HARLOT, WHORE, STRANGE WOMAN, etc.
(r13jr, more fully "I MO; ; Sept. 2r6pvh ; Vulg. merztrix ; rtn:1 rrir, rIC,i1P, etc. The first of these English words, to which various etymologies have been assigned, signifies a prostitute for lust or gain, ri ric"its. The mercenary motive is more evident in the second, from the German huren, Dutch hueren, to hire.' It is equally apparent in the Greek 76pun, from orepvcico, to sell ; ' and in the Latin meretrix, from mereor, to earn ' (comp. Ovid, Amor. i. 10, 21). The first Hebrew word (M1l) occurs frequently, and is often rendered in our version by the first of these English words, as in Gen. xxxiv. 31, etc., and somethnes, without apparent reason for the change, by the second, as in Prov. xxiii. 27, and elsewhere. The first Eng lish word is also applied to different Hebrew words, whereby important distinctions are lost. Thus in Gen. xxxviii. 15, the word is MM.' harlot,' which, however, becomes changed to rvirrp, harlot,' in vers. 21, 22, WhiCh means, litemlly, a consecrated woman, a female (perhaps priestess) devoted to prostitution in honour of some heathen idol. The distinction shews that Judah supposed Tamar to be a heathen ; the facts, therefore, do not prove that prostitution was then practised between He brews. The following elucidation is offered of the most important instances in which the several words occur :— First, lint. From the foregoing account of Judah it would appear that the vcil ' was at that time peculiar to harlots. Judah thought Tamar to be such, because she had covered her face.' Mr. Buckingham remarks, in reference to this passage, that the Turcomaun women go unveiled to this day' (Travels in Illesopotanzia, i. 77). It is con tended by Jahn and others that in ancient times all females wore the veil (Bibl. Archdol. p. 127). Pos sibly some peculiarity in the size ot the veil, or the mode of wearing it, may have been (rinr Prov. vii. to) the distinctive dress of the harlot at that period. The priests and the high-priest were forbidden to take a wife that was (had been, Lev. xxi. 7) a harlot. Josephus extends the law to all the Hebrews, and seems to ground it on the pro hibition against oblations arising from prosti tution. Dent. xxiii. 18 ( intiq. iv. S. 23). The
celebrated case of Rahab has been much debated [RAHA.B]. The next instance introduces the epi thet of strange woman.' It is the case of Jephthah's mothcr (Judg. xi. 2), who is also called a harlot (orbpizn; nzeretrix); but the epithet rit.9t; nnriN, 'strange woman,' merely denotes foreign extraction. Josephus says Vuor orepi Thu Ftp4pa, 'a stranger by the mother's side.' The masterly description in Prov. vii. 6, etc., may possibly be that of an abandoned married woman (vers. 19, 2o), or of the solicitations of a courtczan, fair speech,' under such a pretension. The mixture of religious observances (ver. 14) seems illustrated by the fact that the gods are actually worshipped in many Oriental brothels, and fragments of the offerings distributed among the frequenters ' (Dr. A. Clarke's Comment. in loc.) The representation given by Solomon is no doubt founded upon facts, and therefore shews that in his time prostitutes plied their trade in the streets ' (Prov. vii. 12 ; iX. 14, etc.; Jer. iii. 2 ; Ezek. xvi. 24, 25, 3 1). Since the Hebrews regarded Jehovah as the husband of his people, by virtue of the covenant he had made with them (Jer. t); therefore, to commit forni cation is a very common metaphor in the Scriptures to denote defections on their part from that cove nant, and especially by the practice of idolatry [FoRNicKrioN]. Hence the degeneracy of Jeru salem is illustrated by the symbol of a harlot (Is. i. 21), and even that of heathen cities, as of Nineveh (Nah. 4). Under this figure the prophet Eze kiel delivers the tremendous invectives contained in ch. xvi. xxiii. In the prophecy of Hosea the illustration is carried to a startling extent. The prophet seems commanded by the Lord to take 'a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms' (ch. i. 2), and to love an adulteress ' (ch. iii. 1). It has, indeed, been much disputed whether these transactions were real, or passed in vision only ; but the idea itself, and the diversified applications of it throughout the prophecy, render it one of the most effective portions of Scripture [HosEA].