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Document Details : Title: Jehu's Ritual Pollution of Samaria's Temple Compared with Lachish's 'Gate Shrine' Toilet Author(s): ADCOCK, James Seth Journal: Biblica Volume: 102 Issue: 1 Date: 2021 Pages: 45-67 DOI: 10.2143/BIB.102.1.3289353 Abstract : Jehu’s desecration of Samaria’s Baal temple (2 Kgs 10,18-28) finds archaeological comparison recently with the discovery of Lachish Level III’s 'gate shrine' toilet. Excavations reveal ritual pollution of a gate shrine by the sealing of a toilet inside the chamber during Hezekiah’s reform (2 Kgs 18,4). Likewise, Jehu’s revolt defiled Samaria’s Baal temple by turning the sanctuary into a latrine and ritually desecrating the holy place with human excreta. By the end of the eighth century BCE, ritual pollution by latrine association seems to have altered slightly, with Lachish’s 'toilet ceremony' developing from Jehu’s older practice approximately 140 years earlier. |
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