Baal (Person)
1:
BAAL (PERSON) [Heb ba˓al (בַּעַל )]. This name is shared by 2 people in the Hebrew Bible, both preexilic figures mentioned only in 1 Chronicles. The name’s interpretation is debated: some understand it as a reference to the Syro-Canaanite deity Baal (IPN 120–22), while others claim that ba˓al is “master, ” and is an appellation of YHWH (Gray 1896:141–46). Each of these interpretations is based on different understandings of preexilic Israelite religion, especially the extent to which it was monotheistic, polytheistic, or syncretistic. The evidence is inconclusive; according to 2 Sam 5:20 a place was named Baal-Perazim, “Baal has broken through” because “the LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a bursting flood, ” and according to 1 Chr 12:6—Eng 12:5 one of David’s heroes was named Bealiah (bĕ ˓alyâ) which may fit either “Baal is Yah(weh)” or “Yahweh is the master.” The name of one of David’s heroes alternates between Beeliada, b˓lyd˓ “Baal knows” or “attends to” (1 Chr 14:7) and Eliada, ˒lyd˓ “God knows” or “attends to” (2 Sam 5:16; 1 Chr 3:8). This interchange could either suggest that Baal is being used as an appellation of YHWH, who is “master, ” or that among certain groups, the deities Baal and YHWH were syncretistically identified, a process that is strongly suggested by Hosea, especially 2:18—Eng 2:16 (“And in that day, says the lord, you will call me, ‘my husband, ’and no longer will you call me, ‘my Baal.’” ). Whether or not the personal name Baal is a pagan theophoric name depends on the extent to which ancient Israel was polytheistic; Kaufmann (1972) and more recently Tigay (AIR, 157–94) claim that preexilic Israel was not polytheistic, while Smith (1971:13–56) and others (e.g., Freedman AIR, 315–35) claim that it was.
Other biblical names have the element Baal in them (TPNAH, 54–63). These names are from the period of Saul and David, and one of the editors of the book of Kings has changed the Baal element in them to bōšet, “shame.” Names with the element Baal are also attested to 5 times for the later preexilic period in the extrabiblical epigraphic corpus, 4 times in the Samaria ostraca, and once in an inscription from Mesad Hashavyahu (Tigay 1986:65–66). None of these attestations clarify whether the element ba˓al refers to the divinity or should be rendered “master, ” as an appellation for YHWH.
1. A Reubenite according to the genealogy of 1 Chr 5:5. This genealogy lists the descendents of Joel, whose exact relationship to Reuben is not known. According to v 6, Baal’s son Beerah was exiled to Assyria by Tiglath-pileser III, in the 2d half of the 8th century b.c.e. However, “son” in these genealogies often indicates a linear descendent, rather than a “son” of the next generation, so it is difficult to date when this Baal lived. The presence of the potentially problematic name Baal within this genealogy probably attests to its antiquity (Williamson Chronicles NCBC, 85). The genealogy in vv 4–5 shares the names Joel and Shimaiah/Shimei/Shema with the Reuben genealogy in v 8. Verse 8 also contains the name Bela (bela˓), which is nearly identical with Baal (ba˓al). Furthermore, the Peshitta to v 5 reads Bela (bl˓) for Baal (b˓l), and this reading is favored by some scholars (Richter 1932:130). Thus, the genealogies in vv 4–5 and in v 8 are variants of each other, and, as is typical of genealogical fluidity (Johnson 1969; Wilson 1977), one tradition records the name of the descendent of Joel as Baal, while another lists him as Bela.
2. According to 1 Chr 8:30 and 9:36, a Benjaminite who was not the firstborn son of Gibeah and whose descendents later moved to Jerusalem (8:32 and 9:38; Demsky 1971:17). The use of a Baal name with a Benjaminite is especially interesting because the relatively infrequent names compounded with Baal are found with three members of the family of Saul, a Benjaminite. On the repetition of the Benjaminite genealogy in 1 Chronicles 8 and 9, see AHAZ.
Bibliography
Demsky, A. 1971. The Genealogy of Gibeon (1 Chronicles 9:35–44): Biblical and Epigraphic Considerations. BASOR 202:16–23.
Gray, G. B. 1896. Studies in Hebrew Proper Names. London.
Johnson, M. 1969. The Purpose of the Biblical Genealogies. Cambridge.
Kaufmann, Y. 1972. The Religion of Israel from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile. Trans. Moshe Greenberg. New York.
Richter, G. 1932. Zu den Geschlechtregistern 1 Chronik 2–9. ZAW 50:130–41.
Smith, M. 1971. Palestinian Parties and Politics that Shaped the Old Testament. New York, NY.
Tigay, J. H. 1986. You Shall Have No Other Gods. HSS 31. Atlanta.
Wilson. 1977. Genealogy and History in the Biblical World. New Haven.
Marc Z. Brettler
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:549). New York: Doubleday.
2:
BAAL (Person)
1. Reubenite, the son of Reaiah and the father of Beerah (1 Chr 5:5).
2. Benjaminite and one of the ten sons born to Jeiel, the father of Gibeon, by Maacah his wife. His brother was Kish, the father of Saul (1 Chr 8:30; 9:36).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (135). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
3:
Baal (Heb. ba˓al) (PERSON)
1. A Reubenite and descendant of Joel who lived before the deportation of the 10 northern tribes (1 Chr. 5:5).
2. A Benjaminite, the fourth son of Jeiel, a Gibeonite ancestor of Saul (1 Chr. 8:30; 9:36).
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (135). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
