22 “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the woman must die. In this way, you will purge Israel of such evil. 23 “Suppose a man meets a young woman, a virgin who is engaged to be married, and he has sexual intercourse with her. If this happens within a town, you must take both of them to the gates of that town and stone them to death. The woman is guilty because she did not scream for help. The man must die because he violated another man’s wife. 24 In this way, you will purge this evil from among you.” 25 “But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death. She is as innocent as a murder victim. 27 Since the man raped her out in the country, it must be assumed that she screamed, but there was no one to rescue her.

28-29 “Suppose a man has intercourse with a young woman who is a virgin but is not engaged to be married. If they are discovered, he must pay her father fifty pieces of silver. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he may never divorce her as long as he lives.” 30 “A man must not marry his father’s former wife, for this would violate his father.” Deuteronomy 22:22-30 New Living Translation paraphrase (Amplified Bible link)

People were not that different when Moses wrote the above words to what they are today. Some committed adultery and there were men who raped women. What was different to today is that punishment for those who did such things was severe. What do verses 22 & 24 say was the reason for such severe action?

It was to remove behaviour that is evil in God's sight from the nation. God was calling Israel to be different from the other nations where, like today, the gift and purpose of sex was distorted and abused. The high standard God set Israel for marriage still applies to Christians today. The New Testament says: “Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4) And, writing to Christians at Corinth, the apostle Paul said: “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-19)

It's been said that victims of rape, or abuse as children, sometimes have deep feelings of guilt, as if they somehow are also to blame for what happened. Do you think vs 26-27 should be of help to people who are struggling under that burden?

Common sense should tell us that if a woman dresses provocatively and hangs around in risky places where people are out to 'have a good time' she is not being wise. But even then it does not excuse the terrible crime of rape. And when a woman who is innocently going about her business is attacked and raped by a stranger, the crime is even worse. She is totally innocent. And If punishment isn’t severe, many people get the impression that rape is no big deal. As always, God's word is wiser than man's.

What about the incident in the Gospel of John when the Jewish leaders brought a woman who'd been caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and asked Him whether she should be stoned as Moses taught? Jesus answered them saying: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Does that mean He thought lightly of adultery, or that Moses had been wrong? 

The answer is no. Many things Moses wrote were for a time in the history of Israel when God was teaching them the difference between right and wrong. With the coming of Jesus a new time had arrived when, as Hebrews said, “God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” But it doesn't mean wrong things are now ok. Jesus said to the woman before Him: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.” Importantly, though, He added: “Go, and from now on, do not sin anymore.” Sex mustn't be abused in sinful ways.