The Seducer of a Maiden and the Bride-Price He Must Weigh Out

"And if a man seduces a virgin" (Exodus 22:15). It is the way of a woman to be seduced by a man, and not the way of a man to be seduced by a woman. When Rabbi Eliezer reached this verse he would say: woe for this one. It is the way of the world that a woman is seduced by a man and the lesser by the greater. So Jeremiah said, "You seduced me, O LORD, and I was seduced" (Jeremiah 20:7). But of our ancestors what does it say? "They seduced Him with their mouths" (Psalms 78:36). Is it the way of the world that the greater is seduced by the lesser? "And with their tongues they lied to Him" (Psalms 78:36). Is it the way of the world that the greater accepts words of falsehood? Rather, they deceived themselves and lied to themselves; and even so, "He saved them for His name's sake" (Psalms 106:8). "A virgin" excludes one already bedded and one whose hymen was lost by accident; "a virgin" excludes a mature woman and one incapable of childbearing. "Who is not betrothed" excludes one who was betrothed and then divorced from the betrothal. "And lies with her" with her knowledge and by her consent; "and lies with her" until he has relations with her in the usual manner and with witnesses. One might think she becomes acquired to him through his seduction; Scripture says "he shall surely endow her to him as a wife," teaching that she requires betrothal from him. One might think this is so even though she is not fit for him in marriage; Scripture says "he shall endow her to him as a wife," one who is fit for him in marriage, excluding a widow to a high priest, a divorcee or a chalutzah to an ordinary priest, a mamzeret or netinah to an Israelite, an Israelite woman to a mamzer or natin. One might think, since she is fit for him in marriage, he is liable for her fine; Scripture says...