Notably, an impressed handle found near a Canaanite grave at the site depicts Sidons storm god and a ship. 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. I prefer transliterating the sheva with [*] rather than any other English vowel letter, so I prefer Y*HWaH to YuHWaH or to YaHWeH, for that matter. Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. The most prominent idol that they worshiped was Baal. 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). Remember, this falling away sets the stage for the man of sin, who will have tremendous influence over humanity. 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. Child sacrifice was even practiced in the Valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem. Molech was another such god. Indeed, throughout its history, the most important god at Sidon was the storm godknown during the Phoenician period as Baal or Bel. I appreciate your consideration, and Im sure the Most High does as well! Christ's purpose is to cure, not merely to comfort, so pain will be often involved when dealing with a prophet. 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. "Christian" religions of this world have mixed the traditions of paganism with some of the truth of God's Word. 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. The latest archaeological discoveries shed light on Biblical Sidon and provide a window into the Sidonians polytheistic religion and worship practices during the Bronze and Iron Ages. A prophet's life is not a happy situation. In those God calls outthose who, by faith, will voluntarily yield to HimHe is building character based on outgoing love. Prepare to Meet Your God! Sidons Storm God. Hosea exposes the problem between God and Israel. . As we study the operation of the spirit of Baal in the Bible, one can see the fruit of its operation in the USA.. But Jezebels religion is not Jewish whereas the religion of the Tamils is more like that of the Jews. He established a feast in the eighth month to replace the true Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh. 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. BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Hermann, in: DDD, 13238; M.S. They also worshiped him as a fertility god who provided children. 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. Elijah is quite instructive here. The prophet turns the heat on, and they become angry with him when he is actually working to make them better. They believed in a Creator God, but they worshipped Him at the shrines they erected to the Baals. Claude Doumet-Serhal of the British Museum details recent excavations at Sidon in her article SidonCanaans Firstborn, published in the July/August 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. 14:2, 9; Num. 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. This time, Baal puts up a fight and holds Mot off in battle. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968); Albright, Arch Rel; S.M. They too had blended the worship of the true God with outright paganism, utterly corrupting the relationship He had established with them. Updates? 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. 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. (verses 9-11). 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. (II Kings 17:35-38). Actually, there were two gods which were essentially worshiped the same way, Baal and Ashtoreth. 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. With Baal's functions accredited to YHWH, it was natural and fitting that some of Baal's titles would also be taken over. Baal is a Canaanite and Phoeniciandeity and the son of the chief god El. (From Forerunner Commentary). This establishes the fact that the Cannanites (Phoenicians) has connections with the Tamil speaking ancient Kerala mariners. Ashtaroth is mentioned 12 times in the Old Testament. Human-Ram Deity from Sidon. We are seeing the same thing today, but at times, it is harder to recognize because we are accustomed to it, and it is not happening overnight. One idea is that he means, "How long are you going to hop from branch to branch? 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 . 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. The Sovereign Creator is not a God who allows His favor to be bought with crumbs. 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." Paul is not writing about apostasy in a small group of people that will give rise to an international personality, but an event on the world scene that creates the right environment to catapult this figure, backed by the power of Satan, to the heights of power. At Ras-Shamar, Baal was referred to as the son of Dagon, the Philistines chief 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. The name "Baal" shows up seven times in Hosea (2:8, 2:13, 2:16, 2:17 . 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. Elijah prepared the way for Elisha, who had a double portion of Elijah's spirit and did many more miracles. In the formative stages of Israels history, the presence of Baal names did not necessarily mean apostasy or even syncretism. 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. And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. Baal was a cruel, sensuous, and revolting false god whose worship involved sexual degradation and lewdness. Let's exemplify Baal doctrines as preached . In the books of Kings and Chronicles, we can read the record of a given king who turned away from God and served the Baals, and the foolishness sounds quick and casual because we are reading a summary. Ahab accommodated his wife's idolatry to the point of building a . Well dive more into this in the historicity of Baal in a few sections. He is a loving Master who only is to be obeyed and servedand only on His terms. So the word Poeni can be rewritten as Peyeni or as Payani or as Payan. "But there was no voice. Recall the mention in Hosea 10:1 of increasing and embellishing altars just before Israel fell to Assyria. 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. 74:1314, 89:910, 93:1ff. Avot 5:11 on the connection between tithing and rain). Gen. 41; II Sam. The god Baal was the heathen sun-god spoken of in the Old Testament. Tamil is connected with the Phoenician. 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). This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. The sum of what Elijah said is actually spiritually dangerous, due to the fact that God is judging. 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. 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. There was tremendous evil to overcome. Omissions? Even as the Canaanite religion waned, Baal took on a new role as Zeus in the Ancient Greek pantheon. 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. Take the word isabel; it can be split as isa bel or as isai bel. What happens if a person, trying to establish a religion, mixes falsehood with the truth of God? He wanted people to like him, which is understandable. 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. . Whoever is missing shall not live.". But who is Baal? 3:10; cf. Though it hurts, the pain is indicative of rescue and cure. Baal was the title of the "god" worshiped in ancient Canaan and Phoenicia. Another idea is that it pictures a person shifting his weight from one foot to the other, indicating a degree of lameness. She gives life to 70 other gods in the Canaanite pantheon. 19 Now therefore, call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. 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. It may seem easy to point the finger at the ancient Israelites and say, How could you let a bull statue into Israel? Their reverence for Him was mere intellectual accommodation intended to appease Him. Matthew 5:17Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. The Bible tells us that there were dire consequences for Israel worshiping a false god (Judges 2). 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. 8. El and Anath mourn violently, mutilating their faces and bodies. But church is where we come to have our minds stretched and measured against Christ's standard. 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 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. As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. l, b . Asherah, another popular deity in Canaan, was the goddess of motherhood and fertility . . He awakens them to their spiritual and moral responsibilities. (The Book of Amos) (Part Two). Baal's abode was Mount apn, identified as Jebel el-Aqra ("Mount Baldy") some 30 mi. Baal's response to Mot's invitation to come and be devoured is abject surrender: "Thy slave am I, thine eternal." They were primarily devoted to the worship of Baal and Asherah (or Asherim, Asheroth). 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. Nevertheless, despite the biblical tendency to avoid the use of the word as a proper name, it is now quite clear that by pre-Israelite times the term had become the usual name of the weather-god of Syria-Palestine. It was a corruption of that religion, for the Israelites syncretized that holy way with Baalism and other idolatries. 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. So the word Jezebel finally means one who is a good musician. 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? 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. This life-and-death struggle pitted the worship of Baal against the worship of Jehovah. 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. Now the word isai, simply means music in Tamil. In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baals epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. 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." He may have replaced the Sabbath with Sunday worship. Corrections? In Tamil Nadu, the following words payachi paarai, Peyazhwar, payans, pai (meaning devil) are currently in use. Yet, he was in trouble his whole life, from his teenage years on. Next both Mot and Baal appear reconstituted and reactivated and again in conflict. In the Bible, Baal (also rendered Baal) was an important Canaanite god, often portrayed as the primary enemy of the Hebrew God Yahweh. Our god is what we give our lives over to. They believed by their actions they could control and manipulate the Gods. Baal's objection to the window somehow concerned his three daughters and the sea-god (Yamm), but the text is broken at this point. 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. 57 Bull Baal. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. 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. The building materials, gold, silver, and lapis lazuli, were procured and the architect-builder Koshar was invited to dinner and consultation. By submitting to Him, we take a small step in being transformed into what He is. And she has taken over many so-called churches. Sidon is the birth place of Jezabel. Baal remains silent during the exchange, whereas God showers a sopping-wet altar with fire. A frequent epithet is "Cloud Rider" (rkb rpt) which has an almost identical parallel in Psalms 68:5. 11:17; I Kings 8:3536; Jer. Smith, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle (1994). 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). However, even though their origins were Canaanite, the Phoenicians established their own distinct culture. The Sidonians were the inhabitants of ancient Sidon, a seaport on the Mediterranean Sea in modern Lebanon. 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. Hope Bolingeris an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, and the author 21+ books. ; Job 3:8, 7:12, 9:13, 26:1213, 38:811, 40:25). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. Sometimes the leadership of the nation of Israel tolerated and embraced the deities of other nations. The word is used as the name of a town in ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 1:4, Joshua . The Masoretic text has the 4 letters YHWH with a sheva under the Y, pronounced yuh, and a Qamats below the W, i.e. 106:28). When we see that our thoughts and ways are not His, we should reform and repent. A series of bad years, which were apparently believed to come in seven-year cycles (cf. In Psalms 89:13 afon and yamin, in parellelism with Tabor and Hermon, hardly designate the directions north and south; yamin is almost certainly a corruption of Amana, the southern portion of the Taurus mountains, the alteration of amanah to yamin being occasioned by the misunderstanding of afon as the direction rather than the name of the holy mountain. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Ashtoreth was the fertility goddess consort of Molech. 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. Two practices in particular are mentioned in Scripture. Required fields are marked *. And one of the most famous instances of Israel going head to head with the prophets of Baal comes from 1 Kings 18. But God. This is no different from what Israel was doing when Amos wrote back in 760 BC. Searching for Israel (Part Six): Israel Is Fallen, Is Fallen. Despite Gods efforts to dissuade them, the Israelites engaged with the Canaanite culture a little too much and adopted their practices, including Baal worship. The longest of the texts deals with the construction of Baal's house on top of Mount apn. The prophet Haggai attributed the drought and scarcity in his day to the failure to rebuild the Temple (Hag. Pagan Religious Practices. 3:8; Ps. The word bal, common Semitic for "owner, master, husband," became the usual designation of the great weather-god of the Western Semites. At Shittim they attached themselves to Baal-Peor, ate sacrifices for the dead, and indulged in sacred sexual orgies (Num. 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. Speech is completely original and produced exclusively by Grace Digital Network Music licensed through Artlist.io Footage licensed through Filmpac.com and S. Recall God's prophecy in Deuteronomy 32:15, predicting that when Israel prospered, then it would rebel. All rights reserved. The Israelites "caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger" (verse 17). Sacred sex was a key component. Who were the Sidonians, and what do we know about their religion? When Ashtoreth is mentioned in scripture, she is linked to Molech, (also called Milcom in the Bible). 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 combined letters o and e is joined to pronounce the sound ye. Second was passing their babies through the fire. But not all years are good, and in a bad year, or a series of bad years, when the rains fail, the skies become like iron, the land like brass, and man's toil is futile for the earth will not yield its increase (Lev. 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. 14:2). To become moral, we must kill our selfish egos through the use and guidance of God's Holy Spirit. 27:1). In Ugaritic and Hebrew, Baal's epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. 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. 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. Child sacrifice was a fundamental aspect of Baal worship. 25:111; Ps. Asherah, along with Astarte and Anath, was one of the three great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon. Jun 2. *Romans 1:25 "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and WORSHIPPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE MORE THAN THE CREATOR". In some cases, they attempted to attach this practice to worship of the Lord (Ezek 23:39). Today, some evangelicals attempt to prepare the people for what is to come, but their teaching is a mixture of right and wrong. 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. 22:816). (the Middle Bronze Age). 1:4; Hab. 27:1, 30:7, 51:910; Ezek. (Jeremiah 7:8-10). YHWH's victory over the waters is connected either with the rescue of Israel at the Exodus (Ps. But their carnality and their fear of men persuaded them to worship Baal, because they wanted to be friends with their fellow Israelites. What Tamils are you speaking of? For those who think the baptism of John (Yochanan) was something new under the sun recall that he was a Levite as was his father Zechariah (Tsekharya). 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. However, God still holds them responsible because the truth is available. Since the Ugaritic verified the antiquity and authenticity of this divine name, additional instances have been alleged in the Psalter and in Job. 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. 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. 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. Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic prostitution in the temples. God sends a prophet to people who are cold in their relationship with Godspiritually freezing to deaththough they want to stay that way. Baal is said to be one of the first of Solomon's 72 demons. 410; reconstructed text) which after the great "Weather-god, Lord of Mount azi" presents six other "weather-gods," numbered two through seven. Asherah was a fertility goddess. The association of the name Baal-Zephon with Israel's exit from Egypt (Ex. They think that what they are doing is right, but they are deceived. The above comment is by Prof. Abraham Joseph, M.Sc., M.Phil. 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 clash violently until both are prostrate and the Sungoddess warns Mot not to fight with Baal lest El hear and overthrow him. Further, they "followed idols, became idolaters, and . The Aztec people used two calendars. A complex religion with traditions and gods from all over the ancient Middle East, Baal worship offered something for everyone. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them (2 Kings 21:3). II Kings 17:33 illustrates their worship: "They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods - according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away." Given Sidons position on the coast, it is not surprising that the storm god is Sidons most important god. . There are several ideas as to exactly what Elijah meant by "How long will you falter between two opinions?" 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. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. Baal was considered the supreme. Charles Whitaker In another room was a round base that likely supported a wooden pillar. The Devil is behind a. Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People. 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. 55:613; Jer. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble." Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. This shows that the Egyptian Cleopatra had maritime connections with the ancient Kerala Tamils. Who were the Sidonians of the Iron Age (c. 1200586 B.C.E.)? 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 .
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