We continue with Kevin Aaron's book - part seven
THE PRICE OF A DOG
It had become quite an issue in the church. One of the main
members owned a pet store which sold dogs. Another member, quite
dogmatically, insisted that dogs should not be sold and the
church should not accept contributions from these sales! The
controversy centered on Deuteronomy 23:17,18:
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a
sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the
hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of
the ford thy God for any vow: for even both these are
abomination unto the Lord.
The "dog" mentioned here was a "sodomite," a homosexual. The
"price of a a dog," as we shall see, was money paid for
homosexual prostitution. None of this had anything to do with
owning a pet store!
The terms "sodomite" and "sodomy," still in use today, come
to us from the Biblical story of Sodom. At Sodom homosexual
practices were especially bold and open, a boldness that became
proverbial, so that even centuries later Isaiah would say: "They
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not"! (Isaiah 3:9). The
Sodomites were not in the closet, as the Biblical text fully
reveals! When two angels came to Lot's house in Sodom, had supper
with him, and were getting ready to retire for the night,
"the men of Sodom compassed the house round, both old and young,
all the people from every quarter: and they called unto Lot,
Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them
out unto us, that we may know [have intercourse with] them."
To this Lot replied:
Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man,
Let me ... bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is
good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing (Genesis
19:8,9)."
We can hardly have any respect for Lot - offering his virgin
daughters in this way. [I can only speculate that Lot knew very
well they would not be interested in his daughters, and the point
made is that those people were indeed homosexuals - Keith Hunt].
But the men of Sodom did not want girls, they wanted guys! As
Paul later described such practices, they "burned in their lust
one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly"
(Romans 1:26,27). Aggressively these Sodomites insisted,
threatened, and were ready to break down the door, until the
angels intervened and smote them with blindness. With this, the
angels announced the purpose of their mission - they had come to
destroy Sodom.
In the oldest portions of the Bible, angels were commonly
described as having many human characteristics. In this case,
they looked like men, ate supper with Lot, and spent the night at
his house. They apparently did not know how many were in Lot's
family, for they asked if he had any "besides son-in-law, and thy
sons, and thy daughters" (Genesis 19:12).
We read that Lot warned his "sons-in-law, which married his
daughters" concerning the pending doom, but they made light of it
(Genesis 19:14). These married daughters were not the two
daughters that "had not known man." Consequently, when the time
for escape came and Lot's wife looked back, it is not likely she
had any special attachment to Sodom itself, she looked back in
grief because of her daughters left there. The book of Jasher
says: "And Ado the wife of Lot looked back to see the destruction
of the cities, for her compassion was moved on account of her
daughters who remained in Sodom, for they did not go with her"
(Jasher 19:52,53).
When Lot's wife looked back, she became "a pillar of salt"
(Genesis 19:26). According to Lamsa this means that she became
barren. But this hardly seems to fit the Biblical narrative.
Following this incident, we read only of Lot and his two
daughters who eventually ended up living in a mountain cave
(verse 30). Because the daughters did not have husbands, they
planned a way to go from here to maternity-sex with their father!
And they made their father drink wine that night: and the
firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived
not when she lay down, nor when she arose.... And [the next
night] the younger lay with him; and he perceived not when
she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the
daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the
firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is
the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger,
she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same
is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day
(Genesis 19:33-38).
Some have questioned whether a man, so drunk he "perceived
not" he was having intercourse with his own daughters, could
perform sexually. Some suspect this explanation about the origin
of the Moabites and Ammonites was colored by the Hebrew contempt
for them. Conflicts often raged between Israel and these tribes
as when "Mesha king of Moab..rebelled against the king of Israel"
(2 Kings 3:4,5), an account of which is contained in the famous
Moabite stone.
[Wine, getting drunk, can have strange effects on some people,
they loose complete remembrance of anything they did while under
the drunk influence of alchol - the Biblical acount is correct -
Keith Hunt]
The usual sexual position mentioned in the Bible is the
socalled "missionary position" with man on top. The man would
"bow down upon her" (Job 31:10), she was "under" him (Hosea
4:12), he was "over" her (Ruth 3:9), his back was facing up
(Numbers 25:8). But in the case of Lot's daughters, they were the
ones that carried out the actions, which implies the woman on top
position. Since the position for intercourse between homosexual
men is from behind, sometimes called the "doggy position," the
word "dog" has long been used as an euphemism for a homosexual.
Looking again, now, at Moses' statement about "the price of
a dog" and "the hire of a whore" (Deuteronomy 23:17,18), It is
clear he was speaking of male and female prostitution. But it
was more than this: it was that ancient practice known as ritual
or sacred prostitution. Fausset says, "Licentiousness not only
was sanctioned, but formed part of the worship." Intercourse with
temple prostitutes - male or female - was considered a sacred
act, and the money paid to them went into the cult treasury.
The men of Babylon made "Succoth-benoth" (2 Kings
17:30) - literally the tabernacles of th young women, where
ritual prostitution was performed in honor of Venus. Clarke says
it is probable that from "benoth" the word Venus came, the B
being changed into V, as is frequently the case, and the th into
s, thus Venos. Herodotus wrote that every young woman must once
in her life sit at the temple of Venus and prostitute herself.
Funds for the temple of Venus were obtained from the prostitution
Augustine made special mention of this custom among the
Phoenicians.
In Egypt, where Moses probably first learned of the
practice, the daughters of nobility copulated with a stranger for
a fee that went into the temple treasury. Lucian visited a great
temple of Aphrodite in Byblus where women were required to sell
themselves sexually to a stranger, the money received being
expended on a sacrifice to the goddess. Hastings mentions similar
customs among the Armenians and in India.
The city of Corinth, known to most of us because of Paul's
letters to the church there, was a city devoted to religious
prostitution. Even the name of a famous Corinthian prostitute
Lais - has survived the centuries. At Corinth, instead of
opposing prostitutes, they prayed for more of them! Clarke
writes:
Public prostitution formed a considerable part of their
religion; and they were accustomed in their public prayers,
to request the gods to multiply their prostitutes! ..for
commerce with them was neither esteemed sinful nor
disgraceful. Lais, so famous in history, was a Corinthian
prostitute, and whose price was not less than 10,000
drachmas.... So notorious was this city for such conduct,
that the verb to Corinthize, signified to act the
prostitute.
A strange twist surfaces in Micah l 1:7: "....and all the
graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the
hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols
thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of
an
harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot" Clarke's
Commentary explains:
Multitudes of women gave the money they gained by their
public prostitution at the temples for the support of the
priesthood, the ornamenting of the walls, altars, and
images. So that these things - were literally the hire of
the harlots: and God threatens here to deliver all into the
hands of enemies who should seize on this wealth, and
literally spend it in the same way it was acquired; so that,
'to the hire of a harlot these things should return'.
When the Israelites had come out of Egypt, one of their most
devastating conflicts was with the Moabites - those notorious
descendants of Lot and his daughter. Fearing the Israelites,
Balac, the Moabite king, hired Balaam to curse them. But if God
had blessed them, Balkam concluded, only their disobedience to
God could bring about theicr defeat. It was with this
strategy in mind that "Balaam...taught Balac to cast a
stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication" (Revelation
2:14). The Biblical Antiquities of Philo explains:
Then Balaam said unto Balac....Choose out the most comely
women that are among you and that are in Midian and set them
before them naked, and adorned with gold and jewels, and it
shall be when they shall see them and lie with them, they
will sin against their Lord and fall into your hands, for
otherwise thou can not subdue them (Philo 18:13,14).
The Biblical account says:
And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit
whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the
people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did
eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself
unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel (Numbers 25:1-9).
Later Biblical writers referred to this incident in these
words:
"Israel ... went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that
shame; and their abominations were according as they loved"
(Hosea 9:10). "They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor ...
thus were they defiled ... and went a whoring" (Psalms
106:28,39).
At the time this happened, Moses seized all the leaders of
the people and had them executed in broad daylight; and the
Israelite judges were ordered to kill all men within their
jurisdiction who had joined themselves to Baal-poor. This left
24,000 dead. Had it happened in our day, a newspaper headline
might have read:
HOOKERS SEDUCE THOUSANDS AT SHITTIM.
A book on Bible questions and answers asks: What man was
made a priest for killing a pair of lovers? The answer: Phinehas.
The details are given in Numbers 25:6-8:
One of the children of Israel came and brought unto his
brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in
the sight of all the congregation ... and when
Phinehas...saw it, he rose up and took a javelin in his
hand; and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and
thrust both of them through, the man of
Israel [Zimri] and the woman (Cozbi] through her belly.
The Latin Vulgate says Phinehas killed them by piercing them
both through at once in the genital parts. By this act he made an
"atonement" for Israel and was given an "everlasting priesthood"
(Numbers 25:12,13).
According to Josephus, the man that was killed accused Moses
of ascribing laws to God which brought upon them tyranny worse
than they had in Egypt; that men should be free to do their own
will; that marrying a foreign woman was his business; that truth
would sooner be found by inquiring of many people rather than
Moses alone.
Following Moses' orders to "vex the Midianites," the
Israelite soldiers moved in and "slew all the males" (Numbers
31:7), but kept the women alive as captives. In anger Moses
asked: "Have you saved all the women alive? Behold,
these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of
Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter
of Peor.... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones,
and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But
all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with
him, keep foryourselves" (Numbers 31:15-18).
Obviously a brutal mass checking followed - soldiers
stripping literally thousands of women and then checking them to
see which ones were virgins - and killing those who were not.
Those "women children" that were virgins - in many cases the
daughters of the women that were just killed - the soldiers were
allowed to keep for themselves.
[This is one of those passages that we look through a glass
darkly - for it does seem harsh. I think we may have lost sight
of the rough, harsh, perverted world, that it all was back then.
I think we shall one day understand it all better, we shall know
as we are known - Keith Hunt]
Among the men killed in the war was Balaam -- on the side
for which he had prophesied defeat! (Numbers 31:8). Two famous
Biblical texts: "God is not a man, that he should lie," and the
first words used when the telegraph was invented: "What hath God
wrought!" were the words of Balaam, the man who enticed the
Israelites into ritual prostitution (Numbers 23:19,23).
Centuries after the incident at Shittim, a group that
infiltrated the church at Pergamos tried to revive the free love
philosophy of Balaam (Revelation 2:14). With "eyes full of
adultery" these "went astray, following the way of Balaam...who
loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his
iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the
madness of the prophet" (2 Peter 2:14,15).
According to the Jewish book Zohar, a kabbalistic book,
Balaam befouled himself by nightly intercourse with his ass;
after which he would practice divination and sorcery. It would be
impossible to prove this about Balaam, but sex with animals was
prominent in that part of the world as evidenced by Leviticus
18:23,24:
"Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself
therewith ... for in all these the nations are defiled which
I cast out before you."
The ancient traveler and writer, Herodotus, mentioned seeing
a woman in Egypt publicly couple with a goat: "In this district
[Mendes] within my own recollection, this portentous business
took place: a goat coupled so publicly with a woman that every
person knew it. The fact that Moses wrote laws against such
practices implies they were widespread enough to require such
laws: "If a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto,
thou shalt kill the woman and the beast" (Leviticus 18:23;
20:16).
Did Moses believe that intercourse with animals could
produce hybrids--creatures part human and part animal? We cannot
speak for Moses, but this was a primitive belief. Old medical
literature - even long after the time of Moses - commonly spoke
of such results of bestiology. The drawings given here from
Pare's Surgery, a sixteenth century book, illustrate the case of
Chrathis, a shepherd who fell in love with a goat, and reportedly
fathered an infant with a goat body and human face. A similar
case supposedly occured in 1254 - a colt with a human head.
Among the Egyptians, goats were sometimes worshipped as a
representation of a god. Some of their gods were, like Pan, part
human and part goat. Moses may have had such worship in mind when
he spoke against "sacrifices unto devils" (Leviticus 17:7), the
word here so translated meaning "hairy ones" or goats.
In ancient times, kissing an idol (animal or human) was a
common part of Baal worship. We read about seven thousand
in Israel who had "not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth who had
not kissed him" - the implication being that many more thousands
had bowed and kissed him!, (I Kings 19:18). Hosea mentioned
people making molten images and "they say of them, Let the men
that sacrifice kiss the calves" (Hosea 13:2). What part of the
idol or calf was kissed? Considering these practices were
described by such words as "shameful" and "abomination," there
can be little doubt the sexual areas were included in the
kissing!
In the accompanying old drawing the Devil has possessed a goat,
and the people are kissing its - Well, let's just say they
kissed it beneath the tail!"
In taking the land of promise, the Israelites were expressly
commanded to drive out the Amorites - to "destroy their images"
and not "go whoring after their gods" (Exodus 34:11-16). Among
the Amorites, a woman, prior to her marriage, would sit in
fornication seven days by the gate. The Jewish book Jubilees
mentions the Amorites as being especially wicked. When we read,
then, that king Ahab "did very abominably in following idols,
according to all things as did the Amorites" (1 Kings 21:26), we
can see how depraved he was. Later, Manasseh, king of Judah, did
"wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him,
and ... made Judah also to sin with his idols"! (2 Kings
21:9-11).
Over and over, in such times of apostasy, sex worship was
merged into the Hebrew religion. Religious leaders, like Eli's
sons who "lay with the women that assembled at the door of the
tabernacle" (1 Samuel 2:22), were often men of low moral
standards. Rooms that adjoined the temple were used as dens for
prostitution and living quarters for the "sacred" prostitutes:
"...houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the Lord"
(2 Kings 23:7).
To make a comparison, imagine a large present-day church
complex with auditorium, social hall, and many rooms for the
various Sunday School classes. Suppose, in the course of time,
the worship of Christ merged with sex worship, the Sunday School
rooms became the quarters for homosexual priests and female
whores; those coming to "worship" engaged in intercourse with
these prostitutes; and the "hire of a whore" or "the price of a
dog [sodomite] supported the church treasury!
At the time of Ezekiel, pagan rites were merged into the
temple worship at Jerusalem, including "women weeping for Tammuz"
(Ezekiel 8:14). In mythology, Tammuz was a beautiful youth who
had been killed by a large boar. Says Clarke: "The women of
Phoenicia, Assyria, and Judea worshiped him as dead, with deep
lamentation, wearing priapi and other obscene images." They
believed in women's rites! In that part of the world, it was not
unusual for mourning women to express their grief loudly and,
according to Jerome, bare their breasts. As the Apocrypha says:
"And the women, girt with sackcloth under their breasts, thronged
the streets" (2 Maccabees 3:19). Herodotus mentioned women in
Egypt "lamenting up and down the city ...their apparel being girt
about them, and their breasts left naked."
But in the ritual of weeping for Tammuz, the women tore all
their clothes from their bodies, no doubt in imitation of the
mother of Tammuz, Ashtoreth or Ishtar, who was stripped of all
her clothing while seeking her son in the underworld. In the
primitive mind the new growth of trees and grass in spring
signified that Tammuz had been found and brought to life
again. His return from the underworld was then celebrated with
wild orgies and ritualistic prostitution.
Having seen the women "weeping for Tammuz," Ezekiel went on
into the inner court of the Lord's house where he observed "about
twenty five men with ... their faces toward the east; and they
worshiped the sun toward the east...and, lo, they put the branch
to their nose" (Ezekiel 8:17). The time was very early morning,
probably sunrise, for this is when the sun is distinctly in the
east. While engaging in sun worship, "they put the branch to
their nose," concerning which Clarke has written:
"There are many strange, and some filthy, interpretations
given of this clause; but the former are not worth
repeating, and I abominate the latter too much to defile my
paper with them"!
Probably one of the "filthy" interpretations was that
mentioned, and rejected, by Calvin in his commentary: that
people broke wind as the sun came up as part of their worship! If
the "ranch" was used for wiping - in the way we now use toilet
paper - it would have a bad smell when put to the nose. Expelled
gas smells bad. Based on this vague parallel, someone apparently
speculated that "putting the branch to the nose" was euphemistic
for expelling gas. Whatever the ritual actually was, Ezekiel
considered it an "abomination" (Ezekiel 8:17).
Other heathenistic rites into which the Israelites fell are
mentioned by Isaiah: "A people that provoke me to anger
continually to my face; that sacrifice in gardens, and burning
incense upon altars of brick; which remain among the graves, and
lodge in monuments, which eat swine's flesh" (Isaiah 65:3,4). At
some point a few words may have dropped out of this portion, for
where we read: "and burn incense upon altars of brick," the
Qumran Scroll reads: "and they suck/cleanse hands upon/as well as
the stones." Strange! The Anchor Bible says "hand" is a well
established euphemism for the phallus, "stones" can refer to
testicles, and "suck" or "cleanse" could mean fellatio. These
things would fit within the context of the orgastic rites
described, but if a mere literal cleansing of hands is meant, it
is difficult to see how this could have the bad meaning the text
requires.
Concerning a Moabite practice, Isaiah said: "And it shall
come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high
place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall
not prevail" (Isaiah 16:12). The Anchor Bible gives the following
translation and explanation of this verse:
"It will happen when he appears, when Moab exerts himself
upon the height, when he enters the sanctuary to worship,
that he will not be able."
In the Moabite religion, "worship" involved sexual
intercourse with temple prostitutes (Numbers 25). The put down
here is that when Moab would attempt to perform, he would be
impotent!
Another Isaiah passage is introduced by some very
unflattering
words: "But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed
of the adulterer and the whore..." Then follows a vivid
description of the Israelite passion for sex worship (Isaiah
57:3-5):
...enflaming yourselves with idols under every green
Iree....Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy
portion; they, are thy lot: even to them hath thou poured a
drink offering ....
Upon a lofty and high mountain halt thou to set thy bed,
even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. Behind the
doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance:
for thou hast discovered [exposed] thyself to another
...thou lovest their bed where thou sawest it.
Understanding the rites of the fertility cults, we know what
kind of "sacrifice" or worship was carried out on a "bed." The
"remembrance" placed at doorways was the phallic symbol to ward
off the evil eye - a common practice in the ancient world.
Being "enflamed" signified their burning lust for ritual
prostitution, from a word meaning to be hot (Strong's
Concordance, 2552). A word with identical meaning is used in
David's statement: "In sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalms
51:5) and of animals in heat (Genesis 30:39).
The sexual heat of animals provided the basis for Jeremiah's
rebuke to the idolatrous Israelites: "A wild ass ... that snuffs
up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her
away? .... in her month they shall find her" (Jeremiah 2:24).
Hosea said they were "all adulterers, as an oven heated by
the baker ... they commit adultery with whores, and they
sacrifice with harlots [temple prostitutes] ...they have
committed whoredom continually" (Hosea 7:4; 4:14,18).
Unlike most religions today, which oppose immorality, the
ancient fertility religions included ritual prostitution as an
essential part of worship. This was clearly forbidden by the law
of Moses and the money paid for such prostitution "the hire of a
whore" or "the price of a dog" - was not to be brought into the
house of the Lord (Yahweh).
....................
To be continued with "The Fertility Parade"
Entered on this Website June 2007
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