The Prostitute
by A Single Delight
All she wants is to be held in someone else’s arms.
It’s a gnawing feeling that only crawling into someone else’s bed can erase, and even then, she’s found that the ideal arms she’s looking for are not as easily found as she first thought they’d be.
The first man had skin like burnt sand, made to look even darker by being carpeted with coarse black hair. His muscles were high-strung and cruel, but even so, she almost didn’t want to escape, because he’d convinced himself that he needed her in the way that a master needs a slave.
The next set of arms were milder, with reddish undertone that flared up when the owner’s blood quickened. They were kind arms that lulled her into dancing for him; a jerky, disjointed dance where she became like liquid in his arms, and flopped about helplessly, even with his support. To them, their dance was never embarrassing unless someone else pointed it out.
She’d also been desperate enough to go to the arms of a merchant; a man with fat, golden arms covered with self-inflicted scars. Time after time, those arms would give her no rest, not even when she tried to give him everything he wanted. Despite this, she would usually go back to him, not because he is any better than the others, but because she is the one who made him rich.
She continues her search, even if it means she has to writhe on the ground in order to move forward. People raise their eyebrows at her stubbornness and persistence, while some laugh at her stupidity. Others would wrinkle their nose in disgust, but most would try to ignore her presence. Very few have shed tears for her.
She is not a prostitute. A prostitute demands money for her services. A prostitute is wanted. A good prostitute can twist others’ arms into loving her and giving her everything she could ever want, and more.
She is the opposite of a prostitute – even though she does the same things, she goes about it in the opposite way, with the opposite effect. So she builds shrines to herself, settles for the arms of second-rate men, and tries to forget where home is.
The above story is one person’s analogy of what is written in Ezekiel 16 about Jerusalem and her destestable practices. God uses “shock & awe” to get His point across to the people of Jerusalem by comparing them to a prostitute that freely gives herself to many lovers. How have you prostituted yourself?
