Baal

BAAL (Ba'al = 'Lord, Master, Owner'). - A deity worshiped by almost all the peoples of the Near East and in Africa. In the Bible it is designated with the article (hab-ba'al), omitted in the documents of Ras

Šamrah. It is uncertain whether the cult of B. is of Semitic or Hittite origin. B. was the spirit of fertility, the male principle, to whom the bull was sacred (his paredra, the female principle, was Baalal, or 'Ašērāh [v.] or Bilith, or Beltis). He presided over the phenomena of nature and uttered his voice by means of thunder, hurled lightning, rode the clouds, poured down rain. He is represented with weapons and a spear in hand, a radiate diadem (sun?) and the ḥammānīm (according to Rašī "solar columns"; according to Ingholt and Vincent "altar for burning incense"; according to Albright "brazier"). Not a few ancients identified him with Kronos or Saturn, then with Jupiter and in particular with the Iuppiter Eliopolitanus (sun god) of Ba'albek (v.).

From the place where he was worshiped, or toward which he was supposed to have a predilection, or from the function attributed to him, arose multiple denominations (hypostases) of B. (Baalim): Baalsamin (Balsamen) = B. of heaven, B. of Lebanon, B. Bērīth (of the covenant), B. Markodes (of the dance?), B. Mrp (healer), and Beelphegor (v.), Beelsephon (v.), Beelsebub (v.). The Canaanite territory, before the Israelite invasion, was full of Baalim. Among some peoples, B. was worshiped under another name, but with the same prerogatives: Mekal at Beisan, Rešēph-Seth in Egypt, B. Šamin, Malak Bel, Jarchi Bel, Agli Bol at Palmyra, B. Hammōn at Carthage, Tešup among the Hittites and Hurrians, Melqart (v.) at Tyre, Hadad (v.) among the Canaanites.

E. Dhorme places the cult of B. in connection with the idea that the nomads had of the protective deity, who, in symbiosis with the members of the tribe, was considered not only father, mother, brother, kinsman, but also "master" or Baal; with the multiplication of the gods, the Baalim multiplied, so that every city had its own B. and its own Baalal (I Sam. 7:3 ff.; 12:12); from the Amorite cult of the "B. of the high peaks," there arose the B. of heaven, the B. Šim, Balsamen. According to F. Cumont, B. is the god of the tribe from whom, in exchange for protection, he demanded worship; his sovereignty extended by considering foreign worshipers as clients, whereby B. became a universal god; "master" of the earth because he makes it fertile, he resides in heaven from where he bestows rain and warmth (B. of fertility). According to W. R. Smith, one passes from the concept of the land of B. (a fertile zone, therefore preferred by the god) to that of B. as possessor of that land. A god of fertility, he became the regulator of the waters and of rain, the one who presides over the production of animal life and over sexual relations, therefore the husband of the earth; the male principle. It is considered more probable, with Vigouroux and Lagrange, that the name B. implies an attribute of the deity, supposing the existence of a god master and lord of the universe.

The documents of Ras Šamrah (v.) shed light on his figure. According to the myth of Baal and Alejan-Baal, B. is one of the 70 sons of Ašerat of the sea and father of Alejan-B. Unlike the other gods, he has no temple until 'Ašērāh obtains its construction for him, carried out with bricks and cedars on the peaks of Šaphon (Mt. Casius?), by Košer, Hasis and Hjōn, who open a skylight in it so that B. "the rider of the clouds" may utter his holy voice there. The dedication is celebrated with hecatombs of oxen, rams, goats, calves, lambs. B. (with Alejan-B.), being in struggle with Mōt, the genius of the summer months (therefore of drought), is the god of the beneficent waters that make plants sprout and grow. Annihilating each other, B. (and Alejan-B.) descends into the bowels of the earth at the time of the summer months, Mōt at the time of the rains. Mōt from his dark dwelling sends a message that, in order to reach B., would have to pierce Līn (the biblical Leviathan?), the twisting seven-headed serpent. To B. (and Alejan-B.) belong the clouds, the wind, the lightning, the rains, the seven youths, the eight boars, the house of light and the flash. Risen again, B., accompanied by his daughters (Pidrija, daughter of light, Talija, daughter of abundance, and Arsija) ascends the peaks of Šaphon, where the gold is, driving out the usurper Šaphon. After that 'Anat kills Mōt, thus restoring to the earth the spirit of vegetation.

B. was worshiped on the terraces of houses (Jer. 32:29; II Kings 23:12), in temples (I Kings 16:32; II Kings 10:21-27; 11:18) and especially on the bāmōth (v. BĀMĀH); cf. Jer. 19:5; 32:35; I Kings 18:20. Around the altars the ḥammānīm were erected and human victims were also offered to B. Such rites, cruel and most shameless, are execrated by the Bible (I Kings 18:19-25; II Kings 10:19; Jer. 19:5; 32:35).

The cult of B., despite the severe prohibition of the Mosaic legislation, was dear also to the Israelites. In the time of the Judges they worshiped the Baalim and the 'Ašērīm (Judg. 2:11-13). Under Ahab, son-in-law of Ithobaal II of Tyre, in the kingdom of Israel there were counted 450 priests of B. and 400 of 'Ašērāh, and only 7000 men refused its cult. The energetic reaction of Elijah culminated in the challenge of Carmel (I Kings 16; 18:16-40). Promoted again by Ahaziah, it was opposed by Joram and uprooted by Jehu (I Kings 22:54; II Kings 3:2; 10:18-28). Athaliah introduced it also into Jerusalem, but Joash abolished it (II Kings 11:18; II Chron. 23:17). Restored to honor by Ahaz and Manasseh, it was fought by Hezekiah and Josiah (II Kings 18:4; 21:3; 23:4-5). However, the priests of B. operated until the exile, after which the cult of B. disappears (Jer. 2:8, 2:5; 7:9; 9:14 ff.). Some biblical names ending in B. were later changed to bōšeth ("ignominy"): Ishbosheth for Isbaal, Mephibosheth for Mephibaal, etc.

Bonaventura Mariani