Nor is this the only reference to Baal and excrement in ancient literature. Marvin Pope11 has called attention to the rabbinic description of ceremonial defecation in the cult of Baal Peor (see b. ᶜAbod. Zar. 44b; b. Sanh. 60b; m. Sanh. 7:6 [cited by Pope], as well as Sipre 131; y. Sanh. 10:2,28d). Pope's caution on whether this detail stems "from direct knowledge of the pagan cult" or "from play on one of the meanings of the word pᶜr" is admirable. Now, however, recognition of the allusion to excrement in 1 Kgs 18:27 may tilt the scales in favor of Pope's former suggestion (notwithstanding the assumption that Baal worship took on different manifestations in different locales, that is to say, that the worship of Baal on Mt. Carmel need not a priori have been the same as the worship of Baal at Baal Peor in Transjordan). We may even reverse the thinking of Pope's latter suggestion and propose that 1he name Baal Peor is to be derived from (pᶜr) "excrete."12
11 M.H. Pope, "A Divine Banquet at Ugarit," The Use of the Old Testament in the New and Other Essays. Studies in Honor of William Franklin Stinespring (ed. J.M. Efird; Durham, NC: Duke University, 1972) 196-97.
12 For this meaning see F. Brown, S.R. Driver, and C.A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1906) 822.
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Monday, December 15, 2025
Ceremonial Defecation
Gary A. Rendsburg, "The Mock of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27,"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 50.3 (July, 1988) 414-417 (at 416):