Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

In Revelation is mentioned people who don't make the cut being stuck outside
the city with dogs, fornicators,  and other unsavory characters.   Robert
Gagnon read this statement to include homosexuals, and some think he gets
there from the mention of dogs.

Deuteronomy 23:7-18 includes a passage saying you shall not bring the price
of a whore or of a dog to the temple.

All other mentions of dogs I can find appear to refer to less than savory
creatures who get your bones when you are dead - and you don't want to be
called one if you are a warrior.    Yet sometimes it is better to be one
than a lion.

The word used is KELEB.   I don't know if there is more than one word in the
OT for dog.

Strong's says that dog can mean a male prostitute.

The passage in Deuteronomy appears as nearly as I can tell to mean some
uncooth thing that was done to make money for the temple among other
things - particularly something cultic.

I vaguely remember that Hurrians sacrificed dogs and donkeys to ratify a
covenant.

Did dogs have some particular cultic significance in Israel?

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
villandra AT austin.rr.com