Jews, Adultery and Prostitution in the (Written) Torah

As part of my ongoing series of articles on the subject of immorality in the Torah and the Tanakh (aka the 'Jewish Bible') we should cover the attitude displayed in these two foundational texts of Judaism towards the 'oldest profession': (1) prostitution.

Before we delve into this attitude however we should remember that in Judaism the (Written) Torah is the literal word of Yahweh and thus is the text by which jewish religious law (i.e., halakhah) is set. The better known Mishnah and Gemara (aka the Talmuds or the Oral Torah) only attempt to codify and to an extent interpret the Written Torah: they do not supplant it or what it says.

The other matter which we should note before we go forward is that the statements of the (Written) Torah (hereafter just referred to as the Torah) on adultery are often used to try and counterbalance what the Torah says about prostitution. This however disingenuous because while some statements in the Torah (as well as the Tanakh more broadly) in relation to adultery to bear upon prostitution: most of them do not.

The reason for this is fairly simple in so far as a prostitute and her customer are not necessarily married so are not accordingly ipso facto adulterous although they would necessarily be classed as unclean and degenerate for engaging in the practice. The use of the statements in regard to adultery is simply as a rationalization in order to try and explain away what the Torah (as well as the Tanakh) tell us about the relationship of jews to the ancient sex trade.

We should also point out that prostitution in the Torah is not the same thing as sacred prostitution: (2) as the former is for the benefit of the individual (as they keep the payment) and the latter is for the benefit of a cult/sect/religious group (as the proceeds go not to the prostitute but to their cult/sect/religious group).

Once again these passages tend to be confused by those trying to minimize what the Torah actually says on the subject: as the attitude to sacred prostitution is condemnatory, while the attitude to prostitute is implicitly laudatory. Thus those seeking to justify their religiously-based objections to prostitution tend to quote the Torah passages relating to sacred prostitution as if they were aimed at prostitution more broadly in order to support those views.

To wit let us begin with what the book of Genesis says on the subject:

'In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died; and when Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hi'rah the Adul'lamite. And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she put off her widow's garments, and put on a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that She'lah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had covered her face. He went over to her at the road side, and said, “Come, let me come in to you.,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge, till you send it?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.' (3)

In the above passage it is absolutely clear that Judah was using a prostitute willingly regardless of whether that prostitute was his daughter-in-law Tamar or not. That Tamar knew to pretend to be a prostitute and that by doing so she would certainly be able to tempt Judah into giving her custom: is indicative that Judah himself used prostitutes regularly (as otherwise how would Tamar know that it would work?) as well as that (jewish) prostitutes were a common sight in Palestine at the time (as otherwise how would Judah know precisely what a woman wearing what Tamar; as we well as being where she, was meant she was offering).

That prostitution is approved of by the Torah is further suggested by the fact that Yahweh - being omnipresent and omnipotent - allowed the sexual union of Judah and Tamar to occur as well as making that union fruitful with Tamar conceiving a child by her step-father.

That the adultery rulings do not cover this is indicated by the book of Leviticus, which tells us in relation to adultery that:

'If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour; both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.' (4)

Which is then clarified by the following passage:

'And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a harlot, these he shall not marry; but he shall take to wife a virgin of his own people, that he may not profane his children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctify him.' (5)

This then illustrates the fact that in the Torah a wife is a woman who has been taken to wife in adherence to certain criteria not necessarily the fact that she had been declared a wife of a man (hence Ex. 20:14; 17). That a (jewish) prostitute is not married is suggested by the passage precisely because by being married and working as a prostitute means that she is now an adulteress (by virtue of being married) so will according to Lev. 20:10 be summarily executed.

Tamar was not (currently) married in the passages from the book of Genesis being a widow and nor was Judah being a widower so according to the Torah then what they did was a righteous act although it was in fact incest and technically punishable by death (but was endorsed by virtue of non-punishment of act by Yahweh), but which is also - like prostitution - endorsed by the Torah.

This then indicates to us that the Torah fully endorses sexual prostitution among jews as long as the prostitute and her client are not currently married as when the woman is married (less so with the man however) then the Torah classifies her as an adulteress and not a prostitute. As well as that - based on the comment in Genesis about Judah and Tamar - that jewish prostitutes and jews seeking prostitutes must have been in some abundance in Palestine in their time.

References

(1) This isn't actually correct as can be demonstrated by the simple thought of experiment of: if prostitution is the oldest profession then how did the customer pay the prostitute?

(2) For information on jews and the practice of sacred prostitution see my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jews-and-sacred-prostitution-in-ancient

(3) Gen. 38:12-19 (RSV)

(4) Lev. 20:10 (RSV)

(5) Lev. 21:13-15 (RSV)