All Rights Reserved. Baal was different from his adherents merely in that he was above them. But not all years are good, and in a bad year, or a series of bad years, when the rains fail, the skies become like iron, the land like brass, and man's toil is futile for the earth will not yield its increase (Lev. He was the god that provided - food - for the people. Elijah had to take drastic measures to prevent Baal worship from completely eradicating the worship of the true God (I Kings 18:20-40). All rights reserved. Now another presentation that the Phoenicians who are also connected with the Canaanites had traded with the trading mariners of Kerala, India. For those who think the baptism of John (Yochanan) was something new under the sun recall that he was a Levite as was his father Zechariah (Tsekharya). That afon designated the "north" in Hebrew is presumably due to the fact that Mount Casius lies directly north of Palestine. This connects with the curse of Laodiceanism because God shows in the Laodiceans what can happen spiritually as people increase materially. The god of arts and crafts, Kothar, then proceeded to build for Baal the most beautiful of palaces which spread over an area of 10,000 acres. Isaiah 14:13 alludes to this divine abode as "the Mount of Assembly in the recesses of afon" (har moed be-yarkete afon), the latter phrase being the equivalent of Ugaritic mrym pn or rrt pn, the height or fastness of apn. In this chapter, the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal have a show-down to prove the power of their God and gods. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle (1994). This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. Let's exemplify Baal doctrines as preached . BAAL WORSHIP AND SEMITIC RACISM This term was used as a title and name of various local deities worshipped as guardians, heroes, and kings. Recall the mention in Hosea 10:1 of increasing and embellishing altars just before Israel fell to Assyria. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal. The worship of Baal penetrated Jewish religious life during the period of the Judges ( Judges 3:7 ), became common in Israel during the rule of Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:31-33 ), and also influenced Judah ( 2 Chronicles 28:1-2 ). And one of the most famous instances of Israel going head to head with the prophets of Baal comes from 1 Kings 18. He could, and did, withhold the rain from one city and lavish it on another (Amos 4:7). Since the Ugaritic verified the antiquity and authenticity of this divine name, additional instances have been alleged in the Psalter and in Job. Baal's 450 prophets worked themselves into a frenzy, cutting themselves, dancing, and chanting to their god. Our nation has embraced the old ancient paganism that we read about in the Bible. Jesus says, "They are blind leaders of the blind. I prefer transliterating the sheva with [*] rather than any other English vowel letter, so I prefer Y*HWaH to YuHWaH or to YaHWeH, for that matter. 55:613; Jer. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal. Many of the practices mentioned were most probable common to the worship of all the Baals; a few others are certainly specific. Your email address will not be published. Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. The name is more likely derived from the god Baal. When the rain failed, it was inevitable that some would question YHWH's power and resort to Baal. BAAL-WORSHIP AMONG THE GENTILES.The evidence is hardly of such weight as to justify us in speaking of a worship of Baal. Canaanite worship often took place in open-air sites at the tops of hills, referred to in the Bible as "high places." . Since you mentioned John baptizing Jesus. In many cases, when the king or the nation had wandered from the way, the prophets were sent to correct them (e.g., II Samuel 12:1-15; I Kings 18:17-19; II Kings 21:10-15). Today,. a little T-shaped mark that stands for the long-A vowel (like a in father). El is praised for his wisdom in granting the request since now it is insured that Baal will give his rain in season. 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. As we study the operation of the spirit of Baal in the Bible, one can see the fruit of its operation in the USA.. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. The Bible tells us that there were dire consequences for Israel worshiping a false god (Judges 2). BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Hermann, in: DDD, 13238; M.S. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Septuagint (LXX) rendered Joshua, the son of Nun, in Greek as Iesous; the same was used for Christs name in the NT. Baal persuaded Asherah to intercede with her husband El, the head of the pantheon, to authorize the construction of a palace. Who were the Sidonians, and what do we know about their religion? As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. People like to feel comfortable. Since their rejection of the house of David under Jeroboam I, the Israelites had practiced a syncretistic religion (Amos 5:21-26; 8:14; I Kings 12:25-33). Baal was simply the title (literally, Lord) of the pagan god Molech. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. 106:28). In the books of Kings and Chronicles, we can read the record of a given king who turned away from God and served the Baals, and the foolishness sounds quick and casual because we are reading a summary. 28:2); Hezekiah attempted to eliminate it; Manasseh his son again gave it royal support (II Kings 21:3); and Josiah in his turn purged the Temple of YHWH of the utensils made for Baal and Asherah (II Kings 23:4). An example of Israel going after Baal leads to their loss of direction and, ultimately, scattering at the hands of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. No one answered; no one paid attention" (v. 29 ESV). The prize of the victory was kingship over the gods and the enthronement ritual guaranteed the natural order of life and the welfare of the society. How Is Harry Potter a Literary Christ Figure? Baal was a cruel, sensuous, and revolting false god whose worship involved sexual degradation and lewdness. 3:10; cf. . This chapter reports on the behavior of the people placed in Israel after Israel's conquest and deportation by Assyria between 722-720 BC. A DSS fragment has it spelled Iaw in Greek (iota-alpha-omega), which is consistent with Yahoah; see ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/lxxjewpap/4QLevB.jpg. The association of the name Baal-Zephon with Israel's exit from Egypt (Ex. For this reason, God shows that the preacher, not the civil authority, is the most vital part of the community. Commentaries are at odds over what the Hebrew word translated divided means. Essentially, the Phoenicians were the Canaanites who survived from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age and who were not supplanted by new people groups (Philistines, Israelites, etc.). While it is acceptable to say that it was in what is now Jordan, to point to a particular cave and say, This is it. is ridiculous. The name Baal in the Bible is most commonly associated with the Canaanite and Phoenician god of fertility, the rain, the sun, and the storm. His overall conduct may not be too bad, but his poor self-analysis persuades him that he has no urgent need to seek God any further. (The Book of Amos) (Part Two). After we accept His calling, He commands us to become moral as He is. 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. Most often, it condemns Baal worship. The handle displays an impression of a ship with the leonine dragon Uumgal, the storm god Adads attendant, next to it. Whether it turns out to be the falling away remains to be seen. Drought and the Fall of the Hittite Empire. Through the influence of the Aramaeans, who borrowed the Babylonian pronunciation Bel, the god ultimately became known as the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus. But when heat is applied, and the blood begins rushing into the affected areas, pain immediately occurs. I would also challenge the suggestion in the text of the article that the location of Lots cave is known. And that happened with the Canaanites and Baal. Baal worship spread rapidly when the king of Israel, Ahab, married Jezebel, the princess of Tyre (1 Kings 16:31-32). Can we stop with the Yahweh pronunciation once and for all? One of the rooms in this temple had a bench, where offerings would have been placed, and an altar made of piled and unhewn stones, which recalls the Biblical command to make altars of uncut stones (see Exodus 20:25). "They built for themselves high places in all their cities . In the parallel Ugaritic list, which is unfortunately very fragmentary, the "Weather-god, Lord of Mount azi" apparently corresponds to Baal apn, while those following are termed simply Baalim (blm). . The god Baal was the heathen sun-god spoken of in the Old Testament. The right remedy, according to Israel's prophets, was to repudiate Baal completely and to seek and return to Israel's true God (Isa. was furnished by Harvard University excavations in the form of personal names containing Baal as the theophorous element, such as bybl, "Baal is my father," bl zmr, "Baal sings" or "Baalis strong," bl zkr, "Baal remembers," bl mny, "Baal is my answer," etc. . Child sacrifice was even practiced in the Valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem. I know the firstborn of Creation through and for Him everything was made would appreciate it! After a sortie against the sea-god, Baal returned to his house and ordered Koshar to install a window; Koshar laughed, reminded Baal of the debate, and complied. Indeed, throughout its history, the most important god at Sidon was the storm godknown during the Phoenician period as Baal or Bel. The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. Before we explore what Scripture says about Baal, lets establish a brief depiction of the Canaanite deity. When Ashtoreth is mentioned in scripture, she is linked to Molech, (also called Milcom in the Bible). God's difference from us is that He is holy; He is moral and we are immoral. This is no different from what Israel was doing when Amos wrote back in 760 BC. The violence and injustice in Israelite society ultimately stemmed from the false teaching proclaimed from the pulpits. The Name] instead of prouncing the YHWH word even though the Masoretes added the sheva below the Y and the Qamats below the W. As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have . Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: And the plague brake in upon them. What Tamils are you speaking of? So-called from Mount Peor, where this worship was celebrated, the Baal of Peor. 11:1011). Perhaps the clearest example of this is Jeremiah, who moaned and complained to God, "This is more difficult than You ever told me it would be. Baal is said to be one of the first of Solomon's 72 demons. (NASB). 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. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. Your email address will not be published. In Phoenician he was called Baal Shamen, Lord of the Heavens. Who were the Sidonians of the Bronze Age (c. 30001200 B.C.E.)? Thus, they developed a syncretic religious system, a blending of the truth of God and outright paganism. The Masoretic text has the 4 letters YHWH with a sheva under the Y, pronounced yuh, and a Qamats below the W, i.e. At the foundation of every community is a way of life that its people live and teach their children. Further, they "followed idols, became idolaters, and . But God. Prepare to Meet Your God! He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. In an Akkadian catalogue of Ugaritic deities Baal apn is listed as dIM be-el hurn a-zi, "Storm-God, Lord of Mount azi" (see above; az [z] i being the Hurrian name of Mount apn which survives in the Greek and Latin Kasios/Casius as the name of the storied mountain of the gods). These soldiers would surrender themselves to the other side to be given a bit of favor and put into prison. However, before the war was over, both sides were summarily executing anybody who did this because those traitors could not be trusted. With the help of wonder weapons supplied and blessed by the versatile Koshar (the craftsman god), Baal was able to defeat and rout the sea-god. The songs of His Temple would ordinarily be happy and joyous songs of praise to God, but He will turn the songs of their templesung to Baal in the name of the Lordto wailing, for the numbers of the dead will be unimaginable. Claude Doumet-Serhal of the British Museum details recent excavations at Sidon in her article SidonCanaans Firstborn, published in the July/August 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. ; contact address: [emailprotected]. (Iron Age) temple. More than 1400 of her works have been featured in various publications. Baal remains silent during the exchange, whereas God showers a sopping-wet altar with fire. 3:8; Ps. Yet Sidon was a significant site before this period, too. Not a BAS Library member yet? In Canaan, however, when the solar theology had absorbed the older beliefs, Baal, passing into a sun-god and the goddess who stood at his side becoming a representative of the moon--the pale reflection, as it were, of the sun- -Ashtoreth came to be regarded as the consort of Baal and took the place of the solar goddesses of Babylonia. A third is that he is describing somebody teetering on a tightrope and trying to maintain his balance. Worship of Baal was also carried out right on the housetops of the people, from where sacrificial smoke to their god was frequently seen to rise. 410; reconstructed text) which after the great "Weather-god, Lord of Mount azi" presents six other "weather-gods," numbered two through seven. Now the word isai, simply means music in Tamil. It Is So Painful to Care: How Do I Conquer Apathy? Life in a land dependent on rainfall enhanced the appeal of the Baal cult and its pervasive influence persisted through the centuries, as the unrelenting protests of the prophets and the sporadic efforts at reform attest. That made God so angry that a plague spread through their ranks; Phinehas stood up and pled their case and the . Theoretically, the Israelites did not believe in idols, but in reality, they did. The Semitic word "baal" (meaning '"Lord") was also used to refer to various deities of the Levant. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal. Who Was Baal? Alternate titles: Baal Shamen, Baal Shemin, Baalim. "But there was no voice. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. They were Canaanites and shared numerous similarities, including many of the same gods, with their close neighbors in the southern Levantwho were also predominantly Canaanite. Historical Background of HoseaBaal and Idolatry. With the help of the sun-goddess Shapsh, Anath locates the dead Baal, carries him to the height of apn, and weeping buries him with funerary sacrifices. He did not like the position God put him in. because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. . Child sacrifice was a fundamental aspect of Baal worship. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Verse 15 points out that the people "rejected [God's] statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them." He views them as personally rejecting Him and His Word. Biblical Sidon is perhaps most infamously known as the birthplace of the Phoenician princess Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31), who became queen of the Israelites during King Ahabs reign in the ninth century B.C.E. In addition to Baal still influencing religions and pagan practices today, we must take note of what happened to the Israelites and vigilantly watch our churches. The contest on Mount Carmel was reported as demonstrating that Baal was an impotent non-entity and that the rain came only from YHWH. What modern-day Baals have we worshipped in place of God? Possibly even more treacherous than this was a parallel development: mixing the worship of Yahweh and Baal. Fertility was envisaged in terms of seven-year cycles. But their carnality and their fear of men persuaded them to worship Baal, because they wanted to be friends with their fellow Israelites. So the word Jezebel finally means one who is a good musician. The Tetragrammaton should be rendered as Yahoah, with the vav being pronounced as the o in Torah, menorah, Eloah (singular form of Elohim), and Yehoshua (=Joshua, Christs REAL name). What was the rationale behind this perverse, immoral act? l, b . 4. So the word Poeni can be rewritten as Peyeni or as Payani or as Payan. Asherah, mother of the gods, was prevailed upon to intercede with El to gain permission for the building. Baal rejoiced and celebrated with a banquet. Because such people are drunk through riches' deceptive promise, their judgment is in danger of being radically altered. 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. Further, in biblical usage when applied to the great weather-god, the singular regularly has the article, "the Baal," which suggests that the word was not regarded as a proper name. (the Middle Bronze Age). Required fields are marked *. This describes to a T what Israel did then and their descendants are continuing to do today. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baal's epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. A falling away is taking place right now. The Lord calls for the worship of him and his idols to be uprooted and destroyed, and for the people to turn away from his false . Baal was a fertility and earth god of the ancient cultures and was later exported to Egypt where he was worshipped as the storm god. Ahaz fostered Baal worship (II Chron. Evil practices never go away. Either you are going to be committed to Him or not. The religion of Israel began with a man, Jeroboam I, who changed the true worship of God. Observing Christmas and Easter in the name of Christ is no different. Looking at these two definitions we can say . The practice of Baal worship was wide spread in Bible times and was very evil. But church is where we come to have our minds stretched and measured against Christ's standard. Ugaritic texts tell of other fertility aspects of Baal, such as his relations with Anath, his consort and sister, and also his siring a divine bull calf from a heifer. 9:20 presents a parallel is mistaken since the Ugaritic text mentions the sea-god and not Death (Mot) in connection with the window.) Although they lived in Israel, Jezebel and her retainers were free to worship Baal. Baal transformed into Zeus, who transformed into Jupiter, etc. El and Anath mourn violently, mutilating their faces and bodies. Adad (the Canaanite Hadad, the Semitic Hadda, the Hurrian Teshub, the Egyptian Resheph, the Phoenician Baal/Bel, the Sumerian Ishkur) is the Mesopotamian storm god, who has special maritime, celestial and meteorological attributes important to the well-being of sailors. They simply evolve. A god Baal apn was known from Egyptian and Akkadian sources before the discovery of the Ugaritic documents. Molech was another such god. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. God's pattern is being established. Such evil cunning. Bible Study Hosea Old Testament. Mot refused and boasted how he had mangled Baal. To accommodate Baal ideology to Yahwism required some radical transformations. Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. Alan, how said anything about John baptizing Jesus?
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