BAAL
579
BAAL
cation of Baal. In the Chaldaic form the word be- comes shortened into ?"3, and thence, dropping the guttural, ^3, Bel, which is the Babylonian name of this god (Bnxtorf, Lex. Chald. et Talm. ; so Gesenius, Fiirst, Movers ; the identity of the two words is, how- ever, doubted by Kawlinson, Herod, i, 247).
There can be no doubt of the very high antiquity of the worship of Baal. We find his cultus establish- ed among the Moabites and their allies the Midian- ites in the time of Moses (Num. xxii, 41), and through these nations the Israelites were seduced to the wor- ship of this god under the particular form of Baal-peor (Num. xxv, 3 sq. ; Dent, iv, 3). Notwithstanding the fearful punishment which their idolatry brought upon them in this instance, the succeeding generation returned to the worship of Baal (Judg. ii, 10-13), and with the exception of the period during which Gideon was judge (Judg. vi, 26 sq. ; viii, 33) this form of idol- atry seems to have prevailed among them up to the time of Samuel (Judg. x, 10 ; 1 Sam. vii, 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 wor- ship was altogether abandoned. We know that in the time of Solomon the service of many gods of the sur- rounding nations was introduced, and particularly that of Ashtoreth, with which Baal is so frequently con- nected. However this may be, the worship of Baal spread greatly, and, together with that of Asherah, be- came 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 Ba il in its stead (1 Kings xvi, 31-33; xviii, 19, 22). And though this idolatry was occasionally put down (2 Kings iii, 2 ; x, 28). it appears never to have been permanently or ef- fectually abolished in that kingdom (2 Kings xvii, 1G). In the kingdom of Judahalso Baal-worship extensive- ly 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 (2 Kings viii, 27; comp. xi, 18), as it was subsequently under Ahaz (2 Kings xvi, 3; 2 Chron. xxviii, 2), and Manasseh (2 Kings xxi, 3) Smith.
The worship of Bail among the Jews appears to have been appointed with much pomp and ceremonial. Temples were erected to him (1 Kings xvi, 32 ; 2 Kings xi, 18); his images were set up (2 Kings x, 26); his altars were very numerous (Jer. xi, 13), being erected particularly on lofty eminences [see High-place] (1 Kings xviii, 20), and on the roofs of houses (Jer. xxxii, 29); there were priests in great numbers (1 Kings xviii, 19), and of various classes (2 Kings x, 19) ; the worshippers appear to have been arrayed in appropriate robes (2 Kings x, 22 ; comp. Lucian, De Be-% Sijra, 50). His priesthood (the proper term for which seems to be Q-H^S), kemarim', so called from their bitch garments) were a very numerous body (1 Kings xviii, 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, 2 Kings x, 19). As to the rites by which he was worshipped, there is most frequent mention of incense being offer- ed to him (2 Kings xxiii. 5), but also of bullocks being sacrificed (1 Kings xviii, 26), and even of children, as to Moloch (Jer. xix, 5). According to the description in 1 Kings xviii, the priests during the sacrifice danced (or, in the sarcastic expression of the original, limped) about the altar, and, when their prayers were not an- swered, cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed, like the priests of Bellona (Lucan. Pharstd. i, 565; Tertull. Apologet. ix; Lactant. Div. In-tit. i,
21). AVe also read of homage paid to him by bow- ing the knee, and by kissing his image (1 Kings xix, 18; comp. Cicero, in Verrem, iv, 43), and that his worshippers used to swear by his name (Jer. xii, 16). — Kitto; Smith. See Chemauim.
Throughout all the Phoenician colonies we contin- ually find traces of the worship of this god, partly in the names of men, such as A&her-bal, Azdm-bul, Ilan- m-bal, and still more distinctly in Phoenician inscrip- tions yet remaining (Gesenius, Mon. Phcen. passim). Nor need we hesitate to regard the Babylonian Bel (Isa. xlvi, 1) or L'elus (Herod, i, 181) as essentially identical with Baal, though perhaps under some mod- ified form. Bawlinson distinguishes between the sec- ond god of the first triad of the Assyrian pantheon, whom he names provisionally Bel-Nimrod, and the Babylonian Bel, whom ho considers identical with Me- rodach {Herod, i, 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 of- fered in early times (Statistical Account of Scotland, iii, 105; xi, 621). See Ethbaal.