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381 131 et seq.; Dillmann, Alttest. Theoloyie, pp. 135 et set)., 140; W. E. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2u ed., pp. 93-113. J.

Ba'al-Worship

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

381

JR.

J. F.

Mohammedan

In

McC.

Literature It is more than doubtful whether " Baal " appears in the Koran as a proper name. Five times it is used in the sense " husband " once in the singular (sura xi. 75), and



four times in the plural (suras ii. 228, xxiv. 31). Once it is used of a god (sura xxxvii. 125). In that passage, according to the interpretation of Ibn 'Abbas ("Lisan al-Arab," xiii. 62), a cousin of the prophet and the founder of Koranic exegesis (died Sura xxxvii. 123687), it is to be rendered " Lord." 127 may be translated: "And verily Elijah was one of the divine messengers when he said to his people, 'Will ye not fear? Will ye invoke a Lord [" Ba'l "] and abandon the best of creators, God your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers? But they gave him the lie; and they, verily, will be brought to judgment." There seems little doubt that Ibn 'Abbas' interpretation of "Ba'l," as equivalent to "rabb" (lord) or "malik" (possessor), represents the conception of Mohammed. It agrees with Arabic usage (see "Lisan al-Arab," I.e., and Lane, "Lexicon," p. 228 b. a). But later Islam, with few exceptions, has united to interpret "Ba'l" as a proper '

One exegete has said that it meant any idol sanam ") in general another, that it was any deity except God. But for the great mass of Moslems, Ba'l was an idol of gold worshiped by the people of Bakk, a town in Syria, afterward called from it " Ba'lbakk " (Baalbek). It was twenty cubits high, and had four faces and " devils " entered it and name. ("





spoke to the people from it, according to the usual Moslem idea. This was in the time of Ahab and Jezebel and Bakk was their capital. Others have

held that it was in the time of Jonah still others, that it was a woman whom the people of Bakk worshiped. For the later legend see Al-Tha'labi (died

1036),

"Kisasal-Anbiya," ed. Cairo, p. 142, and refSee also Elijah in Mohammedan

Baal-Hanan

Shechem (Judges ix. 4). The term " Ba'al " is shown by the equivalent " El-berith " (Judges ix. 46, R. V.) to mean " the God of the Covenant. " In considering what the covenant (or covenants) was over which this Ba'al presided, it must not necessarily be concluded that certain definite treaties of the time were alone referred to, such as the Canaanitic league of which Shechem was the head, or the covenant between Israel and the people of Shechem (Gen. xxxiv.). The term is too abstract to have been occasioned by a single set of conditions. Moreover, the temple of the god (Judges ix. 4, 46) in Shechem implies a permanent establishment. Probably the name and the cult were wide-spread and ancient (see

Baalim), though it happens to have been mentioned only in connection with the affairs of Shechem. jr. J. F. McC. In Rabbinical Literature The idol Baalberith, which the Jews worshiped after the death of Gideon, was identical, according to the Rabbis, with Baal-zebub, "the ba'al of flies," the god of Ekron He was worshiped in the shape of (II Kings i. 2). j.



and so addicted were the Jews to his cult (thus runs the tradition) that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. Baal-zebub is called Baal-berith because such Jews might be said to make a covenant (Hebr. "Berit") of devotion with the idol, being unwilling to part with it for a single moment (Shab. According to another 836; comp. also Sanh. 63J). conception, Baal-berith was an obscene article of idolatrous worship, possibly a simulacrum priapi This is (Yer. Shab. ix. d; 'Ab. Zarah iii. 43a). evidently based on the later significance of the a fly



word j.

"berit,"

meaning circumcision. L. G.

sr.

BAAL-GAD A place

situated at the northern limit of Palestine, in the valley of Lebanon, near Mount Hermon (Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7, xiii. 5). Since I Chron. v. 23 mentions Baal-hermon as the northern

erences above.

limit of the tribe of Manasseh,

Literature,

that Baal-gad and Baal-hermon are identical. This conjecture is quite possible, and more plausible than that of Gesenius, Raumer, Robinson, and others,

j.

D. B. M.

jr.

BA'AL HA-BAYIT

mashouse" see Ex. xxii.7 [R.V.8]; Judges xix. " " " 22. In Talmudic usage owner, " landlord, " host " In Yiddish, see Jastrow, "Dictionary," *.». rP3. Balboos; plural, Ba ale Battim): In more modern usage, the constituent members of a congregation as contrasted with the "toshabim" (transient members The Ba'ale Battim consist of those or strangers). members who pay over a certain amount for their In return for this they seats in the synagogue. had special privileges, such as being elected bridegroom of the Law, voting at elections, and certain other advantages, on which account they are known contrasted in England as "privileged members," as ter of the

(rvin

" h]!2, literally



'

with "seat-renters." They are also eligible for the honorary offices of the synagogue, and can not evade service except on payment of a fine. Bibliography



Jewish Chronicle, Jan.

11, 1901, p. 14.

J

A.

BAAL-BEB.ITH.—Biblical of the Covenant

")



Data

A form of Ba'al- worship prevail-

ing in Israel (Judges

viii.

33),

and particularly

in

has been supposed

whom Baal-gad (Hermon) is identical with the later celebrated Paneas (Banias) for Paneas can hardly be said to lie in the valley of Lebanon. Others have connected Baal-gad with Hasbeja in according to



the BikacS? j.

F. Bu.

jr.

BAAL-HAMON: A place

mentioned in Cant, Solomon is said to

passage viii. 11, in which have had a vineyard there; its identity is unknown. Graetz proposes to read " Baal-hermon " for " Baalhaalon"; but this is mere conjecture. Balamon (Judith viii. 3), with which Delitzsch and others have sought to identify it, is apparently the Old Testament Ibleam, or Bileam, and the modern Bel'ame, a moderately fruitful valley south of the great plain of Jezreel. Bickell and Cheyne eliminate the word, to preserve the meter. j.

-

("the Ba'al

it

F- Bu.

jr.

BAAL-HANAN:

An Edomite

king (Gen. xxx vi. 38). He is called the son of Achbor; but the name of his native city is not given. For this and 1.