Baal, the Sun God of the Canaanites

     Before the Hebrews brought Yahweh to Jerusalem, and thus, the religion that would become Judaism, there were several different gods and pantheons worshipped, as outlined in our reading from Jerusalem, One Reading, Three Faiths, by Karen Armstrong. One among those was "Shalem, its founder-god", who was worshipped extensively during the Armana period (Armstrong 14). However, another worth mentioning and understanding was Baal, "worshipped by the people of Ugarit on the Syrian coast" (Armstrong 14). He was not the chief god of the Syrian pantheon - that was his father, El, who would eventually be merged with Yahweh as the Hebrew God Elohim (Anderson) - but his significance is felt in how culture operated at the time and how it differed from what came after it.

    Myths including Baal were numerous because unlike El (a remote figure who normally stuck to his own palace), Baal was a much more active participant in the Syrian mythos. Baal's mythical feats included battling the seven-headed sea monster Lotan (later "Leviathan"), battling Yam-Nahar, the god of the seas and rivers, and battling Mot, the god of death, fertility, and drought. Ultimately Baal's feats were for the sake of battling great odds to overcome lawlessness and create a fruitful Earth that people could live on - seen most of all in his main role, which was to bring lightning and rain from the skies to seed the Earth with water (Armstrong 15). 

    The significance of Baal, while he ultimately faded compared to El, is found in how his feats reflect the culture of the time. The people of Ugarit built a temple for him to celebrate his victory, which was built by the hard labor of the Ugarit people and was seen as resulting in Baal's presence among them, which was seen as what ensured Baal's "divine fertility" would continue (Armstrong 17). Similarly, the king of the Ugarit people was seen as a representative of Baal and was expected to provide for his people and ensure the welfare of widows, orphans, and the disadvantaged. This system, "built on the backs of the poor", reflected cultural norms of "creativity and order dependent on the subjugation of another", which in turn reflected the stories of Baal's battles; these cultural norms did not persist when the Hebrews came and thus Baal's massive presence faded (Armstrong 18-19).

    I was interested in learning a little more about Baal, so I decided to dig for images of historical figurines that depict him. One announcement by the Biblical Archaeology Society discusses a "smiting god" figure (referring to the pose the god is taking) believed to depict Baal, discovered at Khirbet el-Rai - very much in Canaan territory and not too far from Jerusalem. As written in the announcement, "The decorated pottery was of both Canaanite and Philistine origins. It was from the 12th century B.C.E." (Laden). While the pottery itself has degraded and its arms appear to be missing, this gives us some idea of how Baal was viewed by the people of Canaan in his heyday of worship.

Bibliography

Anderson, J. S. (2017). El, Yahweh, and Elohim: The Evolution of God in Israel and its Theological Implications. The Expository Times, 128(6), 261-267. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014524616672624

Laden, J. (2020, April 22). Canaanite god Baal found in Israel. Biblical Archaeology Society. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/canaanite-god-baal-found-in-israel/