Scripture Daily

Context No. 3948 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 22:12-19: in context

12You shall make yourselves fringes on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself. 13If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, hates her, 14accuses her of shameful things, gives her a bad name, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I didn’t find in her the tokens of virginity;” 15then the young lady’s father and mother shall take and bring the tokens of the young lady’s virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. 16The young lady’s father shall tell the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man as his wife, and he hates her. 17Behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, ‘I didn’t find in your daughter the tokens of virginity;’ and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.” They shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18The elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him. 19They shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the young lady, because he has given a bad name to a virgin of Israel. She shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days.

Among these ancient laws is one that protects a woman from a cruel injustice. A husband who has turned against his new wife and publicly slanders her, falsely charging her with disgrace, is not simply believed; the matter is brought before the elders, and if his accusation proves false, he is punished, fined, and required to keep and provide for the wife he defamed.

We read the specifics across a great distance of culture, but the principle in it is striking. God's law took the side of a woman who could easily have been ruined by an influential man's false accusation, and it held the slanderer accountable. In a world where a man's word might have destroyed a woman's life and reputation unchallenged, this law demanded evidence, protected the vulnerable from defamation, and punished the one who bore false witness. There is an enduring concern here that runs through Scripture: God hates false accusation and the destruction of a person's good name, and he defends the vulnerable against those who would slander them.

Do I guard the good name of others, refusing to spread false or damaging accusations, and do I take the side of those who are wrongly accused, as God's law defended the slandered from those who would ruin them?

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