Ernest I. Jacob THE REGULATION OF SEX

Sex was regulated by the Bible in many ways. The sexual act brought ritual uncleanliness; men and women were to cleanse themselves through ritual baths(Lev. 15:18). The Israelites were therefore to refrain from sexual intercourse for three days before the revelation on Sinai(Ex. 19:15) and before eating consecrated bread (1 Sam. 21:5). According to tradition, fasting included refraining from sexual intercourse(Yoma 54a). Intercourse with a menstruating woman, touching her or anything on which she might have been sitting was prohibited. Menstruation caused“impurity”(Lev. 15:16). Similarly, the emission of semen without intercourse brought impurity for a day(Lev. 15). Childbirth made the mother impure for a specified period.

Virginity was expected of women until marriage, and a girl who had lost it was to be stoned before the door of her father’s house “for she did a shameful thing in Israel committing fornication while under her father’s authority”(Deut. 22:13-21). This offense was punishable only if the man who married her complained that he had not found her a virgin. The father and the mother of the girl could produce contrary evidence by spreading the bed cloth and showing the virginal blood before the town elders. The accusing husband was then flogged and fined for his defamation of a“virgin in Israel ” and could never divorce her. The Bible spoke of divorce only when a wife no longer found favor in the eyes of her husband(Deut. 24:1-4). If he changed his mind, he could remarry his original wife only if she had not been married to someone else in the interval(Deut. 24:1-4).

Adultery was punished through death as a moral crime(Lev. 20:10) and an awe-inspiring ordeal was designed to clear the accused woman of suspicion(Nu. 5). The prohibitions against the marriage of close relatives, rape, and abnormal sexual activity was placed under severe religious sanctions and was treated in detail(Lev. 18-20).