Of the readings in the
Revised Common Lectionary for 8 January 2014, I chose to reflect on Psalm 72.
For he will deliver the needy who cry out Psalm 72:12a
Traditionally Psalm 72 is a psalm of David expressing his hopes for what the kingdom will be like under his son Solomon. As should be expected it lists many wonderful things David hopes will happen including how David hopes his son and those rulers who follow Solomon will treat their subjects.
I hope none here find fault with those sentiments, yet words are cheap. Let me consider them in specific with respect to what at times seems a favored topic here on the forum, prostitution.
The vast majority of prostitutes do so not because they want to, but because they have no other choice. If they are lucky, it is only economic privation that causes them to undertake a profession that can be perilous to both body and psyche. As a society we should make it so that educational and welfare systems are such that economic privation does not lead them to trade their sex for lucre. If a prostitute is less lucky, ey may be an addict, stuck in prostitution because we treat addiction as a crime and not a medical and psychological problem in need of treatment. Granted, treatment programs aren't likely to work unless the addict wants to quit the habit. Yet we have too few programs to help even those who want the help, and the spectre of jail time discourages those who might seek treatment sooner, before they reach a state in which prostituting their sex for drugs is something they would do.
Then there are those who are the least lucky, the prostitutes who are forced into the profession. Beyond those who may have started in the profession for money or drugs, those who have runaway from abusive situations at home may end up trapped in this form of sexual abuse without any good place to turn to. Even worse, it may be those who should be their guardians are instead their pimps. To save them from oppression and violence, it will be necessary to not merely go after criminal pimps, but also to have systems in place to see to the social welfare of vulnerable spouses and children.
All these are things we should be doing anyway, even if we considered prostitution a virtue. Failing to do these and then thinking to deal with the problem of prostitution by solely decriminalizing the act will not improve the situation and for many prostitutes, make it worse. (Note, the problems could be eased if we treated both the prostitutes and their clients equally before the law, which is not generally the case now.)
To close I wish to give those three verses I quoted above in a translation of my own. I know the person on this forum for whom this translation would be most apt would not agree with my views on prostitution. Yet I think it will be obvious for whom I intend this translation tho I doubt he even reads this board.
12 For he will deliver poors who cry out,
afflicteds who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on weaks and poors
and save poors from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
