Ba'al

Baal, or Ba'al, was the prominent, false deity of the Canaanite pantheon whose worship wasn't simply limited to just the Canaanite cities.

Etymology

Baal itself was a title that meant "Lord", "Master", "Owner", or "Husband." The female form of Baal is Baalah, or Ba'alah.

History

In Scripture, the term "Baals" has come to mean the worship of not just one Baal (which means Lord) but various Baals. Many of the Ba'als were fertility deities.

Baal-Peor

Ba'al Peor (which means "Lord of Peor," Peor itself is a mountain) was a local deity worshiped by the Moabites. The Men of Israel had began to intermarry with the Women of Moab, which introduced them to this local deity. God became angry with his subjects and ordered Moses to gather his judges and kill anyone involved with the incident of Peor. It is later revealed that the Moabite women did under the advice of Balaam.

Ba'al Berith

Ba'al Berith (meaning "Lord of the Covenant") was a deity that the Israelites worshiped after Gideon died and Gideon's son, Abimelech, received seventy shekels of silver, which was from the temple of Ba'al Berith, which he used to hire scoundrels who became his own followers. When Abimelech attacked the city of Shechem, the citizens of the city went into the stronghold of the temple of El Berith (meaning "God of the Covenant"), which might imply there were two deities. The name "Ba'al Berith," and also therefore "El Berith," denotes the covenant made between the Canaanites and Israelites which went again God's word.

Melqart

Ba'al Melkart, sometimes Ba'al Tsur (meaning "Lord of Tyre"), or simply Melkart, was a Phoenician deity, whose worship was introduced to Israel by King Ahab and his idolatrous wife, Jezebel. Elijah most famously challenged the prophets of Ba'al in a contest at Mount Carmel, mocking them when his God brought victory to him while their god was clearly false, later on getting the people of Israel to kill this idolatrous prophets.

Baal Zebub

Ba'al Zebub (meaning "Lord of the Flies") was a Philistine god of Ekron. Ba'al Zebub might have been the same entity has Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, who was ruler of Demons. Beelzebul was recorded, by one of the scribes of Jerusalem, to have possessed a man.

Worship

Main page: Baalism

Worship of Baal was generally frowned upon as shameful with good reason has many of Ba'al's worshipers (called Baalites) conducted sinful sacrifices to their god. Baal's priests were idolatrous and arrogant, however they never gained any profit.