מלכים ב, פרק י״ז, פסוק ל״א

The foreign nations relocated to Samaria clung fiercely to their pagan traditions, bringing with them a strange and often brutal array of religious practices. They fashioned their idols in the shapes of various animals and engaged in cruel rituals to appease them.

The people of Avva [ביאור שטיינזלץ] worshipped two primary deities, both taking the forms of common beasts. The first idol was shaped like a dog, and its very name evoked the image of a barking hound aggressively baring its teeth [רד"ק]. The second idol they worshipped was crafted in the likeness of a donkey [רוב הפרשנים].

Meanwhile, the people of Sepharvaim practiced a far darker and more terrifying form of worship. They sacrificed their own children, burning them in fire to honor their two main gods. The primary approach among commentators is that these gods were also represented by working animals. One was shaped like a mule, revered for carrying heavy loads for its master, while the other took the form of a horse, symbolizing a creature that readily assists its master in battle [רד"ק, רש"י, מצודת דוד]. In contrast to this view, an alternative tradition suggests these deities were not beasts of burden at all, but rather grand birds, specifically shaped like a peacock and a pheasant [רד"ק].