Baal in the Bible: History, Worship, and God’s Response
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Ex 20:3)
A recurring theme throughout the Old Testament is Israel’s idolatrous rebellion against God. One of the more popular idols throughout the eastern Mediterranean area was a Canaanite and Phoenician male god called Baal. The Phoenicians regarded him as the “Lord of the Heavens.”
Baal itself is a generic name meaning “lord,” “master,” and, in Hebrew, “husband.” People applied the name to many localized gods in the ancient world, such as Baal-peor (worshiped by the Israelites, Num 25;3), Baal-ath-beer (Josh 19:8), Baal-perazim (2 Sam 5:20; 1 Chr 14:11; Is 28:21, Baal-zebub (2 Kin 1:1–18; Mt 12:27), and numerous others (1 Kin18:19). Collectively, they are called Baalim. God (Yahweh) would still have been the national god, but the people often had a variety of deities to act in different capacities rather than having one general deity. Historically, they did not replace God but brought them alongside Him, much to His consternation.
In mythology, Baal was the son of El, the chief god (not to be confused with the Hebrew God, Elohim), and Asherah, the goddess of the sea, who was also widely worshiped. Baal’s sisters were two other highly worshiped goddesses — Ashtoreth, a goddess of fertility and the stars, and Anath, a goddess of love and war. He became the…
