Sorry for the tone, you caught me mid titanium spark.
So, if I read this correctly instead of marriage the bible orders payment for services rendered? Not much of an improvement. We've gone from forcing the victim to marry to basically prostitution.
And no, I don't see this as a legal issue for damages. There is still no provision for actual penalty for the crime of rape. In a case where civil damages are awarded, it is seperate (and usually after) criminal punishment is decided.
I'm just musing here, thinking aloud.
Was there a lot of coin money floating around in that place and time? Or was barter the usual method of exchange? I mean to say, maybe money, being made of actual gold or silver or copper, etc. was hard to come by, and so that much more precious? Gold is gold: it should be accepted everywhere (like a heavy, cumbersome Visa). Maybe Moshe the Trader isn't accepting goats this season, and you can only get the goods you need with coin.
Asking a man to give up real money to pay for a crime might be, in a society like that, worse than whipping him. (A nomadic people probably wouldn't have a jail system, would they?) But money's generally so prevalent now that, except for the poor, a fine today seems like a slap on the wrist.
Now, I really hate when I can't remember details, but I recently read a novel by an author who writes Ancient Irish mysteries. His lead character is a woman, a judge, and wields a fair amount of power. These novels are supposedly based on research, and in the society of the novel, most crime is punished by heavy fines, (like a Danegeld or Wergeld system) which is seen as no real fun at all, because money is hard to come by. If you can't pay, you have to work it off. (Good novel, by the way; I'll see if I can find the title and author later.)
Also, as to marriage being akin to prostitution, many years ago (80's) I was watching one of those hideous talk-shows, and the panel were prostitutes. A woman in the audience asked why they just didn't do the moral, normal thing and get married?
And one of the hookers said, "Does your husband pay the mortgage, buy the groceries, give you money for clothes and other things?"
"Yes, he does," the woman said, a little smugly.
"And do you sleep with him, pretty much whenever he wants?"
"Well....yes."
"Then honey, the only difference between you and me is that you do that with one man, and I do it with many."
I thought she had a point.
I still don't consider myself well-informed enough to enter a complex debate though I do possess a healthy dose of scepticism.