THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Jezebel, Baal-worship had been introduced into Judah (cf. II Chron. xxiv, 7); this Baal was no doubt Melkart of Tyre. Not much reliance can be placed upon the statement (II Chron. xxviii, 2) that Ahaz worshiped the Baals (but cf. II Kings xvi, 3-1). In the statement (II Kings xxi, 3) that Manasseh reared up altars "for Baal" (better "for the Baals"), Baal may be a general term for idol. Whenever Jeremiah speaks of the Baal (ii, 8; vii, 9; xi, 13; xxii, 29), he generally means " the idol " (so also II Kings xvii, 16), which is especially evident from II Kings xi, 13 (cf. " the Baals," ii, 23; ix, 14). In Zephaniah, too (i, 4), in " the remnant of Baal " the word Baal is equivalent to " idolatry." In the time of Jeremiah the idolatrous Judeans worshiped the sun, the moon, and the host of heaven. All these powers Jeremiah calls "the Baal " or " the shameful thing " (Jer. xi, 13). The name Baal was so obnoxious to the later scribes that they substituted for it the word bosheth, " shame," a word used as early as Jeremiah; and the Alexandrian Jews, as Dillmann has shown, read in their Greek text the word aischyne instead of Baal, which explains the use of the feminine article before Baal (cf. Dillmann, Ueber Baal mit dem weiblichen Artikel, in the Monatsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, phil.-hist. Klasse, 1881).
For the mode of worship in Israel reference can be made only to those passages of the Old Testament in which Baal-worship is undoubtedly to be understood as the cult of the Phenician god. He was worshiped with sacrifices and burnt offerings (II Kings x, 24) especially of bul- 6. Ceremo- locks (I Kings xviii, 23), and by kissnies of the ing his images (I Kings xix, 18). In Baal-wor- the Baal-temple of Samaria the pillar ship. of Baal was of stone (II Kings x, 27). Usually a Baal was worshiped in conjunction with Astarte (Judges ii, 13; x, 6; I Sam. vii, 4; xii, 10). A Baal-altar with an Asherah is mentioned in Judges vi, 25. According to II Chron. xxxiv, 4, the hammanim or sun images stood on or beside the altars of Baal. When the statement is made that incense was offered upon the roofs to the Baal (Jer. xxxii, 29; cf., on the "burning of incense" to the Baal in general, Jer. vii, 9; xi, 13), not Baal-worship, but worship of the stars is meant (Jer. xix, 13; Zeph. i, 5; cf. II Kings xxiii, 12). In the time of Ahab there were many priests and prophets (about 450) of Baal (II Kings x, 19; I Kings xviii, 19). The prophets worshiped the god by leaping around the altar (I Kings xviii, 26) and by cutting themselves with knives and lances (verse 28). The leaping appears to have been a means of inducing the trance-state (verse 29), it may also have been a part of the cult. The " vestry " mentioned II Kings x, 22 probably belonged to the royal palace, and was not intended for the official robes of the priests. See Asherah ; Ashtoreth; High Place.
Bibliography: Smith, Rel. of Sem., pp. 93-113 (best); J. Seidell, De dis Syris, London, 1617; F. Miinter, Religion der Karthat/er, pp. 5-61, Copenhagen, 1821; F. C. Movers, Die Phbnizier, i, 169-190, 254 321, 3S5-498, Bonn, 1841; R. Rochette, L'Hercule Assyrien et Phinicien, in Mcmoires
de I'academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, new series, vol. xviii, part 2 (1848), 9-374; D. Chwolsohn, DieSsabier, ii, 165-171, Leipsic, 1856; L. Diestel, i Jahrbiicher filr deulsche Theologie, 1860, pp. 719-734; H. Oort, The Worship of Baalim in Israel, from the Dutch by Colens , London, 1865; E. Schrader, Baal and Bel, in TS , 1874, pp. 335-343; W. W. Baudissin, Jahve et Moloch, pp. 14-41, Leipsic, 1874; B. Stade, in ZATW. vi (1886), 303-306; F. Baethgen, Beitriige zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 17-29, Gottingen, 1888; R. Pietschmann, Phbnizier, 182 sqq., Berlin, 1889; Benzinger, Archaologie, consult Index; Nowack, Archaologie, ii, 301-305; E. Sachau, Baal- Harran in einer altar amdischen Inschrift, in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1895, pp. 119—122; F. Vigouroux, Les Pretres de Baal, in Revue Biblique, part 2, 1896, 227- 240; DB, i, 209-211; EB, i, 401-409; H. Gunkel, Elias, Jahve, und Baal, Tubingen, 1907.
On Baal-Peor: E. Kautzsch and A. Socin, Die Aechtheit der moabitischen Alterthumer geprilft, pp. 69-77, Strasburg, 1876; W. Baudissin, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, ii, 232, Leipsic, 1878; F. Baethgen, Beitriige zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, pp. 14-15, 261, Gottingen, 1888. On Aglibol and Malachbel: I.ajard, Recherches sur le culte de Cypres, in Memoires de I'academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, new series, vol. xx, part 2 (1854), 39-40; Levy, in ZDMG, xviii (1864), 99-103; M. de Vogiie\ Syrie centrale, inscriptions semitiques, 1868, pp. 62-65. On Baal in Hebrew proper names: Geiger, in ZDMG, xvi (1862), 728-732; E. Nestle, Die israelitische Eigennamen und ihre religionsgeschichtliche Bedeutung, Leipsic, 1876; G. B. Gray, Studies in Hebrew Proper Names, London, 1896.
BAALBEK, bol"bek': A city of Ccele-Syria, celebrated for its magnificence in the first centuries of the Christian era, and famous ever since for its ruins. It is situated on a plain near the foot of
the Anti-Lebanus range, about forty
Location miles northwest of Damascus, and
and His- 3,800 feet above sea-level. Its earlier
tory. name was Baalbek, " City of Baal,"
changed under the Seleucidse to Heliopolis. In Egypt there was a Heliopolis (also called On; see On), and the plausible supposition has been offered that these two places were of common origin. In proof, the saying of the author of De dea Syria, that in the great temple of Heliopolis an antique idol was worshiped which had been brought from Egypt, is quoted, and also the statement of Macrobius in his Saturnalia, that the statue of Jupiter Heliopolitanus came from Egypt. Supporting this is the judgment of C. A. Rich, quoted below, that the substructure of the ruins at Baalbek is Egyptian, at least in part. It was only after Baalbek was made a Roman colony, under the name Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Heliopolitana, that it became a place of importance. It can not be identified satisfactorily with any Bible locality. It is mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIV, iii, 2), Pliny (Hist, nat., v, 22), and Ptolemy; and coins of the city have been found of almost all the emperors from Nerva to Gallienus.
Baalbek contains ruins of three temples: of the sun, of Jupiter, and a small one of Venus; also of a Christian basilica. The first is attributed to Antoninus Pius (138-161) by John Malala (c. 525- 600); only six columns and their entablature and the substructure remain. The walls of the temple
of Jupiter are standing, but the roof is The Ruins, gone. C. A. Rich, who examined the
ruins in 1894, says (American Architect, xlvii, 1895, pp. 3 sqq.) that the substructure of the whole, at least in part, is Egyptian, while the