Worshipers of Baal Killed. 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. How could you worship Baal? But if we dont exercise extreme discernment, we may find ourselves doing the same with modern-day baals. Evil practices never go away. As an example, notice Amos 2:6-7, where Amos chides the Israelites: ". 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.. In the Old Testament, many of the kings and eventually the whole nation of Israel rebelled against God and chose opposing belief systems. 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." Jesus says, "They are blind leaders of the blind. In the Bible, Baal is spoken of in a negative light, as an idol and a false god, and is associated with idolatry and paganism. 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 . They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. They clash violently until both are prostrate and the Sungoddess warns Mot not to fight with Baal lest El hear and overthrow him. 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." After we accept His calling, He commands us to become moral as He is. All 450 prophets of Baal do not escape the slaughter that takes place after that. 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. When the Israelites, following Moses to the Promised Land, were in the vicinity of Peor, some of them fell into idolatry and worshiped Baal Peor. . However, it was not the religion God gave through Moses, but idolatry that flourished! In the Hebrew language, Baal as a noun means "lord or possessor." As a verb, it means "to have dominion over or be lord over." Additionally, the local deity (near Israel) "Baal," was a god of rain and fertility. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baals epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. * Jesus is a transliteration of the Latin; it is NOT a translation! BAAL WORSHIP AND SEMITIC RACISM This term was used as a title and name of various local deities worshipped as guardians, heroes, and kings. l, b . What Is Coptic and Who Were the Copts in Ancient Egypt? Our nation has embraced the old ancient paganism that we read about in the Bible. 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. The prophet Haggai attributed the drought and scarcity in his day to the failure to rebuild the Temple (Hag. 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. Baal was a false god the feckless Jewish King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, attempted to force upon the nation of Israel during the time of Elijah the prophet (see 1 Kings 18). He was the god that provided - food - for the people. Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. What Is the Meaning of Psalm 91 and Why Is it Popular? While they gave lip service to the Creator, they adopted most of the Canaanitish religion with its lewd immorality, and in actual practice, patterned their life after it. Thus, they developed a syncretic religious system, a blending of the truth of God and outright paganism. 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. 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). Updates? But when heat is applied, and the blood begins rushing into the affected areas, pain immediately occurs. From Easton's Bible Dictionary:Baal-peor: lord of the opening, a god of the Moabites (Numbers 25:3; 31:16; Joshua 22:17), worshipped by obscene rites. By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. A frequent epithet is "Cloud Rider" (rkb rpt) which has an almost identical parallel in Psalms 68:5. In short, Scripture has nothing positive to say about Baal. God's pattern is being established. For seven days a fire burned inside the building, and when it subsided, the house was plated with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. Silapadikaram, a Tamil Classic, mentions more than 200 musical instruments. After a sortie against the sea-god, Baal returned to his house and ordered Koshar to install a window; Koshar laughed, reminded Baal of the debate, and complied. (II Kings 17:35-38). Adad roughly equates with the later Phoenician storm god Baal, the worship of whom is championed by the nefarious queen Jezebel in the Bible. A general understanding about the bamah and . He takes something loathsome and vile, something that is a direct affront to almighty God, a pagan idol, and turns it into a cute little children's fairy tale, so that you can buy the book, see the movies, get the cuddly toy, and bingo! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_washing_in_Judaism#Full-body_immersion_.28Tvilah.29, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Judaism. Baal was also worshipped by various communities as a local god. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Baal is said to be one of the first of Solomon's 72 spirits. Baal's resurrection followed Mot's demise, the good news being transmitted through a dream of El: The fields were still parched from the drought and again Anath and Shapsh set out to find Baal. Today, some evangelicals attempt to prepare the people for what is to come, but their teaching is a mixture of right and wrong. 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. Updated: 12/07/2022 2:13) and *Asherah (Judg. In exchange, they would offer information about their unit. 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! When religion is ungodly, its power is destructive, and every institution in the nation suffers. 4:12; Hos. Assyria, a kingdom known as much for its innovative weapons as for their brutal implementation, conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 718 BC. While much about Molech's nature and origin are uncertain, the Bible mentions Molech on eight occasions, providing some context regarding the problems associated with this ancient god. Like ancient Israel, we can easily fall back into our former ways. When the rain failed, it was inevitable that some would question YHWH's power and resort to Baal. 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). They simply evolve. John W. Ritenbaugh Elijah says disturbing things. 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. 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? He was also king of the gods, and, to achieve that position, he was portrayed as seizing the divine kingship from Yamm, the sea god. It proved extremely hard for a monotheistic faith to compete against the Canaanite fertility cult. Ginsberg, Kitvei Ugarit (1936); J. Oberman, Ugaritic Mythology (1948); A.S. Kapelrud, Baal in the Ras Shamra Texts (1952); M. Dahood, in: Studi Semitici, 1 (1958), 7578; N. Habel, Yahweh Versus Baal: A Conflict of Religious Cultures (1964); J. ; contact address: [emailprotected]. It may be, however, that these extra Baalim are Baal's attendants, mentioned as the seven or eight lads whom Baal is ordered to take with him in his descent into the netherworld. People like to feel comfortable. . Some become discouraged with the church because we are always being toldto some measure anywaydisturbing things about ourselves. The basis of all immorality is selfishness, the exact opposite of what God is. Baal's house was constructed in an extraordinary fashion. 18 Then Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, Jehu will serve him much. A large part of this world's appeal is its offer of financial security. Prepare to Meet Your God! Blending the lies of this world with the truth of God produces a foul mixture called syncretism (James 3:10-13). And Asherah and Baal led the way together (Judges 3:7, 1 Kings 18:19, 2 Kings 23:4). Because such people are drunk through riches' deceptive promise, their judgment is in danger of being radically altered. But God has a different perspective; He says they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). In the formative stages of Israels history, the presence of Baal names did not necessarily mean apostasy or even syncretism. This article is about Baal worship in the Bible. Human-Ram Deity from Sidon. 2008 The Gale Group. Some of Judah's kings spent years tearing down shrines and high places to foreign gods (II Chronicles 34:1-7). Pagan Religious Practices. Isaiah 29:13 clarifies what God means: "Therefore the LORD said: 'Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.'" Baal rejoiced and celebrated with a banquet. Yet such fluidity in the use of the term baal did not prevent it from being attached to a god of distinct character. Baal worship was the bane of the Ancient Israelites. The Semitic word Baal means lord or master, and the ancient people believed he was in charge of all of nature and humans. Notably, an impressed handle found near a Canaanite grave at the site depicts Sidons storm god and a ship. The worship of Baal extended in this region to the Jews, Canaanites and the Phoenicians. But who is Baal? Today Baal churches preach and teach Baal doctrines; prosperity, harvest, sex and fertility. Or about Yahweh? John W. Ritenbaugh 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 . In their ignorance, the people do not realize the terrible calamity that is coming soon upon modern Israel. Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. Now the word isai, simply means music in Tamil. II Kings 17:7-17 catalogs the sins of Israel: Widespread idolatry. The contest on Mount Carmel was reported as demonstrating that Baal was an impotent non-entity and that the rain came only from YHWH. They see themselves as following the way of God, but their religion has deceived them by failing to teach them His truth. As a result of their sin, the men of Israel were judged by God. The laws given to Moses by God expressly forbade the Jews to do what was done in Egypt or in Canaan. At Shittim they attached themselves to Baal-Peor, ate sacrifices for the dead, and indulged in sacred sexual orgies (Num. (The Book of Amos) (Part Two), Searching for Israel (Part Six): Israel Is Fallen, Is Fallen, He established a feast in the eighth month to replace the true. He is often accused of causing their pain. 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). . In their spiritually unaware state, they will be incredulous at God's punishment for "such a little bit of sin." Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. El is praised for his wisdom in granting the request since now it is insured that Baal will give his rain in season. 2:11; 3:7; 8:33), while the singular of the word in combination with other terms apparently designated minor or local gods, such as Baal-Berith, Baal-Gad, Baal-Hamon, Baal-Hazor, Baal-Hermon, or, in the feminine form, a goddess, Baalat-Beer, Baalat-Gebal. In the El-Amarna letters the logogram for the weather-god is conventionally read Addu, but that it is sometimes to be read Baluis indicated by the addition of the phonetic complement-lu, as well as by the names like Mut dIm written syllabically as mu-ut-ba-a-lum. a little T-shaped mark that stands for the long-A vowel (like a in father). In the Aztec religion, life existed before humans, and civilization was built after the destruction of the fourth sun. The right remedy, according to Israel's prophets, was to repudiate Baal completely and to seek and return to Israel's true God (Isa. The Kingdom of Israel fell below the historian's radar. The Macedonian Cleopatra planned to send her son to India through the Red Sea. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E. FREE ebook: Israel: An Archaeological Journey. Child sacrifice was even practiced in the Valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem. Even now some ancient Jews (white and black) live in Cochin, Kerala, India. He was considered superior to his father, El, the chief of the deities. So the word Poeni can be rewritten as Peyeni or as Payani or as Payan. If it is of men, it will not work very long. Notice the dramatic change of attitude in the people. It Is So Painful to Care: How Do I Conquer Apathy? 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). "But there was no voice. That made God so angry that a plague spread through their ranks; Phinehas stood up and pled their case and the . At Ras-Shamar, Baal was referred to as the son of Dagon, the Philistines chief god. Near Baals temple was that of Dagon, given in the tablets as Baals father. . O. Eissfeldt, Beitraege zur Religionsgeschichte des Altertums I (1932); H.L. But God. Observing Christmas and Easter in the name of Christ is no different. 27:1, 30:7, 51:910; Ezek. 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). 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. He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. It indeed produces great material prosperity, but it is consumed through self-indulgent gorging. What Is the Significance of Not the Letter but of the Spirit? Sidons Phoenician Temple. Christ warned the Pharisees: "For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the traditions of men." 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. The Israelites fell into the worship of this idol(Numbers 25:3,5,18; Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalm 106:28; Hosea 9:10). Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. He wanted people to like him, which is understandable. you didnt even mention her horrible daughter Athaliah, the only killer queen 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. 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. Drought and the Fall of the Hittite Empire. Discovered in a farmer's field in northeastern Egypt, this inscribed monument bears the name of one of the few pharaohs actually named in the Old . Whoever is missing shall not live.". 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. THIS IS A PROFILE OF PRACTICES, DOCTRINES, AND SYMBOLS OF BAAL WORSHIP . In Hosea 10:2, God charges Israel with having a divided heart. Murder and sexual immorality was a part of Baal worship. He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People. Indeed, throughout its history, the most important god at Sidon was the storm godknown during the Phoenician period as Baal or Bel. Since you mentioned John baptizing Jesus. Nevertheless, he was still faithful, and he did his job. Extra-biblical evidence for the flourishing Baal cult at Samaria in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C.E. Sun worship came from the ancient pagan religion of Baal. Christ's purpose is to cure, not merely to comfort, so pain will be often involved when dealing with a prophet. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 30 Verses to Reflect on in the Book of Hebrews. What is so interesting is that, by verse 36, God is no longer reporting on the Samaritans but is addressing Israel. In addition to Baal still influencing religions and pagan practices today, we must take note of what happened to the Israelites and vigilantly watch our churches. 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. A religion with such a beginning was doomed to fail, bringing the nation down with it. Archeological excavations have dated information about Baal back as far as the second millennium BC, and the spread of Baal worship caught fire in Egypt in 1400 BC. Bible Study Hosea Old Testament. This Bible History Daily Article was first published in 2017, British Museum Excavations at Sidon Expose Millennia of History, The Phoenician Alphabet in Archaeology by Josephine Quinn. It will be far more terrible than anything ever seen on this earth! The Baal-worship so often alluded to and described in Holy Writ might, perhaps, be better styled Cid-worship, moon-worship, Melek ()-worship, or Hadad-worship, according to places and circumstances.Many of the practices mentioned were most probably common to the worship . Commentaries are at odds over what the Hebrew word translated divided means. 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). How many pagan ideas have we let seep in? Once Elijah began preaching, their conscience pricked them, and it encouraged them to worship the true God. The Largest Baal Worship Service on the Planet is in America August 27, 2017 by Andy Roman "They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." Daniel 5:4. ADD. It is not known to what extent the Canaanites considered those various Baalim identical, but the Baal of Ugarit does not seem to have confined his activities to one city, and doubtless other communities agreed in giving him cosmic scope. . because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. Horrendous and repulsive aspects of the worship sexual excesses and perversions (Isa. ( The first is the Assyrian crisis, discussed here.) He is deceived into thinking that his material prosperity proves that God approves of his conduct and attitudes. (verse 8). BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Hermann, in: DDD, 13238; M.S. 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. They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead. This is the crux of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Our god is what we give our lives over to. If the rains failed and drought and death came upon the land and people, it was not because Mot had mangled Baal and made the glowing sun-goddess destructive; it was rather YHWH's way of meting out merited punishment to a faithless and sinful people (Deut. Jews nowadays say Ha-Shem [i.e. Canaanite worship often took place in open-air sites at the tops of hills, referred to in the Bible as "high places." . Baal was the god of rain, wind, and fertility. Baal was the title of the "god" worshiped in ancient Canaan and Phoenicia. 13:2) such as Baal himself performed in the Ugaritic myth are depicted in the prophetic tirades. 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. Baal worship spread rapidly when the king of Israel, Ahab, married Jezebel, the princess of Tyre (1 Kings 16:31-32). Matthew 5:17Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Avot 5:11 on the connection between tithing and rain). But it could have existed long before that, when God established the law, including laws against eating pork, since pig slaughter and sacrifice were a hallmark of Baal worship. 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. 26:46). However, God still holds them responsible because the truth is available. During the summer months the rains cease, but the temporary drought is no threat unless it is abnormally prolonged. (Iron Age) temple. Photo Credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus/ggenova. Paul, in: Biblica, 49 (1968), 3436; U. Oldenburg, The Conflict Between El and Bal in Canaanite Religion (1969). Most of them were just saving themselves and making themselves comfortable in their situation. For example, Christmas and Easter are traditions of men, but they are lies. And of all the foreign gods the Israelites came into contact with, they appeared to struggle the most with worshipping this one. The written form Moloch (in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament), or Molech (Hebrew), is the word Melech or king, transformed by interposing the vowels of bosheth or 'shameful thing'. Baal was a cruel, sensuous, and revolting false god whose worship involved sexual degradation and lewdness. Can we stop with the Yahweh pronunciation once and for all? He could, and did, withhold the rain from one city and lavish it on another (Amos 4:7). 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. This life-and-death struggle pitted the worship of Baal against the worship of Jehovah. Now that He has announced Israel's imminent calamity, God begins to show how His punishment would alter the lives of the people. Paul, then, is letting the church know that it need not be concerned about missing the end time. He replaced the Levitical priesthood with men of his own choosing. One was 260 days and was used for . 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. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. So it was that, about 250 years after it was established, the ten-tribed northern kingdom became extinct as a sovereign nation. This second, universal interpretation is a better fit because, when we look at the whole passage, the events and personalities are worldwide in scope. Let's exemplify Baal doctrines as preached . Burning incense, worship of the sun, moon, astrology, and ancestor worship are all earmarks of the Baal religion. The continued worship of Baal was given as one of the causes for the destruction of Judah (Jer. The Jews of Christ's day clearly recognized this putrid blend and despised the Samaritans for it. More than 1400 of her works have been featured in various publications. Baal (/ b e. Virtually all reference to Baal's consort, the violent "Virgin Anath" with whom Baal copulates by the thousand in one of the Ugaritic mythological fragments has been excluded from the Bible, but the goddesses Ashtart (Judg. 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. Baal and Asherah were two giant stumbling blocks for the people of Israel. Moffatt renders this, "They worshipped the Eternal, and they also served their own gods.". Today,. So-called from Mount Peor, where this worship was celebrated, the Baal of Peor. Learn about the Canaanite-Phoenician deities who were called Baal, which means Lord. The divine child was named Demarous, one of the cognomens of Zeus-Baal-Hadad. In an Akkadian catalogue of Ugaritic deities Baal apn is listed as dIM be-el hurn a-zi, "Storm-God, Lord of Mount azi" (see above; az [z] i being the Hurrian name of Mount apn which survives in the Greek and Latin Kasios/Casius as the name of the storied mountain of the gods). Baal is said to be one of the first of Solomon's 72 demons. 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). Baal worship is something I associated only with Old Testament Bible days. 11:1011). Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Their reverence for Him was mere intellectual accommodation intended to appease Him.