Baal and the 10 Wayward Sons (23 April, 2014, 23 Nisan, 5774)
Contents:
1. Baal and Hosea: The Ten Tribes Will Have to Leave the Worship of Baal.
2. Baal: An Additional Biblical Proof?
3. The Ten Tribes and Baal Before the Exile.
4. Elijah, Jezebel, Ahab, and the Worship of Baal.
5. Baal in the Middle East
6. Bel (i.e. Baal) in the West
7. Conclusion: An Unsavory Subject but a Valuable Lesson
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The Ten Tribes were exiled for worshiping Baal and other pagan deities. In their places of exile they continued to worship as they had done. The Prophet Hosea upbraids them for this. We find Baal being worshiped among peoples of Celtic Culture. This is an additional indication that descendants of the Ten Tribes had settled in the said areas. It strengthens the great mass of additional evidence we have of this.
1. Baal and Hosea: The Ten Tribes Will Have to Leave the Worship of Baal.
The prophet Hosea refers to the Ten Tribes in their places of Exile.
He says:
Hosea 2:
16 On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, 'My husband', and no longer will you call me, 'My Baal'. 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.
Hosea here definitely means the Ten Tribes of Israel, as seen from the context.
Originally there were 12 Tribes united in one kingdom.
They divided into 2 separate realms. Ten Tribes were in the north, and 2 tribes in the south. The Assyrians conquered those in the north, and exiled them. They lost awareness of their ancestry. They are known as the Lost Ten Tribes. In the End Times they shall return and re-unite with Judah, i.e. the Jews, as predicted in Ezekiel 37. The Jews are those tribes who did not get lost.
The Ten Tribes are mentioned often by the prophets.
They have a role of their own to play in the affairs of mankind.
One of the prophets who speak about the Ten Tribes is Hosea. Hosea himself was one of them.
Hosea son of Beeri lived in the northern kingdom of Israel before the Ten Tribes were exiled. According to tradition he was from the Tribe of Reuben.
Hosea (ch.1) is told to take a loose woman named Gomer and to have children from her. Three children are born. They represent three sections of the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel who were about to go into Exile and become the Lost Ten Tribes. Judah is expressly excluded.
Hosea speaks of the Ten Tribes.
In Hosea 1:7 he turns aside to speak about Judah and then in the next verses he returns to speak of the Ten Tribes.
[Hosea 1:7] BUT I WILL HAVE MERCY UPON THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, AND WILL SAVE THEM BY THE LORD THEIR GOD, AND WILL NOT SAVE THEM BY BOW, NOR BY SWORD, NOR BY BATTLE, BY HORSES, NOR BY HORSEMEN.
Hosea in 1:7 above goes out of his way to mention Judah and to remove Judah from the equation under consideration.
The mother of the three children representing the Ten Tribes is a loose woman called "Gomer". This name, "Gomer", signifies an association of the exiled Israelites with nations descended from the three sons of Gomer son of Japhet (Genesis 10:2-3). The Sons of Gomer gave rise to entities that are today mainly found in Central and Western Europe. The Children of Gomer and Hosea were Jezreel ["He who God Shall Scatter"], Lo-Ruhama ["She-who-has-not-been-shown-mercy"], and "Lo-Ami" ["Not My people"]. It is prophesied that there will come a time when Lo-Ami will be called "Sons of the Living God" or "Angli". They will be extremely numerous. They will unite with Judah and return together. Jezreel will exhibit the alternative explanation of his name which can connote ingathering.
In Hosea (ch.2) Judah is exhorted (as explained by the Radak) to recognize the Lost Ten Tribes as their kith and kin and to urge them to repent.
The exiles will have possessed great material properity: corn, wine, oil, mutiplied silver and gold.
[Hosea 2:8] FOR SHE DID NOT KNOW THAT I GAVE HER CORN, AND WINE, AND OIL, AND MULTIPLIED HER SILVER AND GOLD, WHICH THEY PREPARED FOR BAAL.
"Which they prepared for Baal": " The Prophet is speaking primarily about the End Time period, and [here] he is referring to the northern Ten Tribes in Exile.
Their form of worship is described as that of the "Baal."
The Celts in Britain and elsewhere worshipped "Bel" which is an alternate Middle Eastern form for "Baal."
The Righteous amongst the Ten Tribes are urged to remonstrate with their "Mother" meaning their community.
They are asked to repent.
The Lost Tribes will have enjoyed great wealth and material prosperity much of which will have been wasted due to idolatrous and ungodly practices.
They will have worshipped the "baal".
Baal worship in Ancient Times was indeed practiced throughout much of the so called Celtic civilization of Western Europe.
Britain was referred to as the "Honey Isle of Bel" meaning Island of Baal.
Before the final reconciliation with the Ten Tribes they will be punished.
Hosea 2:
13 I will punish her for the festival days of the Baals,
when she offered incense to them
and decked herself with her ring and jewellery,
and went after her lovers,
and forgot me, says the LORD.
After that,
The Israelites will be lured out into the "Wilderness" and there they shall be reformed and reconciled with the Almighty (Hosea 2:14).
Hosea 2: 16 On that day, says the LORD, you will call me, 'My husband', and no longer will you call me, 'My Baal'.
17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.
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2. Baal: An Additional Biblical Proof?
It was prophesied that the Ten Tribes in their places of Exile would still worship baal.
We have plentiful evidence that the Ten Tribes went to the west and to the British Isles.
We also find Baal being worshipped in these places.
This in itself is not conclusive proof that the people of these regions were from the Ten Tribes.
It could be ascribed to coincidence.
The worship of Baal in ancient times had been widespread.
Nevertheless it is indicative.
Taken together with other evidence it confirms our conclusions that the Ten Tribes were in these regions.
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The Ten Tribes were exiled because they worshipped pagan gods including Baal. In their places of Exile in the west of Europe they continued to do this.
Duration: 8.53 minutes
3. The Ten Tribes and Baal Before the Exile.
Before the exile, the 10 Tribes worshipped Baal.
2-Kings 17:
5 Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria; for three years he besieged it.
 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away to Assyria. He placed them in Halah, on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7 This occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshipped other gods
8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had introduced.*
9 The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God. They built for themselves high places at all their towns, from watch-tower to fortified city;
10 they set up for themselves pillars and sacred poles* on every high hill and under every green tree;
11 there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger;
12 they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, 'You shall not do this.'
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, 'Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the law that I commanded your ancestors and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.'
14 They would not listen but were stubborn, as their ancestors had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 They despised his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their ancestors, and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false; they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do as they did.
16 They rejected all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; they made a sacred pole, worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire; they used divination and augury; and they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.
"Baal" means "lord, master". It also means "husband" and in verbal form the male act of sexual intercourse.
Baal was often represented by a phallic symbol.
In the Bible "baal" may refer to a major deity known by that name or to a local manifestation of him known as other names.
The term "Adon" also means "lord" or "master" and "Adoni" means "my lord".
Both the terms "baal" and "adoni" were once applied to the God of Israel as well as being applied to various pagan deities.
Eventually "Adoni" was retained as a term for the "Almighty" but "baal" was dropped possibly because of the too explicit sexual connotation of the name in Hebrew.
Even so in some quarters the term "baal" as a title for the Almighty may have been kept.
This is hinted at in 2-Kings 17:9 above.
2-Kings 17:
9 The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God.
The expression translated as "did secretly" in Hebrew is "va-yechapu" meaning "cover over".
It may alternately be translated as:
2-Kings 17:
9 The people of Israel covered over with things that were not correct against the LORD their God.
They synthesized pagan and Hebrew beliefs together.
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The northern Israelites from the Ten Tribes while still in the land of Israel had worshipped Baal. They had been influenced in this regard by the Canaanites and Phoenicians. An incident concerning such practices occurred in the reign of King Ahab who was married to Jezebel daughter of the King of Tyre, the Phoenician center. Elijah the Prophet proved the supremacy of the Almighty God of Israel. He then killed the false prophets of baal.
Duration: 6.46 minutes
4. Elijah, Jezebel, Ahab, and the Worship of Baal.
The Phoenicians were a mixture of Canaanites and other peoples who dwelt along the Israelites and Syrian coasts.
The Phoenicians, like the Canaanites, also worshipped baal.
Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, King of Tyre the major city of Phoenicia, in present-day Lebanon. Jezebel was married to Ahab, king of north Israel, i.e. of the Ten Tribes
1-Kings 16:31 describes Jezebel as daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians.
Sidon was a major Phoenician city but 'Sidonian' had becomes a term for Phoenicians in general.
We are told that King Ahab. the husband of Jezebel,
1-Kings 16:31:
"went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made a sacred pole. Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him. "
1-Kings 18 tells us that Jezebel had commanded that all the Prophets of the Almighty in the Kingdom of Israel be killed. Jezebel entertained "four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of Asherah" at her table (1-Kings 18:19). This was in a time of famine when all the people of Israel were in want.
Elijah the Prophet confronted King Ahab.
He demanded that all the prophets of Baal and Asherah come to Mount Carmel in the area of the present-day city of haifa in northern Israel. The prophets of the pagan gods and Elijah met before "all the people". Elijah had two altars set up, one dedicated to Baal, one to the Almighty.
A bull was sacrificed upon each altar. The supporters of Baal called upon their god to send fire to consume the sacrifice. They gashed themselves so that blood flowed but nothing happened.
Elijah had a trench dug around his own altar. It was filled with water and the sacrifice was also drenched.
Elijah called to the Almighty, fire came down from heaven immediately and consumed the offering.
The crowd then fell to the ground, crying "The LORD, HE is the God."
Elijah ordered the people to seize the prophets of Baal.
They were all killed.
Jezebel swore to kill Elijah in revenge.
This incident serves to illustrate the influence of baal worship in Ancient Israel.
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5. Baal in the Middle East
The Ten Tribes while still in the land of Israel had worshipped Baal. They continued to do this after being exiled and ultimately converging in Western Europe in regions of Celtic Culture.
Carthage in what is now Tripoli was founded by the Phoenicians from Tyre.
Hamilcar of Carthage sacrificed his son to baal at the seige of Agrigentum (Diodorus 13:86).
Maleus, a Carthaginian general, crucified his SON as a sacrifice to Baal (Justin 18:7).
Maleus dressed up his SON as a ROYAL personage before crucifying him.
Philo of Byblus, a Phoenician city, says it was customary for the KING to give his SON to die for the nation as a ransom offered to the avenging devils. cf.
"Shall I give my FIRSTBORN for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah 6:7).
Jeremiah 9:5-6
"They have built also the high places of Baal, to BURN their SONS with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: Therefore ... this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter."
The home of Baal was said to be Mount Tsefon, south of Antioch in northern Syria. The sister and consort of Baal was the goddess Anat. Baal is sometimes described as the son of El meaning God. He is also considered the son of Dagan.
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6. Bel (i.e. Baal) in the West
A Phoenician Dedicatory Inscription to Baal was found at Marseilles in southeast France.
http://phoenicia.org/inscriptions.html
Bel is an East Semitic form cognate with Northwest Semitic Baal with the same meaning.
In Assyria they would have said Bel.
In Gaul, Britain and Ireland the term Bel was used. Bel was also known as Belenus.
Belenus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belenus
Extracts:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Celtic mythology, Belenus (also Belinus, Belenos, Belinos, Belinu, Bellinus, Belus, Bel) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Celtic areas of Italy, Austria and northern Spain. He had shrines from Aquileia on the Adriatic to Kirkby Lonsdale in England. ... In the Roman period he was identified with Apollo. His consort was Belisama.
In Phoenician pronunciation as found on inscriptions in Syria Baal was referred to as Baal-Semayim i.e. Baal of the Heavens. This is similar to Belisama the female consort of Bel in the west.
So too,
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 Samayim" whose name in Hebrew (Baal Shamayim) means "lord of heaven".
The Festival of Beltaine is practised in Ireland, Britain, and Scandinavia. Beltaine means Fire of Bel. It includes dancing around a may-pole. The Bible mentions the use of a pole in baal worship.
"They made a sacred pole" (2-Kings 17:6).
The Beltaine involved jumping over fires and passing domestic animals over and between fires.
This is the practice of Moloch condemned by the Bible.
Leviticus 18:
21 And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Moloch.
Jeremiah 32:
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Wales may have been named after Bel,
see:
Origin of the Name "Wales". A New Appreciation
http://www.britam.org/WalesName.html
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 is said that in Britain place-names associated with baal are usually near stone circles or other megalithic remains.
Parallels with other deities and practices of the Canaanites were also known in Britain and Ireland.
See our commentary to Ezekiel 6:14
http://britam.org/ezekiel/chapter6.html
cf.
The Scottish Gael by Donald MacClean, 1912, Chapter XIV:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gael/scottishgael15.htm
It appears to me that the principal Celtic deity was the sun, Belus, Belenus, or Baal. Herodian says, the Aquileians [northeast Italy] worshipped this god, whom they considered the same as Apollo, whence we see why the Hyperborei [British and/or Scandinavians] especially venerated him, for he was the personification of that luminary. The Caledonians [Picts of Scotland] worshipped this deity under the name of Baal, or Beil, and to his honor they lighted fires on Midsummer-day, or the 1st of May. This festival, which is not even yet discontinued, was called Baal-tein, or beltain, signifying the fire of Baal, and was formerly commemorated so generally that it became a term in Scots' law, which is yet in use. ....The Highlanders passed through the fire to Baal as the ancient Gentiles did; and they thought it a religious duty to walk round their fields and flocks with burning matter in their right hands, a practice once universal throughout the country.
cf. Celtic Gods and Deities!
http://www.britam.org/Celts1.html
The Syrian Belmarcos had altars in the region of Paris.
In the French Province of Brittany (Armorica) of France a priest is still (even today) referred to as a BELEC meaning "Servant of Bel".
Bel was also known as Bile and Beli.
See:
Don and Bile. The Welsh Version of their Origins
http://www.britam.org/traditions4.html
One of the gods of Scandinavia was named Baldor. This name is also derived from Baal. Baldor is killed and brought back to life.
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7. Conclusion: An Unsavory Subject but a Valuable Lesson
We see that Baal was a pagan deity whom the Israelites sometimes conflated with their own worship.
The Ten Tribes were exiled because they worshipped Baal and other false gods.
In their place of exile they continued these practices.
This is referred to by the Prophet Hosea.
This whole subject may be unsavory to how we would want things to have been.
Nevertheless it shows us a little of how things were.
Paradoxically it also helps confirm our identification of the peoples in question as Lost Israelites from the Ten Tribes.