Are cultic prostitutes synonymous with homosexuals?
OK ... I know. It's a very bizarre question to ask. On the surface the question seems so ridiculous as to be laughable. Of course they're not synonymous. They're two entirely different things.
However, what should be obvious isn't ... And for a very good reason.
Believe it or not, there was a time in the history of the Christian church when theologians apparently thought the two were the same thing. Sadly, that error persists to this day. I think most Christians aren't even aware of the error. As a result, most Christians are unable to properly understand some very key points in scripture. And due to that lack of understanding, many Christians promote prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals.
Frankly, I suspect the error was not one made from ignorance. As you will see, I think there has been deliberate mistranslation. The most glaring examples I've found are in the King James Version. And, of course, they were mindlessly adopted by numerous later editions. The errors have served homophobia well.
The sentiment behind the inaccurate KJV translation began centuries earlier.
Excerpted From
The credit--or rather, the blame--for inventing the word sodomia, "Sodomy," must go, I think, to the eleventh-century theologian Peter Damian. ... The essential thing to notice in the processes by which "Sodomy" was produced is that they first abolish details, qualifications, restrictions in order to enable an excessive simplification in thought. Then they condense a number of these simplifications into a category that looks concrete but that has in fact nothing more concrete about it than the grammatical form of a general noun. The rather dry business of tracking words has in this case a very specific reward. It allows one to see, in the microcosm of grammatical form, the tyranny of generalization that results in there being a category like the category "Sodomy." The history of the word "Sodomy" is a history of the abuse of grammar, which is a reduction of thought.
Further detail about even more problems with translations of the story of Sodom is found HERE.
QUADESH: THE CULTIC TEMPLE PROSTITUTES
The KJV mistranslations I mentioned earlier are of the Hebrew term "quadesh" (male), "quadeshah" (female). This term refers to cultic temple prostitutes, probably connected with the rather prevalent worship of Ashtart found generally throughout the Semitic world at that time. Ashtart was known by a number of similar names, Ashtart, Asherah, Ishtar, Astarte, etc. Ashtart was the consort of Baal.
First a bit of background. The Bible itself tells us that Ashtart (Asherah, etc.) was worshiped even in temple of Jerusalem for about 2/3 of the time it stood.
1 Kings 14:21-24 Solomon's son Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the territory of Israel as the place where he was to be worshiped. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah from Ammon. The people of Judah sinned against the Lord and did more to arouse his anger against them than all their ancestors had done. They built places of worship for false gods and put up stone pillars and symbols of Asherah to worship on the hills and under shady trees. Worst of all, there were men and women who served as prostitutes at those pagan places of worship. The people of Judah practiced all the shameful things done by the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced into the country.
2 Chronicles 33:1-6
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the Lord. He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for the worship of Baal, made images of the goddess Asherah, and worshiped the stars. He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the Lord had said was where he should be worshiped forever. In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars. He sacrificed his sons in Hinnom Valley as burnt offerings. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the Lord and stirred up his anger.
The Book of Kings describes the removal of the artifacts and courtesans of Astarte worship from the temple.
1 KINGS 22:46
He (Jehoshephat) got rid of all the male and female prostitutes who were left in the land from the time of his father Asa.
2 KINGS 23:7
He destroyed the living quarters in the Temple occupied by the Temple prostitutes.
Now back to the Hebrew term 'quadesh' 'quadeshah' …
In the Zodhiates HEBREW-GREEK KEY STUDY BIBLE, you find the following, "It [the masculine form] means a consecrated one, a devoted one, a sacred person; a devotee to a licentious idolatry, a cultic prostitute or priest of Astarte..."
Zodhiates goes on to define the feminine form thusly, "It means harlot, whore, sacred temple prostitute. Prostitution received official sanction from the Canaanite religion which made reproduction part of its summum bonum. As in India today, at the Holi festival, there were seasons of sexual orgy associated with Astarte. The temple precincts became an inglorious brothel..."
The 1611 King James Version of the Bible contains a rather stunning mistranslation of the male form, "quadesh". When studied in context, it is hard to imagine that the error was due to ignorance or simple error. It appears to be deliberate.
Deut: 23:17 uses both the male and female forms of the term "quadesh". The KJV translates them as follows: There shall be no whore [quadeshah] of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite [quadesh] of the sons of Israel.
The more modern and accurate NIV translates the passage this way, "No Israelite, man or woman, is to become a shrine prostitute."
The KJV rendering of two entirely different meanings of the same word root is nonsensical. It is so nonsensical it is difficult to accept the possibility it could be an innocent error.
There are others as well. Among them: 1 Kings 15:12
KJV: "And he took away the sodomites [quadesh] out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made."
NIV: "He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made."
The KJV translation is not only a stunningly inaccurate translation of the word "quadesh,", but in this instance it breaks up the continuity of thought within the sentence. It is another gross error. How could it have been accidental or irresponsible?
LEVITICUS AND TEMPLE PROSTITUTION: TOEVAH
The Hebrew term "toevah" is found in the oft-quoted verses of Lev. 18 and 20. It is one of a number of terms translated to "abomination" in English. And it seems to be the favorite verse of those who use the Bible to justify prejudice and discrimination against homosexuals.
The Canaanite god of the sun, Baal and his consort, the fertility goddess Ashtart (Ashtoreth, etc.) were commonly worshipped in the area. The term "toevah" appears throughout the Law to denounce idolatrous practices. In fact it is used over 100 times in the Old Testament in the context of idolatrous practices. Temple prostitutes participated in the worship of the fertility god "Baal" on an altar-like bed. The incident at Baal-Peor (Numbers 25) was about idolatry with Baal prostitutes, not mere sex. The cult temple prostitutes had sex with anyone who paid money and worshipped Baal, whether man or woman. It's nothing more than political dishonesty to define a cult prostitute as a homosexual.
We are told three times that the laws set forth in Leviticus chapters 18-20 are to prevent the Israelite priests from engaging in the religious practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites (18:2-3; 18:24; 20:23). Chapter 20 even begins with a discussion of the god Molech, who was worshiped in Canaan.
Leviticus reserves other terms such as "zimah" to refer to immorality or sin. For instance it is used in the references to rape, incest and child sexual abuse.
Clearly the Levitican passages made a distinction between things that were immoral and/or sinful (zimah) and things that involved idolatry.
PAUL AND TEMPLE PROSTITUTION
There can be little disagreement that the early Christians were concerned about the competing religions. Many texts that we have from Christians of the first few centuries represent documents explaining the deficits and evils of the other religions. The many texts quoted above attest to the fact that not only were the church fathers aware of the goddess religions, but were confronted with them to the extent that they dedicated several specific attacks on them in their writings. This isn't surprising, given the popularity and influence of the religions on the Greek and Roman cultures.
That Paul would have been familiar with the goddess religions seems inescapable. Temples and shrines to Cybele, Artemis, Venus/Aphrodite, Astarte, and others were scattered densely around the region of Paul's upbringing and missionary travels (Asia Minor, Greece, Cyprus, etc.). Vermaseren describes (via Pausanias) the area surrounding Corinth. 'First there were two shrines of Isis and two more of Serapis; then there were altars of Helios and a sanctuary of Ananke and Bia. Above this there stood a temple of the Mother of the Gods with a stele and a marble throne.'[M. J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: The Myth and the Cult]
Rom 21-22: They claimed to be wise but were foolish:
The galli [eunuch priests of Cybele] claimed to tell people's fortunes, but everybody thought they were mad due to their frenzied dancing and self-mutilation. The Greek texts describe the "mania" of their rituals.
Rom 23: They made images of man and animals to worship:
The Cybele/Attis temple statues were primarily of Attis and/or Cybele, who were typically surrounded by images of other animals, particularly lions, birds and snakes. In addition, these temples were often filled with birds, because the galli believed they were too holy to touch, to chase them away.
Rom 26-27: They exchanged natural relations, etc:
One of the primary goals of the galli was to remove gender differences. This occurred through transvestitism, physically cutting off one's genitals and the exchange of sexual roles. The male galli would serve sexually "as women" to male worshippers in the temple. Women had sex with men (and possibly with other women), but in order to avoid pregnancy, they would have anal sex, not vaginal, as indicated by early church writers such as Anastasius, Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, and two apocalyptic texts.
CONCLUSION
Christianity has a long history of trying to make the case that the many Biblical condemnations of cultic temple prostitution are condemnations of homosexuality. Although the work of numerous scholars has corrected the errors, the message just isn't getting out. Too many Christians have adopted a "KJV Only" mentality and refuse to benefit from advances in knowledge made over the last 400 years. Even more Christians find that the errors serve as very convenient excuses for the promotion of hatred and discrimination.
Copyright September 22, 2004, by MGGM All rights reserved, except that free distribution via any medium is permitted as long as author's credit is given and no profit is involved.
