Text: 2 Kings 9:27 "And they brake down the image of Baal, and brake down the house of Baal, and made it a draught house unto this day."

The archaic Hebrew word for Draught House is "macharaoth". It is plural and means "latrine" or "privy".  Even though the Masoretes (early Hebrew Scholars)  preferred a less offensive word and substituted "sinks" in their translation, the meaning is still the same.  A draught house was a multi-person public toilet.

When it comes to archaeology, one never knows what one will dig
up. Research on ancient restrooms has revealed that the earliest known comfort spots were spontaneous, such as in caves or behind rocks or a bush. This is probably what the Children of Israel used while making their wilderness journey. Later, after settlement, 
people began to construct actual facilities for this necessity.

Public latrines have been excavated in many areas of the ancient world. In the middle east, the most common early restroom consisted of a simple building enclosing a row of stone slabs that had holes carved into them. The stone slabs were positioned over a ditch or drain that contained running water and allowed the waste to flow out of the building.

The first Biblical mention of a public restroom is the draught house of 2 Kings 9:27. However, Ezra 6:11 and Dan 2:5 allude to something similar.  In these verses, the term "dunghill" is  also translated as "sink". meaning a human restroom. In these two verse, the  dunghill is associated with something utterly detestable.

Among the ancient Oriental cultures, any curse and its associated action that had anything to do with dung was considered to be an insult of the highest form. It called for utter humiliation and total degradation.

From Sir John Chardin:  "The eastern people are more exquisite in taking vengeance than those in the west.  An example of such is that when Abbas the Great, King of Persia, having conquered Bagdad, treated the tomb of Hanifah, one of the fathers of the church among the Turks, as a draught house. ("Hewlett's Commentary and Annotations on the Holy Scriptures", Vol 2. Published 1816.)

The introductory text tells that one of the first official acts of King Jehu, after coming to the throne, was to utterly defile and destroy Baal. Thus, he committed three insulting acts: 


1. Tore down the statue of Ball.
2. Tore down the temple of Baal.
3. And used the rubble as a draught house (meaning that the Israelites defecated on it.)


When finished, everything associated with Baal and his worship and been reduced to unclean and contemptuous. 


Copyright by Ancient Bible History - Eden Games Inc.

TEXT: Rev. 2: 17:  "To him that overcometh will I and I will give him…a white stone and a new name written, which no man knows except him that receives it."

Much speculation has been given concerning the meaning of the white stone that is mentioned in Revelation.  One thought is that a tessera, which is Latin for ticket or token, is being described.  
 
​The word tessera has numerous definitions: 1.) small cubes or engraved dies used in ancient game playing;  2.) small pieces of marble, pebbles, glass, or precious stones used to make mosaics;  3.) a Greek or Roman token that was exchanged for gifts or goods;   or 4. ) a small piece of wood or bone used as an ancient ticket. 
 
While it is possible that a tessera may have been a white stone, a white stone wasn't  necessarily a tessera.  Instead, a white stone had its own unique uses in the  ancient world, which is depicted in early Greek and Roman literature.

1.   A White Stone used for Judgement of Guilt or Innocence:
 
From Ovid (A.D. 8):   "A custom was of old, and still remains,
                           Which life or death by suffrages ordains:
                           White stones and black within an urn are cast,
                           The first absolve, but fate is in the last." 
("Metamorphoses," Lib XV, verse 41.  Translated by John Dryden, 1717.)

From Rev. John Potter:  "The most ancient way of giving sentence was by black and white seashells (beads).  Ovid has taken notice of this custom, "Black and white Stones were used in ages past, these to acquit the Prisoner, those to cast."  ("Antiquities of Greece", Vol.1, p. 119.  Published 1722,  London.)
 
 From Thomas Wilson:  "The ancients used stones to calculate and vote with by casting them in an urn.  In criminal processes, a white stone implied acquittal and a black one condemnation; the Greek theta was sometimes engraved upon the latter and implied death.'  ("The Cottage Bible",  Vol. 2., p. 1388.  Published 1848, Hartford.)
 
 
2.  A White Stone as a Decision Maker:
 
From Pliny:  "But  such  is  the  folly  of mortal  men,  that  they  are  very  ingenious  in  deceiving  themselves:  so  that  they  reckon  after  the  custom  of  the  Thracians,  who,  by  stones  marked  with  different  colours,  which they  cast  into  an  urn  (and) institute  the  trial  of  every  day;  and at  their  last day (meaning: end of day)  they  separate  these  stones  one  from  another and  count  them:  and  thus  give judgment  concerning each  one.  But  what  if  the  day,  flattered  with  a  white  stone, have  in  it  the  beginning  of  some  misfortune?  ("Pliny's Natural History in Thirty-Seven Books" , Book 7, Chapter 40,  pp. 225-226.  Translated by Dr. Philomen Holland, ed 1601.  Published 1848, London.)
 
From Rev. John and William Langhorne : "When he (Pericles) found the Athenians murmured at the time spent in the blockade, and that it was difficult to restrain them from the assault, he divided the army into eight parts, and ordered them to draw lots.  That division which drew a white bean (pebble or bead) was to enjoy themselves in ease and pleasure while the other fought.  Hence it is said that those who spend the day in feasting and merriment call that a white day from the white bean."  ("Plutarch's lives", p,21. Published New York, 1889.)
 
 
3.  A White Stone as an Honor
 
From Plutarch:  "Following the Olympic Games, winners arriving back in their native cities were given a parade of honor and a huge victory celebration, at which time each champion was presented with a white stone that bore his name.  Possessing such a stone entitled him to be maintained at the public's expense for the rest of his life." ("Plutarch: Life of Pericles", 64.  Paraphrase of the Greek translation.)
 
 From Thomas Wilson:  "White stones are also said to have been given to the victors in the Olympic games with their names or (initials) engraved on them.  When persons were raised to a new  honour, it was customary to confer (to them) a new name."  ("The Cottage Bible",  Vol. 2., p. 1388.  Published1848, Hartford.)