<div>Toby suggets that</div>
<div>"the Torah almost never puts in one extra word...You find examples of this all over Chumash...An example that comes to mind is with Dena and Shechem. Not until we read that her brothers took her from Shechem's home (after killing all the men of the city) do we realize that she has been held captive during all the preceding conversations and negotiations"
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<div>Well, I am not sure of that and I;m not referring to Parshat Nasso, for example). Verse 1 of Chapt. 34 states plainly "and he took her", physically, i.e., absconded away with her, removed here from her previous location - this "taking" cannot be the sexual act for that is described such "and lay with her". No, we surely can realize she was being held against her will all this time.
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<div>As for the Hagar analysis, I'd go along with that.<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Yisrael Medad<br>Shiloh<br>Mobile Post Efraim 44830<br>Israel </div>