What is so interesting is that, by verse 36, God is no longer reporting on the Samaritans but is addressing Israel. A falling away is taking place right now. Sidons Storm God. 410; reconstructed text) which after the great "Weather-god, Lord of Mount azi" presents six other "weather-gods," numbered two through seven. 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). He replaced the Levitical priesthood with men of his own choosing. As an example, notice Amos 2:6-7, where Amos chides the Israelites: ". Baal worship is something I associated only with Old Testament Bible days. What Is the Meaning of Psalm 91 and Why Is it Popular? 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. Baal (/ b e. 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 . All 450 prophets of Baal do not escape the slaughter that takes place after that. 11:1011). 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). The Israelites displayed a pandemic failure to love their fellow man. Baal was a god of prosperity, god of harvest, sex and fertility. 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. The Bible speaks of the destruction of Baal's temples and the idols associated with him. The worship of Baal extended in this region to the Jews, Canaanites and the Phoenicians. ADD. 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 . ( The first is the Assyrian crisis, discussed here.) So it was that, about 250 years after it was established, the ten-tribed northern kingdom became extinct as a sovereign nation. Who were the Sidonians, and what do we know about their religion? He wanted people to like him, which is understandable. It seemed they couldnt border a single person who didnt try to destroy them or convince them to worship their own gods. Elijah had to take drastic measures to prevent Baal worship from completely eradicating the worship of the true God (I Kings 18:20-40). The Spread of Baalism. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: And the plague brake in upon them. Baal is also referred to about 12 times as "the Rider of the Clouds" which undoubtedly testifies to his control over the rain and storms. Depending on the tradition, she was either Baal's mother, lover, or both. 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. (NASB). 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. 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. 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. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baals epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. The religion of Israel began with a man, Jeroboam I, who changed the true worship of God (I Kings 12:26-33). The Sovereign Creator is not a God who allows His favor to be bought with crumbs. This describes to a T what Israel did then and their descendants are continuing to do today. 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. Many of the practices mentioned were most probable common to the worship of all the Baals; a few others are certainly specific. 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. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968); Albright, Arch Rel; S.M. 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. 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 . In the Bible, Baal (also rendered Baal) was an important Canaanite god, often portrayed as the primary enemy of the Hebrew God Yahweh. ed., 1965); H.B. They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. For this reason, God shows that the preacher, not the civil authority, is the most vital part of the community. They were Phoenicians. Archaeologists at Sidon have uncovered a 12th11th-century B.C.E. Baal was different from his adherents merely in that he was above them. Since El and Dagn are distinct deities, this seeming confusion over Baal's paternity needs explanation. The Assyrians deported the population en masse from its homeland in Canaan, transplanting it virtually in toto to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. In Hosea 10:2, God charges Israel with having a divided heart. This full-body immersion was required for converts (giyur) to the sect called The Way (HaDerech) in Acts whether a Pharisaic/Saddusaic Jew or a Gentile proselyte (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_to_Judaism). Since Baal was, like almost all ancient deities, a fertility god, the human act of intercourse demonstrated that they wanted Baal to prosper them. Baal was the god of rain, wind, and fertility. Dated to c. 1750 B.C.E., the handle pictures the storm god as a leonine dragon. But church is where we come to have our minds stretched and measured against Christ's standard. The Kingdom of Israel fell below the historian's radar. 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. The most prominent idol that they worshiped was Baal. This article is about Baal worship in the Bible. Even as the Canaanite religion waned, Baal took on a new role as Zeus in the Ancient Greek pantheon. As a result of their sin, the men of Israel were judged by God. 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. JezaBel can be respelLt as JezaVel ~ JezaVAl ~ IezaVAL ~ Isaval-lavi ~ an expert in music. In this chapter, the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal have a show-down to prove the power of their God and gods. In the Bible, Jezebel is notorious for persecuting the worship of Yahweh and for demanding that the Israelites worship Baal. People like to feel comfortable. In Psalms 48:23, Mount Zion is equated with "the recesses of afon" (the phrase quoted above from Isa. 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. 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. After a textual gap, there is a report that Baal's corpse has been found. This chapter reports on the behavior of the people placed in Israel after Israel's conquest and deportation by Assyria between 722-720 BC. For example, Christmas and Easter are traditions of men, but they are lies. I know the firstborn of Creation through and for Him everything was made would appreciate it! The motifs of these myths were adopted and adapted in Jewish and Christian eschatology. you didnt even mention her horrible daughter Athaliah, the only killer queen Drought and the Fall of the Hittite Empire. 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. 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. The songs of His Temple would ordinarily be happy and joyous songs of praise to God, but He will turn the songs of their templesung to Baal in the name of the Lordto wailing, for the numbers of the dead will be unimaginable. 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). For seven days a fire burned inside the building, and when it subsided, the house was plated with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli. 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 biblical pharaoh's border monument. Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. He views them as personally rejecting Him and His Word. Groves and high places were places of worship erected to Canaanite gods and goddesses. In the Old Testament, many of the kings and eventually the whole nation of Israel rebelled against God and chose opposing belief systems. By submitting to Him, we take a small step in being transformed into what He is. Baal's response to Mot's invitation to come and be devoured is abject surrender: "Thy slave am I, thine eternal." 14:2). 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." The building materials, gold, silver, and lapis lazuli, were procured and the architect-builder Koshar was invited to dinner and consultation. The Bible tells us that there were dire consequences for Israel worshiping a false god (Judges 2). Yet if you asked most people who believe and follow this new morality, I suspect few would have ever heard of Baal. Baal is a Canaanite and Phoeniciandeity and the son of the chief god El. There was tremendous evil to overcome. It disturbed them. They see themselves as following the way of God, but their religion has deceived them by failing to teach them His truth. 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). Study the god Baal, Baal worship, and the presentation of Baal in the Bible. This establishes the fact that the Cannanites (Phoenicians) has connections with the Tamil speaking ancient Kerala mariners. And Asherah and Baal led the way together (Judges 3:7, 1 Kings 18:19, 2 Kings 23:4). 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. linked to Molech (also called Milcom in the Bible). (Jeremiah 7:8-10). But God has a different perspective; He says they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). Recall God's prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:15, predicting that when Israel prospered, then it would rebel. The events leading up to the Day of the Lord will be unmistakable to those with eyes to see. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. Israel "feared other gods" (verse 7). In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baal's epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. Rejection of God's Law. The combined letters o and e is joined to pronounce the sound ye. Your email address will not be published. If anyone could get an award for Having the Worst Neighbors, it would most likely go to the ancient Israelites. 3:10; cf. 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. What modern-day Baals have we worshipped in place of God? But when heat is applied, and the blood begins rushing into the affected areas, pain immediately occurs. Check out her books at hopebolinger.comfor clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. However, before the war was over, both sides were summarily executing anybody who did this because those traitors could not be trusted. Updates? He replaced the Levitical priesthood with men of his own choosing. The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. . He is often accused of causing their pain. 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. Despite having the power and support of the king of Israel and his . Ashtaroth is mentioned 12 times in the Old Testament. When we see that our thoughts and ways are not His, we should reform and repent. Join the BAS Library today. 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. All Rights Reserved.