Jesus in the Talmud

46 Chapter 4to the “strange” or “loose woman,” the prostitute, whose lips drip honeybut whose end is death (5:3–5). The Tosefta version does not interpret theverse explicitly, 25 but both the Bavli and Qohelet Rabba relate one part ofthe verse to heresy and the other part to prostitution. 26 In other words, if wetake the proof text literally, R. Eliezer admits 27 that his guilt consists ofheresy that is connected to prostitution. This interpretation reinforces thereading of Tosefta Hullin where R. Eliezer was suspected of getting involvednot just with prostitutes (bad enough for such a strict and piousrabbi) but of participating in sexual orgies.The continuation of the “loose woman’s” description in Proverbs iseven more conspicuous. In chapter 7 she is explicitly called a prostitutewho lies in wait for the young man to seduce him (Prov. 7:11–15):She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;now in the street, now in the squares, and at every corner she lies inwait.She seizes him and kisses him, and with impudent face she says tohim:I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I havefound you!This colorful description of a prostitute is all the more remarkable in ourcontext, as it establishes a quite unexpected connection between her seductivebehavior and the Temple offering, the very connection Deuteronomy23:19 prohibits and to which Jacob/Jesus’ halakhic exegesis in ourstory refers. This can hardly be by coincidence. It seems therefore that theeditor of our story wants to imply two things: first, R. Eliezer was indeedaccused of being a member of a forbidden (orgiastic) sect; and second, in(allegedly) getting involved with a prostitute, who pays with her whore’swages for her Temple offering, he infringes Jesus’ (and his own) Halakhaaccording to which such money must not be used for purposes related tothe Temple.Scholars have tried hard to connect the historical R. Eliezer b. Hyrkanoswith nascent Christianity at the end of the first and the beginning of the