The divine child was named Demarous, one of the cognomens of Zeus-Baal-Hadad. Whatever the case, there is no doubt about Elijah's intent: "How long will you keep shifting from one opinion to the other?" 106 a ). He just goes to sleep as he is freezing to death. 14:2, 9; Num. 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. He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. 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. You tricked me." In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baals epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. Fertility was envisaged in terms of seven-year cycles. 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. Canaanite Religions and Baal Worship by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Audio (12:51) Free E-mail Bible Study Grace: Favor for the Undeserving. 33 Bible Verses about Baal Worship, History So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry against Israel. Not a BAS Library member yet? They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead. However, even though their origins were Canaanite, the Phoenicians established their own distinct culture. Assyria, a kingdom known as much for its innovative weapons as for their brutal implementation, conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 718 BC. because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. 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 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). Now the word isai, simply means music in Tamil. ed., 1965); H.B. Baal's abode was Mount apn, identified as Jebel el-Aqra ("Mount Baldy") some 30 mi. Baal worship is something I associated only with Old Testament Bible days. Silapadikaram, a Tamil Classic, mentions more than 200 musical instruments. Human-Ram Deity from Sidon. "They built for themselves high places in all their cities . These people, who became known as the Samaritans, feared the Lord but worshipped their own gods. 114) or with eschatological victory (Isa. Israel "feared other gods" (verse 7). The Septuagint (LXX) rendered Joshua, the son of Nun, in Greek as Iesous; the same was used for Christs name in the NT. 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. 4. Most often, it condemns Baal worship. The proposition for the concept is as follows: The Latins called the Phoenicians as Poeni. 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. Even those who have vaguely heard of the name Baal in the Bible know it doesnt have a good connotation. Elijah is quite instructive here. He began to prophesy in a time of immediate crisis, one that would become far worse before it ever improved. The motifs of these myths were adopted and adapted in Jewish and Christian eschatology. . Doumet-Serhal explains the significance of the handles iconography: The dragon epitomizes the most fundamental ancient mythical perception of the Mesopotamian storm god. It has been suggested that this clash was indirectly a conflict between Baal and El, with Yamm serving as champion for the venerable El, as the Titans fought on behalf of Kronos in the Greek version of the myth and the stone colossus Ulikummi for Kumarbi in the Hurrian-Hittite version which is roughly contemporary with the Ugaritic texts. In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility, locked in mortal combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility. 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). He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them (2 Kings 21:3). While it is acceptable to say that it was in what is now Jordan, to point to a particular cave and say, This is it. is ridiculous. Sift through the storied history of ancient Israel. You have a cuddly little Baal idol in your child's bedroom without even suspecting it. As a Semitic common noun baal (Hebrew baal) meant owner or lord, although it could be used more generally; for example, a baal of wings was a winged creature, and, in the plural, baalim of arrows indicated archers. (NASB). The Hebrew scriptures speak frequently of the Baal of a given place or refers to Baalim in the plural, suggesting the evidence of local deities, or lords, of various locales. Baal Peor, or the Baal of Peor, was a local deity worshiped by the Moabites. north of Ugarit. Yet Sidon was a significant site before this period, too. Immorality lies in the desire of men to live self-centered lives independent of God, as when Adam and Eve took of the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:1-19). Nevertheless, he was still faithful, and he did his job. Israel "walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel." For instance, Hezekiahs son rebuilds the shrines of Baal and the Canaanite goddess Asherah that Hezekiah had torn down: He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. Prophets and Prophecy (Part 1). The word bal, common Semitic for "owner, master, husband," became the usual designation of the great weather-god of the Western Semites. Today, some evangelicals attempt to prepare the people for what is to come, but their teaching is a mixture of right and wrong. God wants to transform us from people who are bent on pleasing ourselves to people who show concern for others. Required fields are marked *. Some of Judah's kings spent years tearing down shrines and high places to foreign gods (II Chronicles 34:1-7). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). That afon designated the "north" in Hebrew is presumably due to the fact that Mount Casius lies directly north of Palestine. 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. One idea is that he means, "How long are you going to hop from branch to branch? 6:30; II Kings 16:3233) are associated with him. Canaanite worship often took place in open-air sites at the tops of hills, referred to in the Bible as "high places." . Near Baals temple was that of Dagon, given in the tablets as Baals father. Omissions? In the mysterious tablets of Ugarit, discovered by Claude Schaeffer, Baal is the God of rain, thunder, and extraordinary bolts of lightning. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. 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. 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. 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. When we see that our thoughts and ways are not His, we should reform and repent. Christ warned the Pharisees: "For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the traditions of men." Baal was also worshipped by various communities as a local god. It was a corruption of that religion, for the Israelites syncretized that holy way with Baalism and other idolatries. 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). . How many pagan ideas have we let seep in? Horrendous and repulsive aspects of the worship sexual excesses and perversions (Isa. 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. Besides the names Baal and Haddu, the Ugaritic texts furnish a variety of other titles, such as "Mighty Baal" (aliyn bl) and "Prince, Lord of Earth" (zbl bl ars). The Bible speaks of the destruction of Baal's temples and the idols associated with him. As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. Next both Mot and Baal appear reconstituted and reactivated and again in conflict. 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." In the Aztec religion, life existed before humans, and civilization was built after the destruction of the fourth sun. Most modern translations use "false," "deceitful," or "faithless," and none of these are wrong, including "divided." Pagan Religious Practices. Since El and Dagn are distinct deities, this seeming confusion over Baal's paternity needs explanation. A vivid description of theophany in a thunderstorm is found in Psalms 18:715 (= II Sam. (the Iron Age). (The suggestion that Jer. The Semitic word "baal" (meaning '"Lord") was also used to refer to various deities of the Levant. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The basis for this view was the fact that in biblical usage the plural of the term, with the article, "the Baalim," appears to designate minor local gods (Judg. A major question about II Thessalonians 2 is the scope of the described events. 3:23). 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. The events leading up to the Day of the Lord will be unmistakable to those with eyes to see. The latter title has a biblical echo in the corrupted form Baal-Zebub (II Kings 1:2ff. The beliefs and practices of the Canaanites were not only detestable, but they also . . Learn about the Canaanite-Phoenician deities who were called Baal, which means Lord. Paul, in: Biblica, 49 (1968), 3436; U. Oldenburg, The Conflict Between El and Bal in Canaanite Religion (1969). 27:1, 30:7, 51:910; Ezek. The above comment is by Prof. Abraham Joseph, M.Sc., M.Phil. There is no doubt that prosperity is good, but unless one is properly focused and disciplined, it can also be a demanding master because of its power to distract one into idolatry. He awakens them to their spiritual and moral responsibilities. In their spiritually unaware state, they will be incredulous at God's punishment for "such a little bit of sin." The prophet turns the heat on, and they become angry with him when he is actually working to make them better. And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. He sends someone long before the real crisis reaches its peak, while it is building. This viewpoint was developed as the basic and final argument against Baalism. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. Evil practices never go away. 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). Sidon is the birth place of Jezabel. Jehu's massacre of the Baal worshipers (II Kings 10:1828) did not eradicate bull worship (II Kings 10:31). And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14). Ritual prostitution only served to erode the family, eventually leading to the destruction of the nation. Worship of Baal was also carried out right on the housetops of the people, from where sacrificial smoke to their god was frequently seen to rise. Various forms of Baal worship are still going on in the Catholic church; even though these pagan idols were incorporated into Catholicism centuries ago, the worship of the sun still exists to this day. The eschatological traits were taken over with the Canaanite myths. The Sovereign Creator is not a God who allows His favor to be bought with crumbs. 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. Portions of ancient Baal liturgy were adapted to the praise of Israel's God, as the Ugaritic poems have shown. In the Bible, the followers of the one true God encounter other gods, or previously worshipped idols themselves. Baal Worship The Battle for the Israelites' Hearts For nearly a thousand years, a battle raged for the hearts of the Israelite nation. Baal was a god of prosperity, god of harvest, sex and fertility. What modern-day Baals have we worshipped in place of God? 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 . Baal's response to Mot's invitation to come and be devoured is abject surrender: "Thy slave am I, thine eternal." Did the Carthaginians Really Practice Infant Sacrifice? Before we explore what Scripture says about Baal, lets establish a brief depiction of the Canaanite deity. you didnt even mention her horrible daughter Athaliah, the only killer queen This second, universal interpretation is a better fit because, when we look at the whole passage, the events and personalities are worldwide in scope. Elijah's work was to reveal the true God to Israel in a time of growing national crisis. They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. Remember, this falling away sets the stage for the man of sin, who will have tremendous influence over humanity. Who were the Sidonians of the Iron Age (c. 1200586 B.C.E.)? Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968); Albright, Arch Rel; S.M. The Laodicean evaluates himself, saying, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (Revelation 3:17).
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