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Kings and Chronicles, Part 2: Seeds of Hope

  1. Lesson One
    Hezekiah (2 Kings 17–20, 2 Chronicles 28–32)
    19 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Josiah and the Fall of the South (2 Kings 21–23, 2 Chronicles 33–35)
    23 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Overview of 1 and 2 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1–7, 14–29, 2 Chronicles 29–36)
    22 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    Ritual and Sacramental Living (1 Chronicles 13, 21, 2 Chronicles 1–27)
    24 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Wisdom Literature (Proverbs 1–4, Ecclesiastes 1–3, 12, Job 1–4, 40–42)
    18 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. [2] But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. [3] Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). [4] It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. [5] So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfill the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus.

Source: Herodotus, Histories, 1.199, translated by A. D. Godley, 1920, 1.199. 

These observations from the famous Greek historian Herodotus have fueled a robust discussion about the presence of ritual sex in the context of pagan worship. 

What was it?
How prevalent was it?
What purpose did it serve?
And perhaps most importantly, how much of it did Israel confront during their time in the promised land?

By definition, “ritual sex” refers to any sexual act performed in the context of religion. Indeed, evidence suggesting the presence of ritual sex in a cultic setting reaches back to the Sumerian civilizations of Mesopotamia. The related concept of “sacred marriage” (hieros gamos) is more specific, involving sexual ritual between king and priestess that supposedly mirrors a supernatural union between a god and goddess. The Bible contains direct legislation against the establishment of sacred prostitution of any kind in Deuteronomy 23:17-18. In fact, the Bible has no place for priestesses at all.

We may ask why there are no female ritual leaders in Levitical legislation and in the detailed personnel descriptions of Chronicles. Was it because, as some suggest, Israel was a patriarchal culture, restricting women to domestic spheres to maintain a male monopoly of power? Reading the Bible in light of its cultural context of Israel makes more sense. The worship of YHWH was designed to be intentionally different from its neighboring religions in many ways, clearly disengaging any ideological connection with paganism. Sexuality in worship (like the use of magic) was comprehensively forbidden. While Israelite women were invited into worship, they were not exploited by its rituals.