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Bible Encyclopedias
Bastard
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Bastard (Deuteronomy 23:2, and Zechariah 9:6). Some understand by this word the offspring of prostitutes, but they forget that prostitutes were expressly forbidden to be tolerated by the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:29; Deuteronomy 23:17). The most probable conjecture is that which applies the term to the offspring of heathen prostitutes in the neighborhood of Palestine; since no provision was made by Moses against their toleration, and who were a sort of priestesses to the Syrian goddess Astarte (comp. Numbers 25:1, sq.; Hosea 4:14; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; 1 Kings 22:47; 2 Kings 23:7).
That there existed such bastard offspring among the Jews, is proved by the history of Jephthah (Judges 11:1-7), who on this account was expelled, and deprived of his patrimony.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Bastard'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/b/bastard.html.
