Who was Baal?
Baal was the chief male god of the peoples living around Israel, and his name simply means "lord" or "owner" — a title Israel found waiting for them in the land, with temples, altars and priests already in place. His story runs from the plains of Moab to Mount Carmel, and the question it keeps raising is the one Elijah finally forced: who is really God?
The name and the god behind it
The word was not originally an insult. One commentator traces it back to plain ownership, and notes that God even used it of Himself before setting it aside:
Numerical Bible NotesBaal means "husband" and "lord," with the primary idea of ownership. A bird is even a "baal of wing"; a hairy man is a "baal of hair." So it does not stand so much for the idea of one who rules... Yet it has no necessarily bad sense either: in the sense of "husband," God uses it of His own relation to the people: "your Maker is your baal"; "though I was a baal to them" (Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 31:32). Nevertheless, God finally rejects the word. Through Hosea He says, "you will call me Ishi [my husband], and no longer will you call me Baali. For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more" (Hosea 2:16-17).
As a religion, it was fully organised, and its worship went far past incense:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe name means "master, possessor"... The chief male god of the Phoenicians and the Canaanites, as Ashtoreth was the chief female goddess. The Israelites, coming into the land, no doubt found temples, groves, altars and high places set apart to Baal: incense was offered and offerings burnt, and children were sacrificed to him, while a great staff of prophets and priests was kept up in his service.
Where Baal enters Israel's story
The first mention comes before Israel even crossed into the land, when Balak the king of Moab took the hired prophet Balaam up to Baal's high places. From there the trail runs the whole length of the nation's history:
W. W. FeredayThis is the first mention of Baal in the Word of God... This form of idolatry gained a footing in Israel in the days of the judges; it was thrown out in the time of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:3-6); it became firmly established in the kingdom of the ten tribes in the reign of Ahab; and Jezebel's daughter Athaliah brought it into the kingdom of Judah. This great evil was one of the causes of the expulsion of the whole twelve tribes from the land of promise.
Baal-peor: the trap that worked
Balaam could not curse Israel, so Israel was drawn in through the women of Moab instead. The result was not a passing lapse but an attachment:
Morrish Bible DictionaryIt was to Peor that Balaam was called to curse Israel, and where the people were trapped into sacrificing to the gods of Moab, eating things sacrificed to their idols, and committing sexual immorality. So Israel joined himself to Baal-peor — entering full fellowship with its demon worship and the uncleanness that went with it.
An idol is nothing — but something is behind it
Baal appeared under local names, including Baal-zebub, "lord of flies," the god of the Philistine city Ekron, whom King Ahaziah consulted about his injury. Commentators are clear about what such an enquiry really was:
W. W. FeredayBaal-zebub means "lord of flies." The belief that flies carried disease led blind pagans to turn to this particular god for help — but Ahaziah should have known better. To enquire at Ekron was really to enquire of demons. Idols are nothing in themselves, but there are demons behind them, as 1 Corinthians 10 teaches us.
That is why Elijah's mockery on Carmel had two targets at once:
H. L. RossierBaal does not answer (vv. 25-29). With what irony the prophet treats this lifeless object, through which Satan was working his terrible influence on the hearts of men!
Carmel: the crowd caught in the middle
Elijah's challenge was aimed past the king and past the false prophets, at ordinary people who wanted both:
Hamilton SmithThe king was the leader in apostasy, and had already been charged with his sins. The prophets of Baal were the open opponents of God, and were about to be exposed and judged. But the huge mass of the people were undecided, limping between two opinions. By profession they were the people of the Lord; by practice they were worshippers of Baal.
The seven thousand
Elijah thought he stood alone. God's answer named a hidden loyalty that went deeper than outward refusal:
F. A. HughesIs there not a note of triumph in the word of the Lord, "Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him"? It was not only that they had refused Baal's authority; they also held back their affections from going out after him.
Summary
- Owner. The name means lord, master, possessor — a claim of ownership over people, which is exactly why God will not share the title.
- Offer. Baal's worship came with priests, high places, immorality and child sacrifice — a whole system already installed in the land Israel entered.
- Entry. It got in through mixing rather than by force: Baal-peor, the daughters of Moab, then Jezebel's marriage into the royal house.
- Emptiness. The idol answered nothing at Carmel, yet it was not harmless; demons stood behind it, and enquiring of it was traffic with them.
- End. Baal cost the twelve tribes the land — but God still kept seven thousand whose knees never bowed and whose affections never followed.