Justice Down to the Details: The Case of the Betrothed Slave-Girl Text: Leviticus 19:20-22
Introduction: God's Micromanagement and Our Mess
We live in an age that despises distinctions. Our culture wants to flatten everything. They want to erase the lines between male and female, good and evil, wise and foolish, sacred and profane. And when modern Christians come to a passage like this one in Leviticus, they often do the same thing. They get squeamish. They see words like "slave" and "punishment" and their twenty-first-century sensibilities get the vapors. They either skip over it, assuming it's some embarrassing remnant of a primitive legal code, or they flatten it out, missing the very point God is making in the details.
But the Mosaic law, as given to Israel in the wilderness, was holiness in a kit. The laws were hard-edged, cut and dried. God's purpose was to define and defend a holy people called by His name. That law was, pure and simple, rough-cut justice. And God is intensely interested in justice, which means He is intensely interested in details and distinctions. He is not a sloppy, sentimental deity. He is a God of glorious precision. He doesn't just say, "Don't commit adultery." He gives case laws that show how the principle of justice applies in different, messy, real-world situations. Our God is not an abstract philosopher; He is a judge who rules in the affairs of men.
This passage is a classic example of biblical case law. It's not a broad, sweeping command; it's a specific scenario. And it is in these specific scenarios that we see the wisdom and righteousness of God on full display. This law protects the vulnerable, defines the nature of a crime with careful precision, and provides a path for restitution and forgiveness. It shows us that God's justice is not a respecter of persons. A crime is a crime, whether committed against the daughter of a prince or a household slave. But it also shows us that not all crimes are identical. The penalty must fit the crime, and the circumstances matter. To ignore these details is to accuse God of being less just than He actually is.
So we must not read this with modern, egalitarian goggles. We must read it for what it is: a revelation of God's character. He is a God who cares about the property rights of a master, the violated state of a bondservant, the guilt of a sinner, and the means of atonement. In these three verses, we see a collision of justice, mercy, and the sacrificial system that points us straight to the cross of Jesus Christ.
The Text
‘Now if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death because she was not free. And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the doorway of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him.
(Leviticus 19:20-22 LSB)
A Crime Defined by Status (v. 20a)
The law begins by laying out a very specific set of circumstances.
"‘Now if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man, but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom..." (Leviticus 19:20a)
Every word here is crucial. First, we are dealing with a "slave," a bondservant. We must immediately dispense with the cartoon images of American chattel slavery that our culture projects onto the Bible. Biblical servitude was an entirely different institution. It was a form of indentured servanthood, a way to pay off debts, and it was governed by a host of laws protecting the servant. It was not a permanent, race-based, dehumanizing system. This woman is a person with legal standing, as the rest of the verse makes plain.
Second, she is "assigned to another man." The language here points to betrothal. She is promised in marriage, but the transaction is not complete. She has not been "redeemed," meaning the bride price hasn't been fully paid, nor has she been formally set free to be married. She exists in an in-between legal state. She is not a free woman, but she is also not unattached. She belongs, in a covenantal sense, to her betrothed.
This is the crux of the matter. The sin here is a form of adultery, because it violates the covenant of betrothal. It is a theft and a violation of the man to whom she was assigned. The primary crime, in the civil sense, is against him. This is why the law is so specific. If she were a free woman betrothed to another man, the penalty for both parties would be death (Deut. 22:23-24). If she were a virgin with no covenantal attachments, the man would have to pay the bride price and marry her, with no option for divorce (Deut. 22:28-29). But this case is different. Her unique legal status is the key to understanding the rest of the passage.
A Penalty Fitted to the Crime (v. 20b)
Because the circumstances are unique, the penalty is unique.
"...there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death because she was not free." (Leviticus 19:20b LSB)
First, notice that there "shall be punishment." The sin is not waved away. God's law takes this violation seriously. The original language suggests an inquiry or an investigation. A judicial process must take place. Justice must be done. God is not indifferent to the violation of a bondservant. He is her protector and her vindicator. The ESV translates this as "an inquiry shall be held." This is not mob justice; it is covenantal justice.
But the punishment is explicitly not the death penalty. Why? "Because she was not free." This is not because her life is worth less. It is because the legal nature of the crime is different. Adultery with a free woman was a capital crime because it was a direct assault on a consummated marriage covenant, a picture of God's covenant with Israel. This act, while a grave sin, was an assault on an unconsummated betrothal involving a woman who was still legally the property of her father or master. The damage was real, but it was of a different legal category. The man's crime was not technically adultery in the full sense, but it was a profound violation of property and covenant rights.
God's law is not a blunt instrument. It is a finely tuned tool of justice. It recognizes degrees of culpability and different kinds of damages. The modern world wants to scream that this is unjust because the penalty is different. But true justice is not treating every case identically; it is treating every case according to the same righteous standard, which requires making careful distinctions. God, the perfect judge, makes those distinctions here.
The Vertical Dimension: Restitution to God (v. 21)
The case is not merely a horizontal, civil matter between men. All sin has a vertical dimension. It is an offense against the Holy One of Israel.
"And he shall bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the doorway of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering." (Leviticus 19:21 LSB)
After the civil penalty is determined by the inquiry, the man must deal with his guilt before God. He is required to bring an asham, a guilt offering. The guilt offering was prescribed for sins where restitution was possible, sins that involved trespassing against God's holy things or defrauding a neighbor (Lev. 5-6). This sin had defrauded the woman's master and her betrothed. It was a tangible loss. But more than that, it was a trespass against God's own law, His own holiness.
By bringing a ram to the tabernacle, the man is publicly acknowledging two things. First, he is acknowledging that his sin was not just a mistake or a private matter. It was an offense against the covenant Lord who dwelt in their midst. All sin is ultimately theological. David understood this when he sinned with Bathsheba. Though he had sinned against Uriah, against Bathsheba, and against the nation, he confessed, "Against You, You only, have I sinned" (Ps. 51:4). Second, the man is acknowledging that he cannot fix this on his own. He cannot atone for his own sin. He must come to God on God's terms, through the prescribed sacrifice.
Atonement and Forgiveness (v. 22)
The final verse brings us to the glorious conclusion of the process: divine forgiveness through substitutionary atonement.
"The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him." (Leviticus 19:22 LSB)
The priest, acting as the mediator, makes atonement. The word for atonement means "to cover." The blood of the ram, a substitute, is shed. The life of the animal is given in place of the life of the sinner. This blood covers the sin, and in doing so, it turns away the wrath of God. This is propitiation. The justice of God is satisfied by the death of the substitute.
And what is the result? "The sin which he has committed will be forgiven him." This is the gospel in Leviticus. Forgiveness is not automatic. It is not cheap. It is not earned. It is costly. It requires the shedding of blood. It requires a substitute. It requires faith in God's provision. A man could not just feel sorry and move on. He had to obey. He had to bring the ram. He had to confess his sin and trust in the system God had established. Zechariah and Elizabeth were called "blameless" not because they never sinned, but because they were faithful to handle their sins in the way God prescribed, through the offerings and ordinances.
Of course, we know that the blood of bulls and goats could not ultimately take away sin (Heb. 10:4). Every ram brought for a guilt offering was a promissory note. It was a picture, a shadow, pointing forward to the true guilt offering, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Isaiah 53 says of the Messiah, "He shall make His soul an offering for guilt (an asham)" (Is. 53:10). Jesus Christ is our guilt offering. He is the one who makes full restitution for our trespasses against God. He is the one whose blood does not merely cover, but cleanses completely.
When we sin, we are like this man. We have committed a trespass against the holy God. We stand guilty. And we cannot bring a ram. But we can bring our sin, by faith, to the great High Priest, Jesus Christ. He has already offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice. And when we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The verdict of Leviticus is the verdict of the gospel: where the substitute is offered in faith, the sinner is forgiven.