Baal

Baal is the Canaanite deity whose worship runs as a thread of apostasy through Israel and Judah from the wilderness of Moab to the last reforms before the exile. Baal appears under several titles — Baal-peor in Moab, Baal-berith at Shechem, Baal-zebub at Ekron, and the Baalim of the high places — and the narrative pattern is consistent: Israel "joins itself" to Baal, the anger of Yahweh kindles, and a judge, prophet, or king is raised up to break down the altar.

Baal-peor in Moab

The first encounter is on the plains of Moab, where Israel "joined himself to Baal-peor: and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel" (Num 25:3). Moses orders the judges of Israel, "Slay every one of his men who have joined themselves to Baal-peor" (Num 25:5). The episode lodges in the people's memory as a paradigm of defection. Moses recalls it on the eve of entry: "Your⁺ eyes have seen what [the Speech of] Yahweh did because of Baal-peor; for all the men who followed Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you" (Deut 4:3). The trans-Jordan tribes invoke the same memory when they fear a renewed defection — "Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we haven't cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of Yahweh" (Josh 22:17). The place itself recurs: Balak takes Balaam "to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert" (Num 23:28), and the wilderness reckoning is sealed "in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the prince of Midian" (Num 25:18).

The psalmist files Baal-peor with the dead: "They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, / And ate the sacrifices of the dead" (Ps 106:28). Hosea retrieves the same scene as the foundational rupture: "[My Speech] found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your⁺ fathers as the first-ripe in the fig tree at its first season: but they went to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became disgusting like that which they loved" (Hos 9:10).

The Baalim in the time of the judges

Once Israel is in the land, Baal-worship becomes the recurring failure mode of the period of the judges. The narrator describes the cycle directly: "the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and served the Baalim; and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked Yahweh to anger. And they forsook Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth" (Judg 2:11-13). When judges are raised up, deliverance follows; when the judge dies, "they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them" (Judg 2:19).

Samuel's reform meets the same complex of cults: "If you⁺ are returning to Yahweh with all your⁺ heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you⁺, and direct your⁺ hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only" (1 Sam 7:3). The people respond — "Then the sons of Israel put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only" (1 Sam 7:4).

Gideon and the altar of Baal

Within the judges' cycle, Gideon's call begins with a Baal-altar. Yahweh tells Gideon, "Take your father's bull, even the second bull seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it; and build an altar to Yahweh your God on the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner" (Judg 6:25-26). Gideon obeys at night, "because he feared his father's household and the men of the city" (Judg 6:27). The townsmen demand his death; his father Joash refuses, framing the trial as Baal's own: "Will you⁺ contend for Baal? Or will you⁺ save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while [it is yet] morning: if he is a god, let him contend for himself, because one has broken down his altar" (Judg 6:31). The verdict yields the patronymic Jerubbaal: "Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him, because he has broken down his altar" (Judg 6:32).

After Gideon's death the cult returns: "as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel turned again, and went whoring after the Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god" (Judg 8:33). Abimelech draws his startup capital from the same shrine — "they gave him seventy [shekels] of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and reckless fellows, who followed him" (Judg 9:4) — and the Shechem narrative ends inside that house's stronghold (Judg 9:46), which UPDV calls "the house of El-berith" with a footnote tying the name back to Baal-berith.

Ahab, Jezebel, and the Baal house in Samaria

The prophetic confrontation reaches its peak under the house of Omri. Ahab marries Jezebel "the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria" (1 Kings 16:31-32). His Asherah and his Baal-house make him "more to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him" (1 Kings 16:33). Jezebel cuts off Yahweh's prophets while Obadiah hides a hundred of them by fifty in a cave (1 Kings 18:4); four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of the Asherah eat at Jezebel's table (1 Kings 18:19). The compiler's verdict on Ahab is fixed: "But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up" (1 Kings 21:25).

The contest at Carmel

Elijah names the dynasty's offence to Ahab's face: "I haven't troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you⁺ have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and you have followed the Baalim" (1 Kings 18:18). The Carmel assembly opens with a question: "How long do you⁺ go limping between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word" (1 Kings 18:21). The prophets of Baal "called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made" (1 Kings 18:26). Elijah mocks them — "Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened" (1 Kings 18:27) — and they cut themselves with knives and lances, "but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded" (1 Kings 18:28-29).

When Elijah prays — "let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your slave, and that I have done all these things at your word" (1 Kings 18:36) — "the fire of Yahweh fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God" (1 Kings 18:38-39). Elijah immediately follows with the executions: "Take the prophets of Baal; don't let one of them escape. And they took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there" (1 Kings 18:40).

Sirach reaches back to the same prophet: "Until there arose a prophet like fire, And his word was like a burning furnace" (Sir 48:1). "By the word of God he shut up the heavens, Also fire came down three times" (Sir 48:3). "How terrible were you, Elijah! And he who is like you will be glorified" (Sir 48:4). 1 Maccabees keeps the same shape: "Elijah, while he was full of zeal for the law, Was taken up into heaven" (1 Macc 2:58).

The seven thousand who have not bowed

After Jezebel's death-threat sends Elijah into the wilderness, Yahweh's reply at Horeb names a remnant against the Baal cult: "Yet I will leave [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which haven't bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him" (1 Kings 19:18).

Baal-zebub of Ekron

A generation later Ahaziah son of Ahab falls through his lattice, "and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover of this sickness" (2 Kings 1:2). The angel of Yahweh sends Elijah to intercept: "Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you⁺ go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says Yahweh, You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but will surely die" (2 Kings 1:3-4). The messengers carry the verdict back (2 Kings 1:6), and Elijah delivers it again to the king's face: "Since you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but will surely die" (2 Kings 1:16). The same name surfaces in the gospels in the form "Beelzebul" — "He has Beelzebul, and, By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons" (Mark 3:22), and "By Beelzebul the prince of the demons he casts out demons" (Luke 11:15) — applied to Jesus by his accusers.

Jehoram's pillar, Jehu's purge

Jehoram son of Ahab makes a partial reform — "he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, but not like his father, and like his mother; for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made" (2 Kings 3:2) — but the cult endures until Jehu. Anointed king through Elisha's commission (1 Kings 19:16), Jehu executes Ahab's house and then turns on the Baal-worshipers by ruse: "Ahab served Baal a little; but Jehu will serve him much. Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests; let none be wanting: for I have a great sacrifice [to do] to Baal; whoever will be wanting, he will not live. But Jehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal" (2 Kings 10:18-19). The worshipers fill the house of Baal "from one end to another" (2 Kings 10:21); Jehu posts eighty men outside, and after the burnt-offering he commands the guard, "Go in, and slay them; let none come forth. And they struck them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the citadel of the house of Baal" (2 Kings 10:25). Hosea, looking back, balances Jehu's purge with Jehu's residual sin: "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease" (Hos 1:4).

Jezebel's death

Elijah's word against Jezebel is reported in advance: "the dogs will eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be none to bury her" (2 Kings 9:10). When Jehu enters Jezreel, "Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, your master's murderer?" (2 Kings 9:30-31).

Athaliah and the Baal house in Judah

The Sidonian cult crosses south through marriage. Ahaziah of Judah's "mother's name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel" (2 Kings 8:26); he "walked in the ways of the house of Ahab; for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly" (2 Chr 22:3). After Ahaziah's death Athaliah seizes the throne and "destroyed all the royal seed" (2 Kings 11:1), until Jehosheba hides Joash. When Jehoiada brings Joash out, the people overthrow her, "and Athaliah they had slain with the sword" (2 Chr 23:21), and they purge the Baal house: "all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Yahweh" (2 Kings 11:18). The afterlife of the Athaliah years is summed up in Joash's repair-of-the-temple narrative: "the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also they bestowed all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh on the Baalim" (2 Chr 24:7).

Continuing Baal cult in Judah

Even after Jehoiada's reform, Baal-altars return under later kings of Judah. Ahaz "walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also made molten images for the Baalim" (2 Chr 28:2). Manasseh "built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them" (2 Kings 21:3); the Chronicler repeats it almost verbatim, with "altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth" (2 Chr 33:3). The compiler's epitaph for the northern kingdom is the same: "they forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal" (2 Kings 17:16).

Josiah's purge clears the temple and the high places: "the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Beth-el. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also that burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven" (2 Kings 23:4-5).

The prophets against the Baalim

The classical prophets address the same cult. Jeremiah indicts Samaria: "I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err" (Jer 23:13). He generalizes the indictment to Judah's leadership: "the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit" (Jer 2:8). He refuses Judah's denial: "How can you say, I am not defiled, I haven't gone after the Baalim? See your way in the valley, know what you have done" (Jer 2:23). And in the temple-sermon catalogue Baal-incense stands alongside the decalogue's most basic prohibitions: "Will you⁺ steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you⁺ have not known" (Jer 7:9).

Hosea's verdict on Ephraim is the most compressed: "When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died" (Hos 13:1). Ephraim's seasonal economy is itself read as an offering to Baal: "she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal" (Hos 2:8). "The more [the prophets] called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images" (Hos 11:2). The promise that closes Hosea's indictment is the erasure of the very names: "And I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says Yahweh" (Hos 2:13). "It will be at that day, says Yahweh, that you will call: Ishi; and will call me no more: Baali. For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they will no more be mentioned by their name" (Hos 2:16-17).