Bible Study Baal = Terrestrial Master Baal = Divine Master

[Fedusenko]

When did the meaning change from lord (like an English land owner) to the deity? Am I reading it wrong?

 

[stovebolts]

When did the meaning change from lord (like an English land owner) to the deity? Am I reading it wrong?

I would think your reading it backward. First and foremost Baal was part of the Canaanite Pantheon which borrowed heavily from the Assyrians. Both Dagon and Baal were the offspring of El who was married to Asherah. El was the supreme deity.. That is, El was the supreme ruler and solvent head of the pantheon.

 

[Fedusenko]

You think that Baal was first the deity and only later became a owner? What period do you believe it evolved like that? Here is an interesting read on the non-divine usage of the word and its idiomatic usage still used today.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2235-ba-al

 

[stovebolts]

Fed,

As Baal corresponds to the Canaanites within and outside the Biblical texts, it references deity as I have outlined in my previous post. If the Pantheon is of interest to you, I would suggest getting a copy of Ancient Near Eastern Texts by a gentleman named Pritchard. It is a very good composition of ancient writings, including the "Annals of the kings".

Numbers 22:41 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.

Joshua 13:17 Heshbon, and all her cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamothbaal, and Bethbaalmeon

Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.,

Judges 6:25 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

I believe the Jewish source you've cited is Ba'al which does not refer to the Canaanite deity Baal as mentioned above.

 

[Fedusenko]

I hope I didn't sound like I was disputing your post. I was asking for clarity. Thanks for pointing out the distinction between Baal and ba'al. I understand Baal is pronounced like pale with a 'B', but is ba'al pronounced the same or more like bah-ahl? That is more out of curiosity than anything else.

Thanks for the pointer to Ancient Near East Texts. Eventually I may get to studying that topic in depth.

Also, I have not forgotten about our other thread. I have just laid my second computer to rest in the last month and a half. Now I understand why Jesus 'saved' so often...

 

[stovebolts]

hi fed,
I hope I'm not coming across too strong. I tend to write in a direct manner, and unfortunatly you can't hear my inflection. I'm pretty laxadazzy, even if I don't sound like it in writing. I just have a hard time adding all the fluff to sound more paletable at time. You'll get used to it. Anyway, I like the way you think and id like to see you developed your exodus idea.

that was pretty funny about Jesus saves lol! Reminds me of a penny bank in the shape of Jesus with his arms open and it reads, Jesus saves. Lol

what in the world are you doing to your computers? If you are the cause of your system crashes, get vmware workstation and run your stuff on a clone of a master image. That way if you crash, just delete the virtual machine and spawn a new one... Let me know.

I have pritchards ancient near eastern texts. Its amazing! So much in there! It really gives you a snapshot of the culture back then. Of course there is gilgamesh but there is also senacribe's side of the war and there are stories from egypt with the 7 lean years and even a story that parallels Joseph and potepher. Lots and lots of good stuff, even egyptian circumcision. Well with the cost. There is also many creation accounts as well as flood accounts.

have a good weekend.
jeff

 

[Fedusenko]

Ah, we might be more similar than previously thought. I asked because I thought I offended you. I earned a tough skin working in television. Anyways, my computers were both used before I had them. I also do 3d animation so I run my systems fairly hard. That could have been the issue. It could have been that I traced an IP address of a scam email back to an open network cafe in Germany and warned the cafe/network owners that if the customer continued to email me I would contact the authorities. Maybe I rippled the waters too much. I don't know.

I enjoyed reading the first half of the Epic of Gilgimesh. I need to commit myself to finish it. Not like it is long...

 

[stovebolts]

Your good in my book!

I work with VMware but I found something that is free that actually works better for what you're doing. It's VMware Player and it's free unlike VMware Workstation. I use Workstation in an enterprise setting because it ties in with the rest of our architecture. However, Player would be great for home use! and if it crashes, so what! You didn't loose anything!

 

[Fedusenko]

hmmmm.... I will look at it. Thanks!