The Facts (Chapter number: Verse)
Hosea 3 - "The LORD said to me again, 'Go, love a woman who has a lover and is an adulteress, just as the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.' So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer of barley and a measure of wine. And I said to her, 'You must remain as mine for many days; you shall not play the whore, you shall not have intercourse with a man, nor I with you.' For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; they shall come in awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days."
4:5 "You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother."
4:10-15 - "They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply; because they have forsaken the LORD to devote themselves to whoredom. Wine and new wine take away the understanding. My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with whores, and sacrifice with temple prostitutes; thus a people without understanding comes to ruin. Though you play the whore, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty. Do not enter into Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, 'As the LORD lives.'"
My Comments
Hey, let's all be like God and get ourselves our own whoring/adulteress wives and abuse them as well! Come on! It'll be fun! She'll be super cheap too since no one's gonna want her after she's been all used! XD
...
Yeah...
I will also continue to highlight the many times the word "whore" is used. Seems to be the Bible's new favorite word now. I like to imagine every time I read the word "whore" that there's a large group of people who jump up and dance with streamers and confetti shouting, "Yay! You said the daily word! Whoo!" Because, you know, the image is funny, and then after about the 10th repeat of it I start to imagine the people getting more and more tired until they're finally like, "Really? Again? Can't you use a damned thesaurus? Or perhaps desist in your misogynist slurs?" And then they all fuck off because, really, it's used so much it just gets too tiring to bother caring.
Those people are my friends during these tough and trying chapters.
Friday: More Hosea
Maybe 'whore' is one of those words that didn't translate correctly. Live 'virgin' and 'young woman'...or maybe they are sexist and like the word 'whore'.
ReplyDeleteKriss
Maybe it's a bit of both.
ReplyDeleteWhatever word it ought to be, it's the condemnation of women engaging in sex. Though men are reproached for going aside with whores, they're still "men" while the women are "whores". There can't be whores without johns, there can't be adulteresses without adulterers; but we wouldn't want to hurt then menz feelings by calling them out too harshly.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, heaven forbid we ever actually name our oppressors. Because, you know, they're feelings are just so delicate. Although I have no problems with stating the obvious that it's MEN who oppress women. Hell, MEN are the ones who oppress each other. Men men men men.
ReplyDeleteAlso, men aren't actually reproached for sleeping with whores. The only time men are KIND OF punished for sex is when they sleep with another man's wife, and even then the wife is punished (ie. killed) right along side the adulterer (and even then it's dealt with as a issue of "theft" and not an issue of sexual deviance). Men are expected and encouraged to have numerous "concubines" alongside their numerous wives. If a man rapes a woman (as long as it's not outside of the town) it's the woman who is punished and killed, not the man. Hell, even when men engage in adulterous sex it's not their fault but the woman's fault for luring them into their beds. And it's not adulterous sex unless it is with another man's wife because it is a property issue, not a sex issue. Married men can sleep with as many women as they please as long as those women are not "owned" by another man. Women are the sexually evil ones because female sex is deviant. Male sex is ALWAYS ok.
So when I mention that men are only KIND OF punished for adultery I mean that in an almost not serious way because the only time that is actually treated as a punishable crime is during a few verses in Deuteronomy, while pretty much the rest of the Bible (especially Proverbs) works it's darndest to prove that no, men aren't to blame in these situations, only the women. Women are whores and adulteresses and men are just "victims" to an unfortunate NATURAL lust which they just can't help.
I give the Bible absolutely no kindness when it comes to the way it treats sex anymore. It has made it clear OVER AND OVER AND OVER again that female sex is the only sex meant to be feared and controlled (with force, if necessary) and male sex is the one that is free to do as it pleases, whether it's take multiple concubines and wives, take whores, take virgins of a captured city, you name it. As you said, Efogoto, women are whores and adulteresses while men are simply men.
Aha! I was trying to find this passage to go with my last comment, where the Bible basically states that prostitutes are okay for a man to use, so sleep with a prostitute instead of a married woman because, you know, property rights and blah blah blah. I really need to start organizing my blog posts better. Especially the ones I point back to a lot. :\
ReplyDeleteUgh, and now I'm reminded of just how VILE Proverbs was. I haven't had to look back at it in a while and now I remember why I hated it so very much.
I see that you are correct and that men are not reproached for copulating with whores. I had quickly checked back on Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 and misread the events:
ReplyDeleteThree months later Judah was told that Tamar has played the whore and she was pregnant as a result. Judah said "Bring her out, and let her be burned." As she was brought out she sent word to her father in law "It was the owner of these who made me pregnant." Tamar brought out Judah's cord and staff. Judah acknowledged them and declared that Tamar was more in the right than he was, since her had promised her Shelah and he did not give her to him. Judah did not lay with her again.
Tamar would have been burned as a whore, but she had Judah on a technicality because she'd only gone whoring after he'd denied her his other son.
So there we have it: burn the whores after use. Heck, why pay them?
With everything in my life I could be thinking about, this has been nagging at my mind. I need to put it to rest.
ReplyDeleteWhy would Judah burn Tamar? Was she the daughter of a priest and thus need to be burned for playing the whore? Or was Judah just pissed off enough to burn her? Or is Judah a priest and therefore Tamar his daughter(-in-law) would need to be burned for playing the whore?
Not every whore got burned, so why Tamar?
Your guess is as good as mine. Stoning seems to be the preferred method of taking care of women who get out of line, so maybe Judah just has a preference for burning over stoning. *shrug*
ReplyDelete