Etymology

TOI0031

4.4 TOWARDS THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE GODS

4.4.2.1 Etymology

The basic verb form

~3':J,

from which the noun derives, generally means 'to marry' or 'to rule'. In many contexts it could also denote 'to own' or 'to possess'. A person may own or rule over a house (Ex 22:8), or rule over a country or people e.g. Moab (1 Ch 4:22).It can also be used metaphorically to indicate the rule or the lordship ofYHWH (as master, lord, husband) over his people as in Jer 3:14 and 31:32. The verb also occurs in the sense of 'to marry' (Deu 24: 1; Isa 62:5) as well as to denote metaphorically the establishing of the relationship between YHWH and his people as 'to marry' (Isa 62:4,5) (Brown e.a.

1968: 127; Ellington 1993:425).

The noun

~3':J,

a common Semitic word which appears in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Phoenecian, and Aramic languages of the ANE (De Moor 1975:181), has multiple related uses in the sense of owner (Ex 21 :28 and 29), husband (Ex 21 :3), inhabitants (Jos 2: 11), and rulers (Isa 16:8). The noun is also frequently used in idiomatic expressions to denote

contexts 'of relation' e.g. in Gen 37:19 the NRSV 'dreamer' is literally in Hebrew described as 'owner of dreams', and in Jer 37: 13 the RSV 'sentinel' is literally 'owner of supervision'. In the same sense 'birds' for example in Pro 1:17 and Ecc 10:20 are described as 'owners of wings'. The term t,Si:J is also frequently used in the OT as the divine name of the deity/deities of the Canaanites and Philistines (De Moor 1975:181;

Ellington 1993 :525ff).

4.4.2.2 Occurrences in the book of Jeremiah and the OT

In the book of Jeremiah the proper name of the deity t,Si:J is found without the article in 11:13, and with the article as t,Si:Ji1 in 2:8; 7:9; 11:13 and v17; 12:16; 19:5; 23:13 and v27; 32:29 and v35, and in the emphatic plural C'lt,Si:J in 2:23 and 9: 13. LXX renders the references in 2:23; 7:9; 11:13 and v17 and 19:5 as ~ Baa"-.!

Multiple references are also found in the rest of the OT. In fact, Baal as a divine name occurs seventy six times in the OT of which the majority is found in singular (and always with the article) i.e. fifty eight times in the singular and eighteen times in the plural (Mulder 1975: 192). Itoccurs especially in the so-called Deuteronomistic works of Judges and the books of Samuel and Kings. The prophet Hosea refers to 'Baal' i.e. in 2: 10 (NRSV v8; in LXX as ~ Baa,,-); 2:15 (NRSV vB; = C'lt,Si:J); 2:19 (NRSV v17 = C'lt,Si:J); 9: 10 (= Baal-peor); 11:2 (=C'lt,Si:J) and 13: 1 (in LXX as ~ Baa"-). Among the other prophets only Zephaniah refers once to the deity by name i.e. in Zep 1:4 (Brown e.a. 1968:127).

According to Mulder (1975:192,193) the use with the article or the plural in Hebrew does not denote that the terms Baal or Baalim represent a collective name for different deities from different locations whose names are unknown. Appearances of the name in the OT as well as in the discoveries at Ras Shamrah clearly indicate that the term Baal refers to a specific god, most probably to the god of storm and fertility of the Ugaritic texts.

IThe LXX renders the references in 2:23; 7:9; 11:13 and 17 and 19:5 as~ BaaA-. Mulder 1975:193 views the use of the feminine article as a clear sign of the growing aversion against the Baal cult in later times.

De Moor (1975:182,183) observes that the term Baa1 in a genitive construction was used in early Mesopotamian literature as an epithet of different gods, due to a probable hesitation to pronounce the actual name of the deity. However, he states:

"One can hardly fail to see that the Egyptians, the Amarna scribes, the Ugaritic scribes, and perhaps also the Amorites, and later the Phoenicians, the Punic scribes, and the Israelites frequently called the storm-god simply

f21.

even though this may not have been clearly understood as his proper name, but an epithet which was not clearly intelligible without more precise definition. Thus, no later than the middle of the second millennium century B.C. on, when Western Semitic peoples used bel or b'lm in an absolute sense, they were thinking of a single god Baal, who could probably assume different forms and certainly existed in many local settings, but in general represented the same concept ofdeity. "

In Ugarit however, Baal in a genitive construction simply denotes the storm god Hadad, but then again, Hadad is the name of the national god of the people of Ugarit.

Itseems that the use of the singular or plural constructions with the article sheds no light on the identity of the Baal of the OT. One should also be hesitant to transfer all Ugaritic applications of the fourteenth century BC to Israelite literature of the sixth century. This undoubtedly was the trend in the seventies as applied by de Moor in his article. Therefore, it seems that the terms Baal and Baalim represent terms by which a single deity or collection of deities can be denoted. There might be a name behind the different Baals of the various regions, but perhaps due to the ANE hesitance to pronounce the names of deities, it was mainly omitted in writings.

4.4.2.3 The popularity of Baal

The popularity of Baal in the ANE is clearly reflected in the compound names of places, regions, and persons containing a Baal-element. The name of Baal appears frequently in

the names of places and proper names of people in the OT literature e.g. Baal-gad (Jos 11:17), Baal-zephon (Ex 14:2), Ethbaal (= 'he who is with Baal', 1 Ki 16:31, the Phoenician king of Tyre and father of Jezebel). Even devoted Yahwists have given their sons names containing a Baal-element e.g. David's son was named Beeliada, Saul named his son Eshbaal and Jonathan his son Merribbaal (see Kaufman 1961:138). In fact, ostraca discovered in Samaria of the Northern Kingdom produced almost as many names containing the name of Baal as with YHWH. A 7: 11 ratio in favour of YHWH exists.

Interestingly enough, no names with Baal have been discovered in Judah so far.1

Kaufman (1961: 123, 138) concludes from the appearance of names with Baal-elements among devotees of YHWH that Israelites in earlier times simply called YHWH Baal (lord). El-berith, also presented as Baal-berith presumably referred to YHWH. He argues that this must not be viewed as a merger between YHWH and Baal into one god, but simply a matter of a merger of titles in which Baal became an epithet of YHWH.

The OT reflects a history of Israel's involvement in idolatry, especially Baal worship. In the Northern Kingdom it all started with the two images of the golden calves of Jeroboam (1 Ki 12:28), a cult practice that was followed by his predecessors. However, the name of Baal only appears for the first time in the account of Ahab and his Tyrian wife Jezebel who launched an attempt to install Baalism as a state religion (1 Ki 16:31). In the list of the sins of idolatry mentioned as the cause of the Assyrian invasion and the fall of Samaria (2 Ki 17:7-18), general terms occur such as 'other gods', 'the customs of the nations', 'false idols', and 'cast images'. Only in verse 16 a short reference to Baal occurs. This reads 'and they served Baal' together with they 'worshiped all the host of heaven', although many of the practices mentioned were associated with Baal in other OT references. The Northern Kingdom also suffered from the exposure of the religious practices of people from different religions and regions who were transferred there by Assyria. A situation developed of 'they worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods' (2 Ki 17:34). This probably inspired Kaufman's (1961:140 ff, 273ft) viewpoint that Baalism was actually exclusive to the Northern Kingdom and was not extensively practised in Judah. He states that Jeremiah addressed the idolatrous practices of the past,

ISee Bright 1974: 257 and Albright 1969:155.

which occurred in the history of the whole of Israel, and not the practices of his contemporaries.

Although Solomon built high places for Chemosh, Molech and other gods in Jerusalem (1 Ki 11 :5-8), according to 2 Ki 8:25 and 26 the OT maintains that Baal worship was imported into Judah by Ahaziah (who reigned only one year) and his mother Ataliah (granddaughter of Omri, daughter of Ahab). Baal worship according to the Biblical account of the history of the kings was popular among some of the kings especially Ahaz (2 Ki 16:2-3 - who reigned l6yrs), and Manesseh (2 Ki 21:2-7 - who reigned 55 years), who continued the abominable practices of idolatry. In the end, Manesseh was blamed for the fall of Jerusalem because of his idolatrous practices (vv 10-15).

4.4.2.4 Aversion to Baal

However, clear signs of aversion to the name Baal and the cult also appear in OT literature. Over and above the preaching of the prophets Hosea (especially 2: 16-17 MT) and Jeremiah (especially 11:13) against the Baal cult, compound names containing Baal- elements have been altered by writers and scribes. In many cases the Baal-element was substituted by bosheth (shame) e.g. Eshbaal (1 Ch 8:33 and v39) became Ishboseth in the occurrences in 2 Sa 2 - 4. Meribbaal (in 1 Ch 8:34 and 9:40) became Mephibosheth in the fifteen occurrences of 2 Samuel. Jerubbaal, appearing frequently in Jug 6 -9 and 1 Sa 12:11 became Jerubbesheth in 2 Sa 11:21 (Ellington 1993:428,429). De Moor (1975:193) states that the use of the feminine article in the LXX texts represents a clear indication of the growing aversion to Baal worship in later times. Bright (1974:98,99) reckons that the patriarchs worshipped their deity/deities under a common denominator, namely, the creator father god, El, which is a general Semitic word for 'god'. The development of Israel's religion shows that the epithets and titles attached to El such as El 'Elyon, El Shaddai, El 'Olam, El Ro'i etc were acceptable in the later stages of development and therefore transferred to YHWH. This however was not the case with Baal who fell out of favour due to the opposition of the prophets (especially Hosea, see 2: 18) to the Baal cult (see also Kaufman 1975: 133ff).

The OT reflects a history of conflicts between Yahwism and Baa1ism e.g. in the Northern Kingdom the conflict between Elijah and the Baa1 prophets at Carme1 (1 Ki 18:22-40), and Jehu versus Baalism (2 Ki 10:18-28). Jehu also wiped out Ahab, Jezebel and their royal house, family, and friends (2 Ki 10:11). In Judah when Joash (who reigned forty years) became king, the priest, Jehoiada, tore down the house of Baa1, his altars, and images and killed his priests (2 Ki 11: 18). Later the reform efforts of Hezekiah followed.

He reigned twenty-nine years (2 Ki 18: 4). A final reform attempt before the fall of Jerusalem (587/6 BC) was launched by Josiah who reigned thirty-one years, i.e. 640-609 BC (2Ki 23:4-20, 24).

Although some reform attempts seem to be thoroughly executed and lasted for several years under the reigns of the respective kings,^l Israel's involvement (North and South) in Baalism seems a fact, which is also confirmed in OT literature. Ackerman (1992:213ff), following the new theories regarding monotheism, concluded her study of several accounts in Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah, stating that idolatry constituted the popular religion of the pre-exi1ic Israelites. However, the notion of the proponents of the new theories entailing that Israel's religion was purely and simply a Canaanite religion seems to be an over-statement. Rather it seems from OT evidence that several kings were followers of Yahwism and each had their supporters. Others were accused of serving foreign gods, which can be an indication of the implementation of external policies of alliance with foreign powers. In some cases it was simply a matter of domination by conquerors which led to the acknowledgement and worshipping of the master's deities.

The common Israelite however rather tended to incorporate other gods together with Yahwism in order to cover the whole spectrum of gods for every aspect of life. Itremains an open question whether this constitutes backsliding or deve1opment^2, or syncretism, or an important stage in the development of a post-exi1ic monotheism, or the polemic of a minority group against idolatry, or a way of defense against the local and Baby10nian Baa1im.

1 A fact which seems to Kaufman (1961:273-275) enough to state that Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom was limited to the royal house andinthe south to Manesseh. He claims that there is no evidence of syncretism and that the Baal cult was not a factor or danger for Yahwism.

2A question which Ridderbos (1928:10) also asked at the beginning of the previous century.