Baal-Habad - El Diablo Pt II

Baal, Ba’al zebub, Beelzebub, Satan, the devil.

Of all the Gods available to choose from during the early stages of the development of the Judaic tradition, Baal seems to have taken the worst beating in the old testament. He’s obviously important, so I guess we’d better take a look at him, just to see where he comes from and who he is exactly.

Baal-Habad, Canaanite god of storms and fertility. Tablets dating from as early as the fourteenth century BCE tell us of Baal, his parentage and his battle with Lotan (called Leviathan in Hebrew, but more about that later). Baal lived at home with his dad El (the top Canaanite god) and his mum Asherah (El’s wife). This is just the upper echelon of the pantheon that most ancient Israelites living in Canaan had to choose from if Yahweh didn’t do it for them. It’s even suggested by some scholars(1) that it was actually El who was the god of Abraham, not Yahweh. In the Hebrew texts, he is introduced to the patriarchs as “El-Shaddai” (El of the Mountain; one of El’s traditional titles – Genesis 4:26, Exodus 6:3), which in most modern bibles is translated as “the name of the Lord” and “God Almighty” respectively.

Some may be thinking that tablets from the fourteenth century BCE aren’t terribly old considering the common perception of Yahweh being about 6000 years old (4000 BCE), but it’s an invalid argument historically. The problem with that argument is that the earliest writings of Genesis date only to the eighth century BCE, tenth at the oldest and there are only two versions of those, both written around the same time. One calls it’s god ‘Yahweh’ (originating from the southern kingdom of Judah) while the other call’s it’s god ‘Elohim’ (originating from the northern kingdom of Israel). So we’re talking about tangible historical facts here, not esoteric scriptural anecdotes or “evidences”, as some might call them.

Anyway, when we consider that Abraham believed that Canaan was the “promised land” and when Sarah dies he ends up buying a slice of Canaanite land in Hebron (so he could use the cave to bury her - now on the West Bank) thereby gaining a toe hold in the area, then it’s hardly surprising that El would figure in the equation somewhere. But it’s “Asherah poles” and “alters to Baal” that get torn down and destroyed throughout the old testament, and from Numbers through to the end of the old testament and well into the new, Baal is vilified and demonised by almost every king and prophet while they barely seem to work up a sweat over Asherah.

Throughout Joshua, Judges and various Samuels, the people are extolled to give up “the gods of their forefathers”, generally considered to be El, Asherah, Baal, Anat, Mot, Yam, etc, and worship Yahweh as the one true and only God. In most of these stories, Baal is severely and harshly dealt with. Eventually, in 1Kings 18:20-40 Elijah has had quite enough and organises a face-off between Yahweh and Baal on Mt. Carmel. Despite the prophets of Baal’s best efforts and most zealous appeals, Baal says nothing and does nothing. Of course, when it’s Elijah’s turn to elicit a response from Yahweh he just says something like “Ok dude, you’re on!” and God dutifully sets fire to everything including the ring of water that Elijah conveniently puts there just before he starts (personally I reckon it reads more like someone understood a little more about the wily ways of naphtha than he was letting on, but anyway). After that, Elijah dutifully sets about having all the prophets of Baal slaughtered in a special place called the Kishon Valley. Nice fella that Elihaj…

But why so much about Baal? Well, according to the Canaanite myths, Baal was accorded an exulted position. It was he who in one version of the myth, as mentioned above, defeated Lotan (Leviathan in Hebrew remember), the seven-headed dragon who symbolises chaos. In another version of the myth Baal defeats Yam-Nahar, nasty god of seas and rivers who also symbolises chaos. In both stories, Baal creatively uses various magical tools to defeat chaos and stop the slide back into the formless void. For his efforts he is afforded an exulted position and a palace of his own, but he’s never put in charge, that’s always El’s job.

After all this however, Baal dies because Mot gets hold of him. Anat (Baal’s twin sister and lover) finds Baal’s body, kills Mot (god of death and sterility – more chaos) then winnows, burns and grinds him like corn and sows him as seed in the ground. A bit later on, we don’t know how long or how it’s done because the records are incomplete, Baal is brought back to life and restored to Anat and his rightful place in the pantheon. The fertility rites of the Canaanites grew out of this myth which was perpetuated every year with ritual celebrations.

Interestingly, in Psalms 74:13-15, the act of killing Leviathan (or Lotan) is squarely attributed to Yahweh, fertility symbols and all:

“13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.

14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers.”

So it seems from these ancient stories that perhaps Yahweh isn’t the only god with the power to hold back the “formless void” and defeat chaos in the form of the “dragon”, Lotan or Leviathan. There may even have been a god or two before him that had already done just exactly that. Either that, or Yahweh is also Baal.

Now if you’re a young god trying to make a name for yourself, how do you go about it when you’re among such experienced, popular and powerful company? I guess one way to do it is to steal their stories and make them your own, then have your prophets demonise them. Ba’al Zebub may mean “Lord of Zebub”, but Zebub is never mentioned as a place, or more likely, “Lord of things that fly” because Zebub is a Hebrew collective noun for “Fly”, and this is where Beelzebub stems from.

All references to Beelzebub in the bible are purely new testament (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and it would appear the name is used completely out of context, possibly without any understanding of its origin. Baal was not present on Mt. Carmel, as attested to in 1Kings and as far as Elijah and Yahweh were concerned, was a false god who simply didn’t exist.

So there you go, Beelzebub doesn’t seem to be the devil either. So if he’s not Lucifer (can’t be, that’s a fourth century Latin noun that means “Venus”), Satan (can’t be, he’s an arch angel, has never been thrown out and still has a job to do) or Beelzebub (can’t be, he doesn’t exist), then who the hell is he?

Notes and references:

(1) A History of God. From Abraham to the present, the 4000- year quest for God; by  Karen Armstrong

Atlas of Empires; by Karen Farrington

TalkOrigins

The NIV Study Bible

Online NIV Study Bible

BibleGateway for various versions and translations.

3:24 PM - 21/10/2006 - post comment

John Howard?

Sorry, plonka, but I just couldn't resist that...

snowy - 3:50 PM - 21/10/2006

Lol

No, you make a valid point Snowy...:)

Anonymous - 4:36 PM - 21/10/2006

John Howard

Hahaha - nice one, but there are so many valid candidates to choose from.

ajscanlan - 4:46 PM - 22/10/2006

Howard

I think it's the eyebrows that convey the impression. They seem to have a life of their own. I wonder...If we cut them off like "Hell Boy" does with his horns, will he stop using his power for nastiness?

plonka - 7:40 PM - 22/10/2006

I see what you mean, Plonka

Samson lost his strength after having a haircut. Howard has no hair, but I guess an eyebrow cut is the next best thing.

But you ask if it will mean he loses his nastiness.

Sadly, no...

Anonymous - 8:05 PM - 22/10/2006

Seems I can now only post Anonymously.

Last one was me, Snowy. But you probably knew that...

Anonymous - 8:09 PM - 22/10/2006

Comments

That's interesting. I have to login every time I try to post to yours Snowy. Despite the fact I'm already logged in...

plonka - 10:37 PM - 22/10/2006

RE the devil etc

RE ted: (just to add to what you said)

The tablets of Ras Shamra predate the jewish talmund and tanakh and the christian bible and suggest that the jewish religion had its origin in what is know known as Syria.

The oldest examples of ancient hebrew writing are to be found in the Ras Shamra Tablets which date from the 15th century BCE. Ras Shamra is the modern name of the ancient city Ugarit which today would be located in Syria.

The archives of Ugarit have yielded literally thousands of tablets containing several diverse languages and types of literature. They are significant because they are literary forms common to both Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew.

Philological study has identified language and literary forms common to texts from Ra Shamra and biblical texts, which suggests that the Israelite religion, rather than being the product of divine guidance, was adapted from surrounding pagan religions.

The Ra Shamra tablets suggest that the gods of ancient Ugarit were metamophosed into the hebrew god.

El was a Canaanite deity, and later a word meaning god in general, and then God.
El was the widely recognized God of all the Canaanite people and his name is coupled with Yah in some Proto-Canaanite inscriptions.
It was also written as Yah, El Yah, Yahh, and Yahu.
Yah, (Yam) was a Canaanite deity, and cognate to Yahweh.
These names were later taken to refer to names referring to Hadad, another Canaanite deity, by the epiphet Baal, meaning lord.
In later times these names were censored and Baal was replaced with Bosheth, meaning "shameful one. "
Ba'al became the symbol of evil synonymous with the christian version of satan.

So, the Ras Shamra refer to EL, El Yah, Yahweh and Ba'al. These ancient Canaanite titles were metamorphosed and/or assimilated into the hebrew god, Yahweh.

In ancient civilizations it was common to assimilate deities, in order to create a more powerful god, and to staunch opposition from other gods/deities.

If Yahweh is all of these there is no need for the Canaanite gods to exist. This process is known as religious assimilation.

EXAMPLES OF THIS IN BIBLICAL TEXT

El is also the name of God used in many of the Psalms for Yahweh. In 1 Kings 22:19-22 we read of Yahweh meeting with his heavenly council. This is the very description of heaven which one finds in the Ugaritic texts. For in those texts the "sons of god" are the sons of El.

Other deities worshipped at Ugarit were El Shaddai, El Elyon, and El Berith. All of these names are applied to Yahweh by the writers of the Old Testament.

One of the most interesting of these lesser deities, Asherah, plays a very important role in the Old Testament.

There she is called the wife of Baal; but she is also known as the consort of Yahweh. That Yahwists worshipped Asherah until the 3rd century BEFORE Christ is well known from the Elephantine Papyri. Thus, for many in ancient Israel, Yahweh, like Baal, had the SAME consort.

Baal is described as the "rider on the clouds" in KTU 1.3 II 40. Interestingly enough, this description is also used of Yahweh in Psalm 68:5.

There is also one Ugaritic text which indicates that Yahweh was viewed as another son of El. KTU 1.1 IV 14 says: "The name of the son of god, Yahweh." This text indicates that Yahweh was known at Ugarit, though not as the Lord but as one of the many sons of El.

Also, one of the most famous of the lesser deities at Ugarit was a chap named Dan’il. There is little doubt that this figure corresponds to the Biblical Daniel; while predating him by several centuries.

This has led many Old Testament scholars to suggest that the Daniel in the bible was modeled on him. The bible also stole the idea of the leviathan, which is mentioned first in the Ras Shamra tablets.


The Names of God http://www.lib.byu.edu/~imaging/negev/Names.html
Theophory in the Bible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_referring_to_El

beepbeepitsme - 10:57 AM - 23/10/2006

It's OK now, plonka

I cleaned out my whitepages cookies in Firefox, logged back on, and everything's fine now with comments. Which is what Marcel told me to do in the first place, but I didn't clean out the login cookies, and apparently that was the problem, as there were two login cookies for some reason.

But then, maybe it was Beezlebub getting his own back on me...aka John Howard...

snowy - 11:05 AM - 23/10/2006

History

Exccelent stuff Beep, thanks...:-) Just to add some more... Asherah is also known as "the mother of Gods", hence the claim of being El's wife as well. They got around a bit these gods, didn't they?

Here was I thinking that a history of the devil would be easy to plot. But there seems to be more twists and turns in the story than Poirot could hope for in a lifetime...:(

plonka - 11:52 AM - 23/10/2006

Untitled Comment

RE:" Here was I thinking that a history of the devil would be easy to plot. But there seems to be more twists and turns in the story than Poirot could hope for in a lifetime...:( "

Yeah, the names have been mixed, amalgamated, metamorphosed and assimilated, to hide the "god tracks."

The destruction and assimilation of previous godheads was a common way to claim ownership of the "new god" or the new religion.

Another way was to base your religion on a previous one and claim legitimacy by attaching your religion to an accepted religion and altering the godhead.

This is what christianity did when it alligned with judaism. And islam attached itself to them both.

The evolution of religions is interesting.

beepbeepitsme - 4:04 PM - 23/10/2006

MMM

I don't know if any of you listen to "The Spoon Man" on "Triple MMM" (he's excellent listening), but thanks to all this research on the devil and various gods, I just managed to win the singlet in the quiz...:-)

I got the last question which was "Who is the Greek God of the sun?" It was unfair really...:)

Edited by plonka on 23/10/2006 at 7:59 AM

plonka - 11:05 PM - 23/10/2006

Spoonman?

Congrats on the singlet.

I have no idea who the Spoonman is. I just thought he was the central character in a song from Soundgarden's excellent Superunknown album of the mid 90's.

This is what happens when you stop listening to commercial radio. Willingly, I mean.

dikkii - 12:25 PM - 24/10/2006

Easter

I enjoyed that Dikkii, ta...:)

plonka - 1:24 PM - 24/10/2006

Spooning

One of my friends highly recommended this guy to me some time ago: "you'd love this guy, he's just like you."

I'm not sure how accurate that statement is, as I've only managed about a 10 minute listen thus far - I don't listen to much radio, you see.

Congrats on winning the comp Ted. Is there anywhere we can download the show from? The Greek God of the Sun? Jesus, even I know that one.

ajscanlan - 6:15 PM - 24/10/2006

Jesus? Wrong moron.

I just realised the last line of my post was unintentionally hilarious. Yes, I know Jesus wasn't the Greek God of the Sun; stop laughing at me.

Then again, didn't Jesus have loads of fun-happy magical power? Maybe he was Apollo in a previous life.

ajscanlan - 6:20 PM - 24/10/2006

Spoony

Well I reckon he's pretty good. Irreverent, topical, political and as far as I can tell, an atheist. I'm not a metal head like you guys so I reckon MMM play some half way decent rock'n'roll too. My 15yr old boy reckons he's brilliant which is how I got into him...

Some nights are a bit lame, but only because of the quality of the callers. We're talking commercial, pop radio here, so don't expect to much there. I like his "free for all Thursday" where you can talk about anything that gets your goat. He'll let you know what he thinks too, either back you or shoot you down but if you decide to be just plain stupid, well look out...:-)

He's actually a quite well respected journo and among other things worked on the republican thing a while back. I think he was on the council that thrashed out the format we had the referendum for, and from what I've heard him say about it, he thinks it could have been a lot better too...

The reason I rang him in the first place was because about 20 callers couldn't name the computer in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Oddessy 2001. It was giving me the irrits something fierce...

Edited by plonka on 24/10/2006 at 4:09 AM

plonka - 7:18 PM - 24/10/2006

The show...

Ooops, sorry Adam I forgot to mention. You can download a pod-cast of "the best bits" from Triple M...

plonka - 8:39 AM - 25/10/2006