Numbers and Deuteronomy

Sexual Health

Numbers and Deuteronomy Sexual Health Vocabulary

Genital Sexual Intercourse: yah-DAH (Numbers 31:17)

Sexual Attraction: chah-SHAWK (Deuteronomy 21:11)

Genital Sexual Intercourse, qah-RAWV (Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

Life Insurance by Next of Kin: yah-BEEM (Deuteronomy 25:5-7)

Gynecological and Anatomical Terms

Ejaculation: seh-kah-VAT zehr-AH (Numbers 5:13)

Miscarry, Abort: nah-PHAWL (Numbers 5:22)

Womb: BEH-ten (Numbers 5:22)

Genitals: yah-REIK (Numbers 5:22)

Give Birth to: YEH-led (Deuteronomy 21:15)

Virginity: buh-tue-LAH (Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

Nocturnal Emission: lie-LAH qah-RAH (Deuteronomy 23:10-11)

Male Genitals: muh-boo-SHEEM (Deuteronomy 25:11)

Afterbirth, shah-LACH (Deuteronomy 28:57)

Birth Canal: REH-ghel (Deuteronomy 28:57)

Unhealthy Sexuality Terms

Seduction: sah-TAH (Numbers 5:20)

Unhealthy Sexuality: shah-KAWV (Numbers 5:20)

Sacred Sex Trade: zah-NAH (Numbers 15:39)

Decline in Intimacy with God: chah-LEIL (Numbers 25:1)

Adultery: nah-AWF (Deuteronomy 5:18)

Covet: chah-MAWD (Deuteronomy 5:21)

Coercive Sexual Intercourse: BO (Deuteronomy 21:13)

Incest/Uncover Your Father’s Skirt: gah-LAH kah-NAWF  (Deuteronomy 22:30)

Summary

Sexual Health Vocabulary

Genital Sexual Intercourse, yah-DAH

The premier sexual health positive term for genital intercourse of Genesis 4:1, yah-DAH, appears in Numbers 31:17. Yah-DAH can mean spiritual, emotional, intellectual and sexual intimacy. The term “sex” never appears in the original languages of Biblical Hebrew and New Testament Greek. The premier vocabulary in Genesis is sexual intimacy in context with spirituality, beauty, rest, pleasure, compassionate presence, and reconciliation.  I enjoy adding a neuroscience view toward human sexuality. The intimacy of sexual intercourse begins in the prefrontal cortex with connection to God, taking pleasure in the beauty of a partner’s compassionate presence, and reconciling weary souls with rest.

…every woman who has slept with (yah-DAH) a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with (yah-DAH) a man. (Numbers 31:17)

Genital Sexual Intercourse, qah-RAWV (Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

The word draw near, qah-RAWV, can also mean sexual intercourse. In this case when a man has intercourse with a new bride and she cannot demonstrate that she is a virgin on the wedding night, then the groom has legal grounds to divorce her.

If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her

and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached (qah-RAWV) her, I did not find proof of her virginity.” (Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

Sexual Attraction, chah-SHAWK

A new sexual health term appears in Deuteronomy 21:11. The word is chah-SHAWK. The range of meaning includes sexual attraction, to cling, join, love, take pleasure in, or set in love. (Strong, H2836)

If you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to (chah-SHAWK) her, you may take her as your wife. (Deuteronomy 21:11)

Yah-BEEM

The yah-BEEM is an ancient Near Eastern marriage custom protecting widows. I like to think of the yah-BEEM as life insurance by next of kin.  If the husband of a wife dies, then the male’s next closest family member may choose to marry the widow.  The yah-BEEM is at the core of the Onan and Tamar disaster of Genesis 38 and the romantic snap shop of Ruth and Boaz.  (Ruth 2:20) The yah-BEEM provides tribal protection for a widow. In addition if she has children by the remarriage, then inheritance laws create financial stability for the widow and her offspring. 

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” (Deuteronomy 25:5-7)

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” (Genesis 38:8)

“The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” (Ruth 2:20)

Gynecological and Anatomical Terms

Ejaculation: seh-kah-VAT zehr-AH (Numbers 5:13)

“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray (sah-TAH) and is unfaithful to him so that another man has sexual relations (seh-kah-VAH zeh-RAH) with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act). (Numbers 5:12-13)

This passage begins the only abortion snap shot in the Bible. The narrative starts with seduction. “Goes astray” is the Hebrew term sah-TAH. (Strong, H7847) The Ethiopic language nuances this term as “to be seduced”. The result of the seduction and affair is pregnancy. These two words literally mean bed (seh-kah-VAH)  with sperm (zeh-RAH) . (Strong, H7902 and H2233) The Greek translates seh-kah-VAH zeh-RAH as “sperm in bed”. Seh-KAH zeh-RAH, an emission of semen or sperm in bed appear together 7 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. (Strong, H7902 and H2233) 

The pregnancy termination protocol of Numbers 5 involves a question of marriage fidelity and paternity. If a husband questions his wife’ sexual integrity, then the priest may administer an abortion solution to the female.  If the chemicals have no effect, then this proves she did not have an affair. However, if her abdomen, BEH-ten, swells (tsah-BAH) and the child miscarries, ya-REIK naw-PHAWL, the pregnancy terminates. The Hebrew words for terminate pregnancy literally say, the genitals (yah-REIK) fall (nah-PHAWL). (Strong, H3409 and H5307) The term for swell, tsah-BAH, can mean “go into battle”. (Strong, H6638) Perhaps the violent imagery of war highlights the reaction of the abortion chemicals on the fetus? The induced abortion then confirms the pregnancy resulted from adultery.

Miscarry or Abort, nah-PHAWL (Numbers 5:22)

Womb, BEH-ten (Numbers 5:22)

Genitals, yah-REIK (Numbers 5:22)

But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”—

here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the LORD cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb (yah-REIK) miscarry (nah-PHAWL) and your abdomen (BEH-ten) swell (tsah-BAH). (Strong, H6638) May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen (BEH-ten) swells (tsah-BAH) or your womb (yah-REIK) miscarries (nah-PHAWL).” ‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.” (Numbers 5:12-22)

Give Birth to, YEH-led (Deuteronomy 21:15)

Virginity, buh-tue-LAH (Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

Nocturnal Emission, lie-LAH qah-RAH (Deuteronomy 23:10-11)

Male Genitals, muh-boo-SHEEM (Deuteronomy 25:11)

Birth Canal, REH-ghel (Deuteronomy 28:57)

The laws of Deuteronomy intended to bring justice to fearful people. This section of Deuteronomy 21-25 addresses numerous practical matters including sexual health, unsolved crimes, marrying prisoners of war,  alcoholic children,  a bird’s nest, slander, divorce, marrying a step mother, inheritance rights, virginity, nocturnal emission, and sentencing guidelines for striking a man’s testicles in a fist fight. 

In this law using the term YEH-led meaning to bear, inheritance rights were guaranteed to the rightful heir.

If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear (YEH-led) him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.

He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. (Deuteronomy 21:15-17)

Vetting virginity perhaps indicated a potential bride free of sex trafficking and or sexually transmitted infections. In Deuteronomy 22:13-14 if a husband “hated” (sah-NEY) his new bride after intercourse, the plaintiff-groom might appeal to the local court by contesting her virginity and therefore annul the marriage. (Strong, H8130) The defendant’s father acting as attorney, presented as evidence her blood-stained wedding-night garment proving her virginity (buh-tue-LAH. (Strong, H1331) Minimum sentencing guidelines if found innocent of slander, 100 shekels paid to the father of the bride, and the bride stay married to the plaintiff. Maximum sentence for the female in the event of promiscuous past? Death by stoning. 

Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes (sah-NEY/hates) her.  Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth (sim-LAH) before the elders of the town. (Deuteronomy 22:16-17; Strong, H8071)

Nocturnal Emission, lie-LAH qah-RAH (Deuteronomy 23:10-11)

Hygiene formed a central part of the life of Israel. Cleanliness reflected the holiness or beauty of God’s character. The writer concludes this section by saying, these protocols are “to protect you and deliver your enemies to you”. The sanitation and hygiene protocols of holiness may have been one reason Israel prevailed over their enemies. Disease killed over two thirds of combatants before 1900. In the Civil War recent studies show approximately 750,000 solders died from absence of hygiene, sanitation, and improper human waste removal.https://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/uncover-history/behind-lens/disease/ 

Deuteronomy 23 contains articulate hygiene guidelines. In this section instructions were given for both sanitation of semen and excrement. Nocturnal emission is literally lie-LAH (night) qah-RAH (involuntary emission). In the event of transmission of seminal fluid, the male was to wash outside the camp and then return. The term for excreting is the euphemism, hand, YAWD.  (Strong, H3027)

If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.

But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.

Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve (YAWD) yourself.

As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. (Deuteronomy 23:10-14)

Male Genitalia, muh-boo-SHEEM

If two guys are fighting and one man’s wife with malice of forethought “forcefully seizes” the adversary’s genitals, then she could be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  Sentencing guidelines for reckless disregard of a man’s genitalia included cutting off her hand. The word for private parts,(muh-boo-SHEEM) means, “that which activates a sense of shame.” (Strong, H4016)

If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts (muh-boo-SHEEM)

you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity. (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)

Afterbirth, shah-LACH

Birth Canal, REH-ghel

The word REH-ghel means foot, genitals, or birth canal. The use of REH-ghel, foot, for genitals is called euphemism.  This literary device was a favored choice of Hebrew writers. They enjoyed exchanging an explicit term with a seemingly benign word. Genesis used “cover the nakedness of the father” for incest. Washing the feet can convey sexual intercourse or it can simply mean cleaning crust from dusty digits. When one went outside the camp to excrete, the term  is “to use the hand” (YAWD).  REH-ghel, foot, in Deuteronomy 28:57 clearly speaks of the birth canal. This is a terrifying prophecy for the people of Israel. If they kept covenant maintaining intimacy with God, they were promised blessings. If not, catastrophic results guaranteed the consuming of afterbirth during times of siege from foreign enemies and famine.

…the afterbirth (shah-LACH) from her womb (REH-ghel/feet) and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities. (Deuteronomy 28:57; Strong, H7988 and H7272)

Unhealthy Sexuality Terms

Unhealthy Sexuality: shah-KAWV (Numbers 5:20)

Biblical sexual health terms range from intimacy words like knowing, seeing, and drawing near.  Unhealthy sexuality vocabulary are just as varied. One of the common Biblical Hebrew words for sexual intercourse is shah-KAWV (Strong, H7901). Appearing 213 times in 194 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament the range of meaning includes: genital sexual intercourse, to rape, to lie down, to sleep, or to stayor die. Genesis uses shah-KAWV twenty times, fifteen of which refer to unhealthy sexuality. All uses of shah-KAWV in the book of Genesis connect to the unhealthy sexuality of incest, non-consensual intercourse, bartering for sexual favors, rape, and coercive seduction for sexual intercourse.The first five books of Moses called the Pentateuch use shah-KAWV for a total of 18 times for unhealthy sexuality. Shah-KAWV appears as incestuous rape 5x’s, coercing sex with money 1x, rape of a non family member 6x’s, attempted rape by an authority figure 5x’s, seduction 1x, sex with animals 2x’s, intercourse with hygiene protocols 5x’s, incest with family members 6x’s, abortion protocols 2x’s, and adultery 2x’s in the Pentateuch. In sexual health contexts shah-KAWV is never used for relational intimacy as the word for genital sexual intercourse, yah-DAH. When conveying sexual health, shah-KAWV only means coercive sexuality. Nearly 89 percent of the uses of shah-KAWV mean rape.

Shah-KAWV as Rape 16 x’s

Shah-KAWV as Coercion 2x’s

…so that another man has sexual relations (shah-KAWV) with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act). (Numbers 5:13)

Sacred Sex Trafficking: zah-NAH (Numbers 15:39)

Zah-NAH, sacred sex trafficking appears 93 times within 81 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament (Strong, H2181). Zah-NAH has range of use: unhealthy sexuality, a sex trade trafficker or victim, or symbolizing Israel’s spiritual decline from intimacy with God. Zah-NAH comes from the Hebrew root word, ZOON, conveying “well or highly fed”. (Strong, H2181)  Perhaps the image describes a lucrative sex trade trafficker who appeared, “well fed” or a trafficker who requiring food for sex services rendered? The Aramaic and Ethiopic use of zah-NAH is quite literal, effusio seminis virilis, seman effusum, or absorption of the male seed  (Strong, H2181).

Zah-NAH, the sacred sex trade or sex trafficking victim appears three times in Genesis. Shechem rapes Dinah. Ancient sexual health customs legally allowed rape victims to marry the perpetrator as not only deterrence for sexual assault but also restitution. Once a virgin bride had been compromised by assault, one of very few financial options for unmarriageable females was sex trafficking.  (Exodus 22:16-17; Deuteronomy 22:28-29) A legal marriage or covenant with the perpetrator forced him to support the victim financially and offer security for the rest of her life. Like the yah-BEEM offering financial security for widows, rape laws provided a kind of ancient Near Easter insurance to potential victims. Children born to rape victims too had access to inheritance with its political and military security. Back to the Genesis snap shot. After Dinah’s rape, her two brothers coerce Shechem to circumcise his entire male community as part of a conspired faux marital agreement. While the beguiled groom and male cohorts recover from surgery, Dinah’s brothers slaughter the incapacitated circumcision patients. Genesis relays the reason for the brothers’ mass murder: “But they replied, ‘Should he have treated (raped) our sister like a prostitute (zah-NAH/ sacred sex trafficking victim)’”? (Genesis 34:31)

The final two Genesis citations of zah-NAH appear in the Judah and Tamar sacred sex trafficking seduction scene of Genesis 38. Judah promises to give his surviving son Shelah to Tamar in marriage, whose previous two husbands died in the Onan coitus interruptus snapshot. 

Judah strategically delays the marriage to Shelah. Perhaps the patriarch fears Tamar a bad bet  to marry his third surviving son? Both of Judah’s two sons, Er and Onan, who married Tamar perished. Could it be Judah planned to protect his only son Shelah?  Clearly jilted and perhaps infuriated Tamar poses as a sacred sex trade trafficker. At a local sex shrine Tamar stations herself wearing traffickers’ garb waiting for her victim. She intends to seduce Judah for sex and coerce a pregnancy.  Judah falls for the seduction and Tamar conceives by her father-in-law. When Tamar’s twin embryos progress to the third trimester, she can no longer conceal her pregnancy. Judah rightly assumes Tamar conceived in the sacred sex trade. However, he wrongly calls for her execution. The death sentence commutes when his pregnant daughter- in-law produces identification Judah gave her as earnest for their sex trafficking transaction. Judah remarks after staying the execution of his daughter-in-law, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.”  And he did not sleep with her again. (Genesis 38:26)

Exodus cites zah-NAH twice. Both refer to the sacred sex trade and idolatry. Leviticus uses the term, sacred sex trafficking seven times. Three Leviticus passages outline directions for temple staff. The author of Leviticus directs priests not to marry within the sacred sex trade, and daughters from priestly families are not to engage in zah-NAH, sex trafficking(Leviticus 21). Goat worship and the sacred sex trade begins the conversation in Leviticus 17:7. Sacred sex trafficking connects directly to the worship of Molek in Leviticus 20 and spiritual mediums. Leviticus mandates Israeli parents not to traffic their daughters into the sacred sex trade. (Leviticus 19:29). All five zah-NAH citations in Numbers relate to the sacred sex trade. In fact as daily reminder, Israel wore clothing with tassels to down regulate sexual neural pathways and abstain from sacred sex trafficking. “You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute (zah-NAH/participate in sacred sex trafficking)yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.”(Numbers 15:39)  For the first time male sacred sex trade workers appear in the Bible at Deuteronomy 23.  The terms for sex traffickers are the root word for holy, and male trafficker is dog. (Strong, H3611)

No Israelite man (qah-DEISH) or woman (qah-deh-SHAH) is to become a shrine prostitute. (Deuteronomy 23:17; H6945, H6948)

You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute (zah-NAH) or of a male prostitute (KEH-lev/dog) into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both. (Deuteronomy 23:18; H2181, H3611) 

The final passage of Numbers declares upon Moses’ death, the people will once again decline to sacred sex trafficking. (Numbers 31:16)

Decline in Intimacy with God, chah-LEIL (Numbers 25:1)

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began (chah-LEIL) to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women. (Numbers 25:1)

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin (chah-LEIL) to enjoy its fruit. (Deuteronomy 28:30)

In my research of sexual health passages a fascinating discovery emerged. I noticed the Hebrew word chah-LEIL often translated as “to begin” appears repeatedly at the start of  decline of intimacy with God snap shots. (Strong, H2490)  Chah-LEIL occurs eight times in Genesis introducing the sexual nihilism of Genesis 6, the incest of Ham and his mother in chapter 9, the tower of Babel of Genesis 11, the Egyptian famine with Joseph, the disclosure of stolen contraband, and Reuben’s rape of his father’s concubine. This word triggering a decline of intimacy with God occurs twice in Exodus for improperly building an altar and violating the Sabbath. Leviticus uses chah-LEIL 6 times for sexual health concerns: in marriage for priests, trafficking daughters into the sex trade, and sacrificing children to Molek. (Leviticus 18:21; 19:29; 20:3; 21:4,9, 21:15) Numbers uses chah-LEIL 5 times and Deuteronomy 7.  

Adultery: nah-AWF (Deuteronomy 5:18)

Covet: chah-MAWD (Deuteronomy 5:21)

Adultery is a sexual act between two persons who are in a marriage agreement with other partners. Adultery does not appear in the Book of Genesis. (Strong, H5003) The first occurrence of nah-AWF, adultery, appears within the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:14. Leviticus pronounces the death sentence for adulterers and Deuteronomy 5:18 is the retelling of the Ten Commandments. This literary form is called repetition. Genesis 2 is the retelling of Genesis 1. Deuteronomy 5 is the second telling of the Law first penned in Exodus 20. The Chronicles retell the story of the Kings. The four Gospels retell the teachings of Jesus using the same literary device called repetition.

“You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)

“ ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor— both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

“You shall not commit adultery. (Deuteronomy 5:18)

Adultery and covet appear in the second telling of the Ten Commandments. These sexual health terms connect word for word to the sexual sobriety and teachings of Jesus and New Testament writers.

“You shall not commit adultery (nah-AWF). (Deuteronomy 5:18)

“You shall not covet (chah-MAWD)your neighbor’s wife. (Deuteronomy 5:21)

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully (covet) has already committed adultery (moi-KEW-oh) with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

Unhealthy Sexual Intercourse: BO (Deuteronomy 21:13)

…and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her (BO) and be her husband and she shall be your wife. (Deuteronomy 21:13)

Another unhealthy intercourse term appears, “to go to”. The Hebrew word is BO, and  conveys “to go to someone” meaning sexual intercourse. The Biblical Hebrew BO is pronounced BO as in BO-tox. BO appears as an unhealthy sexuality term in 29 of the 2,591 times used in the Hebrew Old Testament. The range of meaning for BO includes to go, to come, abide, befall, bring, call, send, strike, and coercive genital sexual intercourse (Strong, H935).

Genesis uses BO 16 times. AllBO citations in Genesis connect to unhealthy sexuality.  BO does not appear in chapters 1-5 of the Genesis sexual health big picture. BO first occurs in the decline from intimacy with God section of chapter 6, the coercive intercourse with Hagar and Bilhah the concubine, the incest of Lot’s daughters with their biological father, Laban coercing his son-in-law Jacob to have sex with Leah, the bartering of aphrodisiacs for sexual favors between rival sisters, the fatal Onan coitus interruptus snapshot, and Tamar’s incestuous seduction of her father-in-law. Deuteronomy uses BO twice to refer to marriage customs.

Incest/Uncover Your Father’s Skirt: gah-LAH kah-NAWF  (Deuteronomy 22:30)

Genesis 6-11 is the sexual health snap shot laying the foundation for protecting children from sexual violence. Chapter six gives the back story for the judgement of flooding the earth. After God rescues Noah and his family in the ark, the final scene is a snap shot on incest. Ham  sees the “nakedness of his father”. Leviticus 18, 20; and Deuteronomy 22:30 use the exact word “uncover” (gah-LAH)  for incest prohibitions to protect families from sexual violence. Uncover (gah-LAH) the nakedness in Leviticus is used for incest prohibitions. Deuteronomy cites uncover  (gah-LAH) the corner of one’s garment (kah-NAWF) in the same sense of sexual safety. (Strong, H3670) Uncovering the garment or nakedness appears to be a sexual act. In Ruth the term “covering the garment” is used for the protection of a widow.

“Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment (kah-NAWF) over me, since you are a guardian-redeemerof our family.” (Ruth 3:9)

A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed  (uncover the corner of the garment (kah-NAWF). (Deuteronomy 22:30)

Rape, shah-GAHL (Deuteronomy 28:30)

Protection from sexual violence is an ongoing theme from Genesis 6-11 with incest prevention, the Sodom and Gomorrah snap shot, Christ’s mandate against child abuse in Matthew 18, Paul’s zero tolerance for sexual condemnation, and the Book of Revelation’s passion against sex trafficking. The final two sexual health terms predict sexual violence when Israel loses intimacy with God. The word for rape is sha-GAWL. ( Strong, H7693) Sha-GAWL, rape, appears four times in the Hebrew OT and always means sexual violence. The last term is afterbirth, shill-YAH. (Strong, H7953) The author predicts the violence of the Assyrian invasion of 722 BCE, and the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. With prolonged siege and starvation, the writer predicts mothers will consume the placenta of their children. (Strong, H7988)

You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin (chah-LEIL) to enjoy its fruit. (Deuteronomy 28:30)

…the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. (Deuteronomy 28:57)