וַאֲנִ֗י אָ֤נָה אוֹלִיךְ֙ אֶת־חֶרְפָּתִ֔י וְאַתָּ֗ה תִּהְיֶ֛ה כְּאַחַ֥ד הַנְּבָלִ֖ים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְעַתָּה֙ דַּבֶּר־נָ֣א אֶל־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ כִּ֛י לֹ֥א יִמְנָעֵ֖נִי מִמֶּֽךָּ׃
И я, куда мне нести свой позор? а ты будешь одним из низменных в Израиле. Итак, теперь я говорю с царем; ибо он не удержит меня от тебя.'
Ibn Ezra
your father’s wife’s daughter’s nakedness Some people say that this denotes a full sister, who is both his father’s daughter and his mother’s daughter. We consequently infer that whoever has relations with a full sister violates two prohibitions. Others assert that this verse merely strengthens the existing prohibition. Probably the phrase your father’s wife’s daughter denotes a daughter born of rape.
Rabbeinu Bahya
והבאת אל תוך ביתך, “and you will bring her into your house.” Our sages teach, based on this verse, that the soldier must not rape this prisoner as an act of war, but must conduct relations with her on a basis of mutual consent in a private location. Only the first such sexual relation is permitted. Any subsequent sexual relations with the prisoner may only take place after she has converted and become the soldier’s wife. (compare Kidushin 21 and 22) This is what is meant by 23,15 ולא יראה בך ערות דבר, “He will not see a shameful thing among you.”
The reason the Torah did permit the first sexual encounter with the Gentile prisoner prior to her conversion is an accommodation to the evil urge. The Torah, the master psychologist, recognized that if it did not make this concession to the infatuation of the soldier he would ignore the prohibition and not pay attention to all the other strictures imposed by the Torah in the next several verses either. This is why the Torah prefaced these rules with the words: “when you bring her to your house.” [According to this view,] the Torah assumes that prior to the soldier bringing his prisoner to his house he had not slept with her. He is now permitted to sleep with her once, after which all the details about the woman in question shaving her hair, cutting her nails, mourning her parents for a month, etc., all take effect. During this entire period her captor is not allowed to touch her.
This is the reason why Tamar was legally permitted for Amnon son of David to marry, seeing that her mother Maachah had become pregnant by David from a sexual relation prior to her becoming converted so that she was not really a sister or half-sister to Amnon. This is why she had said to Amnon (Samuel II 13,13) “speak to the king; he will not refuse me to you.” Unless her mother had not been Jewish at the time she was conceived, how could she have made such a statement! (compare Sanhedrin 21). Technically, she was a בת כותית, Gentile, and our sages have ruled that “the son of your son born of a Gentile mother is not considered your son but her son” (Kidushin 68).
The reason the Torah did permit the first sexual encounter with the Gentile prisoner prior to her conversion is an accommodation to the evil urge. The Torah, the master psychologist, recognized that if it did not make this concession to the infatuation of the soldier he would ignore the prohibition and not pay attention to all the other strictures imposed by the Torah in the next several verses either. This is why the Torah prefaced these rules with the words: “when you bring her to your house.” [According to this view,] the Torah assumes that prior to the soldier bringing his prisoner to his house he had not slept with her. He is now permitted to sleep with her once, after which all the details about the woman in question shaving her hair, cutting her nails, mourning her parents for a month, etc., all take effect. During this entire period her captor is not allowed to touch her.
This is the reason why Tamar was legally permitted for Amnon son of David to marry, seeing that her mother Maachah had become pregnant by David from a sexual relation prior to her becoming converted so that she was not really a sister or half-sister to Amnon. This is why she had said to Amnon (Samuel II 13,13) “speak to the king; he will not refuse me to you.” Unless her mother had not been Jewish at the time she was conceived, how could she have made such a statement! (compare Sanhedrin 21). Technically, she was a בת כותית, Gentile, and our sages have ruled that “the son of your son born of a Gentile mother is not considered your son but her son” (Kidushin 68).
Rabbeinu Bahya
והבאת אל תוך ביתך, “and you will bring her into your house.” Our sages teach, based on this verse, that the soldier must not rape this prisoner as an act of war, but must conduct relations with her on a basis of mutual consent in a private location. Only the first such sexual relation is permitted. Any subsequent sexual relations with the prisoner may only take place after she has converted and become the soldier’s wife. (compare Kidushin 21 and 22) This is what is meant by 23,15 ולא יראה בך ערות דבר, “He will not see a shameful thing among you.”
The reason the Torah did permit the first sexual encounter with the Gentile prisoner prior to her conversion is an accommodation to the evil urge. The Torah, the master psychologist, recognized that if it did not make this concession to the infatuation of the soldier he would ignore the prohibition and not pay attention to all the other strictures imposed by the Torah in the next several verses either. This is why the Torah prefaced these rules with the words: “when you bring her to your house.” [According to this view,] the Torah assumes that prior to the soldier bringing his prisoner to his house he had not slept with her. He is now permitted to sleep with her once, after which all the details about the woman in question shaving her hair, cutting her nails, mourning her parents for a month, etc., all take effect. During this entire period her captor is not allowed to touch her.
This is the reason why Tamar was legally permitted for Amnon son of David to marry, seeing that her mother Maachah had become pregnant by David from a sexual relation prior to her becoming converted so that she was not really a sister or half-sister to Amnon. This is why she had said to Amnon (Samuel II 13,13) “speak to the king; he will not refuse me to you.” Unless her mother had not been Jewish at the time she was conceived, how could she have made such a statement! (compare Sanhedrin 21). Technically, she was a בת כותית, Gentile, and our sages have ruled that “the son of your son born of a Gentile mother is not considered your son but her son” (Kidushin 68).
The reason the Torah did permit the first sexual encounter with the Gentile prisoner prior to her conversion is an accommodation to the evil urge. The Torah, the master psychologist, recognized that if it did not make this concession to the infatuation of the soldier he would ignore the prohibition and not pay attention to all the other strictures imposed by the Torah in the next several verses either. This is why the Torah prefaced these rules with the words: “when you bring her to your house.” [According to this view,] the Torah assumes that prior to the soldier bringing his prisoner to his house he had not slept with her. He is now permitted to sleep with her once, after which all the details about the woman in question shaving her hair, cutting her nails, mourning her parents for a month, etc., all take effect. During this entire period her captor is not allowed to touch her.
This is the reason why Tamar was legally permitted for Amnon son of David to marry, seeing that her mother Maachah had become pregnant by David from a sexual relation prior to her becoming converted so that she was not really a sister or half-sister to Amnon. This is why she had said to Amnon (Samuel II 13,13) “speak to the king; he will not refuse me to you.” Unless her mother had not been Jewish at the time she was conceived, how could she have made such a statement! (compare Sanhedrin 21). Technically, she was a בת כותית, Gentile, and our sages have ruled that “the son of your son born of a Gentile mother is not considered your son but her son” (Kidushin 68).