Break Open the Word

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13 – 4 August  2019 Hosea 11:1-11 Psalm 107:1-9, 43 Track Two: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 Psalm 49:1-11 Colossians 3:1-11 St. Luke 12:13-21 A bout with some oral surgery last week put me under the weather and I was unable to write this week. Here are links to commentary and notes on the same pericopes from 2016 and 2013. Thank you for your patience. http://breakopenword.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-eleventh-sunday-after-pentecost.html http://breakopenword.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-eleventh-sunday-after-pentecost.html Questions and comments copyright © 2019, Michael T. Hiller

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12 – 28 July 2019 Hosea 1:2-10 Psalm 85 Track Two: Genesis 18:20-32 Psalm 138 Colossians 2:6-15 [16-19] St. Luke 11:1-13 Background: Prostitution Prostitution in the ancient world was invariably tied to religious practice. Both male and female prostitutes operated on the temple grounds in Mesopotamia and in Canaan as well. In Sumeria we have the first recorded instances of institutional prostitution (2400 BCE). Temples devoted to Ishtar had three grades of women who served as temple prostitutes, 1) Those who performed sexual rites in the temple itself, 2) Those who performed sexual acts for visitors to the temple grounds, and 3) Those who lived on the temple grounds and went to find customers on the streets. In Canaan and Phoenicia, prostitutes (often male) were allied with the goddess Astarte. Prostitutes are known in the Hebrew scriptures as well. The story of Judah and Tamar ( Genesis 38:14-26 ) has Ta...