Prophets and Prophecy (Part 1). Indeed, throughout its history, the most important god at Sidon was the storm godknown during the Phoenician period as Baal or Bel. The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. 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. 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. All rights reserved. But what was its real effect on the participants and the nation? Canaanite worship often took place in open-air sites at the tops of hills, referred to in the Bible as "high places." . Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. In correlating the sequence of events, Baal's victory over the sea-god, Yamm, is probably to be placed near the beginning of the action, since it was presumably this exploit which gained him the dominant position among the gods, just as *Marduk achieved preeminence by defeating the sea-monster Tiamat. BAAL-WORSHIP AMONG THE GENTILES.The evidence is hardly of such weight as to justify us in speaking of a worship of Baal. The Laodicean evaluates himself, saying, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17). He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them (2 Kings 21:3). This chapter reports on the behavior of the people placed in Israel after Israel's conquest and deportation by Assyria between 722-720 BC. 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. They believed in a Creator God, but they worshipped Him at the shrines they erected to the Baals. The Israelites fell into the worship of this idol(Numbers 25:3,5,18; Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalm 106:28; Hosea 9:10). He is the king of the east and governs an army of 66 legions of demons." Did you catch that? 57 Bull Baal. 114) or with eschatological victory (Isa. Notice the dramatic change of attitude in the people. This is no different from what Israel was doing when Amos wrote back in 760 BC. Most of the information they gave turned out to be wrong, to be lies. This god also, apparently according to Canaanite lore, defeated El and had associations with the sun and thunder. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. Either you are going to be committed to Him or not. Our nation has embraced the old ancient paganism that we read about in the Bible. Psalm 68 may have been written, in part, as a polemic against Baal worship wherein it is indicated in verse 4 that YHWH is the one who rides the clouds. (verse 8). For seven days a fire burned inside the building, and when it subsided, the house was plated with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. ADD. Thus, they developed a syncretic religious system, a blending of the truth of God and outright paganism. Sidons Storm God. A biblical pharaoh's border monument. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree; and there they burned incense on all the high places, as the nations had done whom the LORD had carried away before them." There was tremendous evil to overcome. In Hebrew, it is rendered Yehoshua, and in Aramaic, Yeshua. Some scholars believe that the Canaanites also sacrificed pigs and that God prohibited his people from eating pork in part to prevent this horrible cult from being established among them. The biblical allusions to YHWH's victory over the sea preserve echoes of the older exploit of Baal (cf. Sacred sex was a key component. Ahab accommodated his wife's idolatry to the point of building a . 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. Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. God sends a prophet to people who are cold in their relationship with Godspiritually freezing to deaththough they want to stay that way. The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. The name "Baal" shows up seven times in Hosea (2:8, 2:13, 2:16, 2:17 . 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. The prophet Amos particularizes the epidemic of social injustice in the Kingdom of Israel. Because of their self-absorption, God's "sudden" punishment will stun the people of the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and the other nations of modern Israel, including some members of the true church. The motifs of these myths were adopted and adapted in Jewish and Christian eschatology. In other words, God is saying that He was driven to defeat and scatter Israel because they were guilty of exactly the same sin as the Samaritans! Baal was the god of agriculture and fertility in Canaan, becoming a fallen angel and a demon. The handle displays an impression of a ship with the leonine dragon Uumgal, the storm god Adads attendant, next to it. Yet such fluidity in the use of the term baal did not prevent it from being attached to a god of distinct character. The triumph of Baal recounted in the myths and perhaps reenacted in ritual drama gave assurance of help in the present and the future as in the past. Their commitment went one way, and then it went the other way. Apparently in anticipation of developments the artisan god Koshar had cast furnishings of gold and silver. You have a cuddly little Baal idol in your child's bedroom without even suspecting it. 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). They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. God wants to transform us from people who are bent on pleasing ourselves to people who show concern for others. The beliefs and practices of the Canaanites were not only detestable, but they also . Israel "walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel." COPYRIGHT 2023 BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY 5614 Connecticut Ave NW #343, Washington DC 20015-2604. (the Middle Bronze Age), this impressed handle depicts a ship and a leonine dragon, which is the symbol of the Mesopotamian storm god Adad. The principal pillars of Baalism were child sacrifice, sexual immorality (both heterosexual and homosexual) and pantheism . Combine a one-year tablet and print subscription to BAR with membership in the BAS Library to start your journey into the ancient past today! Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. El is praised for his wisdom in granting the request since now it is insured that Baal will give his rain in season. He was to be an aid in getting them from their state of being merely "churched" to that of being truly religious and servants of the Most High God. The cosmic character of afon leads to its use as a synonym for "sky" in Job 26:7: "who stretched out afon on emptiness who suspended earth on naught." Although they lived in Israel, Jezebel and her retainers were free to worship Baal. This connects with the curse of Laodiceanism because God shows in the Laodiceans what can happen spiritually as people increase materially. Elijah was dealing with the same thing here, albeit spiritually. The prophet Haggai attributed the drought and scarcity in his day to the failure to rebuild the Temple (Hag. (NASB). The events leading up to the Day of the Lord will be unmistakable to those with eyes to see. . So-called from Mount Peor, where this worship was celebrated, the Baal of Peor. What was the rationale behind this perverse, immoral act? For a while, both sidesthe Confederate and the Unionaccepted those turncoats and took their information. In a normal good year, when the rains come in due season, there is no hiatus in productivity, for the land yields its increase, the trees produce their fruit, the threshing overlaps, the vintage overlaps the sowing, and there is food aplenty, prosperity, and peace (Lev. I would also challenge the suggestion in the text of the article that the location of Lots cave is known. This describes to a T what Israel did then and their descendants are continuing to do today. He could, and did, withhold the rain from one city and lavish it on another (Amos 4:7). Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. Jun 2. The Septuagint (LXX) rendered Joshua, the son of Nun, in Greek as Iesous; the same was used for Christs name in the NT. All 450 prophets of Baal do not escape the slaughter that takes place after that. He was overseeing a tevilah (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_washing_in_Judaism#Full-body_immersion_.28Tvilah.29) in a mikveh (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh). They were primarily devoted to the worship of Baal and Asherah (or Asherim, Asheroth). As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. Silapadikaram, a Tamil Classic, mentions more than 200 musical instruments. A vivid description of theophany in a thunderstorm is found in Psalms 18:715 (= II Sam. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble." The Canaanites worshiped Baal as the sun god and as the storm godhe is usually depicted holding a lightning boltwho defeated enemies and produced crops. 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). In the first encounter, Baal is invited to a banquet at which he is to be both guest and main course. When religion is ungodly, its power is destructive, and every institution in the nation suffers. The actual worship of Ba'al was carried out in terms of imitative magic whereby sexual acts by both male and female temple prostitutes were understood to arouse Ba'al who then brought rain to make Mother Earth fertile (in some forms of the myth, represented by a female consort, Asherah or Astarte). Through the influence of the Aramaeans, who borrowed the Babylonian pronunciation Bel, the god ultimately became known as the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus. Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The word bal, common Semitic for "owner, master, husband," became the usual designation of the great weather-god of the Western Semites. 3:8; Ps. 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.). Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have . Gen. 41; II Sam. The building materials, gold, silver, and lapis lazuli, were procured and the architect-builder Koshar was invited to dinner and consultation. . In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility, locked in mortal combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility. Photo: Courtesy of Claude Doumet-Serhal. They were afraid of God, but they did not really change their way of life. 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. (From Forerunner Commentary). Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. The Septuagint (LXX) referred to the latter as a stranger [in the land]. Recall the mention in Hosea 10:1 of increasing and embellishing altars just before Israel fell to Assyria. 4:12; Hos. After we accept His calling, He commands us to become moral as He is. This shows that the Egyptian Cleopatra had maritime connections with the ancient Kerala Tamils. The Bereans "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10-11). He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. 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). The judge Gideon was also named Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32), and King Saul had a son named Ishbaal (I Chronicles 8:33). The latter name (Amarna, Addu) is to be related to Arabic hadda ("break," "crash") with reference to thunder. 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. Speech is completely original and produced exclusively by Grace Digital Network Music licensed through Artlist.io Footage licensed through Filmpac.com and S. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: And the plague brake in upon them. Valimai means strengh, or force or weight. Take the word isabel; it can be split as isa bel or as isai bel. FREE ebook: Israel: An Archaeological Journey. Most often, it condemns Baal worship. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle (1994). 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. The rains were fully controlled by YHWH who called them from the sea and poured them out on the surface of the earth (Amos 5:8b; 9:6b). 6:30; II Kings 16:3233) are associated with him. Baal (/ b e. For those early Hebrews, Baal designated the Lord of Israel, just as Baal farther north designated the Lord of Lebanon or of Ugarit. Baal's sister-consort Anath demanded that Mot release her brother. Recall God's wrath when Aaron made a golden calf at the urging of the Israelites in the wilderness and proclaimed a feast to the Lord (Exodus 32:1-5). 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. Baal persuaded Asherah to intercede with her husband El, the head of the pantheon, to authorize the construction of a palace. 10:1113; 14:22). 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. The lesson for us becomes clear, because Jesus says the same thing (Matthew 6:24; 12:25). In another room was a round base that likely supported a wooden pillar. Usually the storm god is illustrated as a striding human figure, but sometimes he is represented by one of his symbols, such as the bull or leonine dragon. 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. 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. No one answered; no one paid attention" (v. 29 ESV). Baal was simply the title (literally, Lord) of the pagan god Molech. 74:1314, 89:910, 93:1ff. 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." Canaanite Religions and Baal Worship by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Audio (12:51) Free E-mail Bible Study Grace: Favor for the Undeserving. Drought and the Fall of the Hittite Empire. II Kings 17:5-6 relates the ultimate consequence. Learn more about Biblical Sidon and Sidonian religion in Claude Doumet-Serhals article SidonCanaans Firstborn in the July/August 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. His ministry took place about 150 years before Israel was to fall, becoming the Lost Ten Tribes, so God was beginning to make a powerful witness to them. A complex religion with traditions and gods from all over the ancient Middle East, Baal worship offered something for everyone. 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. 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. linked to Molech (also called Milcom in the Bible). The variant form Hadad (hdd) is attested to only once in Ugaritic. The combined letters o and e is joined to pronounce the sound ye. They think that what they are doing is right, but they are deceived. 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). For one to keep on coming to services and leaving, like a theatergoer, without his options, opinions, or decisions resolved but deferred, is an erosion of character. Portions of ancient Baal liturgy were adapted to the praise of Israel's God, as the Ugaritic poems have shown. He established a feast in the eighth month to replace the true Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh. 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. But God has a different perspective; He says they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). See what over 150,000 subscribers are already receiving each day. The above comment is by Prof. Abraham Joseph, M.Sc., M.Phil. When Ashtoreth is mentioned in scripture, she is linked to Molech, (also called Milcom in the Bible). Notably, an impressed handle found near a Canaanite grave at the site depicts Sidons storm god and a ship. To accommodate Baal ideology to Yahwism required some radical transformations. Baal Worship In other words, prosperity turns people's heads. The conflict of Yahwism and Baalism reached a crisis with Elijah's challenge to Baal's prophets to settle the question whether it was Baal or YHWH who really supplied the rain (I Kings 18). Val is related to valimai in Tamil. The Bible tells us that there were dire consequences for Israel worshiping a false god (Judges 2). He replaced the Levitical priesthood with men of his own choosing. Nevertheless, despite the biblical tendency to avoid the use of the word as a proper name, it is now quite clear that by pre-Israelite times the term had become the usual name of the weather-god of Syria-Palestine. In daily life, they conformed to and reflected the Babylonish system just as Israel does today. Jews nowadays say Ha-Shem [i.e. In Psalms 89:13 afon and yamin, in parellelism with Tabor and Hermon, hardly designate the directions north and south; yamin is almost certainly a corruption of Amana, the southern portion of the Taurus mountains, the alteration of amanah to yamin being occasioned by the misunderstanding of afon as the direction rather than the name of the holy mountain. Hosea exposes the problem between God and Israel. Study the god Baal, Baal worship, and the presentation of Baal in the Bible. In artistic depictions and archeological finds, Baal took the shape of a bull or ram and had associations with fertility.
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