Why were the sexual laws not applied equally between men and women in the Old Testament?
Question:
Why was purity asked more of women than men in the Old Testament? A woman who slept with a man before marriage was stoned, but a man who slept with an unmarried woman was not and instead had to marry her! Also, there had to be proof of a woman's virginity but not of a man's: the white sheet. If there was no trace of blood on the sheet the woman was put to death! But I don't understand how God could ask such a thing especially when we know that not every woman bleeds when her hymen gets broken and that some women are born without hymens or can break it without sexual activity which means that the white sheet couldn't prove anything at all. I wonder how many innocent women were brutally killed because of this. I don't understand how such a law can come from God who knows everything. It's like women were only possessions and their worth was depending on their purity and ability to conceive children. How could God allow that and create laws that permitted this kind of thinking?
Answer:
"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me" (Job 38:2-3).
Before critiquing something, it is generally advisable to understand what you are criticizing first. I get the impression that you are only going off of what you heard the Old Testament law required. It is certainly not based on what you read.
A clue that there is a problem is found when you ask why an unmarried woman who slept with a man was stoned, but an unmarried man who slept with a woman had to marry her. It would be very difficult to marry a woman who is dead.
For an explanation of the laws of sex outside of marriage and virginity, see: Why was proof required of virginity in the Old Testament? The answer to how women were falsely killed because of God's Law would be none if the law was being followed.
