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Prostitutes and Polygamists: A Look at Love, Old Testament Style Paperback – September 1, 2015

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 63 ratings

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Jacob and Solomon were polygamists. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes. What are polygamists and prostitutes doing on the pages of Holy Scripture? And God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. What about Cain—did he really marry his sister? Abraham did, and he was also a polygamist. Lot offered his daughters up for rape, David committed adultery (or rape?) and the Bible calls both men righteous. Love, Old Testament style, was bizarre.

As readers of the Old Testament encounter these weird, confusing, and horrific “love” stories they ask, “What’s up with sex in the Old Testament?” The church often ignores the R-rated bits of the Bible, so it’s hard for people to find answers to their disturbing questions about sex in Scripture, which can lead people to give up on God and God’s word.

However, these stories were included in the Bible for a reason, to reveal an even more shocking “love” story. When humans behave badly, God behaves graciously. God not only forgives people with sexual baggage, but also redeems their lives and includes them in his mission. God’s word records their story to benefit us. Just as sex was not often ideal in the Old Testament, it’s often not ideal today. Instead of ignoring these stories, Prostitutes and Polygamists engages, discusses, and learns from them.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Sex is a gift from God, but often it feels like a curse. We are all broken people due to our rebellion and thus we struggle in the area of sexuality. David Lamb has given us a book that acknowledges just how bad we are. Indeed, we are worse than we think we are. But then he reminds us through is brilliant look at biblical stories of brokenness just how big God’s grace is toward us. Once you start reading this book you won’t be able to put it down. -- Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College -- Tremper Longman III

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prostitutes and Polygamists

A Look at Love, Old Testament Style

By David T. Lamb

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2015 David T. Lamb
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-51847-1

Contents

Acknowledgments, 11,
1. Humans Behaving Badly, 13,
2. Husbands and Wives, 33,
3. Polygamists, 59,
4. Prostitutes, 87,
5. Rapists and Adulterers, 113,
6. Incesters, 141,
7. Homosexuals and Sodomites, 161,
Epilogue: Sex and the Single Savior, 185,
Bibliography, 197,
Scripture Index, 201,


CHAPTER 1

HUMANS BEHAVING BADLY

The Worst Sin You've Ever Committed

"Turn to the person next to you and confess the worst sin you've ever committed." I thought, "You're kidding, right?" The conference speaker seemed to read my mind, responding verbally to my unspoken question: "I'm serious. Worst sin ever. Go."

I was a twenty-seven-year-old unmarried InterVarsity staff worker, and on my immediate left was an eighteen-year-old first-year female student. I was at the end of the row; there was no one on my right I could turn to for escape. I didn't normally sit next to freshmen women (and never would again), since I didn't want to do anything that could be construed as flirting (sharing deep sexual sins might be construed as flirtatious), but I had come late to the meeting, and there had been only a few open seats. We didn't normally begin meetings in this manner, and if I had known what the speaker was going to do, I would have gone to a different section of the room and stood. For most people there, the first sin that came to mind was probably in the sexual realm, and I was in the majority. It was an extraordinarily awkward moment for all of us, so much so for me personally that twenty-four years later I still have a vivid memory of how I felt and what I was thinking.

But we shouldn't have been shocked by the fact that people sin, since most of the people present were Christians, and therefore, we had already declared that we sin. The Bible gives us no excuse for being reluctant to talk about sexual sins, since it has no problem sharing the worst sins ever committed by some of the holiest people who have ever lived, and many of those sins are of a sexual nature. I was uncomfortable sharing my worst sin with one other person, but that's nothing compared with having my worst sin published in the bestselling book of all time. Why is talking about sin, and sexual sins in particular, so uncomfortable? For many of us, our discomfort talking about sex begins at a young age in our families.


Love, American Style

"You may freely watch of every program in the early evening, but of the program of the knowledge of love and sex, you shall not watch, for in the day you watch of it, you'll be grounded."

This was the prohibition spoken by the Lamb parents to the Lamb children in 1972. (I may have paraphrased their actual words.) Before computers, Blu-ray, DVRs, DVDs, Netflix, live streaming, and YouTube, visual home entertainment was just television. No cable, just NBC, CBS, and ABC. A family VCR was still a decade in the future. On Friday nights starting at 7:00 p.m. (Central Time in Ames, Iowa), we three boys typically watched ABC's The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, Room 222, and The Odd Couple. Then the TV was turned off, and I headed to bed shortly afterward. (I was ten.)

The forbidden program? Love, American Style. It came on at 9:00. Each episode included unconnected stories of love, sex, and romance that our parents deemed unworthy for our young eyes.

Strangely, the parental prohibition just made the desire to watch it stronger. We thought it would be good to watch and a delight to the eyes. On those rare occasions when we figured out a way to see it, our eyes were opened. We realized the show wasn't all that good, only occasionally funny, often lousy, always silly. Silly, because love, American style, was quirky. But as quirky as love is in the US, in the Old Testament, it was even quirkier.


Love, Old Testament Style

Love, Old Testament style, was weird, bizarre, and often unholy. The book of Genesis makes it clear what the ideal was — one man, one woman, together, forever — but often for the people of God, the ideal was not the reality. The Old Testament doesn't just talk about sex but includes many incidents of what would now be considered deviant sexual behavior. Love may be "a many splendored thing," but in the Old Testament, it went beyond splendored to bizarre. And strangely, the authors didn't have any qualms about reporting these weird sexual practices in a book that was meant to be read to children (Deut. 4:9–10; 6:7, 20; 11:19; 32:46; Josh. 8:35). For most readers, the "love" stories of the Old Testament raise a lot of questions.

Judah praised his daughter-in-law Tamar for being righteous after he realized she tricked him into having sex with her for money. In Judah's day was it considered a good thing to have a daughter-in-law as a prostitute?

Jacob, who gave his new name, Israel, to the nation, had several wives. Solomon, who was considered the wisest man ever to live, had several hundred. Was it considered wise back then to be a polygamist?

While visiting the city of Gibeah, a Levite's concubine was forced to have sex with the men of the town throughout the night until she was dead (Judges 19). What were the biblical authors thinking when they decided to include this horrific story? "Hey, the Bible needs a few more gruesome stories of gang rape"?

The book of 1 Kings seems to have forgotten that David had sex with Uriah's wife Bathsheba — and then killed Uriah to cover it up — when it declared that David kept God's commandments completely and did only what was right (1 Kings 14:8). Since when is it righteous to commit murder and adultery?

"Did Cain really marry his sister?" If you haven't asked that question, you were probably embarrassed the first time a clever junior higher in the Sunday school class you were teaching did. Incest isn't just for modern royal families; ancient biblical families also engaged in it.

In terms of sexual deviancy, the Old Testament is worse than an episode of Arrested Development. Why does the Bible talk so much about polygamy, prostitution, rape, adultery, and incest? Because the Bible talks about real humans, and often humans behave badly. The Bible doesn't ignore bizarre sexual behavior, but parents and churches often do.


"What's a Foreskin?"

My mother passed away in August 2012, so now I can write a book on sex. Seriously, I really miss my mom and have committed to tell stories about her as much as possible as I continue to grieve her death. But it would have been awkward for her to read a book I wrote about sex, even sex in the Bible. Not only were my parents uncomfortable with my brothers and I watching shows that talk about sex, but they were also uncomfortable talking to us about sex, which was fine with us.

We were not alone. When it comes to sex, parents and children have one thing in common: they desperately want to avoid the topic. My teenage sons are not excited that I'm working on this book right now. My friend Sharon posted this message on Facebook recently: "Well, my six-year-old came back from a long time of reading the Bible (the Lego Bible) in her room and said, 'Mom, first of all, what's a foreskin? And what does it mean to lay with someone?'" Awkward, yes, but clever of Sharon's daughter to realize that Mom was the person she should ask what those confusing words mean.

Children's Bibles are usually no help, because they conveniently skip over things like David's adultery (or rape?) and murder. (The book of 1 Chronicles, curiously, does the same thing; 1 Chron. 20:1–2; 2 Sam. 11:1; 12:26.) I would like to see a children's Bible that is a bit more true to the text in the area of sex and sexuality. (Despite using small plastic bricks to communicate its message, the Lego Bible doesn't really fit into the genre of Kid Lit.)

The parental aversion to sexual discussions means there's often a deafening silence on the subject. It's not just six-year-olds asking about foreskins. In the Old Testament classes I teach, youths and adults frequently ask me about biblical attitudes toward polygamy, prostitution, rape, adultery, incest, and homosexuality. (Hopefully it's not because they're thinking, "Hey, this guy looks like he knows a lot about prostitution and incest.") Who will speak into the silence and answer their questions? Unfortunately, often it's not the church.


"Maximum Sex"

Parents avoid the subject of sex, and Christians in general do the same. Most churches avoid talking about sex. Can you imagine a sermon series on sex in Scripture? What about a Sunday school class on polygamy? How about a discussion of the incest laws (Leviticus 18) in your small group Bible study?

My senior year in high school (still in Ames, Iowa), I took four of my closest friends to Hilton Coliseum to hear Josh McDowell, a popular speaker with Campus Crusade for Christ (shortened simply to "Cru" in 2011). I couldn't get my friends to come to church with me, but they were willing to hear Josh. Why? The title of his talk was "Maximum Sex." Unfortunately, I don't remember as many sermons as I should, but more than thirty years later, I still remember his main point. He explained that sex as God designed it (one man, one woman, together, forever) results in maximum joy, pleasure, and intimacy.

I realize that more churches are gradually focusing attention on some of these sexual topics, but when Christians do talk about sex, it's still big news. As I was working on this chapter, the CBS news website highlighted a church outside of Houston promoting its new sermon series, "Love Sex." It made national headlines because it's still so unusual. (I'm sure attendance will go up during the series for this church.)

Josh McDowell's talk and the Houston church sermon series are the exceptions that prove the rule. Christians don't talk about sex enough, which made the willingness of this church and this speaker so shockingly unusual and headline-grabbing. People apparently really want to hear what the church has to say about sex. (And provocative titles always help.)

When the church does teach on sex and sexuality, it tends to focus exclusively on the ideal — one man, one woman, together, forever — which is good, but not sufficient, since the ideal is often not the reality. If someone in the church gets divorced or commits adultery, we don't know how to react, because people rarely talk about these issues. Many times when someone is raped or sexually abused (even sometimes within church buildings), a tragic situation is made worse when the incident is ignored, avoided, or covered up. While parents and churches may avoid the subject of sex, our culture doesn't.


Arrested Development and the Old Testament

If the church is sexually avoidant, our culture is sexually obsessive. And it seems to be becoming more severe. When I was growing up, programs addressing the topic of sex, like Love, American Style, were the exception; now they are the norm.

There's the obvious: Sex and the City, Modern Family, and Big Love(the story of a polygamous family in — wait for it — Utah). Perhaps the best example is Arrested Development, where in any given episode, teenaged George Michael and his cousin Maeby might flirt with incest; his grandmother Lucille might sleep with her husband George's brother Oscar (so, polyandrous, incestuous adultery); Maeby's mother, Lindsay, might unsuccessfully attempt an affair; and George Michael's father, Michael (played by Jason Bateman), might hire a woman he thinks is his sister, but who's really a prostitute (played by Jason Bateman's actual sister, Justine). It's hilarious and tragic. Prostitution, adultery, and incest, just like the Old Testament.

When the church whispers about sex and the culture yells about it, whose voice is going to be heard? And parents wonder what happened to their children. The church needs to talk about sex more — not just the ideal but also the reality. And the great thing is if parents or the church want some good material to teach from, all they have to do is open their Bibles. Granted, it's confusing sometimes, but understand- ing will come through examination, not avoidance.


An R-Rated Bible?

The Bible talks about sex all the time. It's not uncomfortable with the subject. A few pages ago, I mentioned the Lego Bible, which goes by the name of The Brick Testament, an online retelling of the Bible using Legos. While one might think that Legos + Bible = Children's Bible, before you bookmark the website on your child's computer, you need to know the whole story.

The website comes with content warnings, and each story has appropriate labels: N = nudity; S = Sexual Content; V = Violence; C = Cursing. For example, the story of the creation of the humans and their eating of the fruit (Gen. 2:4–3:24) has all four warning labels: N, S, V, and C. When the text speaks about the man and the woman becoming one flesh (Gen. 2:24), according to the Brick Testament they are actually consummating their relationship, certainly a reasonable assumption (see the next chapter of this book). Naked Lego Man is on top of Naked Lego Woman, and they are both smiling. (And so am I, while wondering whether I should feel guilty for voyeuristically experiencing their moment of intimacy. Fortunately, anatomical adjustments have not been made to the Lego creatures.) In the Brick Testament, the book of Genesis is divided into forty sections, and more than half (twenty-two) of the sections have an S or an N rating. If you were to translate those into film ratings, the book of Genesis would get an overall rating of R, or perhaps worse. I told you to wait on that bookmark.

The books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy have chapters devoted to legislation regarding sexual relations (Leviticus 18; Deuteronomy 22). Numbers 25 narrates how Israelite-Moabite sex led to idolatry. In addition to the gang rape of the Levite's concubine, Judges records Samson's failed first marriage, his encounters with a prostitute, and his sexual relationship with Delilah (Judges 14–16). The climax of Ruth is when she climbs into bed with Boaz in the middle of the night and uncovers his "feet" (Ruth 3:4–8). I'll let you decide how to interpret Esther's reaching out and touching the tip of the king's extended scepter (Est. 5:2). The book of First Samuel begins with the polygamist father of Samuel, then proceeds to inform readers that the priestly sons of Eli were sleeping with prostitutes at the entrance of the tabernacle (1 Sam. 1:2; 2:22). The most common image for idolatry in the prophetic books is adultery/prostitution. (There are too many texts to list, but here are a few: Isa. 1:21; Jeremiah 2–3; Ezekiel 16, 23; Hosea 1.) The entire Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) is about sex. I'm going to stop now, but I could keep going.

Parents and churches have plenty of options to choose from to start gently raising their voice in this area. If we were merely to follow the biblical example and talk about sex as often as Scripture does, we would be forced to break our vow of sexual silence.


Humans Behaving Badly

A recent Time magazine article on the sexual antics of New York politicians Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner was titled "Men Behaving Badly." (Aren't you tired of the formula "X Behaving Badly"? The expression is overused.) While it seems like every few weeks a politician or church leader is caught up in a new sexual scandal, things weren't that different in Old Testament times. Some things never change.

As we've already seen, sections of the Old Testament could be renamed "Humans Behaving Badly," because both godly men (Jacob, Judah, and David) and godly women (Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth) appear to be involved in unholy sexual behavior. But that's not the only type of negative behavior I want to focus on here. When parents and churches blatantly ignore significant sections of the Bible that describe non-ideal sexual behavior, they are also behaving badly.

While many of these sexual stories may not seem suitable for family dinner conversation, if the divinely inspired biblical authors thought the stories were worthy of being recorded for posterity, then we shouldn't ignore them. Obviously, parents and churches need to use discernment regarding what is appropriate for their audiences, but if the result is avoidance of biblical texts mentioning sex, then our standards need to be loosened.


(Continues...)Excerpted from Prostitutes and Polygamists by David T. Lamb. Copyright © 2015 David T. Lamb. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zondervan (September 1, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0310518474
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0310518471
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.7 x 8.35 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 63 ratings

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David T. Lamb
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David T. Lamb loves to teach the Bible. This passion was developed during twenty years of ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, first as a student at Stanford (BA, MS), and then on IV staff in LA and Philadelphia. Studies at Fuller (MDiv) and Oxford (MPhil, DPhil) deepened his love for the Old Testament. He has been teaching OT at Missio Seminary (formerly Biblical) since 2006. He became the Allan A. MacRae Professor of Old Testament in 2016 and the Dean of the Faculty in 2017.

His dissertation, Righteous Jehu and his Evil Heirs was published in 2007 (Oxford). He wrote three popular books, The Emotions of God: Making Sense of a God Who Hates, Weeps, and Loves (IVP, 2022), God Behaving Badly: Is the God of the Old Testament Angry, Sexist and Racist (IVP, 2011, 2022), and Prostitutes and Polygamists: A Look at Love, Old Testament Style (Zondervan, 2015). He also wrote a textbook, The Historical Writings (with Mark Leuchter, Fortress, 2016) and a commentary, 1-2 Kings (Zondervan, 2021). He is currently working on commentaries on Chronicles for Baker, and on Genesis for Lexham.

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Customers find the book interesting and excellent. They appreciate the insightful textual information and biblical viewpoints presented in it. The book helps readers understand Old Testament culture and God's perspective.

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Customers find the book engaging and informative. They appreciate the author's writing style and consider it a worthwhile read. The book provides good thoughts and information, and points an honest and bold way forward.

"...compassion, and insightful textual information and this book does not disappoint...." Read more

"...His book points an honest, bold way forward. We need to talk about these sins. God certainly thought He did." Read more

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"Mr. Lamb is a good writer. The book produces some very good thoughts. A very good and really necessary read." Read more

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Customers appreciate the book's insights and revelations. They find it helpful for understanding Biblical viewpoints and difficult passages in the Old Testament. The book is well-researched and a good read for understanding Old Testament culture and God's perspective.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2015
    I just finished this book and I highly recommend it even though there are places I would disagree with or want more information before drawing a conclusion. There are three things you expect of a David Lamb book---humor, compassion, and insightful textual information and this book does not disappoint. Throughout the book David uses comic relief (humor) to allow the reader to breathe as he discusses some heavy topics. David's compassion for those abused, marginalized, and left with no voice shines when he discusses topics like rape in our military and college campuses. It was good to see David focus on those who have been violated, victimized, and sexually exploited as they need to have someone give them voice. There were several places in the book where David provided the text based guy like myself the information we needed to draw a conclusion.
    This book is not exhaustive but it does cover the major sexual issues of the Bible and does point the reader to the places needed to find more information. While David's bibliography did have one entry by Richard Davidson I was surprised by the absence of Davidson's exhaustive tome "Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament". One of the major issues this book really raises but never addresses is the authority of the "Old Testament" to speak authoritatively to our world today. I am glad that David has brought attention to a much needed topic of the world and I agree with him that churches have neglected to discuss the sexual issues we face today. I agree with David that we should be glad that the Bible did not neglect to discuss and expose the sexual activity of it's most famous personalities. Get a copy of this book and buy one for your pastor and just maybe the church at-large can pull it's collective head out of the sand on topics that need Biblical insight.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2018
    Wow, first of all wow. I finished this book rather quickly and I discovered it rather accidentally when I was researching Genesis. There are so many great insights and revelations in this book, I'm probably going to read it again. One of the most shocking parts was the section on homosexuality. I was floored by the fact that what the Bible has to say versus with the Church says is vastly different. More than that, I really struggled with the aspects of sexual sin that layer the stories in the Bible. Lamb makes these questionable parts of the Bible make so much sense. All these topics that most Christians back away from slowly are talked about frankly and immodestly. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2015
    As Dr. Lamb points out, we Christians hate talking about these "dirty sins". His book points an honest, bold way forward. We need to talk about these sins. God certainly thought He did.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2016
    There is so much to know in the world of Christian living
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2016
    Thoughtful, researched, this book puts forth biblical viewpoints and understanding of difficult passages in the Old Testament. Even some good humor to lighten this heavy subject. Enjoyed the read and learned a lot.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2021
    Polygamists don't tell you what they do to their children. They erase your memory so you cannot remember issues. Ham's ancestry is full of it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2016
    Mr. Lamb is a good writer. The book produces some very good thoughts. A very good and really necessary read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2019
    It's great to see that someone is actually dealing with these questions that many have but hesitate to ask out loud. Yet, not sure if my expectations of clear answers were too much, it feels like the conclusions weren't really clear....or let me say that if I was to answer someone who has these questions, I'm not 100% sure how to answer even after reading the book.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Del J. H.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Did you know......?
    Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2019
    Enjoyed the read. Didn't realize all that had taken place in bible time.
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  • Noah
    5.0 out of 5 stars almst apologetics - a really theological engagement with difgicult sexual issues in the old testamenr
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2017
    An amazing read - I couldn't put it down. When you pick up a theological book that is written this well - in that it is both eminently readable and theologically informative - you have to shout about it! I was riveted to every page, as the author deals with a number of very difficult and sensitive issues.
    This book is almost classifiable under 'apologetics' as it answers issues that are 'difficult' to deal with or even to face.; but this is really a look at particular issues of old testament theology. The author uses a little humour for emphasis and to soften problems that would otherwise be too awkward to articulate, and he succeeds in this technique.
    Dealing with all the awkward questions about polygamy, rape, and prostitution in the old testament, Lamb delivers a volume that should be on every pastor's or student of theology's reading list.
    One person found this helpful
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