Hear me out; this *is* a chemistry question

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The discussion centers around a verse from The Book of Bel and The Dragon in the Apocrypha, where Daniel uses a mixture of pitch, fat, and hair to create lumps that cause a dragon to burst. The inquiry focuses on the historical implications of this act, particularly whether the combination of these materials could produce an explosive reaction. The poster, a chemistry major, seeks insights into the chemical properties of pitch, fat, and hair, speculating on their potential to generate explosive tendencies when heated. The conversation highlights the intersection of ancient texts and modern chemistry, exploring how these materials might interact and the historical context of their use.
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I understand that religious discussion is not want is wanted here, but it's just the pretext to my question that's religious based.

I recently decided to read the Apocrypha. Sounded interesting. Anyway, when I got to The Book of Bel and The Dragon, there was this verse, which struck me as particularily interesting:

1:27 Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and did seethe them together, and made lumps thereof: this he put in the dragon's mouth, and so the dragon burst in sunder : and Daniel said, Lo, these are the gods ye worship.

Now, what I'm wondering (and the only reason I'm bringing this up here), is what would this do? It seems to be an extremely early reference to use of explosives, which is fascinating in a purely historical sense, but what sort of material would actually be formed by boiling a mixture of pitch, fat, and hair? Would this have some explosive tendency, as can be interpretted from the passage?

I'm a chemistry major, but I haven't even gone through Organic yet, so if any of you know anything about the properties this would (or would not) have, I would greatly appreciate the knowledge.
 
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Pitch, fat, and hair? Sounds like a good way to caulk a hollow casting to get a boiler explosion (vapors from assorted sacrificial offerings furnishing the trapped gases).
 

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