Despite calls from fellow Southern Baptists, two Texas pastors have yet to apologize for comparing Vice President Kamala Harris to Jezebel, a Biblical queen whose name has become shorthand for a woman who is manipulative, seductive, and wicked.

There is a distinctively racist and sexist undertone to the label, since the Jezebel trope has been used to denigrate Black women for years, scholars say.

The most notable Southern Baptist to sling the name Jezebel at the nations first female, Black and Asian vice president was Steve Swofford, a pastor who sits on the Southern Baptist Conventions executive committee, a church body tasked with running the business of Americas largest Protestant denomination.

During a speech at his Rockwall church, Swofford wondered aloud what would happen if President Joe Biden stepped down and Jezebel has to take over.

Jezebel Harris, isnt that her name? Swofford said on Jan. 3, according to Baptist News Global .

Swofford, who was a chairman on the team responsible for selecting the executive committees president , did not respond to HuffPosts request for comment. SBCs executive committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another Texas pastor, Tom Buck, compared Harris to Jezebel two days after her inauguration, as people celebrated her historic new role.

I cant imagine any truly God-fearing Israelite who wouldve wanted their daughters to view Jezebel as an inspirational role model because she was a woman in power, Buck tweeted on Jan. 22 .

Buck later doubled down, stating that his problem with Harris was her godless character as someone who supports increasing womens access to abortion, as well as protecting LGBTQ peoples right to marry.

Valerie Cooper, an associate professor of Black church studies at Duke Divinity School, told HuffPost its impossible to ignore the racist connotations of the label, especially when it is lobbed at Harris.

To pull out this old chestnut with regards to a woman of color is just horrendous, Cooper said. It has not only misogynistic layers of interpretation, but its also frankly racist in its application.

J.D. Greear, the SBCs current president, stepped in on Twitter to denounce the comparisons without naming the pastors responsible.

I realize that some pastors are likely unaware of the history of certain racial stereotypes in calling or comparing our Vice President to Jezebel, but that doesnt make such statements any less unwise, Greear wrote on Twitter last Tuesday. There are times we will critique policies, but that should not include personal attacks on a newly elected official God has told us to honor and pray for.

Jezebel was a queen who appears in the Bible as the wife of an ancient ruler of Israel, King Ahab. The daughter of a Phoenician king, Jezebel was fiercely loyal to her own culture. She refused to set aside her own religious beliefs after marrying Ahab, instead encouraging her husband to worship her gods, Baal and Asherah. The Bible suggests Jezebel was also comfortable wielding political power, threatening the Prophet Elijah after he had Baals priests slain, and arranging the murder of a land owner so that Ahab could seize a vineyard. When she realized she was going to be killed, Jezebel did not cower instead, she put on makeup, fixed her hair, and waited for death at her palace window.

The name Jezebel literally means, Where is the prince? or in modern terms, Where is your husband? according to Tamura Lomax , author of Jezebel Unhinged: Loosing the Black Female Body in Religion and Culture.

The name Jezebel was actually meant to be a slur because she did not submit to patriarchy, Lomax told HuffPost.