Baal: the Ups and the Downs

    The rise of Baal as a true “Lord” in the Canaanite culture introduced a new age amongst these people after worshipping El as the chief God. The Canaanite’s worship of Baal stemmed from a belief in myths of Baal defeating treacherous mythical foes, namely Yam-Nahar - the sea and river god - and Mot - the god of death and famine. In a long, back-and-forth war, Baal finally claimed a victory and was able to get permission from El to build himself a palace and truly become a Lord. That is, Baal was finally able to rule over both gods and men (Armstrong 15-16).

    The people of Ugarit, the area that Baal controlled, ensured that their lives revolved around worshipping Baal and relying on him to grant the people prosperity. Rituals and festivals dominated the lives of the people of Ugarit. Worshipping Baal set the social order for Ugarit which ended up being very valuable. The area’s economy and structure flourished for a time. There were some negatives though. The people accepted, through the myths of Baal, that a wealthy and powerful minority would enjoy the work and toil of the large peasant minority. Eventually, the peasants grew tired of not being able to reap what they had sewed. This proved to collapse this particular economy in the thirteenth century BCE (Armstrong 19).

    Interestingly enough, according to Biblical texts, Baal’s significance lasted many more centuries after this particular economic collapse. Baal’s reign notably took a massive blow sometime in the eighth century BCE when Elijah defeated Baal. In the 1st Kings, Elijah, a prophet chosen by the God of Israel, challenged the four hundred and fifty profits of Baal to decide who had the truer God. The wager would be decided based on which god could set fire to a sacrificial offering each camp had made. The story goes that Baal’s multitude of profits practiced rituals from dawn until the time of the evening sacrifice. When Baal failed to answer his profits, Elijah responded by setting up an altar to his God, and almost immediately the God of Israel set fire to the wood of the sacrificial altar. After this, Baal’s profits proclaimed Elijah’s deity as lord, but Elijah had them executed (1 Kings 18:16-45). This event marked a decline in Baal’s influence over the region.