That's an interesting thought!
My last post was obviously meant to be silly, of course. My real or serious thoughts about what's going on in Deuteronomy 21 (at least the ones that I started the thread with) are, in short, that these actions were intended as a means of giving her time to relinquish the deep, emotional ties that she surely felt for her own people (and likewise, the natural affection that she, no doubt, felt for her former nation), so that she had a real shot at beginning life anew with an undivided heart/affection for her new nation/new people, and of course, for her husband.
I actually find this quite interesting because, first and foremost, I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for someone to choose to enter into marriage in a situation like this one (where a man, who was her mortal enemy last month, becomes both her husband and the future father of her children this month
).
I also find it interesting because the woman (in this particular situation in ancient Israel) seems to have been elevated to a status that was equal to that of her captor, almost as if she was already a citizen of Israel. As such, there must have been no coercion on the part of her captor to marry him as she appears to have as much say about the marriage going forward or not as the man did (because the text makes it clear that she was free to walk away if she didn't want to get married, and that she would do so as a free woman).
If memory serves, this was a fairly unique scenario in the whole of the ancient world, because I don't believe that other nations treated the people of the nations that they'd conquered with anything close to this kind of respect (especially the women).
Thanks for pointing this passage out to us as it is VERY interesting to me (as I already mentioned once or twice above
). I'm going to take a deeper look into it (especially the connection with 1 Corinthians 11) and get back to you, and I am also looking forward to hearing what others have to say about it too.
God bless you!!
--Papa Smurf