RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Baader Baal
3. The Con
ception of
Baal.
of nature.
as owner of a place of worship or the honorary title of a god, an inquiry into the common meaning of the word would not be necessary. But such an inquiry is suggested by the statements concerning the Baals of different places. From the Arabic appellative meaning of the word ba'l it has been supposed that in places naturally irrigated the deity was worshiped as the Baal of that place. According to Hosea (ii, 15), the idolatrous Israelites imagined that the gods worshiped by them, whom the prophet otherwise calls "the Baals," were the authors of the good things Sacred springs are also found in places where the Tyrian Heracles was worshiped. But this does not necessarily imply that some special terrestrial notion must be connected with Baal. It is easy to understand how among an agricultural people like the Canaanites the god of heaven could be conceived as god of agriculture, for the field can not produce without the blessing of heaven. But it is possible that in different Baal-cults a terrestrial idea and the conception of Baal as heavengod, at first distinct and separate, afterward grew together, as in the case of Astarte (see Ashtoreth). It is erroneous to assert that every individual god who had the name of Baal was worshiped as lord of heaven; still more so to hold that each was specially worshiped as a sun-god, or that Baal was everywhere and at all times so represented.
While there is no evidence of the solar meaning of Baal, it is certain that the Phenicians at times attributed to their Baal or Baals some solar characteristics. As generally in the Phenician deities, beneficent and destructive powers were not separated but were represented as being combined in one and the same deity, so it was with Baal, so far at least as both powers were thought of as proceeding from heaven or more particularly from the sun. That Baal bestows natural blessing, has been seen above. Names like Hannibal " grace of Baal," Asdrubal " Baal helps," Baal-shama " Baal hears," Baal-shamar " Baal keeps," and the like, designate him as a benevolent god. That human sacrifices were offered to Baal can not be inferred from the Old Testament. The passages Jer. xix, 5; xxxii, 35 speak of children who were offered to Moloch, and the Baal mentioned there is only a general designation of the idol. That the Baal-prophets cut themselves in the service of their god (I Kings xviii, 28) can not be regarded as a substitute for human sacrifice. The representative animal of Baal was the bull, which also represented the ancient god of the Hebrews.
Certain Baals are named in the Old Testament with epithets which designate them more exactly:
(a) Baal-Berith, worshiped by the Shechemites (Judges ix, 4; cf. verse 46; viii, 33), denotes probably the protector of a definite covenant or " the Baal before whom agreements are made."
(b) Baal-Peor (Num. xxv, 3, 5; Deut. iv, 3; Hos. ix, 10; Ps. cvi, 28), also simply Peor (Num. xxv, 18; xxxi, 16; Josh, xxii, 17; cf. the name of a Moabite city Beth-Peor, " temple of Peor," Deut. iii, 29; iv, 46; xxxiv, 6; Josh, xiii, 20), was a god of the Moabites (Num. xxv, 1-5) or of the
Midianites (Num. xxv, 18, xxxi, 16), worshiped on Mount Peor, where the Israelites committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab (Num. xxv, 1) or Midian (Num. xxv, 8). (c) Baal-Zebub, see Beelzebub. Certain place-names compounded with Baal (not necessarily all, cf. II Sam. v, 20) were originally god-names, the word beth (" temple ") being
understood in the place-name. Baals
4. Special known from such place-names are: (d)
Baals in Baal-Gad (Josh, xi, 17; xii, 7; xiii, 5),
the Old the" fortune-bringing Baal." Gad (Isa.
Testament, lxv, 11; perhaps also Gen. xxx, 11)
occurs independently as a name of a deity (see Gad), (e) Baal-Hermon (Judges iii, 3; I Chron. v, 23), usually identified with Baal-Gad, the designation of the Baal worshiped on Mount Hermon. (f) Baal-Meon (Num. xxxii, 38; Ezek. xxv, 9; I Chron. v, 8), the god of a Moabite (Reubenite) city, the full name of which reads Beth-Baal-Meon (Josh, xiii, 17), contracted into Beth-Meon (Jer. xlviii, 23), i.e., " temple of the Baal of Meon." (g) It is possible that Baal-Zephon (Exod. xiv, 2, 9; Num. xxxiii, 7), the name of a station of the Israelites on the Red Sea, belongs here. Zephon, or more correctly Zaphon, is known as a god-name from Egyptian, Phenician, Carthaginian, and Assyrian inscriptions. Baal-Tamar, a place mentioned in Judg. xx, 33, may also be derived from the name of a god, and Baal-Hamon (Song of Sol. viii, 11), Baal-Hazor (II Sam. xiii, 23), Baal-Perazim (II Sam. v, 20), and Baal-Shalisha (I Sam. ix, 4; II Kings iv, 42) were probably designations of local deities, of whom nothing is known.
There can be no doubt that, in ancient times, the Hebrews called their god the Baal, whether they used this name to designate Yahweh, or a
special Baal worshiped beside him.
5. The Baal- The latter can not be proved; the
cult in former is indicated by names of the
Israel. Davidic time compounded with Baal.
The worship of the Canaanite Baals in opposition to the Yahweh-worship had many adherents among the Israelites as early as the time of the Judges (Judges ii, 11, 13; iii, 7; vi, 25 sqq.; x, 6; I Sam. vii, 4; xii, 10). There is no proof that the Hebrews upon their settlement in Canaan adopted the Baal-cult practised there, but the fact can hardly be doubted. The earliest certainty comes from the time of King Ahab of Israel, who, influenced by his Phenician wife, introduced the Phenician Baal-worship, erecting a Baal-temple in Samaria and appointing a numerous priesthood (I Kings xvi, 31-32; xviii, 19). Elijah (q.v.) vigorously opposed this idolatrous cult (I Kings xviii). Jehoram, Ahab's son, put away a Baal-column erected by his father (II Kings iii, 2), but did not extirpate the cult. Jehu abolished the worship of the Phenician god (II Kings x, 21-28). But in the eighth century the prophet Hosea speaks of Baal-worship as existing in Israel without stating which " Baal " or " Baals " are meant. Of the Baal-cult in Judah we know only that it was abolished under the influence of Jehoiada the priest (II Kings xi, 18). Probably under the influence of Athaliah, grandmother of Joash and daughter of the Phenician
Baal Baba