Disgusting Deeds and Disgusting Gods: Ethnic and Ethical Constructions of Disgust in the Hebrew Bible

This article examines thirteen terms that connote disgust about food, drink, sex, gods, offerings, prayers, peoples, lands, persons, injustice, and life. The terms form two different »codes« for social orientation. An international, sapiental or ethical »code« emphasizes moral disgust, which is nourished by the love of YHWH and lady wisdom. A priestly or ethnic »code« is characterized by a rhetoric of disgust, which functions to deter people from non-Yahwistic laws of the nations. In this rhetoric, fecal language is used in order to express disgust of idols, the symbols of the gods who order and legitimize foreign laws and customs.