“They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 106:28 Mean?
The psalmist describes Israel's participation in pagan worship at Baal-peor: "They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." The joining (tsamad — to yoke, to bind, to attach oneself to) describes a deliberate, formal alliance with the Moabite deity. The eating of sacrifices to the dead means participating in meals offered to deceased ancestors or to deities associated with death.
The Baal-peor incident (Numbers 25) involved both sexual immorality and idol worship — the Moabite women invited Israelite men to sacrificial meals that included sexual rites. The "joining" encompasses both the physical union and the spiritual allegiance. The yoking to Baal-peor was comprehensive: body and spirit, sexuality and worship, appetite and allegiance.
The "sacrifices of the dead" (zivchey methim — offerings to/for the dead) identifies what Israel ate as belonging to the realm of death. The food they consumed was death-food — offerings made to dead deities or dead ancestors. By eating, they participated in death's worship system. The living ate death's meals.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'yoking to Baal-peor' (deliberate, functional attachment to a false deity) look like in modern terms?
- 2.How does eating 'sacrifices of the dead' describe participation in a death-realm worship system?
- 3.Where might you be consuming 'death food' (cultural, spiritual, relational) while God's provision goes untouched?
- 4.What does the combination of sexual immorality and idol worship teach about how the two are connected?
Devotional
They yoked themselves to Baal-peor. They ate the offerings of the dead. Israel bound itself to a death-deity and consumed what belonged to the realm of the dead. The living chose death's table over God's manna.
The yoking (tsamad) is the word for binding oxen together — a deliberate, functional, labor-sharing attachment. Israel didn't casually observe Baal-peor worship. They yoked themselves to it — hitched their identity to the Moabite deity's agenda the way an ox is hitched to another ox for plowing. The attachment was functional: they worked together. Israel's strength served Baal-peor's purposes.
The sacrifices of the dead identify what Israel ate: food offered to death. Whether the 'dead' refers to deceased ancestors, to deities associated with the underworld, or to the spiritual death that false worship produces — the food came from death's domain. The manna came from heaven. The sacrificial meal came from death. Israel chose the second.
The Baal-peor incident (Numbers 25) combined sexual immorality with idol worship — the two weren't separate events but dimensions of the same ritual. The Moabite women invited Israelite men to sacrificial feasts that included sexual rites dedicated to the fertility god. The 'joining' encompassed everything: the sexual union, the religious allegiance, the sacrificial meal. Body, soul, and appetite were all yoked to the foreign deity.
The psalm's inclusion of this incident in the historical recitation (Psalm 106's long confession of national sins) establishes Baal-peor as one of Israel's worst moments: the time they traded the living God's provision for death's table. The food of heaven wasn't enough. They wanted the food of the dead.
What 'table of the dead' are you eating at — consuming what belongs to the realm of spiritual death while God's provision sits untouched?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor,.... Or to the idol Peor, as the Targum. Baal, which signifies Lord or master,…
They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor - They joined in their devotions, or, they shared in the rites of idolatrous…
This is an abridgment of the history of Israel's provocations in the wilderness, and of the wrath of God against them…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture