Around 820 BC, King Jehu of Israel tricked the worshippers of Baal into entering the temple of Baal, the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon. Jehu then locked them inside the temple and destroyed it, killing the worshippers. Finally, as a specific act of desecration, Jehu broke down the temple of Baal in Samaria and “made it a latrine.”
The example displayed here is undeniably similar to the one from the temple of Baal in Samaria that was probably adjacent to the palace complex built by Omri and Ahab, two of Israel’s most apostate and wicked kings.
That particular temple of Baal will likely not be excavated, since the Roman-era temple of Augustus was built over that site, and is partially intact. Preservation of the Augustus temple has taken priority over the excavation of the temple of Baal.
However, a recent discovery at Lachish has uncovered evidence for this act of building a latrine over a pagan temple or shrine. This type of desecration was practiced during the divided kingdom period of Israel and Judah.
At Lachish, a major ancient city in the kingdom of Judah, King Rehoboam had built a six-chambered gate and walls in the late 10th century BC, similar to those his father Solomon had built earlier. Inside the chambers of the gate, soldiers were stationed, merchants sold items, and city elders sat in judgement. This structure also housed an idolatrous religious shrine in one of the chambers, containing a “high place” which included an offering table and two horned altars (forbidden by Mosaic Law). This shrine at Lachish was used during the 8th century BC until it was discovered, destroyed, and desecrated during the reforms of King Hezekiah beginning around 715 BC. Hezekiah commanded that all pagan altars, shrines, and idols be destroyed.
When the order was carried out at Lachish, the reformers not only chipped the “illegal” horns off the altars, but they also placed a stone toilet seat in the shrine, which was then sealed up and never again used. The stone toilet seat itself was also not used; it was a symbolic toilet meant to convey a theological message.
Summary
The discovery of this latrine confirms the Biblical stories of this peculiar practice of ritual desecration of pagan temples by Israelite and Judean kings of the 9th and 8th centuries BC, just as it was recorded in the book of Kings. It adds further archaeological evidence that confirms the accounts of the spiritual reforms of Hezekiah found at several other ancient cities.
They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day (2 Kings 10:27 NASB95).
