Deuteronomy 23:17-18

Cultic personnel 23:17-18

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" (Deuteronomy 23:18) was a male sanctuary prostitute (cf. Revelation 22:15). Such men were common in Canaanite religion. [Note: Thompson, p. 242; Payne, p. 132.] The Hebrew terms used here to describe cult prostitutes (qedesa and qades) set them off from regular Israelites who practiced prostitution (zonah and 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. Romans 6:1-2; Acts 5).