Baal

also known as: Ba'al

plural: Baalim

Meaning: lord

This was the name of a false-god, a man, and a place:

  1. Baal was the name used for the principal male god of the Phoenicians and Philistines. It is found in several places in the plural “Baalim” (Judges 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jeremiah 2:23; Hos. 2:17).

    Baal is identified with Molech/Moloch (Jeremiah 19:5). It was known to the Israelites as Baal-peor (Numbers 25:3; Deuteronomy 4:3), was worshipped till the time of Samuel (1 Sam 7:4), and was afterwards the religion of the ten tribes in the time of wicked King Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-33; 18:19, 22).

    It prevailed also for a time in the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 8:27; compare 11:18; 16:3; 2 Chronicles 28:2), till finally put an end to by the severe discipline of the Captivity (Zeph. 1:4-6).

    There were a great number of priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:19), and various classes (2 Kings 10:19). Their mode of offering sacrifices is described in 1 Kings 18:25-29.

    The sun-god, under the general title of Baal, or “lord,” was the chief object of worship of the Canaanites. Each locality had its special Baal, and the various local Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, or “lords.”

    Each Baal had a wife, who was a colourless reflection of himself.

    ALSO SEE

  2. Baal the Benjamite, son of Jehiel, the progenitor of the Gibeonites (1 Chronicles 8:30; 9:36).

  3. Baal, the place inhabited by the Simeonites, the same probably as Baalath-beer (1 Chronicles 4:33; Joshua 19:8)