Baal

VIEW:47 DATA:01-04-2020
master; lord
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


God of the thunderstorm war good harvests fertility nature winter rain and of storms Phoenicia
Gods and Goddess Reference


BAAL (BAALI, BAALIM).—Used generally, the word ba’al means ‘possessor,’ ‘inhabitant,’ ‘controller.’ Thus, a married man is called ‘possessor of a woman’ (2Sa_11:26), a ram, ‘possessor of horns,’ and even the citizens of a locality are denoted by this word (Jdg_9:2; Jdg_20:5, 1Sa_23:11 f., 2Sa_21:12). With a similar meaning, it is applied to numerous Canaanitish local deities (pl. ba’alim, Jdg_2:11; Jdg_3:7; Jdg_8:33; Jdg_10:10, 1Sa_7:1; 1Sa_12:10, 1Ki_18:18; coll. sing. ba’al, Jdg_2:13, Jer_11:13 etc.; cf. Baal-gad, Baalath-beer, and other compounds of this word). These gods were supposed to manifest themselves in the fertility, or in some startling natural formation, of the locality where they were worshipped. Such an animistic conception is evident from the fact that they were worshipped in high places and in groves, where such rites as prophecy (Jer_22:13), fornication (Jer_7:9), self-mutilation (1Ki_18:28), and child-sacrifice (Jer_19:5) were practised under the guidance of kemârim or idolatrous priests (Zep_1:4). The same idea is also clear from the use of this word among the Arabs, who designate land irrigated by subterranean springs as ‘Ba’l land,’ i.e. land inhabited by a spirit. Gradually, however, some of these gods assimilated more abstract powers (cf. Baal-berith), and as their votaries extended their powers over a greater area, became the Baal par excellence, i.e. the controller of the destiny of his worshippers (cf. Jdg_6:25, 1Ki_16:31; 1Ki_18:26; 1Ki_19:18 [in the last three passages, Melkart of Tyre]).
So great a predilection for cults of such a nature was shown by the Israelites, from the time of their entrance into Canaan until the fall of the monarchy, that Jabweh was given this title. Thus Saul, a zealous worshipper of Jahweh, names (1Ch_8:33) one of his sons Eshbaal, and one of David’s heroes is called (1Ch_12:5) Bealiah (‘J″ [Note: Jahweh.] is Baal’); cf. also Meribbaal (1Ch_9:40), Beeliada (1Ch_14:7), Jerubbaal (Jdg_8:35). A confusion, however, of Jahweh and the Canaanitish deities seems to have taken place, to avoid which, Hosea (Hos_2:16-17) demands that Jahweh be no longer called Ba‘ali (‘my Baal’), but ’Ishi (‘my husband’). Under the influence of such prophecies the Israelites abandoned the use of Baal for Jahweh, and in later times developed so great an antipathy to this word that later revisers substituted bôsheth (‘shameful thing’), not only wherever Ba’al occurred for the Canaanitish deities (Hos_9:10, Jer_3:24; Jer_11:13), but also, forgetful of its former application to Jahweh, in some of the above names (see Ishbosheth), supposing them to allude to local gods.
N. Koenig.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


Ba'al. (lord).
1. A Reubenite 1Ch_5:5.
2. The son of Jehiel, and grandfather of Saul. 1Ch_8:30; 1Ch_9:36.
The supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity. Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. It prevailed in the time of Moses among the Moabites and Midianites, Num_22:41, and through them spread to the Israelites. Num_25:3-18; Num_4:3.
In the times of the kings, it became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes, 1Ki_16:31-33; 1Ki_18:19; 1Ki_18:22, and appears never to have been permanently abolished among them. 2Ki_17:16 Temples were erected to Baal in Judah, 1Ki_16:32 and he was worshipped with much ceremony. 1Ki_18:19; 1Ki 26-28; 2Ki_10:22. The attractiveness of this worship to the Jews undoubtedly grew out of its licentious character. We find this worship also in Phoenician colonies.
The religion of the ancient British islands much resembled this ancient worship of Baal, and may have been derived from it. Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel, Isa_46:1, or Beaus, as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form. The plural, Baalim, is found frequently, showing that he was probably worshipped under different compounds, among which appear ?
3. Baal-Berith. (the covenant Baal), Jdg_8:33; Jdg_9:4, the god who comes into covenant with the worshippers.
4. Baal-Zebub. (lord of the fly), and worshipped at Ekron. 2Ki_1:2-3; 2Ki_1:16.
5. Baal-Hanan. a. The name of one of the early kings of Edom. Gen_36:38-39; 1Ch_1:49-50.
b. The name of one of David's officers, who had the superintendence of his olive and sycamore plantations. 1Ch_27:28.
6. Baal-Peor. (lord of the opening, that is, for others to join in the worship). We have already referred to the worship of this god. The narrative Numbers 25 seems clearly to show that this form of Baal-worship was connected with licentious rites.
Geographical. This word occurs as the prefix or suffix to the names of several places in Palestine, some of which are as follows:
7. Baal a town of Simeon, named only in 1Ch_4:33 which from the parallel list in Jos_19:8 seems to have been identical with Baalath-Beer.
8. Baalah. (mistress).
a. Another name for Kirjath-Jearim, or Kirjath-Baal, the well-known town now Kuriet el Enab. Jos_15:9-10; 1Ch_13:6.
b. A town in the south of Judah, Jos_15:29 which in Jos_19:3, is called Balah, and in the parallel list, 1Ch_4:29, Bilhah.
9. Baalath. (mistress), a town of Dan named with Gibbethon, Gath-rim-mon and other Philistine places. Jos_19:44.
10. Baalath-Beer. (lord of the well). Baal, 7, a town among those in the south part of Judah, given to Simeon, which also bore the name of Ramath-Negeb, or "the height of the south." Jos_19:8.
11. Baal-Gad. (lord of fortune), used to denote the most northern, Jos_11:17; Jos_12:7, or perhaps northwestern, Jos_13:5, point to which Joshua's victories extended. It was in all probability a Phoenician or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal under the aspect of Gad or Fortune.
12. Baal-Hamon. (lord of a multitude), a place at which Solomon had a vineyard, evidently of great extent. Son_8:11.
13. Baal-Hazor. (village of Baal), a place where Absalom appears to have had a sheep-farm, and where Amnon was murdered. 2Sa_13:23.
14. Mountain Baal-Hermon. (Lord of Hermon), Jdg_3:3, and simply Baal-hermon. 1Ch_5:23 This is usually considered as a distinct place from Mount Hermon; but we know that this mountain had at least three names Deu_3:9 and Baal-hermon may have been a fourth in use among the Phoenician worshippers.
15. Baal-Meon. (lord of the house), one of the towns which were built by the Reubenites. Num_32:38. It also occurs in 1Ch_5:8 and on each occasion with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel, it was Moabite, one of the cities which were the "glory of the country." Eze_25:9.
16. Baal-Perazim. (lord of divisions), the scene of a victory of David over the Philistines, and of a great destruction of their images. 2Sa_5:20; 1Ch_14:11. See Isa_28:21 where it is called Mountain Perazim.
17. Baal-Shalisha. (lord of Shalisha), a place named only in 2Ki_4:42 apparently not far from Gilgal; Compare 2Ki_4:38.
18. Baal-Tamar. (lord of the palm tree), a place named only in Jdg_20:33 as near Gibeah of Benjamin. The palm tree (Hebrew, tamar) of Deborah, Jdg_4:5, was situated somewhere in the locality, and is possibly alluded to.
19. Baal-Zephon. (lord of the north), a place in Egypt near where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Num_33:7; Eze_14:2; Eze 9. We place Baal-zephon on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez, a little below its head, which at that time was about 30 or 40 miles northward of the Present head.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


BEL, or BELUS, denoting lord, a divinity among several ancient nations; as the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Sidonians, Carthaginians, Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. The term Baal, which is itself an appellative, served at first to denote the true God, among those who adhered to the true religion. Accordingly, the Phoenicians, being originally Canaanites, having once had, as well as the rest of their kindred, the knowledge of the true God, probably called him Baal, or lord. But they, as well as other nations, gradually degenerating into idolatry, applied this appellation, to their respective idols; and thus were introduced a variety of divinities, called Baalim, or Baal, with some epithet annexed to it, as Baal Berith, Baal Gad, Baal Moloch, Baal Peor, Baal Zebub, &c. Some have supposed that the descendants of Ham first worshipped the sun under the title of Baal, 2Ki_23:5; 2Ki_23:11; and that they afterward ascribed it to the patriarch who was the head of their line; making the sun only an emblem of his influence or power. It is certain, however, that when the custom prevailed of deifying and worshipping those who were in any respect distinguished among mankind, the appellation of Baal was not restricted to the sun, but extended to those eminent persons who were deified, and who became objects of worship in different nations. The Phoenicians had several divinities of this kind, who were not intended to represent the sun. It is probable that Baal, Belus, or Bel, the great god of the Carthaginians, and also of the Sidonians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, who, from the testimony of Scripture, appears to have been delighted with human sacrifices, was the Moloch of the Ammonites; the Chronus of the Greeks, who was the chief object of adoration in Italy, Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes, and all other countries where divine honours were paid him; and the Saturn of the Latins. In process of time, many other deities, beside the principal ones just mentioned, were distinguished by the title of Baal among the Phoenicians, particularly those of Tyre, and of course among the Carthaginians, and other nations. Such were Jupiter, Mars, Bacchus, and Apollo, or the sun.
The temples and altars of Baal were generally placed on eminences: they were places inclosed by walls, within which was maintained a perpetual fire; and some of them had statues or images, called in Scripture, “Chamanim.” Maundrell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, observed some remains of these enclosures in Syria. Baal had his prophets and his priests in great numbers; accordingly, we read of four hundred and fifty of them that were fed at the table of Jezebel only; and they conducted the worship of this deity, by offering sacrifices, by dancing round his altar with violent gesticulations and exclamations, by cutting their bodies with knives and lancets, and by raving and pretending to prophesy, as if they were possessed by some invisible power.
It is remarkable that we do not find the name Baal so much in popular use east of Babylonia; but it was general west of Babylonia, and to the very extremity of western Europe, including the British isles. The worship of Bel, Belus, Belenus, or Belinus, was general throughout the British islands; and certain of its rites and observances are still maintained among us, notwithstanding the establishment of Christianity during so many ages. A town in Perthshire, on the borders of the Highlands, is called Tilliebeltane or Tulliebeltane; that is, the eminence, or rising ground, of the fire of Baal. In the neighbourhood is a Druidical temple of eight upright stones, where it is supposed the fire was kindled. At some distance from this is another temple of the same kind, but smaller; and near it a well still held in great veneration. On Beltane morning, superstitious people go to this well, and drink of it; then they make a procession round it nine times. After this they in like manner go round the temple. So deep-rooted is this Heathenish superstition in the minds of many who reckon themselves good Protestants, that they will not neglect these rites, even when Beltane falls on the Sabbath.
In Ireland, Bel-tein is celebrated on the twenty-first of June, at the time of the solstice. There, as they make fires on the tops of hills, every member of the family is made to pass though the fire; as they reckon this ceremony necessary to ensure good fortune through the succeeding year. This resembles the rites used by the Romans in the Palilia. Bel-tein is also observed in Lancashire.
In Wales, this annual fire is kindled in autumn, on the first day of November; which being neither at the solstice nor equinox, deserves attention. It may be accounted for by supposing that the lapse of ages has removed it from its ancient station, and that the observance is kept on the same day, nominally, though that be now removed some weeks backward from its true station. However that may be, in North Wales especially, this fire is attended by many ceremonies; such as running through the fire and smoke, each participator casting a stone into the fire.
The Hebrews often imitated the idolatry of the Canaanites in adoring Baal. They offered human sacrifices to him in groves, upon high places, and upon the terraces of houses. Baal had priests and prophets consecrated to his service. All sorts of infamous and immodest actions were committed in the festivals of Baal and Astarte. See Jer_32:35; 2Ki_17:16; 2Ki_23:4-5; 2Ki_23:12; 1Ki_18:22; 2Ki_10:19; 1Ki_14:24; 1Ki_15:12; 2Ki_23:7; Hos_4:14. This false deity is frequently mentioned in Scripture in the plural number, Baalim, which may intimate that the name Baal was given to several different deities.
There were many cities in Palestine, whose names were compounded of Baal and some other word: whether it was that the god Baal was adored in them, or that these places were looked upon as the capital cities,—lords of their respective provinces,—is uncertain.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Canaanite and Phoenician gods were known as Baals, or Baalim (the plural form of Baal in Hebrew; Jdg_2:11; Jdg_10:10; 1Ki_16:31). Goddesses were known as Ashtaroth (plural of Ashtoreth; Jdg_2:13; 1Sa_7:3-4; 1Sa_12:10) or Asherim (plural of Asherah; 1Ki_15:13; 1Ki_18:19; 2Ki_23:4).
The word baal was a common Hebrew word meaning ‘master’, ‘husband’ or ‘owner’. When the Israelites entered Canaan and found that the local people believed every piece of land had a god as its ‘owner’, baal developed a particular use as a proper noun. It became the title or name of the god of the land, whether of the land as a whole or of a particular area of land. In some cases the local Baal took its name from the locality (Num_25:3; Deu_4:3), and in other cases a locality was named after the Baal (Jos_11:17; Jdg_3:3; 2Sa_5:20; 2Sa_13:23). A locality may also have been named after the Ashtaroth (Jos_12:4).

Characteristics of Baal worship
Baal and his associate goddesses were gods of nature who, according to popular belief, controlled the weather and had power to increase the fertility of soil, animals and humans. Since Israelites knew Yahweh as creator of nature and God of all life, they readily fell to the temptation to combine the Canaanite ideas with their own and so worship Yahweh as another Baal (Hos_2:5-10; Hos_4:7-10). This identification of Yahweh with Baal was probably also influenced by the fact that Yahweh was Israel’s husband and master (Heb: baal).
The Canaanites liked to carry out their Baal rituals at sacred hilltop sites known as ‘high places’. This name was later applied to all places of Baal worship, not just those in the hills (2Ki_14:4; 2Ki_17:9; 2Ki_17:32; 2Ki_23:13; Jer_17:2-3; Jer_32:35). Among the features of these high places were the sacred wooden or stone pillars known as Asherim (plural of Asherah, the goddess they represented) (Deu_12:3; Jdg_6:25-26; 1Ki_14:23; 2Ki_10:27; 2Ki_17:10; 2Ki_21:3; 2Ki_21:7; 2Ki_23:6; Isa_27:9).
Israelites had often gone up into the hills to worship God (Gen_22:2; Exo_17:8-15; Exo_24:12-18; cf. 1Sa_9:12-14; 1Sa_10:5; 1Sa_10:13) and in Canaan they easily fell to the temptation to use the local high places in their worship of Yahweh. These disorders would not have arisen if the Israelites had, from the beginning, obeyed God’s command and destroyed all the high places in the land (Num_33:52-53; Deu_12:2-3; 1Ki_3:2; Jer_2:20; Jer_3:6; Hos_4:13).
Prostitutes, male and female, were available at the high places for fertility rites. These were religious-sexual ceremonies that people believed would persuade the gods to give increase in family, herds, flocks and crops (1Ki_14:23-24; Jer_13:27; Hos_4:10; Hos_4:14; Hos_9:1-3; Hos_9:11-14; Amo_2:7-8). The people were also guilty of spiritual prostitution. Since the covenant bond between Israel and Yahweh was likened to the marriage bond, Israel’s association with Baal and other gods was a form of spiritual adultery (Isa_1:21; Jer_13:27; Hos_1:2; Hos_2:5; Hos_2:13; Hos_4:12; Mic_1:7).
God’s judgment on Israel
Baal worship was a problem in Israel throughout most of the nation’s Old Testament history. It began soon after the people entered Canaan (Jdg_2:11-13; Jdg_3:7; Jdg_8:33; Jdg_10:6; Jdg_10:10) and resisted repeated attempts at reform by various leaders. It remained firmly fixed in Israel’s national life up till the captivity, when God’ inevitable judgment fell (1Sa_7:3-4; 1Ki_15:9-14; 1Ki_22:51-53; 2Ki_17:7-18; 2Ki_18:1-4; 2Ki_21:1-3; 2Ki_23:26-27).
Possibly the most dangerous period during this history was the reign of the Israelite king Ahab and his Phoenician wife Jezebel, who attempted to make Phoenician Baalism the official religion of Israel (1Ki_16:31-33). This form of Baalism, under the lordship of the Phoenician Baal deity Melqart, was a greater threat to Israel than the local Canaanite Baalism. To meet the threat, God raised up the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Their ministry preserved the faithful through the crisis and led to the eventual removal of Phoenician Baalism. It was wiped out by Jehu’s ruthless purge in the north, and by a similar, but less bloody, purge in the south (1 Kings 17; 1 Kings 18; 1 Kings 19; 1 Kings 20; 1 Kings 21; 1 Kings 22; 2 Kings 1; 2 Kings 2; 2 Kings 3; 2 Kings 4; 2 Kings 5; 2 Kings 6; 2 Kings 7; 2 Kings 8; 2 Kings 9; 2 Kings 10; 2 Kings 11; see ELIJAH; ELISHA; JEHU).
Local Canaanite Baalism, however, was not removed. Israel’s persistence in Baal worship was the chief reason for God’s judgment in finally destroying the nation and sending the people into captivity (2Ki_17:7-18; 2Ki_21:10-15; Jer_9:12-16; Jer_11:13-17; Jer_19:4-9).
The time in captivity broke Israel’s relationship with Baalism. When the nation was later rebuilt, Baalism was no longer a serious problem (Eze_36:22-29; Eze_37:23). People were so determined to avoid any link between Baal and Yahweh that they refused to use the word baal when referring to God as their husband or master. They used the alternative word ish (Hos_2:16-19). By New Testament times Jews had developed a thorough hatred of idolatry in all its forms (see IDOL, IDOLATRY).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


Ba?al (lord, master). As the idolatrous nations of the Syro-Arabian race had several gods, this word, by means of some accessory distinction, became applicable as a name to many different deities.
Baal, (with the definite article, Jdg_2:13; Jer_19:5; Jer_32:35; Rom_11:4) is appropriated to the chief male divinity of the Phoenicians, the principal seat of whose worship was at Tyre. The idolatrous Israelites adopted the worship of this god (almost always in conjunction with that of Ashtoreth) in the period of the Judges (Jdg_2:13); they continued it in the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of Judah (2Ch_28:2; 2Ki_21:3); and, among the kings of Israel, especially in the reign of Ahab, who, partly through the influence of his wife, the daughter of the Sidonian king Ethbaal, appears to have made a systematic attempt to suppress the worship of God altogether, and to substitute that of Baal in its stead (1Ki_16:31); and in that of Hosea (2Ki_17:16), although Jehu and Jehoiada once severally destroy ed the temples and priesthood of the idol (2Ki_10:18, sq.; 11:18).
We read of altars, images, and temples erected to Baal (1Ki_16:32; 2Ki_3:2). The altars were generally on heights, as the summits of hills or the roofs of houses (Jer_19:5; Jer_32:29). His priesthood were a very numerous body (1Ki_18:19), and were divided into the two classes of prophets and of priests (2Ki_10:9). As to the rites by which he was worshipped, there is most frequent mention of incense being offered to him (2Ki_23:5), but also of bullocks being sacrificed (1Ki_18:26), and even of children, as to Moloch (Jer_19:5). According to the description in 1 Kings 18, the priests, during the sacrifice, danced about the altar, and, when their prayers were not answered, cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed. We also read of homage paid to him by bowing the knee, and by kissing his image (1Ki_19:18), and that his worshippers used to swear by his name (Jer_12:16).
As to the power of nature which was adored under the form of the Tyrian Baal, many of the passages above cited show evidently that it was one of the heavenly bodies; or, if we admit that resemblance between the Babylonian and Persian religions which Munter assumes, not one of the heavenly bodies really, but the astral spirit residing in one of them; and the same line of induction as that which is pursued in the case of Ashtoreth, his female counterpart, leads to the conclusion that it was the sun.
Baal Berith
Ba?al Be?rith, covenant-lord (Jdg_9:4), is the name of a god worshipped by the people of Shechem (Jdg_8:33; Jdg_9:4; Jdg_9:46).
Baal Peor
Baa?l Pe?or appears to have been properly the idol of the Moabites (Num_25:1-9; Deu_4:3; Jos_22:17; Psa_106:28; Hos_9:10); but also of the Midianites (Num_31:15-16).
It is the common opinion that this god was worshipped by obscene rites. The utmost, however, that the passages in which this god is named express, is the fact that the Israelites received this idolatry from the women of Moab, and were led away to eat of their sacrifices (cf. Psa_106:28); but it is very possible for that sex to have been the means of seducing them into the adoption of their worship, without the idolatry itself being of an obscene kind. It is also remarkable that so few authors are agreed even as to the general character of these rites. Most Jewish authorities represent his worship to have consisted of rites which are filthy in the extreme, but not lascivious. With regard to the origin of the term Peor, it is supposed to have been the original name of the mountain; and Baal Peor to be the designation of the god worshipped there. Some identify this god with Chemosh.
Baalzebub
Ba?alze?bub (fly-lord) occurs in 2Ki_1:2-16, as the god of the Philistines at Ekron, whose oracle Ahaziah sent to consult. There is much diversity of opinion as to the signification of this name, according as authors consider the title to be one of honor, as used by his worshippers, or one of contempt.
The analogy of classical idolatry would lead us to conclude that all these Baals are only the same god under various modifications of attributes and emblems: but the scanty notices to which we owe all our knowledge of Syro-Arabian idolatry do not furnish data for any decided opinion on this subject.
Baal is often found as the first element of compound names of places. In this case, Gesenius thinks that it seldom, if ever, has any reference to the god of that name; but that it denotes the place which possesses, which is the abode of the thing signified by the latter half of the compound.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Baal
(Hebrews id. בִּעִל, lord or master), a generic term for god in many of the Syro-Arabian languages. As the idolatrous nations of that race had several gods, this word, by means of some accessory distinction, became applicable as a name to many different deities. SEE BAAL-BERITH, SEE BAAL-PEOR; SEE BAAL-ZEBUB. There is no evidence, however, that the Israelites ever called Jehovah by the name of Baal; for the passage in Hos_2:16, which has been cited as such, only contains the word baal as the sterner, less affectionate representative of husband. It is spoken of the master and owner of a house (Exo_22:7; Jdg_19:22); of a landholder (Job_31:39); of an owner of cattle (Exo_21:28; Isa_1:3); of a lender of money, i.e. creditor (Deu_15:2); also of the head of a family (Lev_21:4); and even of the Assyrians (or the princes) as conquerors of nations (Isa_16:8). SEE BAALIM. It also occurs very frequently as the first part of the names of towns and men, e.g. BAAL-GAD, BAAL-HAMON, BAAL-HANAN, etc., all which see in their alphabetical order, and compare SEE BAAL. As a strictly proper name, and in its simple form, Baal stands in the Bible for a deity, and also for two men and one village. SEE GUR-BAAL; SEE KIRJATH-BAAL; SEE MERIB-BAAL.
1. This name (with the article, הִבִּעִל, hab-Ba'al, Jdg_2:13; Sept. ὁ Βάαλ, but also ἡ Βάαλ, Jeremiah 19:5; 39:35; Rom_11:4) is appropriated to the chief male divinity of the Phoenicians, the principal seat of whose worship was at Tyre, and thus corresponds with ASHTORETH, their supreme female divinity. Both names have the peculiarity of being used in the plural, and it seems that these plurals designate either (as Gesenius, Thes. s.v. maintains) statues of the divinities, or different modifications of the divinities themselves. That there were many such modifications of Baal is certain from the fact that his name occurs with numerous adjuncts, both in the O.T. and elsewhere, as we have seen above. The plural BAALIM is found frequently alone (e.g. Jdg_2:11; Jdg_10:10; 1Ki_18:18; Jer_9:14; Hos_2:17), as well as in connection with Ashtoreth (Jdg_10:6; 1Sa_7:4), and with Asherah, or, as our version renders it, “the groves” (Jdg_3:7; 2Ch_33:3). There is no difficulty in determining the meaning of the name, since the word is in Hebrew a common noun of frequent occurrence, having the meaning lord, not so much, however, in the sense of ruler as of master, owner, possessor. The name of the god, whether singular or plural, is always distinguished from the common noun by the presence of the article (הִבִּעִל, הִבְּעָלַים), except when it stands in connection with some other word which designates a peculiar modification of Baal. In the Chaldaic form the word becomes shortened into בְּעֵל, and thence, dropping the guttural, בֵּל, BEL, which is the Babylonian name of this god (Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. et Talin; so Gesenius, Furst, Movers; the identity of the two words is, however, doubted by Rawlinson, Herod. 1, 247).
There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. We find his cultus established among the Moabites and their allies the Midianites in the time of Moses (Num_22:41), and through these nations the Israelites were seduced to the worship of this god under the particular form of Baal-peor (Num_25:3 sq.; Deu_4:3). Notwithstanding the fearful punishment which their idolatry brought upon them in this instance, the succeeding generation returned to the worship of Baal (Jdg_2:10-13), and with the exception of the period during which Gideon was judge (Jdg_6:26 sq.; Jdg_8:33) this form of idolatry seems to have prevailed among them up to the time of Samuel (Jdg_10:10; 1Sa_7:4), at whose rebuke the people renounced the worship of Baalim. Two centuries pass over before we hear again of Baal in connection with the people of Israel, though we can scarcely conclude from this silence that his worship was altogether abandoned. We know that in the time of Solomon the service of many gods of the surrounding nations was introduced, and particularly that of Ashtoreth, with which Baal is so frequently connected. However this may be, the worship of Baal spread greatly, and, together with that of Asherah, became the religion of the court and people of the ten tribes under Ahab, king of Israel, who, partly through the influence of his wife Jezebel (q.v.), the daughter of the Sidonian king Ethbaal, appears to have made a systematic attempt to suppress the worship of God altogether, and to substitute that of Baal in its stead (1Ki_16:31-33; 1Ki_18:19; 1Ki_18:22). And though this idolatry was occasionally put down (2Ki_3:2; 2Ki_10:28), it appears never to have been permanently or effectually abolished in that kingdom (2Ki_17:16). In the kingdom of Judah also Baal-worship extensively prevailed. During the short reign of Ahaziah and the subsequent usurpation of his mother Athaliah, the sister of Ahab, it appears to have been the religion of the court (2Ki_8:27; comp. 11:18), as it was subsequently under Ahaz (2Ki_16:3; 2Ch_28:2), and Manasseh (2Ki_21:3).
The worship of Baal among the Jews appears to have been appointed with much pomp and ceremonial. Temples were erected to him (1Ki_16:32; 2Ki_11:18); his images were set up (2Ki_10:26); his altars were very numerous (Jer_11:13), being erected particularly on lofty eminences, SEE HIGH-PLACE, (1Ki_18:20), and on the roofs of houses (Jer_32:29); there were priests in great numbers (1Ki_18:19), and of various classes (2Ki_10:19); the worshippers appear to have been arrayed in appropriate robes (2Ki_10:22; comp. Lucian, De Dez Syra, 50). His priesthood (the proper term for which seems to be כְּמָרַים, kemarim', so called from their black garments) were a very numerous body (1Ki_18:19), and were divided into the two classes of prophets and of priests (unless the term “servants,” which comes between those words, may denote a third order — a kind of Levites, 2Ki_10:19). As to the rites by which he was worshipped, there is most frequent mention of incense being offered to him (2Ki_23:5), but also of bullocks being sacrificed (1Ki_18:26), and even of children, as to Moloch (Jer_19:5). According to the description in 1 Kings 18, the priests during the sacrifice danced (or, in the sarcastic expression of the original, linped) about the altar, and, when their prayers were not answered, cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed, like the priests of Bellona (Lucan. Pharsal. 1, 565; Tertull. Ayologet. 9; Lactant. Div. Instit. 1, 21). We also read of homage paid to him by bowing the knee, and by kissing his image (1Ki_19:18; comp. Cicero, in Verrem, 4, 43), and that his worshippers used to swear by his name (Jer_12:16). SEE CHEMARIM.
Throughout all the Phoenician colonies we continually find traces of the worship of this god, partly in the names of men, such as Adher-bal, Asdru- bal, Hanni-bal, and still more distinctly in Phoenician inscriptions yet remaining (Gesenius, Mon. Phan. passim). Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian bel (Isa_46:1) or Belus (Herod. 1:181) as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some modified form. Rawlinson distinguishes between the second god of the first triad of the Assyrian pantheon, whom he names provisionally Bel-Nimrod, and the Babylonian Bel, whom he considers identical with Merodach (Herod. 1, 510 sq.; 521 sq.). Traces of the idolatry symbolized under it are even found in the British Isles, Baal, Bal, or Beal being, according to many, the name of the principal deity of the ancient Irish; and on the tops of many hills in Scotland there are heaps of stones called by the common people “Bel's cairns,” where it is supposed that sacrifices were offered in early times (Statistical Account of Scotland, 3, 105; 11:621). SEE ETHBAAL.
The same perplexity occurs respecting the connection of this god with the heavenly bodies as we have already noticed in regard to Ashtoreth. Creuzer (Symb. 2, 413) and Movers (Phon. 1, 180) declare Baal to be the Sun-god; on the other hand, the Babylonian god is identified with Zeus by Herodotus, and there seems to be no doubt that Bel-Merodach is the planet Jupiter (Rawlinson, Herod. 1, 512). On the whole, Baal probably represents properly the sun, and, in connection with Astarte, or the moon, was very generally worshipped by the idolatrous nations of Western Asia, as representing the great generative powers of nature, the former as a symbol of the active, and the latter of the passive principle. Traces of this tendency to worship the principal luminaries of heaven appear frequently in the history of the Israelites at a very early period, before Sabianism as such was distinctly developed (Exo_20:4; Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3; 2Ki_23:11). Gesenius, however (in his Thesaur. Heb.), contends that Baal was not the sun, but the planet Jupiter, as the guardian and giver of good fortune; but the view of Mainter (in his Religion der Babylonier) seems most tenable, who, while he does not deny the astrological character of this worship, still maintains that, together with and besides that, there existed in very early times a cosmogonical idea of the primitive power of nature, as seen in the two functions of generation and conception or parturition, and that the sun and moon were the fittest representatives of these two powers. It is quite likely that in the case of Baal, as well as of Ashtoreth, the symbol of the god varied at different times and in different localities. Indeed, the great number of adjuncts with which the name of Baal is found is a sufficient proof of the diversity of characters in which he was regarded, and there must no doubt have existed a corresponding diversity in the worship. It may even be a question whether in the original notion of Baal there was reference to any of the heavenly bodies, since the derivation of the name does not in this instance, as it does in the case of Ashtoreth, point directly to them. If we separate the name Baal from idolatry, we seem, according to its meaning, to obtain simply the notion of lord and proprietor of all. With this the idea of productive power is naturally associated, and that power is as naturally symbolized by the sun; while, on the other hand, the ideas of providential arrangement and rule, and so of prosperity, are as naturally suggested by the word, and in the astral mythology these ideas are associated with the planet Jupiter. In point of fact, we find adjuncts to the name of Baal answering to all these notions, e.g. Βεελσάμην Balsamen (Plaut. Pen. v. 2, 67)= בעלאּשׁמין, “Lord of the heavens;” בעלאּחמן, Baal-Hamon (Gesenius, Mon. Phan. p. 349), the Sun-Baal (comp. the similar name of a city in Son_8:11); בִִּעלְאּגָּד, Baal-Gad, the name of a city (Jos_11:17), q.d. Baal the Fortune-bringer, which god may be regarded as identical with the planet Jupiter. Many more compounds of Baal in the O.T. occur, and among them a large number of cities, which are given below. There has recently been discovered among the ruins of a temple on Mount Lebanon an inscription containing the name Bal-marcos, the first part of which is evidently identical with the Phoenician Baal, who appears to have been worshipped then under the title of “the god of dancing” (Biblioth. Sacra, 1843, p. 559 sq.). Dr. Wilson, when at Damascus, obtained the impression of an ancient scarabeus, on which was carved an inscription, in the old Phoenician alphabet, containing the title לבעל, “to Baal” (Lands of Bible, 2, 769). See BAALIM. 2. (Sept.Βαάλ.) A Benjamite, fourth son of Jehiel, the progenitor of the Gibeonites, by his wife Maachah (1Ch_8:30; 1Ch_9:36). B.C. post 1618.
3. (Sept. Βαάλ v. r. Βεήλ) and even Ι᾿ωήλ.) A Reubenite, son of Reia and father of Beerah, which last was among the captives transported to Assyria by Tiglath-Pileser (1Ch_5:5). B.C. ante 738.
4. (Sept. Βαάλ.) A place in the vicinity of Ain and Ashan, inhabited by the Simeonites (1Ch_4:33); probably the same elsewhere (Jos_19:8) called BAALATH-BEER SEE BAALATH-BEER (q.v.). SEE BAAL.

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