Were women excluded from the priesthood to avoid the dangers of the Canaanite fertility cults and sacred prostitution?
No. Many pagan priestesses lived celibate, devoted lives. The fact that some pagan priestesses served as prostitutes cannot have been the reason God excluded devout Israelite women from serving with honor as priestesses at the sanctuary. The sons of Eli “lay with the women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (1 Sam. 2:22), yet their mutual immorality resulted in abolition of neither the male priesthood nor the ministry of the women who served at the entrance to the sanctuary. Furthermore, the danger of male cult prostitution was equally present in Old Testament times. Scripture condemns it as being equally, if not more, abominable than female prostitution (Deut. 23:18; Rev. 22:15). If the danger of prostitution were the reason for excluding women from the priesthood, men would not have been eligible either.
