Abstract
This article explores the exegetical issues surrounding Deut. 25.11-12 by (1) briefly examining the text to determine the nature of the woman's action and her intentions, (2) evaluating options for understanding the woman' action, and (3) determining the relationship of this law to the lex talionis. Through interaction with these three issues, this study will argue that the woman intervened in the fight to save her husband from imminent threat of significant physical harm or even death by grabbing the assailant's genitals. In doing so she injured the assailant and thus became liable to an application of the lex talionis .This understanding of the law provides the best perspective from which to incorporate all the details of the text and its surrounding context.
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