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Deuteronomy >
Exposition >
IV. MOSES' SECOND MAJOR ADDRESS: AN EXPOSITION OF THE LAW chs. 5--26 >
B. An exposition of selected covenant laws 12-25 >
7. Laws arising from the seventh commandment 22:9-23:18 >
Cultic personnel 23:17-18
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Israelites were not to become or to dedicate their children as cult prostitutes as the Canaanites did. They were not to offer to God money earned by prostitution to pay for a vow to Him either. The "dog"(v. 18) was a male sanctuary prostitute (cf. Rev. 22:15). Such men were common in Canaanite religion.263The Hebrew terms used here to describe cult prostitutes (qedesaand qades) set them off from regular Israelites who practiced prostitution (zonahand keleb). Obviously any type of prostitution violated the spirit if not the letter of the seventh commandment.
God's people should not rationalize immoral behavior by thinking that it will result in the greater glory of God (cf. Rom. 6:1-2; Acts 5).