Chapter
25 of Numbers begins by telling us
that “Israel abode in Shittim.” This is simply an amusing place name but the
chapter goes on to detail the Ba'al Pe’or Heresy.
Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and
the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
(25:3)
In other words, the
Israelites were worshipping a Moabite god called Ba’al Pe’or. God, of course, has
a hissy fit and threatens the wholesale destruction of the race. Luckily, Phineas
jumps up, kills two Baal worshippers and God is placated. Having killed a mere
24,000 people with a plague, God announces that his wrath has been turned away.
But who or what was Ba’al
Pe’or? Baal is a general term for a god in the Levant and Ba’al Pe’or (or Bel
Phegor) may have been the local god of Mount Pe’or – where the heresy began. There
is also an argument that Pe’or is connected to the Hebrew word stem ‘p’r’ and
refers to an opening of the mouth or the bowels. Ba’al Pe’or thus means ‘Lord
of the Opening’ and Talmudic tradition strongly indicates that Ba’al Pe’or’s
worship involved both public exposure and excrement. Baal-Peor must have been a
sort of dung god to whom both flatulence and faeces would be ‘sacrificed’ to
cure intestinal problems or, because dung was used as manure, to help crops
grow.
The 1863 edition of Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire
Infernal claimed that Bel Phegor was “worshipped on a toilet, with offerings
being the residue of one’s digestion.” The
book also provides us with a fabulous engraving of the god in situ.
One story in the
Sanhedrin (part of the Talmud, the rabbinical interpretation of the Tanakh)
tells of Sabta, a Jew who attempted to show his contempt for Ba’al Pe’or. Sabta
defecated in the temple and cleaned himself on the statue, only to be commended
for his efforts.
He then entered, uncovered himself before
it, and wiped himself on the idol’s nose, whilst the acolytes praised him,
saying, “No man has ever served this idol thus.”
(Tractate Sanhedrin 64a)
Rashi, a French rabbi
of the late eleventh century, said of Ba’al Pe’or that “they would uncover before it the end of the rectum
and bring forth excrement; this is its worship.” In light of this, we should be grateful that it was the Israelites’
god who won this particular battle and who went on to create the dominant
religions of the modern world.
Crucially, however, Phineas’
actions led to a lasting covenant of peace with God (Numbers 25:12). From this
point forward, Judaism goes out of its way to prove it is different to the old
pagan religions and it does this by underlining its hatred of scatology. After
the events of Numbers 25, excrement is only ever referred to disapprovingly.
Recent Comments