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Baal (), properly Ba?al (: ; : ; : ??, pronounced ), was a title and
meaning "" in the
spoken in the
during . From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the
and with a variety of unrelated , but inscriptions have shown that the name Ba?al was particularly associated with the
and his local manifestations.
over a span of centuries, include early use of the term in reference to
, generic use in reference to various Levantine deities, and finally pointed application towards Hadad, who was decried as a . This use was taken over into
and , sometimes under the opprobrious form .
The spelling "Baal" derives from the
Báal (Β?αλ), which appears in the
and , and from its
form Baal, which appears in the . The word's
senses as a Phoenician deity and
generally were extended during the
to denote any ,
of the , or the
generally. In such contexts, it follows the anglicized pronunciation and usually omits any mark between its two As. In modern scholarship, the
? ' ? in the name Ba?al marks the word's original , a vocalization which appears in the middle of the
word "uh-oh".
The —, , , , and —were all , typically written without . As such, the word ba?al was usually written as B?L (--); its vowels have been . In these languages, ba?al signified "" and, by extension, "lord", a "", or "". It also appears as Ba?ali or Ba?aly, "my Lord". Cognates include the
bal (), and
ba?l (). Bá?al (??????) and ba?l still serve as the words for "husband" in modern
respectively. They also appear in some contexts concerning the ownership of things or possession of traits. In , ba?l also serves as an adjective describing
that relies on rainwater alone.[]
The feminine form is ba?alah (: ??; : ???????), meaning "mistress" in the sense of a female owner or lady of the house and still serving as a rare word for "". The plural form is ba?alim.
See also: , , , and
Bronze figurine of a Baal, 14th x 12th century BCE, found at Ras Shamra (ancient ) near the Phoenician coast. .
See also: , , and
ba?al (as well as its feminine form ba?alah) was used as a title of various deities in the
and . Only a ,
or , or context could establish which particular god was meant.
Main articles:
Ba?al was also used as a proper name by the third millennium BCE, when he appears in a list of deities at . Most modern scholarship asserts that this Ba?al—usually distinguished as "The Lord" (, Ha Ba?al)—was ident it also appears in the form Ba?al Haddu. Scholars propose that, as the cult of Hadad increased in importance, his true name came to be seen as too holy for any but the high priest to speak aloud and the alias "Lord" ("Ba?al") was used instead, as "" was used for
and "" for . A minority propose that Ba?al was a native
deity whose cult was identified with or absorbed aspects of 's. Regardless of their original relationship, by the 1st millennium BCE, the two were distinct: Hadad was worshipped by the
and Ba?al by the
and other .
Ba?al is generally identified with either
Ba?al is well-attested in surviving inscriptions and was popular in
throughout the Levant but he is usually mentioned along with other gods, "his own field of action being seldom defined". Nonetheless, Ugaritic records show him as a , with particular power over , , , and . The dry summers of the area were explained as Ba?al's time in the
and his return in autumn was said to cause the storms which revived the land. Thus, the worship of Ba?al in —where he eventually supplanted
as the leader of the gods and patron of kingship—was connected to the regions' dependence on rainfall for its agriculture, unlike
and , which focused on irrigation from their major rivers. Anxiety about the availability of water for crops and trees increased the importance of his cult, which focused attention on his role as a rain god. He was also called upon during battle, showing that he was thought to intervene actively in the world of man, unlike the more aloof El. The Lebanese city of
was named after Baal.
The Ba?al of Ugarit was the epithet of Hadad but as the time passed, the epithet became the god's name while Hadad became the epithet. Ba?al was usually said to be the son of , but appears as one of the sons of El in
sources. Both Ba?al and El were
in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility. The
was his sister and sometimes credited with a child through him.[] He held special enmity against snakes, both on their own and as representatives of
(lit. "Sea"), the Canaanite . He fought the
(Tunnanu), the "Twisted Serpent" (B?n ?qltn), " the Fugitive Serpent" (Ltn B?n Br?, the Biblical ), and the "" (?ly? D.?b?t Ra?m). Ba?al's conflict with Yammu is now generally regarded as the prototype of the vision recorded in the
. As vanquisher of the sea, Ba?al was regarded by the Canaanites and Phoenicians as the
and sea-going merchants. As vanquisher of , the Canaanite , he was known as Ba?al Rāpi?uma (B?l Rpu) and regarded as the leader of the
(Rpum), the ancestral spirits, particularly those of ruling dynasties.
From Canaan, worship of Ba?al spread to Egypt by the
and throughout the
following the waves of
in the early 1st millennium BCE. He was described with diverse epithets and, prior to the rediscovery of Ugarit, it was supposed that these referred to distinct local gods. However, as explained by , the texts at Ugarit revealed that they were considered "local manifestations of this particular deity, analogous to the local manifestations of the
in the ." In those inscriptions, he is frequently described as "Victorious Ba?al" (Aliyn or ?l?yn Ba?al), "Mightiest one" (Aliy or ?Aly) or "Mightiest of the Heroes" (Aliy Qrdm), "The Powerful One" (Dmrn), and in his role as patron of the city "Ba?al of Ugarit" (Ba?al Ugarit). As
(Ba?al ?apunu), he was particularly associated with his palace atop
(the ancient Mount ?apānu and classical Mons Casius). He is also mentioned as "Winged Ba?al" (B?l Knp) and "Ba?al of the Arrows" (B?l ??).
inscriptions describe B?l Krntry?, "Ba?al of the Lebanon" (B?l Lbnn), "Ba?al of Sidon" (B?l ?dn), B?l ?md, "" (Ba?al Shamem or Shamayin), Ba?al ?Addir (B?l ?dr),
(Ba?al ?amon), B?l Mgnm.
Main article:
was worshipped in the
as their . It is believed that this position developed in the 5th century BCE following the severing of its ties to
following the 480 BCE . Like Hadad, Ba?al Hammon was a . Inscriptions about
tend to be rather uninformative, though, and he has been variously identified as a
and as , the . Rather than the bull, Ba?al Hammon was associated with the
and depicted with his horns. The archaeological record seems to bear out accusations in Roman sources that the Carthaginians
to him. He was worshipped as Ba?al Karnaim ("Lord of the Two Horns"), particularly at an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Bu Kornein ("Two-Horn Hill") across the bay from Carthage. His consort was the goddess .
The epithet Hammon is obscure. Most often, it is connected with the NW Semitic ?ammān ("") and associated with a role as a .
linked it to Hammon (modern Umm el-‘Amed between
to Haman or Khamōn, the classical
and modern Nur Mountains, which separate northern
from southeastern .
Ba?al appears about 90 times in the
in reference to various gods. The priests of the Canaanite Ba?al are mentioned numerous times, most prominently in the . Many scholars believe that this describes 's attempt to introduce the worship of the Ba?al of , , to the
in the 9th century BCE. Against this,
argues that Jezebel's Ba?al was more probably , the Lord of the Heavens, a title most often applied to Hadad, who is also often titled just Ba‘al. The
record an account of a contest between the
and Jezebel's priests. Both sides offered a
to their respective gods: Ba'al failed to light his followers' sacrifice while 's heavenly fire burnt Elijah's altar to ashes, even after it had been soaked with water. The observers then followed Elijah's instructions to slay the priests of Ba?al, after which it began to rain, showing Yahweh's mastery over the weather. Other mentions of the priests of Ba?al describe their burning of
and their offering of
while adorned in special .
Main articles:
The title ba?al was a synonym in some contexts of the
("Lord") and
("My Lord") still used as aliases of the Lord of Israel . According to some scholars, the
did use the names Ba?al ("Lord") and Ba?ali ("My Lord") in reference to the Lord of Israel, just as Ba?al farther north designated the Lord of
or Lebanon. This occurred both directly and as the divine element of some Hebrew . However, according to others it is not certain that the name Baal was definitely applied to Yahweh in early Israelite history. The component Baal in proper names is mostly applied to worshippers of Baal, or descendants of the worshippers of Baal. Names including the element Ba?al presumably in reference to Yahweh include the
(also known as Jeruba?al, lit. "The Lord Strives"), 's son
("The Lord is Great"), and 's son Beeliada ("The Lord Knows"). The name
("The Lord is "; "Yahweh is Ba?al") combined the two. However John Day states that as far as the names Eshba’al, Meriba’al, and Beeliada (that is Baaliada), are concerned it is not certain whether they simply allude to the Cannanite god Ba’al, or are intended to equate Yahweh with Ba’al, or have no connection to Ba’al.
It was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century BCE, to introduce into Israel's capital city of Samaria her Phoenician worship of Baal as opposed to the worship of
that made the name anathema to the Israelites.
At first the name Baal was used by the
for their God without discrimination, but as the struggle between the two religions developed, the name Baal was given up by the Israelites as a thing of shame, and even names like Jerubbaal were changed to Jerubbosheth: Hebrew bosheth means "shame".
Eshba?al became [] and Meriba?al became , but other possibilities also occurred. Beeliada is mentioned renamed as Eliada[] and Gideon's name Jeruba?al was mentioned intact but glossed as a mockery of the Canaanite god, implying that he strove in vain. Direct use of Ba?ali continued at least as late as the time of the
, who reproached the Israelites for doing so.
Brad E. Kelle has suggested that references to cultic sexual practices in the worship of Baal, in Hosea 2, are evidence of an historical situation in which Israelites were either giving up Yahweh worship for Baal, or blending the two. Hosea's references to sexual acts being metaphors for Israelite 'apostasy'.
Main article:
("Lord of the ") was a god worshipped by the
when they "went astray" after the death of
according to the . The same source relates that Gideon's son
went to his mother's kin at
and received 70
"from the House of Ba?al Berith" to assist in killing his 70 brothers from Gideon's other wives. An earlier passage had made Shechem the scene of 's covenant between all the
and " , our
of " and a later one describes it as the location of the "House of El Berith". It is thus unclear whether the false worship of the "Ba?alim" being decried is the worship of a new idol or the continued worship of Yahweh, but by means of rites and
taking him to be a mere local god within a larger pantheon. The Hebrew Scriptures record the worship of Ba?al threatening
from the time of the
until the . The
and the present form of
seem to phrase the struggle as
against . However, Yahweh is firmly identified in the Hebrew Scriptures with , whose
figure appears hostile to the cult of Ba?al even in the polytheistic accounts of Ugarit[] and the Phoenician cities.
"Beelzebub" in 's 1825 .
Main article:
(: ??, lit. " Lord") occurs in the first chapter of the
as the supposed name of the
god of . In it, , , is said to have consulted the priests of Ba?al Zebub as to whether he would survive the injuries from his recent fall. The
, incensed at this impiety, then foretold that he would die quickly, raining heavenly fire on the soldiers sent to punish him for doing so.
scholars have interpreted the title of "Lord of the Flies" as the Hebrew way of calling Ba?al a
and his followers , although others argue for a link to power over causing and curing
and thus suitable for Ahaziah's question. The
renders the name as Ba?lzeboúb (βααλζεβο?β) and as "Ba?al of Flies" (βααλ μυιαν, Ba?l muian).
rendered it as Be?lzeboúl (Βεελζεβο?λ), possibly reflecting its original sense. This has been proposed to have been B‘l Zbl,
for "Lord of the Home" or "Lord of the Heavens".
Outside of Jewish and Christian contexts, the various forms of Ba?al were indifferently rendered in classical sources as
(: Β?λο?, Bē?los). An example is , who states that
"built a temple to the
of the , which they call Belus"; this describes the Ba?al of Tyre, . In the , Ba?al was usually associated with
but sometimes connected with .[]
identifies the
or Demarous mentioned by
, however, was identified with the
(as the " Saturn"). He was probably never equated with Melqart, although this assertion appears in older scholarship.
or Beelzebul was identified by the
as , "" (i.e., ) of the .
describes the
collecting around Satan, stating that, though their heavenly names had been "blotted out and ras'd", they would acquire new ones "wandring ore the Earth" as false gods. The "Baalim" and "Ashtaroth" are given as the collective names of the male and female demons (respectively) who came from between the "bordring flood of old " and "the
that parts
from ". Similarly, "Baal" and derived epithets like "Baalist" were used as slurs during the
and their devotees.
mentions the contest between 's priests of
(renamed ):
was most surely of the . He asked his people: 'Do you not fear []? Will ye call upon Baal and forsake the best of creators? God is your Lord and the Lord of your fathers, the ancients' But they rejected him, and they will certainly be called up [for ], except the sincere and devoted
[among them], and we left [this blessing] for him among generations [to come] in later times, peace be upon .
The name Beelzebub also appears in
sources as "the Lord of the Flies" (??? ??????, Ba‘al dhubaab or zubaab).[]
(Lord of the Heavens)
(Lord of Mt Pe?or)
(Lord of )
is usually the same but some speakers prefer variants closer to the original sound, such as
The exceptions to this general rule developed over the first millennia BCE and are known as .
is identical to the ?
? which is taken as EN in
texts. There, it has the meaning "" or "lord" and appears in the names of the gods
In surviving accounts, Ba?al's power over fertility extends only over vegetation. Older scholarship claimed Ba?al controlled human fertility as well, but did so on the basis of misinterpretation or of inscriptions now regarded as dubious. Similarly, 19th-century scholarship treating Baal as a
seems to have been badly taken. The
of Near Eastern deities was an
development long postdating the
and, following its development,
and Ba?al were associated with the planet . The sun was worshipped in Canaan as either the goddess
or the god .
argues against seeing these separate lineages literally, instead proposing that they describe Ba?al's roles. As a god, he is understood as a child of El, "father of gods", while his fertility aspects connect him to the
The account is
and obscure here. Some scholars take some or all of the terms to refer to
and in other passages
takes credit for destroying the monsters on Ba?al's behalf.
takes "?alya?u" as a proper name rather than translating it as the "powerful one" or "tyrant".
This name appears twice in the
discovered at . Prior to this discovery,
had restored it to the Hebrew texts of , , , and . Following its verification, additional instances have been claimed in the
"The etymology of Beelzebul has proceeded in several directions. The variant reading Beelzebub (Syriac translators and Jerome) reflects a long-standing tradition of equating Beelzebul with the Philistine deity of the city of Ekron mentioned in 2 Kgs 1:2, 3, 6, 16. Baalzebub (Heb ba?al z?b?b) seems to mean “lord of flies” (HALAT, 250, but cf. LXXB baal muian theon akkarōn, “Baal-Fly, god of Akkaron”; Ant 9:2, 1 theon muian)."
Arndt & al. reverse this, saying Symmachus transcribed Ba?lzeboúb for a more common Be?lzeboúl.
"It is more probable that b‘l zbl, which can mean “lord of the (heavenly) dwelling” in Ugaritic, was changed to b‘l zbb to make the divine name an opprobrius epithet. The reading Beelzebul in Mt. 10:25 would then reflect the right form of the name, a wordplay on “master of the house” (Gk oikodespótēs)."
"An alternative suggested by many is to connect z?b?l with a noun meaning '(exalted) abode.'"
"In contemporary Semitic speech it may have been understood as ‘the master of the house’; if so, this phrase could be used in a double sense in Mt. 10:25b."
"In NT Gk. beelzeboul, beezeboul (Beelzebub in TR and AV) is the prince of the demons (Mt. 12:24, 27; Mk. 3:22; Lk. 11:15, 18f.), identified with Satan (Mt. 12:26; Mk. 3:23, 26; Lk. 11:18)."
"Besides, Matt 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15 use the apposition ?ρχων τ?ν δαιμον?ων ‘head of the →Demons’."
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