Some become discouraged with the church because we are always being toldto some measure anywaydisturbing things about ourselves. Certainly not those of east Asia. A vivid description of theophany in a thunderstorm is found in Psalms 18:715 (= II Sam. Ashtoreth was the fertility goddess consort of Molech. None of the foolish practices of the heathen could bring the rains; only YHWH could and did (Jer. Ahab accommodated his wife's idolatry to the point of building a . Their reverence for Him was mere intellectual accommodation intended to appease Him. Avot 5:11 on the connection between tithing and rain). Baal & Asherah. One was 260 days and was used for . The Laodicean evaluates himself, saying, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17). When a person is freezing to death, he feels a pleasant numbness that he does not want to end. Thus the basis of the Baal cult was the utter dependence of life on the rains which were regarded as Baal's bounty. Jun 2. When we see that our thoughts and ways are not His, we should reform and repent. Baal and Asherah were two giant stumbling blocks for the people of Israel. In mythological texts from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550-1200 B.C.E) city-state of Ugarit, she is called "the creatress of the gods"; her consort at Ugarit, the god El, is . If anyone could get an award for Having the Worst Neighbors, it would most likely go to the ancient Israelites. John W. Ritenbaugh The prophet Haggai attributed the drought and scarcity in his day to the failure to rebuild the Temple (Hag. The Masoretic text has the 4 letters YHWH with a sheva under the Y, pronounced yuh, and a Qamats below the W, i.e. (the Middle Bronze Age), this impressed handle depicts a ship and a leonine dragon, which is the symbol of the Mesopotamian storm god Adad. Baal's abode was Mount apn, identified as Jebel el-Aqra ("Mount Baldy") some 30 mi. Israel's false religion, represented by the altars of Bethel, is at the root of her problems. In distress some would naturally revert to the old ways of reviving or reactivating the rain-god prayer, mourning, self-laceration, dancing, and water-pouring (I Kings 18:2628; Hos. (NASB). Nyberg had restored it in Deuteronomy 33:12; I Samuel 2:10; II Samuel 23:1; Isaiah 59:18, 63:7; and Hosea 7:16. 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. Figs and grapes ripen during the dry season and the grain harvest also takes place before the rains resume. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1998 - 2023 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 19Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 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). 27:1). Baal is a Canaanite and Phoeniciandeity and the son of the chief god El. All this was part of his fertility role, which, when fulfilled, meant an abundance of crops and fertility for animals and mankind. 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." Whatever the case, there is no doubt about Elijah's intent: "How long will you keep shifting from one opinion to the other?" Its is right up there with the thought that we know where Jesus was born, or that one can see a descendant of the original burning bush, etc.. 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. A complaint is made to Bull El, father of the gods, that Baal has no house like other gods. Pagan Religious Practices. This shows that the Egyptian Cleopatra had maritime connections with the ancient Kerala Tamils. After a textual gap, there is a report that Baal's corpse has been found. Today, some evangelicals attempt to prepare the people for what is to come, but their teaching is a mixture of right and wrong. In this regard, Elijah was a type of John the Baptist, and Elisha, a type of Christ. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. 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. 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). Some suppose Baal to correspond to the sun and Ashtoreth to the moon; others that Baal was Jupiter and Ashtoreth Venus. The principal pillars of Baalism were child sacrifice, sexual immorality (both heterosexual and homosexual) and pantheism . Notably, an impressed handle found near a Canaanite grave at the site depicts Sidons storm god and a ship. Sidons Phoenician Temple. 18For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. The basis of all immorality is selfishness, the exact opposite of what God is. The prophet Amos particularizes the epidemic of social injustice in the Kingdom of Israel. In spite of the fact that the word is used as the theophorous element in personal names, such as Eshbaal, Merib-Baal, Jerub Baal, it was long believed that the term remained an appellation and did not become a proper name, except in the case of the Mesopotamian Bel and in late theological speculation. The Jordan River (Nahar ha-Yarden) qualified as a mikveh as its flowing living waters originated from a natural spring (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River). Baal's house was constructed in an extraordinary fashion. To become moral, we must kill our selfish egos through the use and guidance of God's Holy Spirit. 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). 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. Isa. The Septuagint (LXX) referred to the latter as a stranger [in the land]. Baal remains silent during the exchange, whereas God showers a sopping-wet altar with fire. Observing Christmas and Easter in the name of Christ is no different. The worship of Baal in Syria-Palestine was inextricably bound to the economy of the land which depends on the regularity and adequacy of the rains. 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. What is so interesting is that, by verse 35, it is clear God is no longer addressing Himself to the Samaritans, but to Israel: [T]he LORD had made a covenant and charged [Israel], saying: "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; but the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. El and Anath mourn violently, mutilating their faces and bodies. They were straddling the fence in a precarious state of imbalance, attempting to combine the worship of God with the more popular worship of Baal and Asherah. In another room was a round base that likely supported a wooden pillar. It will be far more terrible than anything ever seen on this earth! The judge Gideon was also named Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32), and King Saul had a son named Ishbaal (I Chronicles 8:33). 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. Thus, according to Sakkunyaton, Baal's natural father was Ouranos and Dagn became his foster-father, while El-Kronos effected the transfer. Child sacrifice was a fundamental aspect of Baal worship. The Israelites fell into the worship of this idol(Numbers 25:3,5,18; Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalm 106:28; Hosea 9:10). What Is Coptic and Who Were the Copts in Ancient Egypt? A frequent epithet is "Cloud Rider" (rkb rpt) which has an almost identical parallel in Psalms 68:5. Baal was the god of rain, wind, and fertility. The Semitic original of this name has been recognized in one of Baal's names in Ugaritic: (The name is to be connected with the root dmr, "be strong, brave," and is probably the same as that of Abraham's son Zimrn (damarn), the -n afformative being preserved in the genitive case of the Greek form Demarountos). (Iron Age) temple. Baal worship spread rapidly when the king of Israel, Ahab, married Jezebel, the princess of Tyre (1 Kings 16:31-32). 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. She's most famously the mother of Baal, another god who shows up throughout the Old Testament when the Israelites stray after other idols. In popular and syncretistic religion in Israel, Yahweh could be equated with both El and Baal. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E., the handle pictures the storm god as a leonine dragon. 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). Because of their self-procured wealth and affluence, they think they are being blessed with material things. How could you worship Baal? But if we dont exercise extreme discernment, we may find ourselves doing the same with modern-day baals. However, even though their origins were Canaanite, the Phoenicians established their own distinct culture. (verses 9-11). Val is related to valimai in Tamil. Given Jezebels religious fervor in the Bible, one would expect to find evidence of Baal worship at Sidon. He is the king of the east and governs an army of 66 legions of demons." Did you catch that? He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. 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! Well dive more into this in the historicity of Baal in a few sections. 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. A god Baal apn was known from Egyptian and Akkadian sources before the discovery of the Ugaritic documents. The religion of Israel began with a man, Jeroboam I, who changed the true worship of God (I Kings 12:26-33). Groves and high places were places of worship erected to Canaanite gods and goddesses. Recall the mention in Hosea 10:1 of increasing and embellishing altars just before Israel fell to Assyria. With Baal's functions accredited to YHWH, it was natural and fitting that some of Baal's titles would also be taken over. Sidon was well connected by trade by the traders of the Pandya kingdom of Tamil Nadu. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. 18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. Now another presentation that the Phoenicians who are also connected with the Canaanites had traded with the trading mariners of Kerala, India. The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. 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. It was this Israelite worship of Baal which was challenged by the Hebrew prophet Elijah in his famous conflict with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in I Kings 18, when he challenged the. The religion of Israel began with a man, Jeroboam I, who changed the true worship of God. Searching for Israel (Part Six): Israel Is Fallen, Is Fallen. Lastly, he replaced God with golden calves in Bethel and Dan. 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. But who is Baal? Even as the Canaanite religion waned, Baal took on a new role as Zeus in the Ancient Greek pantheon. Can we stop with the Yahweh pronunciation once and for all? Whoever is missing shall not live.". Charles Whitaker 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). Nevertheless, he was still faithful, and he did his job. 33:7) has been made the basis of intriguing speculation by Eissfeldt. Second was passing their babies through the fire. The name "Baal" shows up seven times in Hosea (2:8, 2:13, 2:16, 2:17 . At one point in A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton, he deals with soldiers who left the service of their armyeither the Confederate army or the Union army. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble." Today,. The continued worship of Baal was given as one of the causes for the destruction of Judah (Jer. The Israelites displayed a pandemic failure to love their fellow man. He awakens them to their spiritual and moral responsibilities. Such evil cunning. Why Did Pharaoh Tell Joseph to Enjoy the 'Fat of the Land'? 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. One of the rooms in this temple had a bench, where offerings would have been placed, and an altar made of . 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. What modern-day Baals have we worshipped in place of God? In the Hebrew Bible, Moloch is presented as a foreign deity who was at times illegitimately given a place in Israel's worship as a result of the syncretistic policies of certain apostate kings. 410; reconstructed text) which after the great "Weather-god, Lord of Mount azi" presents six other "weather-gods," numbered two through seven. In the first encounter, Baal is invited to a banquet at which he is to be both guest and main course. 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). The violence and injustice in Israelite society ultimately stemmed from the false teaching proclaimed from the pulpits. The bulk of the Ugaritic mythological texts is concerned with the activities of Baal. In artistic depictions and archeological finds, Baal took the shape of a bull or ram and had associations with fertility. Of special interest is the designation Aliy (ly) which is twice applied to Baal in the Krt Epic: Before the discovery and recognition of this name in Ugaritic, H.S. The lesson for us becomes clear, because Jesus says the same thing (Matthew 6:24; 12:25). Today, music performers entice young and old in the practice of the worship of Baal-Peor The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. He replaced the Levitical priesthood with men of his own choosing. Meaning of Jezebel: This word can be also pronounced as Isabel. Two practices in particular are mentioned in Scripture. 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. Thus it is clear that Baal, representing the life-giving rains, fluctuates in his ability to withstand the power of Mot, who represents drought, sterility, and death. Moffatt renders this, "They worshipped the Eternal, and they also served their own gods.". 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. What made the very name Baal anathema to the Israelites was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century bce, to introduce into Israel her Phoenician cult of Baal in opposition to the official worship of Yahweh (I Kings 18). This life-and-death struggle pitted the worship of Baal against the worship of Jehovah. linked to Molech (also called Milcom in the Bible). 3:8; Ps. The open-air altar shrine, called a bamah (plural bamot), is known through several books of the Biblical canonbut none more so than the Book of Kings, where they play a prominent role in assessing the performance of a king.Often referred to as "high places" in translations of the Bible, bamot were worship sites that usually contained an altar. 27:1, 30:7, 51:910; Ezek. Doumet-Serhal explains the significance of the handles iconography: The dragon epitomizes the most fundamental ancient mythical perception of the Mesopotamian storm god. Baal transformed into Zeus, who transformed into Jupiter, etc. With human features as well as the eyebrows, nose and horns of a ram, this painted limestone figurine represents a deity and dates to c. 1650 B.C.E. The association of the name Baal-Zephon with Israel's exit from Egypt (Ex. Paul, in: Biblica, 49 (1968), 3436; U. Oldenburg, The Conflict Between El and Bal in Canaanite Religion (1969). (verse 8). 8. 13:2) such as Baal himself performed in the Ugaritic myth are depicted in the prophetic tirades. 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). 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. Like ancient Israel, we can easily fall back into our former ways. When Ashtoreth is mentioned in scripture, she is linked to Molech, (also called Milcom in the Bible). 114) or with eschatological victory (Isa. Lastly, he replaced God with golden calves in Bethel and Dan. . 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 ). The spectacular victory for Yahwism did not have a lasting effect. 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 . ADD. They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead. l /), or Baal (Hebrew: baal), was a title and honorific meaning 'owner', 'lord' in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity.From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Who were the Sidonians, and what do we know about their religion? 106 a ). (The Book of Amos) (Part Two). Koshar twice recommended that a window be installed and Baal twice vetoed the suggestion, although Koshar insisted that Baal would have to reconsider. In the Bible, Baal (also rendered Baal) was an important Canaanite god, often portrayed as the primary enemy of the Hebrew God Yahweh. Corrections? This corrupt blending of a holy God with a pagan goddess became part of everyday religious practice, which is why evil king Manasseh put an Asherah pole . God's first command to destroy any forms of idol worship came early in the Bible in Exodus 34:13. . 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. God's difference from us is that He is holy; He is moral and we are immoral. 30 Verses to Reflect on in the Book of Hebrews. These Israelites were lethargic in terms of true, spiritual matters. (the Middle Bronze Age). It is related that on one occasion a strange ruler came to the place where Peor was worshiped, to sacrifice to him; but when he heard of this silly practise, he caused his soldiers to attack and kill the worshipers of the god (Sifre, Num. The word bal, common Semitic for "owner, master, husband," became the usual designation of the great weather-god of the Western Semites. We must understand that our god is not what we say we worship but what we serve. The latter name (Amarna, Addu) is to be related to Arabic hadda ("break," "crash") with reference to thunder. l, b . If Baal triumphed, a seven-year cycle of fertility would ensue; but, if he were vanquished by Mot, seven years of drought and famine would ensue. A second interpretation is that since the falling away contains the definite article, it refers to a unique event in man's history, far greater than anything that has happened before. Elijah is quite instructive here. Who were the Sidonians of the Bronze Age (c. 30001200 B.C.E.)? BAAL WORSHIP AND SEMITIC RACISM This term was used as a title and name of various local deities worshipped as guardians, heroes, and kings. 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. Recall God's prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:15, predicting that when Israel prospered, then it would rebel. Baal worship is and has always been pagan; today it is replacing the laws and beliefs based upon Judaeo-Christian roots, which honours the GOD of the Bible, His laws and His ways. 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). Even those who have vaguely heard of the name Baal in the Bible know it doesnt have a good connotation. Through the window, a cleft in the clouds, Baal gave forth his holy voice which convulsed the earth and sent his enemies scurrying to the hills and woods. His opinion of his holiness as compared with God's judgment is so far off base, it causes Jesus Christ to regurgitate him from His body. Elijah was dealing with the same thing here, albeit spiritually. Asherah, along with Astarte and Anath, was one of the three great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon. To accommodate Baal ideology to Yahwism required some radical transformations. The latter title has a biblical echo in the corrupted form Baal-Zebub (II Kings 1:2ff. Issuing a challenge to his enemy Mot (death), who presumed to rule gods and men, Baal dispatched his messengers to Mot's infernal, filthy abode, warning them not to get close to Mot's rapacious jaws. 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. The bird cannot make up its mind where it wants to settle down, so it just keeps hopping around. Knowledge of Baals personality and functions derives chiefly from a number of tablets uncovered from 1929 onward at Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), in northern Syria, and dating to the middle of the 2nd millennium bce. However, before the war was over, both sides were summarily executing anybody who did this because those traitors could not be trusted. The Macedonian Cleopatra planned to send her son to India through the Red Sea. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
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baal worship practices in the bible