Reference: Baal, Baalim
Morish
Ba'al, Ba'alim
The name signifies 'master, possessor;' and whether singular or plural it always has the article. The chief male god of the Phoenicians and the Canaanites, as ASHTORETH was the chief female goddess. The Israelites in coming into the land doubtless found temples, groves, altars and high places set apart to Baal: incense was offered and offerings burnt, and children were sacrificed to him, whilst a great retinue of prophets and priests was maintained in his service, as is manifest by its revival afterwards. Nu 22:41; 1Ki 18:22; Jer 11:13; 19:5; 32:29.
The children of Israel were soon led away to the worship of Baal, Jg 2:11,13; 3:7; 6:31-32; 8:33; 10/6/type/bbe'>10:6,10; and though under Samuel they relinquished it, 1Sa 7:4; 12:10, yet after the division of the kingdom it was by Ahab fully established in Israel. 1Ki 16:32. Elijah however stood for Jehovah, and raised the question with Israel whether Jehovah was God, or whether Baal, and established the rights of Jehovah by fire from heaven. This led to the destruction of all the prophets of Baal, 1Ki 18:17-40; but his idolatrous worship continued until the days of Jehu, who slew his worshippers and destroyed his house and images. 2Ki 10:18-28. It however revived again in Israel, and under Ahaziah and Athaliah extended also to Judah, and during the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh worshippers of Baal are found there. 2Ki 11:18; 16:3-4; 17:16-17; 21:3. Thus did Satan succeed in leading aside to idolatry God's favoured people for whom He had done so much. Balaam's advice was only too successful, the women of Canaan being the snare that led to idolatry.
The word Baal is used in several compounds, at times referring to the god and in other cases to persons or places.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And in the morning Balak took Balaam up to the high places of Baal, and from there he was able to see the outer limits of the people.
And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals;
And they gave up the Lord, and became the servants of Baal and the Astartes.
And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.
But Joash said to all those who were attacking him, Will you take up the cause of Baal? will you be his saviour? Let anyone who will take up his cause be put to death while it is still morning: if he is a god, let him take up his cause himself because of the pulling down of his altar. So that day he gave him the name of Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal take up his cause against him because his altar has been broken down.
And after the death of Gideon, the children of Israel again went after the gods of Canaan and were false to the Lord, and made Baal-berith their god.
And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer.
Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals.
So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.
Then crying out to the Lord, they said, We have done evil, because we have been turned away from the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes: but now, make us safe from those who are against us and we will be your servants.
And he put up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he had made in Samaria.
And when he saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel? Then he said in answer, I have not been troubling Israel, but you and your family; because, turning away from the orders of the Lord, you have gone after the Baals. read more. Now send, and get Israel together before me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal who get their food at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and got the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer. Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I, am the only living prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Now, let them give us two oxen; and let them take one for themselves, and have it cut up, and put it on the wood, but put no fire under it; I will get the other ox ready, and put it on the wood, and put no fire under it. And do you make prayers to your god, and I will make a prayer to the Lord: and it will be clear that the one who gives an answer by fire is God. And all the people in answer said, It is well said. Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Take one ox for yourselves and get it ready first, for there are more of you; and make your prayers to your god, but put no fire under. So they took the ox which was given them, and made it ready, crying out to Baal from morning till the middle of the day, and saying, O Baal, give ear to us. But there was no voice and no answer. And they were jumping up and down before the altar they had made. And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake. So they gave loud cries, cutting themselves with knives and swords, as was their way, till the blood came streaming out all over them. And from the middle of the day they went on with their prayers till the time of the offering; but there was no voice, or any answer, or any who gave attention to them. Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me; and all the people came near. And he put up again the altar of the Lord which had been broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, Israel will be your name: And with the stones he made an altar to the name of the Lord; and he made a deep drain all round the altar, great enough to take two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and, cutting up the ox, put it on the wood. Then he said, Get four vessels full of water and put it on the burned offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; And he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. And the water went all round the altar, till the drain was full. Then at the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be seen this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things by your order. Give me an answer, O Lord, give me an answer, so that this people may see that you are God, and that you have made their hearts come back again. Then the fire of the Lord came down, burning up the offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and drinking up the water in the drain. And when the people saw it, they all went down on their faces, and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them get away. So they took them, and Elijah made them go down to the stream Kishon, and put them to death there.
Then Jehu got all the people together and said to them, Ahab was Baal's servant in a small way, but Jehu will be his servant on a great scale. Now send for all the prophets of Baal and all his servants and all his priests, to come to me; let no one keep away: for I have a great offering to make to Baal; anyone who is not present, will be put to death. This Jehu did with deceit, his purpose being the destruction of the servants of Baal. read more. And Jehu said, Let there be a special holy meeting for the worship of Baal. So a public statement was made. And Jehu sent out through all Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, not one kept away. And they came into the house of Baal, so that it was full from end to end. And Jehu said to him who kept the robes, Get out robes for all the servants of Baal. So he got out robes for them. And Jehu, with Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, went into the house of Baal; and he said to the servants of Baal, Make a search with care, to see that no servant of the Lord is with you, but only servants of Baal. Then they went in to make offerings and burned offerings. Now Jehu had put eighty men outside, and said to them, If any man whom I give into your hands gets away, the life of him who lets him go will be the price of his life. Then when the burned offering was ended, straight away Jehu said to the armed men and the captains, Go in and put them to death; let not one come out. So they put them to the sword; and, pulling the images to the earth, they went into the holy place of the house of Baal. And they took out the image of Asherah from the house of Baal, and had it burned. The altar of Baal was pulled down and the house of Baal was broken up and made an unclean place, as it is to this day. So Jehu put an end to the worship of Baal in Israel.
Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and had it pulled down: its altars and images were all broken to bits, and Mattan, the priest of Baal, they put to death before the altars. And the priest put overseers over the Lord's house.
But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel. And he made offerings, burning them in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
And turning their backs on all the orders which the Lord had given them, they made for themselves images of metal, and the image of Asherah, worshipping all the stars of heaven and becoming servants to Baal. And they made their sons and their daughters go through the fire, and they made use of secret arts and unnatural powers, and gave themselves up to doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, till he was moved to wrath.
He put up again the high places which had been pulled down by Hezekiah his father; he made altars for Baal, and an Asherah, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; he was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven.
For the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah; and for every street in Jerusalem you have put up altars to the Baal for burning perfumes to the Baal.
And they have put up the high places of the Baal, burning their sons in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me, and it was never in my mind:
And the Chaldaeans, who are fighting against this town, will come and put the town on fire, burning it together with the houses, on the roofs of which perfumes have been burned to the Baal, and drink offerings have been drained out to other gods, moving me to wrath.