BAAL
175
BAAL
cal representation of the proletariat, and some well-
reasoned objections to unlimited industrial compe-
tition and free trade. On the whole, his sociology
is the wisest, strongest, sanest, and most practical
part of his whole system, just as his technical theology
is the weakest, the most bizarre, unsound, and
impractical. The reason of the difference may not
improbably be found in the fact that in the former
the best elements of his o«-ii mind and character were
tree to assert themselves, while in his theology they
seem almost throughout to be under the spell of
Bohme whose fanciful mysticism bore him away to a
region as far removed from experience — present and
past — as from the ^^■orld of reason and faith. Apart
from theology Baader's teachings have a permanent
value.
Sammtlkhe Werke (Leipzig. 1S51-60), XV, contains biogra- phy, XVI. an able sketch of the whole system by LrxTEBBECK; HoFFMAX. Vorhalle zur spekulativen Lehre Baaders; Philoso- phisrhe Schriften, 3 vols.; Hameebger. Cardijialpunkte der Baaderschen Philosophic: Lutterbeck, PhUosophische Stand- punkle Baaders. See also Stockl, Geschichte der modemen PhUos., vol. 11; Blanc. Histoire de la phiiosophie, vol. Ill; Erd- MANN, History of Philosophy (tr.), II; Haffxer in Kirchen- lexicon, I, s. v.; Schmldt in Bachem, Staatsle ri4:on , s. v.
F. P. Siegfried.
Baal, Baalim (Hebr. B.i'XL; plural, BE'.VLiii), a word which belongs to the oldest stock of the Semitic vocabulary and primarily means "lord", "owner". So, in Hebrew, a man is styled "baal" of a house (Ex., xxii, 7; Judges, xix, 22), of a field (Job, x.xxi, 39), of cattle (Ex.,xxi, 28; Isa.,i,3),of weakh (Eccles., V, 12), even of a wife (E.x., xxi, 3; cf. Gen., iii, 16. The woman's position in the Oriental home explains why she is never called Bd'Slah of her husband). So also we read of a ram, " baal " of two horns (Dan., viii. 6, 20), of a "baal" of two wings (i. e. fowl: Eccles., X, 20). Joseph was scornfully termed by his brothers a "baal" of dreams (Gen., xxxvii, 19). And so on. (See IV Kings, i, 8; Isa., xh. 15; Gen., xlix, 23; Ex., xxiv, 14, etc.) Inscriptions afford scores of e\'idences of the word being similarly used in the other Semitic languages. In the Hebrew Bible, the plural, be'dlim, is found with the various meanings of the singular; whereas in ancient and modern translations it is used only as referring to deities. It has been asserted by several com- mentators that by baalim the emblems or images of Baal {hdmmanim, md^^ebhvth. etc.) should be under- stood. This view is hardly supported by the texts, which regularly point out, sometimes contemptu- ously, the local or other special Baals.
B.\.\L .\s A Deity. — When applied to a deity, the word Baal retained its connotation of ownership, and was, therefore, usually qualified. The docu- ments speak, for instance, of the Baal of Tyre, of Harran, of Tarsus, of Hermon, of Lebanon, of Tamar (a river south of Beirut), of heaven. Moreover, several Baals enjoyed special attributions: there was a Baal of the Covenant [Bd'dl Berith (Judges, viii, 33; ix, 4); cf, 'El Berith (ibid., ix, 46)]; one of the flies {Bd'dl Zebub, IV Kings, i, 2, 3, 6, 16); there was also probably one of dance (Bd'dl Mdrqdd); perhaps one of medicine (Bd'dl Mdrphi:'), and so on. Among all the Semites, the word, under one form or another (Bd'dl in the West and South; Bel in Assyria; Bttl, Bol, or Bel in Palmyra) constantly recurs to express the deity's lordship over the world or some part of it. Nor were all the Baals — of different tribes, places, sanctuaries — necessarily conceived as identical; each one might have his own nature and his own name: the partly fish-shaped Baal of Arvad was probably Dagon; the Baal of Lebanon, possibly fid, "the hunter"; the Baal of Harran, the moon- god; whereas, in several Sabean and Mina^an cities, and in many Chanaanite, Phoenician, or Palmyrene slirines, the sun was the Baal worshipped, although Haikul seems to have been the chief Baal among the Syrians, Tliis diversity the Old Testament inti-
mates by speaking of Baalim in the plural, and
specif j-ing the singular Baal either by the article or
by the addition of another word.
What the original conception was is most obscure. According to W. R. Smith, the Baal is a local god who, by fertilizing his own district through springs and streams, becomes its lawful owner. Good au- thorities, nevertheless, oppose this view, and, re- versing the above argmnent, hold that the Baal is the genius-lord of the place and of all the elements that cause its fecundity; it is he who gives "bread, water, wool, flax, oil, and drink" (Os., ii, 5; in the Hebr. text, 7); he is the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and as such is sometimes honoured by acts of the foulest sensuaUty. Whether or not this idea sprang from, and led to the mono- theistic conception of a supreme deity, the " Lord of Heaven", of whom the various Baals would be so many manifestations, we shall leave to scholars to decide. Some deem that the Bible favours tliis view, for its language frequently seems to imply the belief in a Baal par excellence.
B.\Ai.-WoRSHip .\jioxG THE Genttles. — The e\n- dence is hardly of such weight as to justify us in speaking of a worship of Baal. The Baal-worship so often alluded to and described in Holy Writ might, perhaps, be better styled (|"id-worship, mooa-wor- ship, Melek (Moloch)-worship, or Hadad-worship, ac- cording to places and circumstances. Many of the practices mentioned were most probably common to the worship of all the Baals; a few others are cer- tainly specific.
A custom common among Semitic peoples should be noticed here. Moved, most likely, by the desire to secure the protection of the local Baal for their chiklren, the Semites ahvays showed a preference for names compounded with that of the deity; those of Hasdrubal ('Azrii Bd'dl), Hannibal (Hanni Bd'dl), Baltasar, or Belshazzar (Bel-sar-Ushshur), have became famous in history. Scores of such names belonging to different nationalities are recorded in the Bible, in ancient writers, and in inscriptions.
The worship of Baal was performed in the sacred precincts of the high places so numerous throughout the countrj' (Num., xxii, 41; x.xxiii, 52; Deut., xii, 2, etc.) or in temples like those of Samaria (III Kings, xvi, 32; IV Kings, x, 21-27) and Jerusalem (iV Kings, xi, 18), even on the terraced roofs of the houses (IV Kings, xxiii, 12; Jer., xxxii, 29), The furniture of these sanctuaries probably varied with the Baals honoured there. Near the altar, which existed everywhere (Judges, vi, 25; III Kings, xviii, 26; IV Kings, xi, IS; Jer., xi, 13, etc.), might be found, according to the particular place, either an image of the deity (Hadad was sjTiibohzed by a calf), or the batylion (i. e. sacred stone, regularly cone-shaped in Chanaan) supposed to have been originally intended to represent the world, abode of the god; of the hdmmanim (very possibly sun- pillars; Lev., xxvi, 30; II Par., xxxiv, 4, etc.), and the '&)ihi:rah (wrongly interpreted "grove" in our Bibles; Judges, vi, 25; III Kings, xiv, 23; IV Kings, xvii. 10; Jer., xWi, 2, etc.), a sacred pole, some- times, possibly, a tree, the original signification of which is far from clear, together with votive or commemorative stelse (md(;^ebhdth, usually mis- translated "images"), more or less ornamented. There incense and perfumes were burned (IV Kings, xxiii, 5; Jer., vii, 9, xi, 13, and, according to the Hebrew, xxxii, 29), libations poured (Jer., xix, 13), and sacrifices of oxen and other animals offered up to the Baal; we hear even (Jer., vii, 31; xix, 5; xxxii, 35; II Par., xxviii, 3) that children of both sexes were not infrequently burned in sacrifice to Melek (D. V. Moloch, A. V. Molech), and II Par., xxviii, 3 (perhaps also IV Kings, xxi, 6) tells us that young princes were occasionally chosen as victims
