HEBREW WORD STUDY – SACRED PROSTITUTE – KODASHAH קדשה  Qop Daleth Shin Hei

Ezekiel 36:21: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes O house of Israel, but for mine holy names sake which you have profaned among the heather, whether you went.”

What is it that makes God great? Is it His great power, the fact that He is the creator, or that He is all powerful? Scripture seems to teach that God’s greatness lies in His Holiness. 

That leads to an ever greater question. What is holiness? The word in the Hebrew is kodash. This word in its Semitic root has the idea of separation. However, this same word is used for a male prostitute. With a feminine ending, kodashah it is a reference to a female prostitute. But we need to be careful for this is not speaking of a prostitute as we know them today. This is referencing a sacred prostitute, such as Rahab. The goddess Asherah or Anat had sacred prostitutes who where a sexual connection to the goddess.  Sexual relations with a sacred prostitute was considered an act of worship to this goddess.  This is how the word kodashah came to be connected to a prostitute. When one entered into an intimacy with a sacred prostitute it was the symbol of entering into a intimacy with the goddess. You would then become one with the goddess and thus open the door to the power of the goddess. This sacred prostitute was to be held separate from all others and you did not approach her (or him) without proper protocols. You may remember from the story of Rahab where the men came to her door. They did not force their way in as you would expect with a prostitute today. They showed her all due respect and courtesy. When she told a big whopper of a lie, they believed her. After all Rahab was a kodashah. She was considered holy and thus subject to certain protocols. That is an aspect of holiness that we tend to overlook but is very much a part of the definition of kodashah which is a separateness subject to proper protocols.

The greatness of God lies in the fact that He is worthy of certain protocols and to not follow those protocols is to profane his holiness. The goal of holiness is intimacy. You cannot enter into intimacy with God unless you follow certain protocols. I watched a biographical movie about Steve Jobs the Apple Computer CEO. It showed him as a very difficult person to work with and his assistant was said to be the only one who was not afraid of him and willing to confront him which she did throughout the movie. She was sort of a “work wife.” At one point Steve Jobs asked her: “Why haven’t we slept together.”  She responded: “Because I don’t love you.”  Good point, the first step or protocol in intimacy is to love each other.  

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Another protocol is to recognize that God is sinless, that is what makes him separate or holy. To enter into an intimacy with God we must be sinless. That is why the law was given. Through the finished work of Jesus Christ we can be made “holy” through Him and thus when we learn to love Him we can enter into an intimacy with God. So, when God says He does not restore Israel for their sakes but for the sake of His “holy name” He is saying that He does not restore Israel for their sake because they don’t want a relationship with Him, but he does it for the sake of His “holy name” or because He desires an intimate relationship with them. 

When we sin, we violate or profane God’s holiness. If a husband is intimate with another woman and the wife finds out, there will no longer be an intimacy between them until this violation is properly dealt with. The word profane in Hebrew is kalal which really means to pollute. You can have a stream of pure water. When you allow a foreign substance or a contaminate to enter that stream, it becomes polluted. When we profane the Holy name of God we are allowing pollutants to enter into our relationship with Him and that cuts off all possibilities of an intimacy with Him.

Let’s say I am tempted to sin, that is doing anything which is not in harmony with the nature of God. What is my first thought? “If I do this God is going to be angry and he might not give me that blessing or answer that prayer that I have been pestering Him with.” It is true, you may not get that blessing or answer to prayer, but not because God is angry with you or punishing you for being bad. It is because you have made it impossible for him to respond because you have violated or polluted His holiness to the point where you cannot share in His intimacy. 

Jesus made it very clear how we can follow the proper protocols to enter into an intimacy with Him. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33). Our primary task is to protect the holiness of God. When we do that we can enter into an intimacy with Him and by doing that, we can open the door to His power. How can we protect God’s holiness? That is simple, whatever you do, do as unto God. 

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