter of property than propriety. But
> by the original definition, Clinton wasn't an adulterer! Is this really the
> case?
Well, the 10th commandment reads, "You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, his slave, his slave-girl, his ox, his ass, or anything that belongs to him" (Exodus 20:16) In Leviticus we read that "If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both adulterer and adulteress shall be put to death." (Leviticus 20:9)
See Leviticus 20 to see other punishments for sexual crimes--incest, bestiality, and "a man having intercourse with a man as he would a woman." Nothing about rape here, although I know it's in here someplace. I believe the rapist has to marry the woman he raped, Bestiality is punished by death, mother-son punished by death (burning) man with mother/daughter (simultaneously) is punished by death. Brother-sister incest punished by banishing, etc.. etc...
I found the thing about the rapist, in Deuteronomy 22:28. The rapist must also pay the father fifty pieces of silver. I also read that if a man has sex with a virgin who's engaged to another, they will both be stoned to death. She because she did not cry for help, he because he dishonoured another man's wife.
On a brighter note, "When you go into another man's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you wish to satisfy your hunger, but you may not put any into your basket." (Deut. 23:24)
Christian Scripture is much less subtle, and much less interesting, I think.
"You have learned that they were told, 'Do not commit adultery.' But what I tell you is this: If a man looks on a woman with a lustful eye, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27)
Frances