The Pagan Idol and Israelites (3 April 2017, 7 Nisan, 5777)
Contents:
1. Baal the Pagan God
2. Baal as God of Israel
3. Baal in Israel and Neighboring Lands
4. The God of Israel versus Baal. Elijah.
5. The Lost Tribes were to Worship Baal in their Places of Exile!
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1. Baal the Pagan God
Baal was a pagan god worshipped by the Canaanites. The Israelites also worshipped baal and it appears may have conflated him with the God of Israel.
The name "baal" means "master, lord". In the plural it is "baalim". It also has sexual connotations. "Baal" means "husband." In verbal form "boyal" means the male performance of sexual intercourse with the female.
The name was sometimes used in its plural form to describe different gods i.e. "baalim."
Baal in the singular was also the name of a particular god the consort of Asherah. The name Baal was also applied to other gods such as the Syrian Hadad or the Tyrian Melcart. Alternately these other gods were considered merely additional manifestations of Baal.
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2. Baal as God of Israel
The God of Israel was also referred to as "Lord" ("Adoni" in Hebrew) and maybe "Baal" as well.
This is hinted at in the Book of Hosea.
Hosea 2:
16 And it shall be, in that day,
Says the LORD,
That you will call Me, My Husband,
And no longer call Me Baali ['My Master']
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
A son of David was known as Belyada (sometimes transliterated as "Beeliada," 1-Chronicles 14:7) meaning "Baal Knew." He appears to be identical with Elyada (1-Chronicles 3:8) whose name means "God [El] Knew."
We see here the terms "El" (i.e. God) and "Baal" interchanging.
The son of King Saul who succeed him after his death and reigned for 2 years over Israel was known "Ish-Boshet" (Man of Shame, 2-Samuel 2:8 ) and "Eshbaal" i.e.
Fire of Baal (1-Chronicles 8:33, 9:39).
Kuntillet Ajrud is a site in the Northern Sinai. We associate the site with the Tribe of Simeon but an association with the neighboring Kingdom of Edom should not be dismissed.
Even though the place is in the south it was somehow associated with the northern Kingdom of Samaria of the Ten Tribes. It may have been ruled from Samaria. The archaeological finds are consistent with a provenance from northern Israel.
In the inscriptions found here the God of Israel is confused with pagan deities.
See:
Kuntillet Ajrud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuntillet_Ajrud
# The inscriptions are mostly in early Hebrew with some in Phoenician script.[4] Many are religious in nature, invoking Yahweh, El and Baal, and two include the phrases "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" and "Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah."[5] There is general agreement that Yahweh is being invoked in connection with Samaria (capital of the kingdom of Israel) and Teman (in Edom); this suggests that Yahweh had a temple in Samaria, and raises a question over the relationship between Yahweh and Kaus, the national god of Edom.[6] The "Asherah" is most likely a cultic object, although the relationship of this object (a stylised tree perhaps) to Yahweh and to the goddess Asherah, consort of El, is unclear.[7]
# An image on the piece of pottery (belonging to a pithos vase) found at Kuntillet Ajrud is adjacent to a Hebrew inscription "Berakhti etkhem l YHVH-Shomron ul-Asherato" ("I have blessed you by Yahweh of Samaria and [his] Asherah"). Scholars disputed about the meaning and the significance of this. The two figures portrayed are generally identifiable as representing the Egyptian god Bes. Also, it is believed that this image was drawn after the inscription was written, so the two may be completely unrelated.[8]
# The title "YHWH of Samaria" is used to describe the God of Samaria (in the northern Kingdom of Israel) and that Kingdom was known to openly accept idolatry.
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3. Baal in Israel and Neighboring Lands
Baal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal
# Josephus (Antiquities 8.13.1) states clearly that Jezebel "built a temple to the god of the Tyrians, which they call Belus" which certainly refers to Melqart.
#.. King Ahab, despite supporting the cult of this Baal, remained at the same time also a follower of Yahweh. Ahab still consulted Yahweh's prophets and still cherished Yahweh's protection when he named his sons Ahaziah 'Yahweh holds' and Jehoram 'Yahweh is high'.
# The worship of Ba`al Hammon flourished in the Phoenician colony of Carthage. Ba'al Hammon was the supreme god of the Carthaginians and is generally identified by modern scholars either with the northwest Semitic god El or with Dagon, and generally identified by the Greeks with Cronus and by the Romans with Saturn.
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4. The God of Israel versus Baal. Elijah.
Despite EVERYTHING the worship of the God of Israel and the worship of Baal were quite distinct.
There was an ongoing conflict between the adherents of Baal and worshippers of the God of Israel.
This is epitomized in the story of Elijah and the Priests of Baal at Mount Carmel, cf.
http://www.britam.org/Kings/1Kings18.html
1-Kings 18: 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, Israel shall be your name.
The name Israel means overcome with or wrestling against God; being upright with God.
[Genesis 32:28] AND HE SAID, THY NAME SHALL BE CALLED NO MORE JACOB, BUT ISRAEL: FOR AS A PRINCE HAST THOU POWER WITH GOD AND WITH MEN, AND HAST PREVAILED.
Elijah took twelve stones representing the twelve sons of Israel, i.e. the Twelve Tribes.
Two important principles are involved here:
If you have a problem or a need turn to God and not to other powers.
A completely correct worship of the Almighty is only possible when it is recognized that Israel consists of ALL Twelve Tribes (Commentary "Ha-Akedah" by Rabbi Isaac Arama 1402-1494 quoted in "Mishbetsot Zahav").
The national pride of all Israelites requires Biblical Consciousness alongside awareness of Israelite Ancestry.
This is what our organization, Brit-Am, the Ten Tribes Movement, believes in.
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5. The Lost Tribes were to Worship Baal in their Places of Exile!
The Lost Ten Tribes were exiled for their sins. Their offenses included the worship of the pagan god "baal":
It was prophesied the Lost Ten Tribes would worship the Baal (Hosea 2:8, 2:13, 2:16) like the Celts in Britain and Gaul once did. Baal was a god who died and was resurrected. They shall mistake Baal for the God of Israel (Hosea 2:16).
[2- Kings 17:16]
"AND THEY LEFT ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD THEIR GOD, AND MADE THEM MOLTEN IMAGES, EVEN TWO CALVES, AND MADE A GROVE, AND WORSHIPPED ALL THE HOST OF HEAVEN, AND SERVED BAAL."
# Baal. The worship of fire is associated with both Baal and Moloch in ancient times. There is the familiar story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18. An idea of the extent of Baal worship is found in Ireland. Abundant traces are preserved to this day in place names and in dedications of ancient temples to Baal. The tradition remains at Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland, that in ancient times the heathen priest used to ascend the fine round stone tower, now restored, and at sunrise called aloud the name of Baal four times, once from each of the four openings at the summit of the tower which face the cardinal points of the compass. Baal worship is believed to have continued until the time of St. Patrick. There are many remnants of old fire worship and sacrifice of children to Moloch in Scotland. Only a century ago on an estate in Scotland it was the practice of peasants on May Day to gather round a fire and throw their children across from one to another through the fire. Other similar descriptions come from Devonshire and in Ireland at fires called Beltina, or Baal fires. Beltane is the name of the first of May in Scotland which even now commemorates the ancient name of Bel. #
Victoria Institute, 44:125; 6:267; 27:185-186.
In Ireland the supreme god was known as Beal (meaning baal) or as Beal Samhan which name is paralleled by that of the Syrian god "Baal Samim" whose name in Hebrew (Baal Shamayim) means "lord of heaven".
In Britain and Ireland numerous Celtic place-names retain the term "baal" or derivations of it: Baal-y-bai, Beal-Tene, Balhomais, Ballinluig, Balmuick, Balnaguard, etc. It has been stated that in Britain place-names associated with baal are usually near stone circles or other megalithic remains. In Ireland "baal" place-names are especially numerous.
In Britanny a priest is called a "belloc" meaning "priest of bel".
Bel was also a name for Israel in the terminology of Greek Mythology where Danaus and Belus represent the Tribe of Dan and the rest of Israel.
This is reflected in Welsh Mythology which gives us the Children of Don and Bile and the Irish tradition giving the Descendents of Bile (Milesians) and the Tuatha de Dana.
For more about Baal go to:
Go to:
HEBREW CELTIC NAMESAKES
http://britam.org/namesakes.html
Scroll Down to:
Hebrew Celtic Namesakes # 4:
Scroll Down to: "Baal"