Shittim was about 13 kilometers (8 miles) east of the Jordan River on the plains of Moab, across from Jericho (see Numbers 25:1).
the house of a prostitute: In the house of a prostitute, strangers could avoid attention they did not want. According to tradition, Rahab was an innkeeper as well as a prostitute (Josephus, Antiquities 5.1.2). Other evidence from the ancient Near East suggests that women who owned and operated inns were often prostitutes.