Deuteronomy 23:15

"Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a servant that is escaped from his master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it pleaseth him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

"There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto Jehovah thy God."

The directions against returning a runaway slave to his pagan master contrast sharply with the requirement that the slave (property) of a Hebrew brother would not be so protected but returned to his master. The presumption here was that Hebrew masters were superior in their treatment of slaves and servants. "The different attitude of the pagans in this matter is illustrated by the Code of Hammurabi, which decrees the death penalty to anyone harboring a runaway slave."[13]

"Prostitute ... sodomite ..." (Deuteronomy 23:17). The words here in Hebrew are [~qedeshah] (feminine) and [~qedesh] (masculine).[14] These were the so-called "sacred" prostitutes attached to all ancient pagan temples, which alleged houses of worship were nothing more than legally-commissioned brothels of the worst kind. The very numbers engaged in such immorality speak eloquently of the extent of this evil, there being no less than a thousand [~qedeshah] attached to the temple of Aphrodite Pan Demos (Sex for Everybody) on the top of the Acro Corinthus adjacent to the city of Corinth.

A further quotation from Oberst which he attributed to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is as follows:

"The [~qedeshah] was one of a consecrated class, and as such was a concrete expression and agent of the most insidious and powerful influence and system menacing the purity and permanence of the religion of Jehovah. The system deified the reproductive organs and forces of nature, and its devotees worshipped their idol symbols in grossly licentious rites and orgies. The temple prostitute was invested with sanctity as a member of the religious caste. The Canaanite sanctuaries were gigantic brothels, legalized under the sanctions of religion."[15]

Furthermore, it was not merely inside the pagan temples that these [~qedeshah] carried on their business. They wore distinctive uniforms and were free to go anywhere they pleased, as evidenced by the case of Tamar who disguised herself as a [~qedeshah] upon the occasion of Judah's adultery with her. These women, of course, were the most successful evangelists of pagan religions, being also, at the same time, its principal appeal, focused upon the basic instincts and appetites of the flesh. Collectively, they were an evil force of nearly incredible magnitude.

Even more contemptible were the [~qedesh], the sodomites, called "dogs" in Deuteronomy 23:18. "Dog is here an opprobrious name for a male sacred prostitute ([~qedesh])."[16] Their unnatural vice was the sin that surpassed God's mercy and resulted in the overthrow of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom gave the name that throughout history has identified their sin - sodomy. These depraved human beings are mentioned in Revelation 22:15, where the prophet declared of the Eternal City, "Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, etc." (Revelation 22:15). To us it seems nearly incredible that Satan has been able within our own generation to revive this horrible perversion and to force some element of public recognition of it as a "life style"!

"The hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog ..." (Deuteronomy 23:18). Such money was forbidden to be brought into "the house of Jehovah." The hire of a whore is what the [~qedeshah] was paid for giving herself up, and the price of a dog is not the price paid for the sale of a dog, but it is a figurative expression used to denote the gains of the [~qedesh].[17]

"The house of Jehovah ..." (Deuteronomy 23:18). This is an important expression because it has been falsely utilized by critics to make it appear that this is a reference to Solomon's temple and therefore evidence of a late date for Deuteronomy, but as McGarvey pointed out: "House of Jehovah" is mentioned for the first time in Exodus 23:19 before the tabernacle had been erected. The command that includes this expression concerned the firstfruits, but there were no firstfruits until after Israel entered Canaan. Moses received the same verbatim commandment regarding the "house of Jehovah" (Exodus 34:26) along with instructions on erecting the Tent of Meeting. Then Moses knew that the "house of Jehovah" was therefore necessarily understood to be the tent of meeting. Therefore, for 480 years after the exodus, until Solomon built his temple, the "house of Jehovah" to which Israel throughout those centuries brought their firstfruits was none other than the Tent of Meeting.[18]

Before leaving these verses, however, we should be aware that it is still sinful to bring tainted money into the church as an offering to God. If the price of whoredom and sodomy were forbidden as offerings to God in the ancient system, how could it be thought proper today for the fruits of gambling, vice, and many other sinful pursuits to be acceptable as gifts to churches? We agree with Oberst that, "It would be just like robbing a bank to make a contribution to a church's building fund!"[19] "All lotteries and games of chance (such as Bingo) at church functions are questionable means of undergirding the spread of Christ's gospel."[20] We go much further and declare that such open gambling sponsored by some churches is outrageously hypocritical and sinful!