BAA 



BAA 



Pellation to their refpeflive idols; and tVius were introduced 

 a variety of divinities under the denomination of Baal, called 

 Ban'im, or Baal, with feme epithet annexed to it, n;; Baal- 

 Berith, Baal-Gad, Baal-Moloch, Baal-Peor, Baal-Zebub, 

 &c. Some have fuppofed that the dtf.endants of Ham lirll 

 worfhipped the fun under the title of Baal (fie 2 Kin^s, 

 xxiii. 5. II.), and that they afterwards afcribed it to the 

 patriarch who was the head of their line; making the fun 

 only an emblem of his influence or power. It is certain, 

 however, that when the cullom prevailed of deifying and 

 worfhipping thofe who were in any refpcft diftinguifhed 

 amongft mankind, the appellation of Bial was not rellridltd 

 to the fun, but extended to thofe eminent perfons who were 

 deified, and who became objefts of worfliip in different na- 

 tions. The Phoenicians had feveral divinities of this kind, 

 who were not intended to reprefent the fun. It is probable 

 that Baal, Belus, or Bel, the great god of the Carthagi- 

 nians, and alfo of the Sidonians, Babylonians, and Adyrians, 

 who from the teftimony of fcriptnre appears to liave been 

 delighted with human facrifices, was the Moloch of the 

 Ammonites, the Chronus of the Greeks, who was the chief 

 object of adoration in Italy, Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes, 

 and all other countries where divine honours were paid him, 

 and the Saturn of the Latins. In procefs of time, many 

 other deities, befides the principal one juil mentioned, were 

 diftinguifhed by the title of Baal among the Phoenicians, par- 

 ticularly thofe of Tyre, and of courfe among the Carthagi- 

 nians, and other nations. Such were Jupiter, Mars, Bac- 

 chus, and Apollo or the fun. 



The term Baal, as we have aleady obferved, denoted 

 Go/i or Lord among the orientals; and the Zeus of the 

 Greeks had the fame meaning. Servius (in JEn. i,), who is 

 followed by Voflius (Theol Gtnt. 1. ii. c. 4.), obftrves, 

 that Baal in the Punic language had two fignifications, ei- 

 ther denoting Saturn, or being equivalent to the Latin deus 

 or god. Accordingly, if Baal an;l Zeus, or J;piter, be words 

 of the fame import in different languages, we may apply to 

 the former what Varro, cited by Tertullian, fays of the latter, 

 that the number of thofe divinities who pnfled under this 

 denomination amounted to 300. Some, however, are of 

 opinion, that there were originally only two gods of the 

 Phoenicians, and ccnfequently of the Carthaginians; and 

 that all the other deities were comprehended under two; 

 ■viz. Baal and Afhtaroth, or Belus and Aflartc. See Seld. 

 de Diis Syr. Synt. 2. c.2. p 145:. Shuekford's Coniicft. b.v. 



The temples and altars of Basl were generally placed on 

 eminences; they were places incl.ifed with walls, wherein 

 was maintained a perpetual fire; and fome of them had 

 flatues or images, called in fcriptnre " Chamanim." Maun- 

 drell, in his journey from Aleppo to Jerufal'm, oblcrved 

 fome remains of thcfc inclofurcs in Syria. Baal had his 

 prophets and his pricfts in great numbers; accord!ngIy we 

 ivtid of 450 of them that were fed at the table of Jezebel 

 only; and they condufled the worfliip of this deity, by ofier- 

 ing facrifices,' by dancing round his altar with violent gefli- 

 culations and exclamations, by cutting their bodies with 

 knives and lancets, and by raving and pretending to pro- 

 phefy, as if they were poffifTcd by fome invifible power. 

 .Several of thefe pradices, and particularly that of cutting 

 the bodv, were, according to Mede (vol. ii. p. 774-)i f"ieral 

 rites, zi appears from Lev. xxi. 5. xix. 28. Deut. xiv. i. 

 lerem. xlvi'ii. 37. xvi. 6.; and they were retained, fays this 

 karned author, in the funeral worfhip of thofe that were 

 deified after their death. Hence, and from otiier circnm- 

 ftances, he infers, that Baal was a dxmon-god. See Baalim, 

 PjEmon, and Idolatry. 



BAALBEC, in Gcogiaj.'iy. See Balbfc. 



BAAL-Berith, in Ancient Mythokgy, derived from 



7 



iaa/, Jhverelgn, and lerilh, covenant; a deity acknowledged 

 under this title by the Carthaginians and Phccniciaos in their 

 alliances. 



Jupiter was worfhipped by thefe people under the deno- 

 mination of Belus or Baal; to him they addrelfed their 

 oaths, and they placed him at the head of their treaties. 

 Hence fome have not fcrupled to afHrm, that he was the 

 Baal-Berith of the Phoenicians (fee Banier, in Mythol. 

 vol. i.); but Cumberland (fee Sanchoniatho's Phoen. Hift. 

 p. 152.) fuppofcs that Baal-Bcrith was Cronus, or Ham, 

 worfhipped anciently at Berytus. See Judg. viii. 33. ix. 4. 

 According til Bryant (Anal. Anc. Mythol. vol. ii. p. 356.), 

 the Baal-Berith of the Canaanites was no other than the 

 Arklte god ; with whofe idolatry the Ifraelitcs in general 

 were infeftcd, foon after they were fettled in tiie land of Ca- 

 naan. (See Berytus.) The Greeks, however, had their 

 Z?i/,- o^xiOj-, or Jupiter, the witnef sand arbitrator of oaths; 

 and the Latins their Deus Fidius, or Jupiter Pillius, whom 

 they regarded as the god of honefty and integrity, and who 

 prefided at treaties and alliances. 



BAAL-Gad, Bagad, or Begad, an idol of the Syrians, 

 whofe name was compofed of baal, lor J, ard gad, chance or 

 fortune; the god of chance or fortune. After the god of 

 thunder, the god of chance was one of the firil worfhipped 

 by mankind. Sec Phil. Tranf. vol. Ivi. N- 1. an. 1766. 



Baal-GW, in Jncunl G.ugraphy, a city of Paleitine, at 

 the foot of mount Hernion, fo called from the deity Baal- 

 Gad, who was worfliipped in this place. Jofh. xi. 17. 



BAAL-Hammon. See Bocat. 



BAAL Hazor, a city of Ephraim, where Abfalom kept 

 his fl'jcks. ; 2 Sam. xii. 23. 



BAAL-HtRMos, a town of Paleftine, generally placed 

 north of the tribe of Iffachar. I Chron. v. 23. 



The temple of Baal-Hermon in mount Libanus (Judgts, 

 iii. I, 3.), was probably founded, fays Bryant (.'Vnal. Anc. 

 Myth. vol. ii. p. 163.), by the Cadmians, whj formtd one 

 of the Hivlte nations in thofe parts. 



BAALIM, in ^Indent Mythology, inferior deities among 

 the Phoenicians. 



The learned Jofeph Mede (vol. ii. p. 776.) having fug- 

 gefted that Baal, or in the Chaldee dialed Bel, was the lirll 

 king of Babel after Nimrod, and the firft that was deified 

 arid reputed a god after his death, apprehends that this gave 

 occafirsn for denominating all other dxmons Baalim. 1 hcfe 

 Baalim, he conceives, were the deified fouls of the dead. 

 Bryant alfo (vol. ii. p. 529-) is of opinion that the mofl 

 early defeftion to idolatry confifted in the worfhip of the 

 fu-i.'and that of dxmons, called Baalim. See D.smon. 



BA.AL-Meon, in Auc'u-nt Geography, a city of Canaan, 

 in the tribe of Reuben, taken by the ^ioabites, and poffeffcd 

 by them in the timeof Lztkicl. Numb, xxxii. 3S. 1 Chron. 

 V.' 8. E/.ek. XXV. 9. Lufebius and Jerom place it nine miles 

 from Efbus or Elebon, at the foot of mount Baaru or 

 Abarim. 



BAAL-Peor, or BaalPhegor, in Mythology, an idol 

 deity of the Moabites and Midianitcs, fuppofed by fome to 

 have been Priapl's, whofe wurinip wasconduc\cd with great 

 impurity; by others to have been Adoiiis; and by others to 

 have been Saturn, adored under this appellation in Arabia. 

 The learned MeJe, fuppufing Peor to be the namt of a 

 mountain in Moab, upon which a temple of Baal vas 

 ereded, concludes that Baal-Ptor was only another name 

 of Baal, derived from the fituatlou of his temple; and to 

 add no more, Selden ( De Diis Syiis, Syntag. 1. c.5.) fug- 

 pefls that Baal-Peor is Pluto, founding his conjefturc en 

 Pf. cvi. 2S. where it is faid, " They Joined themfclvcs unto 

 Baal-Peor, and ate the ofl'erings of the dead." ITie fitri- 

 fices to tthich thttc words refer, fays tiiis author, »ere 



