Bible Dictionaries
Prostitution

Holman Bible Dictionary

The trading of sexual services for pay. It is the result of a double standard whereby men insist on the sexual purity of their wives and daughters, while desiring access to other women. This dynamic is seen clearly in Genesis 38:1 . Judah, thinking that his daughter-in-law Tamar was a prostitute, had intercourse with her; but upon hearing that she was pregnant as the result of “playing the harlot,” he demanded that she be burned. Hosea criticized the attitude which called for the punishment of prostitutes (and women committing adultery), while tolerating the men with whom these acts were committed (Hosea 4:14 ). Because of this double standard, the prostitute or harlot, as she is also called, has had an ambiguous status in society. She was tolerated in ancient Israel—as long as she was not married—but her profession was not socially acceptable. The children of harlots suffered from social biases against them (Judges 11:2 ).

Although the Old Testament records no laws prohibiting men from visiting prostitutes and making use of their services, there are strong counsels against such behavior (Proverbs 23:27-28; Proverbs 29:3 ). The apocryphal Book of Ecclesiasticus gives similar warnings (Proverbs 9:3-9; Proverbs 19:2 ).

The Holiness Code prohibited Israelite fathers from turning their daughters into prostitutes (Leviticus 19:29 ), which might have been a temptation during times when poverty was widespread. It may be that most prostitutes in Israel were foreign or Canaanite women. That would help explain why the Book of Proverbs speaks of the harlot literally as a “strange” and “foreign” woman (translated in the RSV as “loose woman,” “evil woman”) (Proverbs 2:16; Proverbs 5:3; Proverbs 6:24 ).

Jesus told the religious leaders of His day that harlots would go into the kingdom before they would (Matthew 21:31 ), not because He condoned prostitution, but because harlots did not have the self-righteousness which kept the religious leaders from repentance. Paul reminded Corinthian Christians that their bodies were the temple of the Holy Spirit; therefore, they should refrain from immorality, including sexual relations with prostitutes (1 Corinthians 6:15-20 ).

The term cult prostitution is frequently used to refer to certain practices in Canaanite fertility cults, including the cult of Baal. See 1 Kings 14:24 , 1 Kings 15:12 , 1 Kings 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7 ). Cult prostitution is outlawed by the Deuteronomic law code (Deuteronomy 23:17-18 ).

The presence of both “secular” and “cult prostitutes” provided the prophets with a powerful metaphor for the unfaithfulness of the people toward God. The covenant was imaged as a marriage between the Lord and the people; their continual interest in other gods, especially Baal, was seen as a form of harlotry. This idea is graphically presented in Ezekiel 16:1 (compare Ezekiel 23:1 ). Because the Lord's bride has become a harlot, she will be punished as a harlot. Hosea also attacked the Israelite attraction to the fertility religion of Canaan as harlotry. He felt called of God to marry a harlot (Hosea 1:2 ), a symbolic action (or object lesson) representing God's relationship with Israel. Hosea's love for his unfaithful and harlotrous wife was analogous to God's love for unfaithful Israel.

The Book of Revelation applies the image of harlot to Rome, which is likened to a woman in scarlet and jewels, to whom the kings of the earth go (Revelation 17:1-6 ).

Wilda W. Morris