Secret Number 60

Israel and Phallic Worship

Akin to the previous answer is another. When Moses got upset with the Israelites just before they entered the land of Canaan for going over to the worship of Baal-Peor (and Paul also referred to this evil), what were the people of Israel doing in the worship of the Moabite deity?: The apostle Paul said that Israel was going over to fornication (I Corinthians 10:8). The religion of this deity was one associated with shame because the prophet Hosea said that Israel "went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves unto that shame" (Hosea 9:10). And what does Baal-Peor mean in blunt language as the earliest commentators understood it? It means "Lord of the Opening" (the word "opening" having an anatomical meaning both male and female, and used in an obscene sense).