Prostitution, Incest, Rape, and Polygamy

Before getting into these sexual misbehaviors, let’s begin with the biblical pattern for sexuality. God engineered intercourse to happen between a male and a female within the context of marriage (Gen 2:24). The marriage covenant protects sex, taking away guilt and shame, dehumanizing tendencies, pressures to perform, the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, and a host of other situations that undermine human flourishing. Furthermore, the commitment of marriage provides a stable nurturing environment for the fruit of sex—children. Lastly, the boundary of marriage can facilitate a safe place for each spouse to become vulnerable, which leads to greater intimacy relationally, spiritually, and physically.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Each of the sexual sins we’ll consider today results from deviating from God’s original pattern.

Prostitution

Sometimes touted as the world’s most ancient profession, prostitution is paying someone for sexual acts. God condemns this behavior in the Law of Moses:

Leviticus 19:2, 29
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy…29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.

Although ancient prostitution was frequently associated with idolatry, the New Testament clearly condemns the act not for what it condones but for how it tarnishes one’s relationship with Christ:

1 Corinthians 6:15-20
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Increasingly today, prostitution is moving off the streets and onto the internet where prostitutes look more like entrepreneurs than victims coerced by men. For example, a recent article, “Is Prostitution Just Another Job?” challenged the stereotype of prostitutes always being victims who work in the sex industry out of necessity.⁵¹ Whether people (female or male) engage in paid sex to supplement their incomes or due to exploitation, it is still a sin. God loves prostitutes, a fact that Jesus clearly demonstrated by spending time with such people, and calls them to embrace His way of life (Mat 21:31-32). As a church, are we willing to walk alongside people and help them transition from the oftentimes lucrative sex industry to another occupation?

Incest

The Bible varies on its handling of incest. Early on, brothers and sisters married each other (Abraham and Sarah), and parents often preferred their children to marry cousins (Isaac and Rebekah). However, by the time of Moses, God established a law against such practices.

Leviticus 18:1-5
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

God calls His people to be different than Egypt whence they came or Canaan whither they went. Instead of taking on the common practices of the nations, His people will be holy—separate.

Leviticus 18:6-7
6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness.

Verses 7 through 17 list out an impressive list of prohibited configurations, including unions with one’s father, mother, step-mother, sister, step-sister, granddaughter, step-granddaughter, aunt, uncle, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, wife’s daughter, granddaughters-in-law. Then the chapter concludes with the following declaration:

Leviticus 18:24-30
24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.” 

The Canaanites apparently did these things! I guess ancient people were “progressive.” Even so, God calls His people to be different.

Rape

The first incident of rape in the Bible is Dinah, the daughter of Jacob (Gen 34). Shechem the Hivite seized and raped her, but afterwards had great affection for her. He asked his father, Hamor, to arrange a marriage with the words, “Get me this girl for my wife” (Gen 34:4). Hamor went to Jacob to negotiate, but her brothers were furious about the situation. They told Shechem to circumcise himself and all men of city, or else they could not intermarry. Hamor and Shechem convinced the men of the village to undergo circumcision so that Jacob’s family could be trading partners and intermarry. However, on the third day, when they were sore, Simeon and Levi took swords and attacked. They killed all the men and took the women and children for themselves as captives. Jacob was angry about their actions and scared about retaliation. They replied, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” (Gen 34:31). Such an incident demonstrates the incredible violence rape provokes as well as how utterly repulsive it is.

Another biblical incident happened during the reign of King David when his son Amnon raped his halfsister Tamar (2 Sam 13). He pretended to be sick and had her come into his room and feed him. He grabbed her and said, “Come, lie with me, my sister” (2 Sam 13:11). She said, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing. As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you” (2 Sam 13:12-13). He ignored her protestations and violated her, after which he “hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her” (2 Sam 13:15). He told her to leave, and she wanted to stay, presumably as his wife to avoid the shame and hardship that went with losing her prospects for marriage. She said, “No, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me” (2 Sam 13:16). He wouldn’t listen to her and kicked her out. Later on, her full brother, Absalom, after two years of careful scheming, murdered Amnon in revenge (2 Sam 13:28- 29).

Rape is also a shockingly common practice in war, even in modern times. Here are some examples from the 20th century:⁵²
– Kashmir conflict (past 3 decades, estimated 100 raped)
– Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1980s, entire villages raped)
– Turks raped Greeks in Cyprus (1974)
– Pakistan raped Bangladeshis (1971, as many as 200,000 – 400,000)
– World War 2, Soviets raped Germans (2 million)
– Japanese forced 200,000 Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Tawanese, and Filipino women into sex work (called “comfort women”)

To curb such practices, the Law of Moses set limits on how a soldier could treat a female captive of war (Deut 21:10-14). They had to bring her home to his house, shave her head, pare her nails, and give her a change of clothes. He wasn’t allowed to touch her for a full month, so she had time to mourn. After this, he could sleep with her, but only if he took her as a wife with all the privileges and protections that went along with that. Later, he could divorce her, but he couldn’t sell her or make her a slave.

In addition, Deuteronomy adds a couple of laws about rape, distinguishing between a betrothed girl and one who is not yet promised in marriage. If a man sleeps with a betrothed virgin in the city, they are guilty of a capital crime (Deut 22:23-26). If she had cried out for help, the situation would be totally different. If a girl claims rape in the country, then the man is executed only, since no one would have heard if she cried out for help. However, if a man sleeps with an unbetrothed virgin (forcibly or through seduction), he must pay the bride price for her, marry her, and he can never divorce her (Deut 22:28-29). If her father refuses to give her to him, he still had to pay the bride-price (Ex 22:16-17).

Polygamy

Throughout the Old Testament, polygamy—marrying multiple wives—was permitted. This may have been because of gender population imbalances due to men dying in war, infertility of a woman, or levirate marriage (marrying a deceased brother’s wife, see Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4:5-13). The Law of Moses required the inheritance to go to the firstborn son, regardless if he was the son of his less preferred wife (Deut 21:15-17). Compared to other sexual practices, the Bible is remarkably silent on this issue. Though the creation pattern is between one woman (Eve) and one man (Adam) (Gen 2:24), polygamy was fairly common among the Israelites. Even so, it’s hard not to get the impression that plural marriages fail to live up to God’s ideal since the Bible portrays most (maybe all) polygamous marriages as dysfunctional at best and disastrous at worst. Think of Abraham with Sarah and Hagar, Jacob with Leah and Rachel, Elkanah with Peninnah and Hannah, Solomon with foreign wives who turned him to idolatry, or Gideon whose son through a concubine exterminated all his half-brothers. Jesus’ statement on marriage (Mat 19:4-6) goes back to the original creation pattern of one man and one woman. In addition, the pastoral epistles require a church leader to be the husband of one wife (1 Tim 3:2, 12; Tit 1:6). Likewise for a widow to receive financial support from the church, she had to be sixty or older and “the wife of one husband” (1 Tim 5:9).

51 “Is Prostitution Just Another Job?” Mac McClelland, New York Magazine: The Cut, March 21, 2016, http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/03/sex-workers-legalization-c-v-r.html, accessed February 28, 2017.
52 “Wartime Sexual Violence,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartime_sexual_violence, accessed February 28, 2017.