The sexual violation of an individual (normally, though not necessarily, female). This is a deeply traumatic and degrading experience for the victim and is an evil that Scripture condemns.
Lust is the motivation for rape
Women and rape
Women are particularly vulnerable to male assault
2 Samuel 13:14 See also Zechariah 14:2
But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.
Women were protected under the law
Women are to be loved and cared for
Ephesians 5:25, Ephesians 5:28–29 See also Genesis 12:18–20; 1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. Indeed, no one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
The trauma of rape
Its psychological and emotional effects
2 Samuel 13:19–20 See also Genesis 34:6–7
And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud. Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.
Its physical effects
Judges 19:26–28 See also Judges 20:4–5
Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and lay there until it was light. In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he told her. “Let us go.” But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.
Avenging the victim of rape
Genesis 34:7–31; 2 Samuel 13:22–32; Judges 20:6–11; Romans 12:19, Romans 13:3–4; James 1:20
Examples of rape
Female rape
Genesis 34:1–3; Judges 19:24–25; 2 Samuel 13:2–13; Zechariah 14:2
Attempted male rape
Genesis 19:4–9; Judges 19:22–23; Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.