When I read the bible. especially the Old Testament, and read about times and again the people moving towards Baal worship, Astoreth, and indeed, as you mentioned the presence of the male and female temple prostitutes, I always wondered what the reason could be.

There is even one passage that says that the Israelites kept on bringing their sacrifices on the high places, but now it was to the God of Abraham. Clearly, something did not sit right.

One of the hypothesis I have is, that the type of worship as propagated by the Priests was kind of abstract.

It also appears to me that yom kippur seems rather odd. Corn seed, water and blood had to be spilled in front of the Ark, once a year, to allow the Nation to escape the death row they were on, to reconcile them with an offended God, and come to live again. This was done while God's presence, through the light between the wings of the angels, was supposed to be there.

When considering the temple building itself: the two pillars, the holy room and then the holy of Holies ... it seems to me this equals the female procreation system. Labia, vagina, womb, which the latter is where live comes into being.

The other hypothesis is that sex can be a potent method to reach a spiritual state.