“men who have not bowed the knee to Baal” (Rom. 11:4, NKJV)
In 1 Kings 18:18 Elijah addresses Ahab, mincing no words: “And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals.’” Elijah accuses Ahab that it is him and his family who have polluted Israel (2 Chr. 22:4). Prov. 11:9 is indeed true: “The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor …” Please selah.
Despite the fact that Ahab did not respect the commandments of the Lord, his largest misstep was following “the Baals”. Remember that throughout our typological reading Ahab (here representing the Adamic carnal nature within you) is directed by the Baals.
But what exactly does it mean to follow the Baals? Most believers outrightly deny that it may be true of them, but alas the new covenant too is filled with the children of Israel who, again and again, “played the harlot with the Baals” (Judg. 8:33).
In the teaching of Day 1097-1099 we spent a lot of time discussing the door of Achor which becomes a door of hope. As part of the state of the valley of Achor a desert needs to be shared with the Baals. Hos. 2:16-17 makes the results of this clear: “’And it shall be, in that day,’ says the Lord, ‘that you will call Me “My Husband,” and no longer call Me “My Master,” for I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more.’”
Typologically we need to clearly understand who/what the Baals represent. Interestingly enough the verb basis of the Semitic word Baal means “to have dominion over”. The word is used to indicate possession, of a house, land or livestock. The verb can also mean “possessing” a woman, thus Baal also means “husband”. The name of Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, means “wife of Baal”! Now it is clear why God tells Hosea that He will be the husband, not the Baal!
Elijah’s setting himself against Ahab and Jezebel and their phalanx of Baal prophets is an internal war to “betroth … you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). The corporate Whore of Babylon had all the nations drink of her wine of fornication (Rev. 14:8), which does not point to physical fornication, but to illegal spiritual covenants (Hos. 8:9) with that which is not God. The most frightening aspect of all of this is that we do not even realise it is happening (Hos. 7:9).
But let us first look at the history of the Baal cult, the ancient Canaanite and Mesopotamian god originally linked to agriculture. Like all mythological figures he was worshipped for certain forces of nature that allowed the primitive people to understand the world around them. They believed that he was the giver of life, and that humanity was dependant on him for the thriving of their livestock and harvest. He was also called the son of Dagon (of whom we read in 1 Sam. 5, who was in control of grain), as well as Hadad, the god of storms that bring much rain.
The land of Canaan worshipped Baal. Howard E. Vos, in his book An Introduction To Bible Archaeology (pp. 17-19) explains the extent and intensity of these practices as follows: “One may question that those ancient enemies of Israel were as evil as the Bible claims that they were, but even a superficial glance at Canaanite religion alone ably demonstrates their iniquity. Base sex worship was prevalent, and religious prostitution even commanded; human sacrifice was common; and it was a frequent practice–in an effort to placate their gods–to kill young children and bury them in the foundations of a house or public building at the time of construction: Joshua 6:26 ‘In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn…’” (Also read Jer. 19:5.)
Long before the Israelites ever landed in Canaan, however, they were exposed to Baal, and this was involved in the destruction of the children of God (Num. 22:41). But just before they entered the Promised Land, God explicitly warned them against Baal worship: “You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.” (Deut. 6:14-15).
Over the years, but especially in the time of the Judges, the exposure to, and participation in the practices of Baal worship started infecting the Israelites to a greater and greater extent, not only on a religious level, but also on social and cultural levels, especially through intermarriage with other nations of Canaan (Judges 3:7). For the Israelites who were exposed to this idolatry on such a wide scale, infection was inevitable. Zondervan’s Pictorial Bible Dictionary explains it as follows: “At first the name Baʿal was used by the Jews for their God without discrimination, but as the struggle between the two religions developed, the name Baʿal was given up by the Israelites …”
In the book Kings it is reported that Ahab, like his forefathers Omri and Jeroboam, institutionalised Baal worship on a royal level, especially through marrying Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal (her name already gave it away): “And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.” (1 Kings 16:31-33).
Before long the kings of Judah also started following in the footsteps of their brother in the North: “Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. And there were also perverted persons in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.” (1 Kings 14: 22-24).
It was Baal worship that brought Israel and Judah into captivity – the Northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive by Assyria, and the Southern kingdom of Judah by Babylon, both regions dominated by Baal worship.
The typological importance of this for you and I, within the Bride but also within the church, is of great importance. In the next teaching we will explore this in greater detail.
- Selah: What do you understand of Baal worship, in the light of the history covered today?
- Read: Mark 12; Matt. 22-23; Luke 20-21.
- Memorise: 22:14.
