{"id":66109,"date":"2019-11-24T21:48:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T19:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66109"},"modified":"2023-06-19T10:57:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T07:57:23","slug":"prostitution-as-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/prostitution-as-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"Prostitution As Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Isaiah chapter 23 foretells the destruction of Tyre, a major Phoenician trading city. After being forgotten for 70 years, Isaiah prophesies, the city will rise again.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years… After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute [JPS:\u00a0After a lapse of seventy years, it shall go with Tyre as with the harlot in the ditty] (15).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the moment of Tyre\u2019s reestablishment, curiously, Isaiah turns to the metaphor of prostitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTake a harp,\u201d Isaiah tells Tyre, \u201cgo about the city, you prostitute that has been forgotten. Make sweet melody. Sing many songs, that you may be remembered.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah is telling the prostitute to try to seduce her old customers, to see if any remember her after 70 years. It\u2019s an odd sort of redemption in which Tyre is degraded via depiction as a harlot and is dared to see who might come sniffing around after her wares.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For after a lapse of seventy years, the LORD will take note of Tyre, and she shall resume her \u201cfee-taking\u201d and \u201cplay the harlot\u201d with all the kingdoms of the world… But her profits and \u201chire\u201d shall be consecrated to the LORD.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah makes clear that, in the end, the city will<\/span> be reestablished not through the prostitute\u2019s attempt to lure in old customers, but by God. Curiously, her earnings will then be consecrated — goods earned in exchange for sex will be dedicated to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible expressly forbids goods earned via prostitution being used to this end. A woman who is paid for sex with a sheep, for example, is expressly forbidden from sacrificing that sheep on the altar of the Lord. So why does Isaiah 23 conclude with the harlot\u2019s earnings being dedicated to God?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ibn Ezra argues that this law does not apply because the harlotry in this prophecy is merely metaphorical. <\/span>Actual<\/span><\/em> income earned from prostitution cannot be dedicated to God, but metaphorical harlotry earnings are just fine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does Isaiah insist on using a metaphor that doesn\u2019t hold water?<\/span><\/p>\n

Without derogatory feminine imagery, this story is straightforward, but not poetic. Without metaphor, it\u2019s merely prediction; with metaphor, it\u2019s prophecy. And with misogynistic metaphor, it\u2019s particularly <\/span>Isaian<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Book of Isaiah repeatedly relies upon misogynistic depictions of women. This is not the Song of Songs. This is not Miriam leading the Israelite women in celebratory dance. This is a prophet operating well into a patriarchal monotheistic age, and his negative views of women shed light on the dangers of such a system. When man alone is at the center of mythology and theology, what follows is a power structure wherein men believe themselves superior and marginalize and oppress women to maintain such a hierarchy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If he who wields the pen wields the power, perhaps it\u2019s time to let her wield the pen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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