Judges 19:24

24. Humble ye them This was a proposition most shocking to our Christian instincts, but far less revolting, though not blameless, in that ancient time. It was a thing that had not occurred before in Israel. The fact here related shows how degraded was woman’s condition even in ancient Israel. She was regarded principally as the object meant for man to gratify his sensual lust upon, and held well nigh the position of a slave to him. But was it strange when, even now, in Japan and other lands, it is a common custom for parents to sell their daughters to persons to be subjected to lives of prostitution? A Christian lady, writing from Yokohama, Japan, in August, 1871, says: “In the suburbs of this city my friend pointed out to me a square of native houses in which, he told me, the licensed prostitution of the city is carried on. The victims are the fairest, choicest young girls of the place. They are sold by their parents, and the more beautiful they are, the higher price they command. From eight hundred to a thousand were confined in that square; and this is only what is found in every city in this land.”