Was prostitution legal in the Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon?
Upvote:1
As a question of law, it is pretty obviously not legal; but if you read the prophets you find it was understood that it was practiced throughout the entire time of the divided kingdoms. If you read carefully, you find a reference during the reign of 1 Kings saying "but the people continued to offer sacrifices in the high places". An again in the proverbs there is warning upon warning about the prostitutes where mainly it refers to spending ones youth or wealth on time, as opposed to wayword woman which is described as destruction. It's almost like it was tolerated due to being too difficult to stamp out and nobody willing to bring charges, despite the penalty for the john being rather severe.
A careful reading reveals that prostitution does not carry the death penalty for the prostitute in the normal case (neither betrothed nor married) so there's no reason they would not have access to the courts.
Upvote:1
To the best of my knowledge, there are no surviving records outside the Bible that can be linked to the time of Solomon. There are surviving mentions from the records of other nations to King David, and to some of the kings who reigned after Solomon, but not to Solomon. (Not shocking in itself -- lots of people in ancient times are known to us from only one or two sources.)
It's instructive but not definitive to examine the Mosaic Law. I was surprised when I checked on this to find that the Mosaic law does not have any clear prohibition of prostitution. Deuteronomy 23:17 bans cult prostitutes, but not prostitutes in general. Deuteronomy 22:21 says that if a man marries and discovers that his bride was not a virgin, she can be executed. But if a prostitute never tries to marry ... there's no clear law against it. It was certainly condemned as horribly immoral. It makes me wonder if it was like p**nography or alcohol abuse in the U.S. today: widely condemned, but not illegal.
I say it's not definitive because just because something was written in the law 430 years before doesn't prove the law was still enforced or even thought about. Or new laws may have been written.
So I think the answer is: no one knows. I'm happy to hear if anyone has information I'm not familiar with.
More post
- 📝 Why didn't every nation commit genocides against every other nation when they conquered land?
- 📝 Why is Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf often refered to by his given name "Conrad"?
- 📝 Battle which has been decided by an epidemic plague
- 📝 What was Rousseau's point in "The Social Contract"?
- 📝 What does it mean to have a "proved son?"
- 📝 Book on history of international trade
- 📝 Civilians in Napoleon's Grand Army when he invaded Russia
- 📝 How kind were the Muslim occupations of North Africa?
- 📝 Where to find birth records for those born in Ireland pre-Independence?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 Why did Pakistan choose Islamabad as its capital?
- 📝 Why was the knitting needle or the distaff a symbol to show contempt in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 What effect did the execution of Louis XVI have on French foreign policy?
- 📝 Where did the “vikings wear helmets with horn” stereotype come from and why?
- 📝 Why was "Caesar" borrowed for the imperial title in German rather than "Augustus"?
- 📝 Did the Nazi regime always or often prioritize transport trains to the death camps over military transport?
- 📝 Was the custom of covering Kaaba in black cloth adopted during the Fatimid era?
- 📝 What explains this dip in Indonesian GDP growth rate in 1982?
- 📝 What is the difference between Anatolia and Asia Minor?
- 📝 How much would votes sell for in early America?
- 📝 What is the history of Research and Development laboratories?
- 📝 Was there any official affirmation from the US government that they would win the Vietnam War?
- 📝 Was the Macedonian phalanx more effective than hoplites?
- 📝 What was the largest ancient theatre?
- 📝 How was the transfer of personnel from British women's military services managed?
- 📝 What was the primary motivation for a historical figure like Xenophon to create an extensive collection of written material?
- 📝 Why did the delgates show up on different balconies after they signed the Austrian State Treaty?
- 📝 Was the American Civil War the “bloodiest civil war in history”?
- 📝 Which is the oldest, still current, government debt?
- 📝 What is the first horse name recorded in history?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was prostitution legal in the Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Solomon?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Did people in China resort to cannibalism during the reign of Mao?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 What was the ratio of German to Soviet losses on Eastern front during different stages of the war?
- 📝 What was the strategy to protect the British Museum during the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the legal framework in Ancient India?
- 📝 Why was there lack of food during WW2 in the UK?
- 📝 How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
- 📝 What was the size of surface of a cereal crop needed per man per year during the Dark Ages in Western Europe?
- 📝 How close was the Soviet Union to collapsing during WW2?
- 📝 Was there a Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo during WW2
- 📝 What was the value of the spice trade during the age of exploration?
- 📝 What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
- 📝 How was beer production affected by the war during WW2?
- 📝 What was the legal status of an East German once he had reached West Germany?
- 📝 Was Col. John K. Waters (Gen. Patton's son-in-law) wounded in the buttocks or the stomach during Patton's raid on Oflag XIII-B near Hammelburg?
- 📝 What was the actual value of tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party?
- 📝 How was Israel able to build a powerful military within days of the formation of the state?
- 📝 How wide-spread was antisemitism in the USA during WWII?
- 📝 Was the European slave market in the East during the colonial era similar to the transatlantic slave market? If not (less brutal, etc), why?
- 📝 Was the act of servicemen exchanging their weapons for enemy weapons common during WWII?
- 📝 During World War I, why were church bells stopped until the war was over?
- 📝 Did Hitler have an end goal during the "appeas*m*nt" phase, or was he just picking a fight?