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•BAAL Lord. (1.) The name appropriated to the principal male God of the Phoenicians. It is found in several places in the plural BAALIM (Judges 2:11; 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jeremiah 2:23; Hos. 2:17). Baal is identified with Molech (Jeremiah 19:5). It was known to the Israelites as Baal-peor (Numbers 25:3; Deuteronomy 4:3), was worshipped till the time of Samuel (1 Sam 7:4), and was afterwards the religion of the ten tribes in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 16:31-33; 18:19, 22). It prevailed also for a time in the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 8:27; comp. 11:18; 16:3; 2 Chronicles 28:2), till finally put an end to by the severe discipline of the Captivity (Zephaniah 1:4-6). The priests of Baal were in great numbers (1 Kings 18:19), and of various classes (2 Kings 10:19). Their mode of offering sacrifices is described in 1 Kings 18:25-29. The sun-God, under the general title of Baal, or “Lord,” was the chief object of worship of the Canaanites. Each locality had its special Baal, and the various local Baals were summed up under the name of Baalim, or “lords.” Each Baal had a wife, who was a colourless reflection of himself.
(2.) A Benjamite, son of Jehiel, the progenitor of the Gibeonites (1 Chronicles 8:30; 9:36).
(3.) The name of a place inhabited by the Simeonites, the same probably as Baal-ath-beer (1 Chronicles 4:33; Joshua 19:8).
•BAALAH mistress; city. (1.) A city in the south of Judah (Joshua 15:29), elsewhere called Balah (Joshua 19:3) and Bilhah (1 Chronicles 4:29). Now Khurbet Zebalah.
(2.) A city on the northern border of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:10), called also Kirjath-jearim, q.v. (15:9; 1 Chronicles 13:6), now Kuriet-el-Enab, or as some think, ‘Erma.
(3.) A mountain on the north-western boundary of Judah and Dan (Joshua 15:11).