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HARLOT (Heb. zônâh, ’ishshâh nokrîyyâh [lit. ‘strange woman’], qedçshâh, Gr. pornç) in EV [Note: English Version.] denotes unchaste women, especially those devoted to immoral service in idol sanctuaries, or given to a dissolute life for gain. We find evidence of their existence in very early times (Gen_38:1-30). From the name ‘strange woman’ in Pro_6:24; Pro_23:27 etc. (cf. 1Ki_11:1, Ezr_10:2 etc.), we may perhaps infer that in later times they were chiefly foreigners. By songs (Isa_23:16) and insinuating arts (Pro_6:24 etc.) they captivated the unwary. They acted also as decoys to the dens of robbery and murder (Pro_7:22; Pro_7:27 etc.). Wealth was lavished upon them (Eze_16:33; Eze_16:39; Eze_23:26 etc.; cf. Luk_15:30). Apart from breaches of the marriage vows, immoral relations between the sexes were deemed venial (Deu_22:28 ff.). A man might not compel his daughter to sin (Lev_19:29), but apparently she was free herself to take that way. Children of harlots were practical outlaws (Deu_23:2, Jdg_11:1 ff., Joh_8:41), and in NT times the harlot lived under social ban (Mat_21:32 etc.).
The picture takes a darker hue when we remember that in ancient Syria the reproductive forces of nature were deified, and worshipped in grossly immoral rites. Both men and women prostituted themselves in the service of the gods. The Canaanite sanctuaries were practically gigantic brothels, legalized by the sanctions of religion. The appeal made to the baser passions of the Israelites was all too successful (Amo_2:7, Hos_4:13 ff. etc.), and it is grimly significant that the prophets designate apostasy and declension by ‘whoredom.’ There were therefore special reasons for the exceptional law regarding the priest’s daughter (Lev_21:9). Religious prostitution was prohibited in Israel (Deu_23:17), and all gain from the unholy calling as Temple revenue was spurned (see Driver, Deut., in loc.). The pure religion of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] was delivered from this peril only by the stern discipline of the Exile. A similar danger beset the early Church, e.g. in Greece and Asia Minor: hence such passages as Rom_1:24 ff., 1Co_6:9 ff., Gal_5:19 etc., and the decree of the Apostolic Council (Act_15:20; Act_15:29).
W. Ewing.