Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:17-18

Bird's-eye view

In these two verses, Moses lays down a sharp and necessary boundary between the worship of the true God and the debased practices of the surrounding pagan nations. The issue at hand is not simply private morality, but rather the public, corporate, and liturgical life of the people of God. The Canaanites integrated sexual perversion directly into their religious rites, believing that such acts could manipulate their gods and ensure fertility for their lands and livestock. This was a worldview where worship was a form of sympathetic magic, and the temple was a glorified brothel.

Yahweh, the God of Israel, is not a nature deity to be coaxed or manipulated. He is the sovereign Creator, holy and transcendent. Therefore, His worship must be holy. These prohibitions are designed to maintain a radical distinction. Israel is to be a holy nation, set apart from the abominations of the nations they were dispossessing. The prohibition of cult prostitutes, both female and male, and the rejection of their tainted earnings, establishes a non-negotiable principle: the worship of God cannot be mixed with the filth of paganism. The house of God is to be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves, and certainly not a place where the wages of sexual sin are offered as a gift to the Holy One of Israel.

Outline

Context In Deuteronomy

This passage sits within a larger section of Deuteronomy where Moses is applying the covenant law to the practical realities of life for Israel in the Promised Land. Chapter 23 deals with the holiness of the congregation, the "assembly of Yahweh." It begins by defining who may or may not enter this assembly, establishing boundaries for the covenant community. The chapter then moves to laws concerning camp purity, runaway slaves, and usury.

The prohibitions in verses 17 and 18 are therefore part of a broader concern for the sanctity of God's people in their corporate life and worship. Having just dealt with matters of physical and relational cleanliness in the camp, Moses now turns to the ultimate pollution: the importation of Canaanite religious practices into the worship of Yahweh. This is not an isolated moral command but a crucial firewall protecting Israel's covenant fidelity. The surrounding culture was saturated with fertility cults, and the temptation to syncretize, to blend the worship of Yahweh with the rituals of Baal and Asherah, would be immense. These laws make it clear that such blending is not just a bad idea; it is an abomination.

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

v. 17 “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

The first clause, "None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute," addresses the practice of sacred prostitution, a common feature of ancient Near Eastern fertility religions. The Hebrew word is qedeshah, which means a consecrated or set-apart woman. But here, she is set apart for ritual fornication in service to a pagan deity. This was not common streetwalking; this was a liturgical act. The surrounding nations believed that by engaging in sexual acts with these temple priestesses, they could stimulate their gods to have intercourse, which in turn would bring rain and fertility to the land. It was a thoroughly degraded, works-based, magical view of religion. Yahweh commands that no daughter of Israel, no woman from the covenant community, is to be set apart for such a vile purpose. She is to be set apart for holiness, for marriage, for childbearing, for being a keeper at home, all to the glory of the true God.

The second clause, "nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute," extends the prohibition to men. The Hebrew here is qadesh, the male equivalent of qedeshah. This refers to a male prostitute, very often a homosexual prostitute, involved in the same kinds of pagan fertility rites. This was not just about heterosexual sin; it was about the full spectrum of sexual perversion that characterized Canaanite worship. Paul picks up on this theme in Romans 1, where he links idolatry directly to the explosion of both female and male homosexual sin. When you abandon the worship of the Creator, you inevitably begin to worship the creature, and this always manifests itself in the corruption of the created order, particularly in the realm of sexuality. God created them male and female, and His worship must honor that creational design, not defile it.

v. 18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of Yahweh your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

The first part of this verse, "You shall not bring the hire of a harlot," makes the principle even more concrete. The "hire of a harlot" refers to the money she earned through prostitution. God is not interested in a tithe from the proceeds of sin. He doesn't need the money. This is a direct repudiation of the pagan mindset, where the gods were essentially for sale, and their temples were funded by the proceeds of their debauched rituals. God is telling Israel that He will not be insulted by such offerings. You cannot sin with your body on Saturday night and then try to buy God off with the profits on Sunday morning. The worship must be connected to a life of righteousness. The offering is unacceptable because the source of the offering is unclean.

Then we have the phrase "or the wages of a dog." This is a striking and intentionally offensive term. In the biblical context, "dog" is a term of profound contempt, often used for male prostitutes, and specifically homosexual prostitutes. So, the "wages of a dog" is the money earned by a man through sodomy. God is putting the earnings of a female prostitute and a male prostitute in the same category and banning them both from His house. He will not have His sanctuary built or maintained with the proceeds of sexual degradation. This is not a God who can be bought, bribed, or appeased with dirty money.

The verse concludes with the ultimate reason: "for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God." An abomination is something that is utterly detestable, repugnant, and loathsome in God's sight. It's a strong word, reserved for the most serious offenses, particularly idolatry and sexual perversion. The issue is not just that the acts are immoral, but that they represent a fundamental rebellion against the character and created order of God. To bring the fruit of such rebellion into His holy house as an act of worship is the height of blasphemous arrogance. It is to treat the holy God as though He were a pagan idol, and that is something He will not tolerate.

Application

The principles here are timeless. While we no longer have a physical temple, the church is now the house of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. And the central lesson is that worship and life cannot be compartmentalized. God demands holiness in every area of our lives, and our worship is only acceptable when it flows from a life of repentance and faith.

First, this passage is a stark reminder of the antithesis between the Christian faith and the spirit of the age. Our culture, much like ancient Canaan, is saturated with sexual perversion and increasingly seeks to normalize it. We are constantly pressured to accept what God calls an abomination. But the church must hold the line. We are to be a holy nation, distinct from the world, not a focus group that adapts its morality to the latest cultural trends.

Second, we must understand that all our work, all our getting and spending, is to be done to the glory of God. This passage condemns bringing tainted money into the Lord's house. This means we must be scrupulous about how we earn our living. We cannot engage in unethical or immoral business practices and think that our tithe somehow sanctifies the whole enterprise. God wants righteous hands and pure hearts, not just a percentage of the loot.

Finally, this is a call to recognize the deep connection between idolatry and sexual sin. When a culture turns from God, it will inevitably turn to sexual chaos. The two go hand in hand. Our society's frantic pursuit of sexual autonomy is a spiritual problem at its root. The only answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which not only forgives sin but also breaks its power. Christ died to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession. That purification means we can no longer offer the wages of a dog on the altar of a holy God. Instead, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our true and spiritual worship.