... 



BAAL 



B 



B which oocupiM the second place in the Hebrew alphabet, and 

 > UK>M derived from it, is the medial letter of the order of labials. 

 It readily interchange* with the letters of the same organ. 1. With r, 

 u kabm Latin, arm Italian, to have ; kafxbam Latin, otvra Italian, I 

 had. In Spain, and the pert* of France bordering upon Spain, the letter 

 will often be found in word* which in the kindred languages prefer 

 the r. This peculiarity has been marked in the following epigram by 

 Soaliger: 



lUud tenure antiqnu nratat Vuoonla voces 

 Cul nlhll cst aliud rirerc quun blbere. 



The modern Greeks pronounce the b, or second letter of their alphabet, 

 like a r : thus frurAiin, batileta, is pronounced by them ratilrfi. When 

 they write foreign words, or words of foreign origin, it is not unusual 

 i..r "them to express our sound of 6 by p* (mp). It appears probable 

 that the ancient Greeks pronounced the 6 more like the Spaniard* and 

 m. U-m Greeks than we do; for they wrote the Roman names Varro, 

 firyi/iM. thus B4# (Barren), ByylAwf (Birgiliiu). The Macedonian 

 Greeks wrote #0uwwf thus Bknrroi (Bilippus). 



2. The interchange of M and 6 takes place Terr frequently, especially 

 when they are followed by the liquid* i or r. Thus nalakot and blait 

 are two Greek nominative*, signifying soft, tfdit, in the same Ian- 

 guage, means honey, and hlitto signifies " I remove the honey from the 

 comb." So bro-tof, the Greek Tor mortal, and mor-, the Latin for 

 to die, contain a common root An interchange of a similar nutur.- 

 marks the difference between the Greek nutlubot or nolMot, lead, and 

 the Latin plumbum. If an m in the middle of a word be followed by 

 either of these liquids, the m is retained, but i* strengthened by the 

 addition of a b, just a* a d insert* iteelf between n and r. Instances 

 are to be found in nearly all languages: nut-emer-ia, mid-day, was 

 reduced by the Greek ear to HUtcmbria ; the Latin cumulare, to heap, 

 has been changed to the French combltr ; the Latin numerta, number, 

 to the French xombrt, Ac. The Spanish language afford* examples of 

 a still greater change. Thus, if a Latin word contain the letters mm 

 after an accented syllable, we find in the corresponding Spanish term 

 the syllable bre or bra : homine Latin, hombre Spanish, man ; ftminti 

 Latin, hcmbra Spanish, female; famioa (middle-age Latin), hnmlrc 

 Spanish, hunger. This corruption arises from a previous interchange 

 of the n into an r, as in diaconot Greek, deacon, diacre in French. 

 The Spaniards have carried this corruption even further, by changing 

 the Latin suffix ludixe (Itulv nom.) into tambn or dumbre; eontaetadine 

 Latin, eottumbre Spanish, coutume French, ciutom ; multitudine Latin, 

 murkedumbre S|iamh, multitude. 3. B interchanges with p. 01 

 this the pronunciation of the English language by the Welsh and 

 Germans presents sufficient example*. 4. With /. Thus the term 

 /i/e-guards appears to have meant originally fcio-guard*, body-guard*, 

 from the German lab, body. The word was probably introduced 

 by the Hanoverian dynasty. 6. DM before a vowel in the old Latin 

 language became a 6 in the more common forms of that language 

 Thu*. in the old writings of Rome, we find duoma good, dutllut fair, 

 ilnrUum war, Ac., in place of fronw, btUia, helium. The Roman admiral 

 Ifiiilius is sometimes called Bilius ; and in the same way we must 

 explain the forms bit (duit) twice, and viginti (Jxi-yinti) twenty 

 (train-ly compared with thir-ty, Ac.) 6. Si before a vowel has taken 

 the form of a soft g or j in several French words derived from the 

 Latin : cnmbian (a genuine Latin word), changer French ; rabia, rayt 

 Vnmeh : Dibiau. Aim : so roueie has for ite parent some derivative of 



Baal wag the god of the Sun, as Astarte was of the Moon. Th 

 worship of Baal, together with that of Astarte, was practised by the 

 Egyptians and Assyrians, and was frequently introduced among the 

 Israelites, especially at Samaria. As the Greeks, Germans, and other 

 nations frequently form the names of men by compounding them with 

 the names of God (for example, Gottlieb, Gottheld, PHrfhlegott, eo>Aot, 

 e48pos, 1><<6, Ac.), so the Phoenician* and Carthaginians frequently 



o 

 Ian 



jjE^irr . cwnnmirs \ KVUUUJO wwn w/, w<;/v* , .~~- 



French ; IXbion, Dijo ; so roujre ha* for it* parent some derivative 

 nJiro, and cage is from nirra. 7. In some dialect* of the Greek I 

 guage a 6 exist* (apparently as a kind of aspirate) before the initial r 

 where the other dialect* omit it : as brodon, a rose, Ac. Again bl am 

 gl are interchanged in dialect* of the same language. Thu* lain not 

 Greek, and ylaiu Latin, are no doubt related word* ; a* well as Manila 

 Latin, signifying ' soft, mild, calm/ and galaut Greek, which has the 

 same signification. For the form* of the letter B, see ALPHABET. 



In the Saiwkrit alphabet the letter 6 i* classed in that division of tli 

 consonant* called mutes, and in that subdivision of the mutes callec 

 labial*. The subdivision of labials contains four letters p, ph ; b, bh 

 and m. The p and ph are called hard (turd) consonant* ; the 6 and b 

 are called soft (fonamt) ; bh is the aspirated sonant corresponding to p 

 the aspirated surd. (' Journal of Education,' No. xvi. p. 341, Ac.) 

 BAAL (from the root 7^2. he governed or pouened) means literal! 

 :,mrr ; hence also htaband. Baal, with the definite article 

 Haul, means the deity of the Phoenician* and Carthagi 

 nian*, whose complete title seems to occur hi a Maltese inscription, . 

 112 7?3 rnpSa. Mall-mlk Haal Ttor, that i, Xiny of the City 

 h,rd nf f : , i'liil.w.ph. Transact.' T. 54 pi. lin. 1.) The nam 



Malkereth is a contraction of rn.j?. *^?$- king of the city. I 

 appears likely that Baal and Moloch are names of the same ido 



ormed names by composition with Baal, as Ethbaal 

 vith Baal, the name of a king of the Sidonians (1 Kings xvi. 31), 

 horn Josephus calk 'iWfloAot and Ei'90oAos, from 723 "N^M. that is, 

 with him Baal ; Jerubaal, 7S3W. that is, Baal mil beheld it. Han- 

 nibal i* written in Punic inscriptions 7373 5H> that is graft of Baal ; 

 Hasdrubal bjnjIlS, that is, help of Baal. 



In Hebrew also many names of cities occur, compounded with 

 Baal, from the idol so called ; as Baal-Gad, Baal Hammou, Baal-Thamar, 

 c. Balbec hi like manner signifies the city of Baal. 



The statues erected to Baal were called Baalim, or rather B'alim, 



^7.5 3. The temples and altars of Baal were chiefly built on the 



top* of hills under trees and also on the roofs of houses. In the 

 sculptures discovered by Layard at Nimroud, representations of the 

 ymbolic tree of Baal corresponding to the grove of the Scripture* 

 are very numerous. So also are representations of Baal himself, who, 

 n a bas-relief from the south-west rums of Nimroud, is figured in a 

 walking attitude, raising an axe in one hand, and grasping an object 

 resembling the thunderbolt placed by Greek sculptors in the hand of 

 Zeu* in the other ; he is also represented in front of a circle, the 

 radiating lines of which seem to typify the sun's rays; but very 

 requently only the symbol of the deity (the circle and radiating lines) 

 occurs above the head of the Assyrian king. Very similar symbols 

 are frequently met with over the doorways of Egyptian temples. 

 Pliny says that obelisks were regarded as typical of the solar rays, and 

 dedicated to Baal or the Sun : and it ha* been suggested that the 

 image of gold set up by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iii. 1), was really such 

 an obelisk. The proportions of the image, threescore cubit* high and 

 six wide, are evidently unsuitable for an image of a man ; while, as 

 Mr. Bonomi (' Nineveh/ p. 450) has pointed out, they " agree perfectly 

 with those of an obelisk, most of the Egyptian obelisks being about ten 

 times the width of the base in height." Indeed, there is still standing 

 among the rums of Karnak, in Egypt, an obelisk of a single block of 

 granite 90 feet high by 9 feet wide the dimensions of the image of 

 Nebuchadnezzar, " and we have only to fancy that monument to be 

 covered with plate* of gold, to have present to the imagination the 

 image of the plain of Dura." 



The worship of Baal gave employment to a numerous priesthood, 

 who burned incense, sacrificed children, danced round the altar, and if 

 their prayers were not speedily heard, cut themselves with knives and 

 lancet* till the blood gushed out upon them. By this self-chastise- 

 ment, the priests expected to excite the compassion of Baal, and tlm.< 

 to obtain the object of their prayers. 



The general character of Asiatic idolatry renders it likely that Baal 

 meant originally the true Lord of the universe, and that hi* worship 

 degenerated into the worship of a powerful body in the material 

 world. Sanchoniathon states that the Phoenicians worshipped tin- *>m 

 as ftoyor oiiparov nupioy, " the only Lord of heaven," called BttAffi^Tjr 

 Beeltamen (that U, V.Otp 752, Lord of heaven) ; and that this Beel- 

 samen was the Greek Zciir, Zetu. In the Septuagint, Baal is called 

 'HpoicAtjt, Hercules, called in the Phoenician language ^2 IIS. 

 Or-etd, that is, light of alL Some mythologists have asserted that 

 Baal was Saturn (compare Servius ' ad JKn.' i. 729) ; others have con- 

 sidered Baal to be the planet Jupiter. A supreme idol might easily 

 be compared with those of other nations ; hence arose thi* vni 

 opinions. 



The statement of Herodian (v. 5; and Capitol, 'vit. Mai 

 tli.it tin- I'hicnicians and Syrian* worshipped the sun, is eon 

 by the occurrence of the name of Baal together with that of the 

 Carthaginian coins and Palmyrenc inscriptions, as tTZpw "TV-- 



The name of Baal occurs fni|ur!itly with epithet*, as Baal-B'rith, 

 (IT"!? ^?3) that is, lord of confederacy, or God of treaties, like 

 the Greek Zii Spriot, and Latin, Dcus Fidius, Judges viii. 33 ; ix. 4. 



Beelzebub, P12J V?3, that is, lord nf fie*,) correspond* t.> tli.' 

 Greek Zt irii/wu, pvlaypot, Zous the fly -chaser (Paugan. v. 14): 

 compare Hercules /uilaypoi. He had a temple at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. 



