Do Not Prostitute Thy Daughter Study No. 173

Yesterday, I visited with a couple who are having marital problems. The wife told me that the husband has moved out, has been living in an apartment for four months, and the daughters (ages 10 & 6) are crying themselves to sleep each night. They are very hurt by it. Then, I thought about Jodi, whose parents divorced, leaving her and her sister without the love and care of a dad.

QUESTION: When a young girl is deprived of this love and daily presence of her dad, could it leave such an empty void in her that she becomes prone to jump at the first opportunity for male love which comes her way? Could this early depriving of male love, this causing of grief, lead a young girl to whoredom/harlotry/ impurity?

The Hebrew word for prostitute, #2490, is Khaw-lal, a primary root [compare 2470]; probably meaning: (1) to bore, (2) i.e., (by implication) to wound, (3) to dissolve, (4) fig. to profane (a person, place or thing), (5) to break (one’s word), (6) to begin (as if by an "opening wedge"), and (7) demonstrative (from 2485) to play (the flute).

Do these seven definitions describe what a dad does to a daughter when he fails to live in the home and fails to give her "daily bread" of male attention and love? When a dad leaves young daughters, he is certainly wounding them (No. 2 above). The word 2490 is compared to 2470, Khmo-law’, meaning cause grief, make sick. He is dissolving (No. 3 above) the father-daughter relationship which Yahweh had planned to use to raise up a godly seed, Malachi 2:15. When the godly seed is not raised up, this will in turn cause the land to fall to whoredom and the land to become full of wickedness (Leviticus 19:29). This dissolving [and disregarding of Malachi 2:15] is also profaning her (No. 4 above), because profaning is defined (American Heritage Dictionary) as showing contempt or irreverence toward [Yah] or sacred things. His daughter was a sacred thing, I Corinthians 7:14, Malachi 2:15. He, the dad, is showing contempt toward that which Yah had entrusted to him!

He is breaking his word (No. 5 above) to the mother/wife, ". . . until death do us part." He is breaking his vow before Yah (Ecclesiastes 5:1-6), and he is breaking his word to be a father — a real father — to his daughters.

Father is Strong’s #1, Ab. It is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as a male parent. Parent is defined as a guardian; protector. And, of course, Yahweh, our heavenly Father, is the ultimate picture of a guardian/protector. The father who abandons (via divorce or separation) his daughters is removing this guard and protection over his daughters — guardianship, protection and covering, sought and planned by Yah, Malachi 2:16. He is breaking his implied word to be her guardian and protector. This leaves daughters vulnerable to, and unprotected from, Satan and his evils.

These actions/consequences are the beginning of disaster, the opening wedge (No. 6 above), the initial bore hole (No. 1 above) in the dam which can lead to, and cause breaking of the dam — acts of whoredom by his daughters. And, the land will be ruined — washed away.

And, what do fathers usually do after they leave their daughters? They play! (No. 7 above) — with a new girl friend — with new shiny red cars — with things — with irresponsibility!

What is a harlot really looking for — deep within her heart? For the love which she never received as a child. The American Heritage Dictionary says the word whore derives from a base word ka, which means love and desire. A young girl, when hurt by the loss of daily attention and love of a dad, can either turn to the ultimate Father — Father Yahweh — or she can turn to false "fathers" and lovers who are interested only in themselves, in pleasing their desires of their flesh by use of her flesh. Yes, fathers have a grave responsibility towards their daughters.

If fathers are not faithful in this responsibility, they face a grave consequence. Yah has entrusted daughters to fathers, as a steward — to be in charge of Yah’s servants (Exodus 21:1-11 and Luke 12:42). He, the dad, is to give them — the maid servants — their "rations" of love, guardianship and protection at the proper times (especially in their young, formative years). Blessed will be that steward (that dad) whom his Master finds so doing when He, The Master, comes, Luke 12:43. But, if that steward loses sight of his stewardship, and the accounting due the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25), and begins to beat the slaves (maid servants entrusted to him) with hurt, wounds, and breaking of his word of protection and care for them, and to eat and drink and get drunk (he does not even realize what he is doing), then his Master Himself will come on an unexpected day, cut him to pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers! Luke 12:42-46.

Yes, fathers can cause and make their daughters to become harlots.

The Hebrew word for whore (harlot) is #2181, zaw-naw. It means fed, wanton, to commit adultery, figuratively, to commit idolatry. A young girl is to look to her dad, and then to her husband, for love, guardianship and protection. And, Yah uses fathers (Exodus 21:7-11) and husbands (Ephesians 5:22-33) to work in their lives (I Corinthians 7:14). But, when this daughter-dad/husband-wife relationship fails, and when a woman is abandoned to look to others for love, guardianship, and protection, then she is looking away from Yahweh and looking to idols — other guardians, protectors, lovers — i.e., to idolatry.

This verse (Leviticus 19:29) appears right between two interesting verses: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo [print, KJV] any marks upon you. I am Yahweh," verse 28, and "You shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh, your Elohim," verse 30.

QUESTION: Why did Yah place these three verses together? Does the prohibition against profaning our daughters have anything to do with tattoo marks and keeping of Sabbath?

In Leviticus 19:28, Yah states that He does not want any junk cut into or tattooed onto His people in whom He dwells (I Corinthians 6:19). He is to tabernacle in and among His people. They are His sanctuary. In Leviticus 19:30, He states that we are to reverence His sanctuary (implication — the Sabbath in which He dwells, Genesis 2:3). Then, right between these two sanctuary precepts is Leviticus 19:29 — do not prostitute/profane your daughter by causing her to become a harlot.

The word profane is shown in the American Heritage Dictionary as deriving from the Latin profanus, "before — (i.e., outside) the temple." Pro (before) + fanum (temple), hence, not sacred. The temple/tabernacle is/was Yah’s sanctuary. Anything outside of it was/is profane, i.e., not sacred.

When a father fails to give love and care to a daughter, especially when he abandons her, he is spiritually slaughtering his daughter. She, in turn, is abandoned to Satan and his evils to draw her into harlotry and impurity where she seeks the love and daily attention which her dad failed to provide. When her "tabernacle"/body in turn becomes polluted/prostituted, then her person/ body/tabernacle is profaned — Yah does not dwell there. She is outside, away from, Yah. He, Yahweh, is gone from her life.

Yes, the three verses of Leviticus 19:28, 29, and 30 are related.

And, mothers, what is your responsibility in all of this? So often mothers/wives whose husbands have left them are quick to accuse their "ex" of adultery, sexual abuse of the children, irresponsibility, and abandonment. But, let’s ask ourselves: do we reap what we sow? Do we harvest what we plant? When our ways please Yahweh, He makes even our enemies to be at peace with us. If He can make our enemies to be at peace with us when our ways please Him, then surely He can make our husbands — of whom we once vowed to love and cherish, for better or for worse, until death do us part — to be at peace with us.

Yes, wives/mothers have a grave responsibility in this matter of not prostituting their daughters. If a wife "runs off" her husband, via her actions which are unforgiving and unacceptable to Yahweh, she is depriving her daughters of that fatherly love and attention for which they were designed. And, lest the wife conclude that "the bum needs to be run off anyway" because he is failing to act like a proper husband and father, she should remember the admonition of Yahweh:

— written by Roger Norman, Fort Worth, Texas, (817) 923-0648 W

What if, GOD couldn’t take the time to bless us today because we couldn’t take the time to thank Him yesterday?

What if, GOD decided to stop leading us tomorrow because we didn’t follow Him today?

What if, we never saw another flower bloom because we grumbled when GOD sent the rain?

What if, GOD didn’t walk with us today because we failed to recognize it as His day?

What if, GOD took away the Bible tomorrow because we would not read it today?

What if, GOD took away His message because we failed to listen to the messenger?

What if, GOD didn’t send His only begotten Son because He wanted us to be prepared to pay the price for sin?

What if, the door of the church was closed because we did not open the door of our heart?

What if, GOD stopped loving and caring for us because we failed to love and care for others?

What if, GOD would not hear us today because we would not listen to Him yesterday?

What if, GOD answered our prayers the way we answer His call to service?

What if, GOD met our needs the way we give Him our lives?

What if, We failed to send this message on?

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