Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>]

George:

The passage in 2 Kings 23.7 also refers to women weaving something for the
sacred groves.

What word is used there, and what does it mean?

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
villandra AT austin.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
To: <villandra AT austin.rr.com>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Sodomite" in 2 Kings 23.7


> On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:47:23 -0500 "Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>
> writes:
> > What is meant by "sodomite" (or word translated thereas) in the
> > following
> > passage on Josiah's eviction of Baal from the LORDs temple in
> > Jerusalem?
> >
> > "And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that
> > were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove
> > hangings for the grove." (2 Kings 23.7).
> >
> > One thing it does not appear to mean is homosexuality.   It is a
> > place where
> > women wore hangings for the grove - where Yahweh's wife Asherah was
> > worshipped.
> >
> > But it clearly also is not a reference to a failure to show
> > hospitality to
> > strangers, as appears to be the case in other Old Testmament
> > references to
> > the term sodomite.
> >
> > St. Paul seems to have thought that homosexuality was closely tied
> > to the
> > practice of idolatry - is this a clue to what was actually going on
> > in the
> > minds of the authors of Kings?
> >
> __________
>
> There is only one occurance of QD$ in the f. pl. in the OT -- Hos. 4.14,
> but this indicates that it did have a fem. form as well.  The text here
> is somewhat obscure in that )oR:GoWT $fM BfT.iYM doesn't seem to make
> much sense.  Of interest here is Is 59.5 where the verb )fRaG is used in
> the context W:QW.R"Y (aC.fByY$ Ye)e:RoGW. "they weave spider webs."
> which BDB understand as hatching intrigue.  Whether this passage has any
> relation to that usage is not immediately evident.  Generally, though QD$
> and QD$H are taken to be sacred prostitutes.  That other activities would
> occur in their domicile is not inconceivable.  Both the weaving of
> "houses" and the sacred prostitution would have been seen as relating to
> the cultus of foreign gods.
>
> george
> gfsomsel