Rape In Genesis Essay

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There is clear evidence of rape culture in the bible, but several analysts provide a new perspective on the text. Genesis sets the initial scene of the world, it contains the first creation story (Genesis 1:27, Coogan and Brettler). The description provides the audience with an image of God creating man, female and male simultaneously, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them”. This can be interpreted as God implying equality between the two genders. As Elizabeth Cady Stanton states in The Original Feminist Attack on the Bible, “ The masculine and feminine elements, exactly equal and balancing each other, are as essential to the maintenance of the equilibrium of the universe” …show more content…

Although the text may seem to promote equality, Stanton continues to discover how several other commentators go through great lengths to prove female subordination in the story of creation. Strangely enough, as Stanton attempts to prove the equality of women in the bible, she does not comment on rape in Genesis, Judges, or Samuel. Hebrew scripture addresses the issue of rape in Genesis 34, as a gross violation of God’s will. In Deuteronomy 22:13-29, the punishment of rape is listed in a set of laws before Israel can attain the Promised Land through Joshua’s leadership. “But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor” (Deuteronomy 22:25-26, Coogan and Brettler). The claim in the bible supporting sexual assault survivors is that women do not receive the blame of the crime, instead the survivor is supposedly vindicated. God never meant for his daughters to be raped or any other form of

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