1 Kings 14:24

1 Kings 14:24

And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

a. NLT: There were even male and female shrine prostitutes throughout the land. The people imitated the detestable practices of the pagan nations the LORD had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. NIV: There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

c. Young’s Literal Translation: and also a whoremonger hath been in the land; they have done according to all the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Amplified Bible: There were also sodomites (male cult prostitutes) in the land. They did all the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: And there was a conspiracy in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord removed from before the children of Israel.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: There was also prostitution in the land; they did all the abominations of the nations that HASHEM had driven out from before the Children of Israel. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

1. “And there were also sodomites in the land…”

a. there were [Strong: 1961 * hayah haw-yaw a primitive root (Compare 1933); to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (one-)self, require, X use.]

b. also [Strong: 1571 * gam gam by contraction from an unused root meaning to gather; properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and:--again, alike, also, (so much) as (soon), both (so)...and , but, either...or, even, for all, (in) likewise (manner), moreover, nay...neither, one, then(-refore), though, what, with, yea.]

c. sodomites [6945 * qadesh] [Strong: a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry:-- sodomite, unclean.] [Gesenius: a sodomite, present, consecrated… to Astarte or Venus, and prostituting himself in her honour. Deuteronomy 23:18; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; 22:47; Job 36:14…]

d. in the land [Strong: 776 * 'erets eh'-rets from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

1). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Sodomite (Hebrew: qadesh, consecrated, devoted). The sodomites were not inhabitants of Sodom, not their descendants, but men consecrated to the unnatural vice of Sodom (Genesis 19:5; compare Romans 1:27) as a religious rite. This dreadful “consecration”, or rather desecration, was spread in different forms over Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, Assyria, Babylonia. Ashtaroth, the Greek Astarte, was it chief object. The term was especially applied to the emasculated priests of Cybele, called Galli, perhaps from the river Gallus in Bithynia, which was said to make those who drank it mad. In Deuteronomy 23:17, the toleration of a sodomite was expressly forbidden, and the pay received by a sodomite was not to be put into the temple treasury (v. 18). “The price of a dog” is a figurative expression used to denote the gains of a qadesh (sodomite), who was called kinaidos, by the Greeks, from the doglike manner in which he debased himself (see Revelation 22:15, where the unclean are called “dogs”).

2). Robert A. J. Gagnon, “The Bible And Homosexual Practice” pp. 100-102. “There is good evidence of homosexual cult prostitution in Israel during the period of the divided monarchy. A number of texts speak of the existence of qedesim (sg. qades, twice as a collective), literally, “holy/sanctified men,” “consecrated men,” “men dedicated to the deity” (Deuteronomy 23:17, 18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14) The term is usally rendered in standard English translations to denote men at cult sites who engaged in homosexual prostitution: “male temple (or cult, shrine, sacred) prostitutes…the qedesim… men “whose masculinity had been transformed into feminity” by a goddess (Asherah? Astarte?)

3). Other different cultural examples are called assinnus, kurgarrus, and galli. They were all males, all temple prostitutes, and all sexually serviced males, yet consecrated to different goddesses. Some were castrated while some were not. Robert A. J. Gagnon writes of them, “men whose masculinity had been transformed into femininity by a goddess”. (The Bible And Homosexual Practice). It was from reading Gagnon’s book where I learned of the similarity between the ancient male temple prostitute and the contemporary transgendered. These are individuals who believe they are females, born anatomically as males but believe they are trapped in a male body, and males, born anatomically as female but believe they are a male trapped in a female body. Apparently, in the ancient setting the anatomically males believed they were the way they were because they were transformed by a “goddess” and as a result dedicated themselves to her service by homosexual prostitution in her temples.  

2. “…and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.”

a. they did [Strong: 6213 * `asah aw-saw' a primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows):--accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.]

b. [according to] all [Strong: 3605 * kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).]

c. the abominations [Strong: 8441 * tow`ebah to-ay-baw' or tonebah {to-ay-baw'}; feminine active participle of 8581; properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol:-- abominable (custom, thing), abomination.]

d. of the nations [Strong: 1471 * gowy go'-ee rarely (shortened) goy {go'-ee}; apparently from the same root as 1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:--Gentile, heathen, nation, people.]

e. which [Strong: 834 * 'aher ash-er' a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

f. the Lord [Strong: 3068 * Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

g. cast out [Strong: 3423 * yarash yaw-rash' or yaresh {yaw-raysh'}; a primitive root; to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin:--cast out, consume, destroy, disinherit, dispossess, drive(-ing) out, enjoy, expel, X without fail, (give to, leave for) inherit(-ance, -or) + magistrate, be (make) poor, come to poverty, (give to, make to) possess, get (have) in (take) possession, seize upon, succeed, X utterly.]

h. before [Strong: 6440 * paniym paw-neem' plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun (paneh {paw-neh'}; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):--+ accept, a-(be- )fore(-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him(-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look(-eth) (- s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, propect, was purposed, by reason of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them(-selves), through (+ - out), till, time(-s) past, (un-)to(-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with(- in, + -stand), X ye, X you.]

i. the children [Strong: 1121 * ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

j. of Israel [Strong: 3478 * Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

1). An exhaustive list of sexual sins practiced by the inhabitants of Canaan are given in Leviticus 18:1-25. Another short list of occult practices is given in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. The people of Judah gave themselves over to the abominations of Canaan. The time period for this was approximately between 950-913 B.C.

2). The time period of 1 Kings 14 was about 930 B.C., during the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign as king of Judah. This verse gives us a couple facts; these homosexuals/transgendered were not only in the land of Israel but they also engaged in every behavior the Canaanites engaged in previous to the LORD kicking them out. This establishes a religious element to homosexuality of Israel in 930 B.C. because the homosexuals of Israel 930 B.C. did the same abominations as the Canaanite homosexuals. About 300 years after Rehoboam (640-609 B.C.), Josiah became king of Judah. Josiah was no doubt the greatest king of Judah (during the divided monarchy). During his reign he implemented godly reforms, one of which was he destroyed the places where homosexuals/transgendered engaged in their behavior. This is the other use of the Hebrew word translated “sodomite”.  2 Kings 23:7 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. 300 years previous they were just “in the land”, now during Josiah’s time they “were by the house of the LORD”. In fact the New American Standard Version says of this verse, they “were IN the house of the LORD”. These “houses” according to Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon were nothing more than “a moveable house, a tent”. If they were in the temple or next to the temple is open to debate, but a couple facts remain. There was a religious element to ancient Israel’s homosexuality, and in the 300 years between Rehoboam and Josiah, Judah’s spiritual culture had degenerated to the degree they allowed homosexuality to infiltrate the temple worship. Just as it was a gradual change in Judah’s spiritual culture, it was a probable gradual change in other cultures as well, including Sodom’s. The social culture of Canaan also reveals a gradual corruption. During Rehoboam’s reign (931 B.C.—913 B.C.) the kingdom degenerated to those who practiced all the sexual sins of the Canaanites. During Asa’s reign (between 911 B.C. and 870 B.C.) he executed religious and spiritual reforms in obedience to God, removing the homosexuals/male temple prostitutes/transgender out of the land. What Asa failed to accomplish during his reign, his son Jehoshaphat completed during his reign between 873 B.C. and 848 B.C. Between the years 848 B.C. and 640 B.C. Judah degenerated again to the degree homosexuality/male temple prostitutes/transgenders had infiltrated Jerusalem’s temple worship. Josiah, the godly king executed many religious spiritual reforms, including removing the homosexual temple prostitutes from the land.

3). We can see a gradual change in our culture as well. In 1961, Illinois was the first state to decriminalize homosexuality. Between 1961 and 1986 many other states had also decriminalized homosexuality to the degree in 1986 state law criminalizing homosexuality were challenged in the nations highest court. In 1986 the Supreme Court upheld state laws forbidding homosexuality. In 2003, the Supreme Court struck down all state laws forbidding homosexual conduct. In August of 2014 19 states legalized same sex marriage and 31 have bans prohibiting it. In 2015 the Supreme Court established queer marriage in the United States.

4). When any nation violates the word of God that nation will reap what they sow. God’s word in the New Testament is clear. Laws that forbid homosexual behavior are sound doctrine, sound New Testament doctrine. 

a). 1 Timothy 1:8-11 (KJV) But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

1:11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

b). 1 Timothy 1:8-11 (New International Version) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 

1:9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 

1:10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 1:11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

c). 1 Timothy 1:8-11 (Revised Standard Version) Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, 

1:9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 

1:10 immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 

1:11 in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.