{"id":78165,"date":"2020-07-28T06:59:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T03:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78165"},"modified":"2020-07-28T07:01:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T04:01:47","slug":"wages-of-a-prostitute-in-the-house-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wages-of-a-prostitute-in-the-house-of-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Wages Of A Prostitute In The House Of The Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our chapter begins with a relatively detailed superscription: \u201cThe word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morashtite, who prophesied concerning Samaria and Jerusalem in the reigns of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah\u201d (Micah 1:1). This places the Prophet Micah in the 8<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE, in the village of Moreshet-Gat (also mentioned in verse 14, see also Jeremiah 26:18) or in the town of Mareshah (verse 15), both of which were located in Judah, southwest of Jerusalem. So, Micah may have been a village prophet decrying the spiritual and political corruption of the great cities of Samaria in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem in the Southern Kingdom of Judah.<\/span><\/p>\n

The name \u201cMicah\u201d seems to be a shortening of the fuller name Micaiah – <\/span>Mikhayah\/ Mikhayhu<\/span><\/em> meaning \u201cWho is like Y-H-W-H\u201d (i.e. Who can be compared to the Lord, see Exodus 15:11 \u201cWho is like you, O Lord\u2026\u201d). All of these were popular personal names in Biblical times. There are at least four separate individuals named Micah and various others named <\/span>Mikhayah\/Mikhayhu<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah\u2019s opening prophecy of doom on Samaria (1:2-7) concludes: \u201cSo I will turn Samaria into a ruin\u2026all her harlot\u2019s wealth be burned. And I will make a waste heap of all her idols, for they were amassed from fees for harlotry. And they shall again become harlots\u2019 fees (<\/span>etnan zonah<\/span><\/em>)\u201d (verses 6-7). This pithy expression echoes the prohibition: \u201cYou shall not bring the fee of a whore (<\/span>etnan zonah<\/span><\/em>) or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both are abhorrent to the Lord your God\u201d (Deut. 23:19). Here and elsewhere (see for example Hosea 9:1) the sin of idolatry is related to the evil of prostitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our verse on the fee paid to a prostitute plays a key role in an elusive story related in Talmud Bavli Avodah Zarah 16b-17a and parallels. Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanos (1<\/span>st<\/span>-2<\/span>nd\u00a0 <\/span>century CE) was accused of \u201cheresy\u201d (<\/span>minut<\/span><\/i>), but was acquitted by the presiding Roman official. Nevertheless, he was inconsolable, until his disciple, Rabbi Akiba, suggested that perhaps on some earlier occasion, Rabbi Eliezer had heard some heretical tradition, which at the time had pleased him. Rabbi Eliezer then recalls that indeed once he was asked by a disciple of \u201cJesus the Nazarene\u201d (<\/span>Yeshu Ha-Notzri<\/span><\/em> according to the uncensored Talmud manuscripts), if the \u201chire of a harlot\u201d, which may not be brought into the Temple, may be used for making a privy for the High Priest? For \u201cJesus the Nazarene\u201d taught: \u201cFor they were amassed from fees for harlotry. And they shall become harlots\u2019 fees again\u201d (Micah 1:7) \u2013 they came from a place of filth, let them go to a place of filth. Rabbi Eliezer then recalled that this heretical <\/span>midrash halakhah<\/em> <\/span>had at the time pleased him. And this was enough for him to be accused of \u201cheresy\u201d (see Peter Schaefer, <\/span>Jesus in the Talmud<\/span><\/em>, 2007, <\/span><\/i>Chapter 4).<\/span><\/p>\n

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