31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
To treat someone like a prostitute is to treat them like an object for one’s own pleasure. This is one of the first rapes recorded in Scripture. When it is discovered, her brothers want immediate revenge, and rightly so. Sexual relationships are supposed to be the most intimate and fulfilling that human beings can experience. They can be. But in our culture of instant porn and shallow relationships, sex has too often become the next step after a handshake. The more we depersonalize sexual relationships, the more we treat the other as an object to be used. The other person becomes a box of chocolate go to when we have a need to feel good. We get our “fix” and we are on to the next conquest. What gets these brothers mad is not that prostitution exists, but that their sister was treated like a prostitute. But every prostitute is someone’s daughter or sister, mother or aunt. Everyone has the right to be treated with the dignity afforded them because they are created in God’s image and likeness. Take a look at your own relationship for a moment. Do you ever treat the other as there to meet your needs without any thought about how they feel about it? Maybe it is time we slow down and consider life from the other’s perspective.
The Arnold Journey 