Joralex and Yaro, open to comment.

First off, that only covers a special case. Again, what about the general case - such a woman is raped with a knife to her throat? Under biblical law, that woman either has to marry her rapist, or be stoned to death. There's no exception, even if it was somehow "designed for lying women". It's an atrocity - I'm surprised you, of all people, are trying to justify an atrocity for an exception.Besides, the Hebrew uses the words "chazaq" (force) and "taphas" (grab hold), so the connotation is apparent.------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."

The squabble over virgin birth is the use of the word "parthenos". "Parthenos" has a meaning akin to "maiden"; it can either imply virgin or not. The prophecy in Isaiah refers to "almah" (in Hebrew), which also is best translated as "maiden"; Isaiah could have used the more technical term "bethusaleh" (sp?) which specifically means virgin, but it was not used. Note that this *is* the word used in Dt. that we've been discussing. In short, there is some ambiguity about whether Mary was a virgin or not. Of course, since biblical times, parthenos has evolved to specifically mean virgin (in fact, it is where we get the word "parthenogenic" from - but in ancient times, it was more ambiguous, and the hebrew even moreso).------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."

Good point... my apologies, crash.------------------
"Illuminant light,
illuminate me."