E.g. I'm not schooled enough in animal husbandry to know the difference between donkey-sized genitals and horse-sized ones, or between donkey-sized emissions and horse-sized ones, but these people were. And they knew it well enough to say it's the genitals that are donkey-sized, and the discharge that's horse-sized, not the other way around. Probably stone you for heresy if you crossed up the words of the prophet like that.
Yes, in context it's part of a very... colorful... metaphor, but I still find the distinction hilariously specific.
The horse/donkey pairing is a poetic device; there's no intended technical distinction between the two. If you're familiar with satyrs in Roman mythology, it's sort of like a poetic comparison to them, but using terms familiar to the audience at the time.
The point of the passage is to call out Israel's spiritual lewdness and adultery in going after idols instead of worshipping the God who had made a covenant of faithfulness with them.
E.g. I'm not schooled enough in animal husbandry to know the difference between donkey-sized genitals and horse-sized ones, or between donkey-sized emissions and horse-sized ones, but these people were. And they knew it well enough to say it's the genitals that are donkey-sized, and the discharge that's horse-sized, not the other way around. Probably stone you for heresy if you crossed up the words of the prophet like that.
Yes, in context it's part of a very... colorful... metaphor, but I still find the distinction hilariously specific.