This is a prophet's job, a hallmark of a prophet of God. God wants to transform us from people who are bent on pleasing ourselves to people who show concern for others. Alternate titles: Baal Shamen, Baal Shemin, Baalim. Can we stop with the Yahweh pronunciation once and for all? Kings Ahaz and Manasseh, In the Ugaritic mythological texts Balu (bl) is the name of the god which is used more than twice as often as his next most frequent name, Haddu (hd). Baal was the title of the "god" worshiped in ancient Canaan and Phoenicia. That Baal appears to be a relative newcomer in the Ugaritic pantheon has been generally recognized, and it may be that Sakkhunyaton's story about Baal's paternity reflects a mythologizing of the process by which Baal was integrated into the family of El. What was the rationale behind this perverse, immoral act? Not a BAS Library member yet? Ashtar the Awful (ttrr) was then nominated to replace Baal, but when he ascended the throne, his feet did not reach the footstool nor his head the top and so he declined to reign on the heights of apn and descended from Baal's throne, but ruled over all El's earth. (the Middle Bronze Age), this impressed handle depicts a ship and a leonine dragon, which is the symbol of the Mesopotamian storm god Adad. 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 . 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 ). What will happen will affect the entire world, even though the world will not grasp the spiritual significance. A frequent epithet is "Cloud Rider" (rkb rpt) which has an almost identical parallel in Psalms 68:5. God set up the Levites within Israel to function as the teachers of His way of life, and He sent the prophets as watchdogs on the Levites and civil leaders. Murder and sexual immorality was a part of Baal worship. Who were the Sidonians of the Iron Age (c. 1200586 B.C.E.)? If anyone could get an award for Having the Worst Neighbors, it would most likely go to the ancient Israelites. Sidon was well connected by trade by the traders of the Pandya kingdom of Tamil Nadu. 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. 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. Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus/ggenova. There are indications that Baal and other gods and goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon were associated in the minds of their worshipers with certain heavenly bodies. Baal worship was the bane of the Ancient Israelites. Baal's 450 prophets worked themselves into a frenzy, cutting themselves, dancing, and chanting to their god. 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). All rights reserved. However, it was not the religion God gave through Moses, but idolatry that flourished! When we see that our thoughts and ways are not His, we should reform and repent. They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. 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. So it was in the northern kingdom of Israel after its division from the kingdom of Judah. Not only do the Jews have to deal with the abomination of Zeus and Antiochus Epiphanes IV (Daniel 8), but the Greek pantheon later gets repeated in the Roman pantheon, and practices from both the Greeks and Romans still exist today. Historical Background of HoseaBaal and Idolatry. Koshar twice recommended that a window be installed and Baal twice vetoed the suggestion, although Koshar insisted that Baal would have to reconsider. north of Ugarit. The Canaanites often worshipped her via trees (Asherah poles) because of her association with the tree of life. Baal, god worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. 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. Revelation 2:14 "THE DOCTRINES OF . He was considered superior to his father, El, the chief of the deities. 3:23). The Lord said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel." The combined letters o and e is joined to pronounce the sound ye. In their ignorance, the people do not realize the terrible calamity that is coming soon upon modern Israel. Take the word isabel; it can be split as isa bel or as isai bel. Yet, he was in trouble his whole life, from his teenage years on. 2:13) and *Asherah (Judg. 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. 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. Isa. ; Job 3:8, 7:12, 9:13, 26:1213, 38:811, 40:25). 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. The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. A complex religion with traditions and gods from all over the ancient Middle East, Baal worship offered something for everyone. At Shittim they attached themselves to Baal-Peor, ate sacrifices for the dead, and indulged in sacred sexual orgies (Num. For Constantine, the acceptance of Christianity was done solely TO UNIFY TERRITORY, RELIGIONS, AND POLITICAL MOVEMENTS. "like a bird in a tree. Certainly not those of east Asia. Horrendous and repulsive aspects of the worship sexual excesses and perversions (Isa. Most often, it condemns Baal worship. Those familiar with the Biblical text will recall that Sidon was an influential, wealthy Phoenician city when the kings of Israel and Judah ruled during the Iron Age. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. 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. He then merely floats, going through the motions, even feeling good about himself as he neglects so great salvation (Hebrews 2:3). He views them as personally rejecting Him and His Word. Payment of the full tithe to the food stores of the Temple, some thought, would guarantee that YHWH would open the windows of heaven and pour down overflowing blessings (Mal. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered!only to go on doing all these abominations? 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! But God. 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. Indeed, religion flourished, as Amos, Hosea's contemporary, clearly reports (see Amos 5:21-27). They believed in a Creator God, but they worshipped Him at the shrines they erected to the Baals. For a while, both sidesthe Confederate and the Unionaccepted those turncoats and took their information. 1:4; Hab. The prize of the victory was kingship over the gods and the enthronement ritual guaranteed the natural order of life and the welfare of the society. They think that what they are doing is right, but they are deceived. The biblical allusions to YHWH's victory over the sea preserve echoes of the older exploit of Baal (cf. The prophet Amos particularizes the epidemic of social injustice in the Kingdom of Israel. The handle displays an impression of a ship with the leonine dragon Uumgal, the storm god Adads attendant, next to it. Baal's house was constructed in an extraordinary fashion. A biblical pharaoh's border monument. . The beliefs and practices of the Canaanites were not only detestable, but they also . By submitting to Him, we take a small step in being transformed into what He is. The above comment is by Prof. Abraham Joseph, M.Sc., M.Phil. Everything Joshua* (Yehoshua) did was in accordance with the TaNaKh, which is an acrostic for Torah (=Law/Instruction), Neviim (=Prophets), and Ketuvim (=Writings). Check out her books at hopebolinger.comfor clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Right now, though, we are witnessing a steady defection from the basic principles of the Bible, away from what we call the Judeo-Christian ethic. Only the individual could decide which side he would be on, because Elijah made it clear, "God does not want you the way you are. Note the name of her father, King of the Sidoneans and apparently (Josephus) a priest of Baal as well. They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. What modern-day Baals have we worshipped in place of God? 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. Baal worship also included, at times, child sacrifice, which we see some Israelite kings engaging with later on. When Elijah preached his message, it put the people in a bind because they knew their conscience was telling them that they had to commit themselves to God or to Baal. Drought and the Fall of the Hittite Empire. Since you mentioned John baptizing Jesus. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle (1994). Paul, then, is letting the church know that it need not be concerned about missing the end time. Thus, they developed a syncretic religious system, a blending of the truth of God and outright paganism. Next both Mot and Baal appear reconstituted and reactivated and again in conflict. The first mention of Molech is in Leviticus 18:21 in which the . This time, Baal puts up a fight and holds Mot off in battle. Christ's purpose is to cure, not merely to comfort, so pain will be often involved when dealing with a prophet. 27:1, 30:7, 51:910; Ezek. Rejection of God's Law. 19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. The only trouble is that people like to feel comfortable in moral mediocrity. 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. . Corrections? Canaanite worship often took place in open-air sites at the tops of hills, referred to in the Bible as "high places." . 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). In those God calls outthose who, by faith, will voluntarily yield to HimHe is building character based on outgoing love. Alan, how said anything about John baptizing Jesus? This second, universal interpretation is a better fit because, when we look at the whole passage, the events and personalities are worldwide in scope. Thus, according to Sakkunyaton, Baal's natural father was Ouranos and Dagn became his foster-father, while El-Kronos effected the transfer. Asherah, mother of the gods, was prevailed upon to intercede with El to gain permission for the building. 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. Thus in any year anxiety about the rainfall would be a continuing concern of the inhabitants which would suffice to give rise to rites to ensure the coming of the rains. Evil practices never go away. Then stood up Phinehas, and exe Then they linked up with Baal Peor, attending funeral banquets and eating idol food. ADD. 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). For seven days a fire burned inside the building, and when it subsided, the house was plated with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. Now another presentation that the Phoenicians who are also connected with the Canaanites had traded with the trading mariners of Kerala, India. Since El and Dagn are distinct deities, this seeming confusion over Baal's paternity needs explanation. It Is So Painful to Care: How Do I Conquer Apathy? The heyday of Baal worship in Israel came in the days of Elijah, when the Phoenician princess Jezebel launched a massive campaign to promote Baal. That made God so angry that a plague spread through their ranks; Phinehas stood up and pled their case and the . (verses 9-11). 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). The worship of this idol consisted in exposing that part of the body which all persons usually take the utmost care to conceal. A falling away is taking place right now. In Canaanite religion her primary role was that of mother goddess. As we study the operation of the spirit of Baal in the Bible, one can see the fruit of its operation in the USA.. Before descending to the realm of death, Baal copulates with a heifer and begets a male offspring. Avot 5:11 on the connection between tithing and rain). A large part of this world's appeal is its offer of financial security. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E. Our nation has embraced the old ancient paganism that we read about in the Bible.