The Baals in Your Court
You have to feel a little sorry for Baal. Few other gods get such a bad rap.
When you think of Zeus, you probably imagine a bearded old man with a lightning bolt — not a horned demon from the gaping pits of hell.
Other ancient gods of the Middle East, like the Egyptian sun god Amun-Ra or the Babylonian storm god Marduk, don’t have such nasty reputations in popular culture (or in popular religion) as poor old Baal.
Series by Daniel Kenis
The Purple People
Who is Baal? It’s actually not the name of a specific god. Baal is a title, meaning “Lord.”
In Bible translations, you often see Yahweh’s name written as “The LORD.” The word Baal functions a bit like the ancient Canaanite and Phoenician version of that practice, except it’s been appended to a few different gods’ names throughout history.
As such, Baal has come to function as a sort of stand-in for Canaanite/Phoenician religion as a whole — and, in particular, the nastier bits of that religion involving child sacrifice.
Read “The Baals in Your Court” on a larger screen, or in the Medium app!
