Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. 33:7) has been made the basis of intriguing speculation by Eissfeldt. Recall God's prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:15, predicting that when Israel prospered, then it would rebel. Elijah was sent by God, and he was fulfilling the responsibility of a prophet, to prod the people to whom he was sent to their responsibilities. Sidon's Phoenician Temple. Because Baal was neither alive nor a moral force, his worshippers felt they could communicate with him only by ritual actions that portrayed what they were asking him to do. Your email address will not be published. We must understand that our god is not what we say we worship but what we serve. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. But church is where we come to have our minds stretched and measured against Christ's standard. Sometimes the leadership of the nation of Israel tolerated and embraced the deities of other nations. He began to prophesy in a time of immediate crisis, one that would become far worse before it ever improved. (the Middle Bronze Age). Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. "like a bird in a tree. The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. There was tremendous evil to overcome. Their reverence for Him was mere intellectual accommodation intended to appease Him. In the Bible, Baal (also rendered Baal) was an important Canaanite god, often portrayed as the primary enemy of the Hebrew God Yahweh. The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canonbut none more so than the Book of Kings, where they play a prominent role in assessing the performance of a king.Often referred to as "high places" in translations of the Bible, bamot were worship sites that usually contained an altar. However, God shows there is a possible harmful, secondary effect: As people become financially secure, their attention is diverted from His purpose to vain and unimportant things. Of special interest is the designation Aliy (ly) which is twice applied to Baal in the Krt Epic: Before the discovery and recognition of this name in Ugaritic, H.S. Sidon was well connected by trade by the traders of the Pandya kingdom of Tamil Nadu. Your email address will not be published. The Sovereign Creator is not a God who allows His favor to be bought with crumbs. When Ashtoreth is mentioned in scripture, she is linked to Molech, (also called Milcom in the Bible). . Doumet-Serhal explains the significance of the handles iconography: The dragon epitomizes the most fundamental ancient mythical perception of the Mesopotamian storm god. A biblical pharaoh's border monument. Reuben Alcalay, a famous Hebrew lexicographer, stated that Yehoshua is closely related to Let there be So, lets be intellectually honest and start using the proper English translation: Joshua. In spite of the fact that the word is used as the theophorous element in personal names, such as Eshbaal, Merib-Baal, Jerub Baal, it was long believed that the term remained an appellation and did not become a proper name, except in the case of the Mesopotamian Bel and in late theological speculation. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal. It is urgent that we understand what is involved here because it reveals the cause of God's anger that led to Israel's defeat and scattering. The judge Gideon was also named Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32), and King Saul had a son named Ishbaal (I Chronicles 8:33). When the Israelites, following Moses to the Promised Land, were in the vicinity of Peor, some of them fell into idolatry and worshiped Baal Peor. The Aztec people used two calendars. Everything Joshua* (Yehoshua) did was in accordance with the TaNaKh, which is an acrostic for Torah (=Law/Instruction), Neviim (=Prophets), and Ketuvim (=Writings). All through the Old Testament, the people of Israel fell into Baal and Asherah worship, and it is no different for us today. A god Baal apn was known from Egyptian and Akkadian sources before the discovery of the Ugaritic documents. Looking at these two definitions we can say . The Baal-worship so often alluded to and described in Holy Writ might, perhaps, be better styled Cid-worship, moon-worship, Melek ()-worship, or Hadad-worship, according to places and circumstances.Many of the practices mentioned were most probably common to the worship . 18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. It was under the Sol Invictus cult that CHRISTIANITY as a religion BEGAN TO BE ACCEPTED AND GROW, but THERE WAS A BIG PRICE THE EARLY ROMAN CHURCH HAD TO PAY. (Iron Age) temple. This god also, apparently according to Canaanite lore, defeated El and had associations with the sun and thunder. In contrast, the church has had periods of strength and weakness all throughout its historyit goes through cycles of rallying around truth and then gradually letting it slip. The most prominent idol that they worshiped was Baal. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. The Name] instead of prouncing the YHWH word even though the Masoretes added the sheva below the Y and the Qamats below the W. . Ashtaroth is mentioned 12 times in the Old Testament. Updates? No doubt, we cant cover the breadth of verses on Baal here, but we should make a note that Baal becomes a big player in the book of Judges and during the time of the kings when Israel appears to succumb most to the foreign pantheons. No doubt, we cant cover the breadth of verses on Baal here, but we should note that Baal becomes a big player in the book of Judges and during the time of the kings when Israel appears to succumb most to the foreign pantheons. 106 a ). They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. Jer 32:29. Baal was simply the title (literally, Lord) of the pagan god Molech. What Is the Meaning of Psalm 91 and Why Is it Popular? This corrupt blending of a holy God with a pagan goddess became part of everyday religious practice, which is why evil king Manasseh put an Asherah pole . Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. But God has a different perspective; He says they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). What happens if a person, trying to establish a religion, mixes falsehood with the truth of God? By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Baal worship is something I associated only with Old Testament Bible days. Baal transformed into Zeus, who transformed into Jupiter, etc. Sun worship came from the ancient pagan religion of Baal. that the southern kingdom of Judah ever had .just like her momma. He could, and did, withhold the rain from one city and lavish it on another (Amos 4:7). Extra-biblical evidence for the flourishing Baal cult at Samaria in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C.E. He was the god that provided - food - for the people. Who were the Sidonians of the Bronze Age (c. 30001200 B.C.E.)? He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. A common designation of Baal in the Ugaritic myths is bn-dgn "son of Dagn"; but Baal is also considered the son of El who is called "Bull El his [i.e., Baal's] father; El King who begot him [Baal]" (tr il abh; il mlk dyknnh). The king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. When a person is freezing to death, he feels a pleasant numbness that he does not want to end. It will be far more terrible than anything ever seen on this earth! They simply evolve. Baal's abode was Mount apn, identified as Jebel el-Aqra ("Mount Baldy") some 30 mi. Right now, though, we are witnessing a steady defection from the basic principles of the Bible, away from what we call the Judeo-Christian ethic. Thus in any year anxiety about the rainfall would be a continuing concern of the inhabitants which would suffice to give rise to rites to ensure the coming of the rains. Baal in Smith's Bible Dictionary Baal (2) the supreme male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female divinity. Murder and sexual immorality was a part of Baal worship. Because Canaan depended on rain to grow crops and survive, he was numero uno. Worshipers of Baal Killed. For this reason, God shows that the preacher, not the civil authority, is the most vital part of the community. Apparently in anticipation of developments the artisan god Koshar had cast furnishings of gold and silver. Sidon is the birth place of Jezabel. ; Job 3:8, 7:12, 9:13, 26:1213, 38:811, 40:25). One would think that, if altars increase during this period of prosperity, then religion is flourishing. In this article, well discuss what Scripture has to say about Baal, what we know from history about Baal, and why this ultimately matters to us today. The contest on Mount Carmel was reported as demonstrating that Baal was an impotent non-entity and that the rain came only from YHWH. He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. Through the influence of the Aramaeans, who borrowed the Babylonian pronunciation Bel, the god ultimately became known as the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus. Then stood up Phinehas, and exe Then they linked up with Baal Peor, attending funeral banquets and eating idol food. Jesus says, "They are blind leaders of the blind. According to the Bible, centers of worship for Canaanite gods such as Molech and the Baal's were set up in Judah and Israel by apostate kings. Baal is also referred to about 12 times as "the Rider of the Clouds" which undoubtedly testifies to his control over the rain and storms. (verse 8). He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. Searching for Israel (Part Six): Israel Is Fallen, Is Fallen. If anyone could get an award for Having the Worst Neighbors, it would most likely go to the ancient Israelites. The heyday of Baal worship in Israel came in the days of Elijah, when the Phoenician princess Jezebel launched a massive campaign to promote Baal. But when a falling away happens around us, perhaps even beginning before we were born, it is easy for our minds to adjust to the point that we almost forget the continuing rebellion against God and His way. In the Old Testament, many of the kings and eventually the whole nation of Israel rebelled against God and chose opposing belief systems. God's first command to destroy any forms of idol worship came early in the Bible in Exodus 34:13. . The proposition for the concept is as follows: The Latins called the Phoenicians as Poeni. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle (1994). In the Hebrew Bible, Moloch is presented as a foreign deity who was at times illegitimately given a place in Israel's worship as a result of the syncretistic policies of certain apostate kings.