In the spring of 1928 an Arab peasant working in his
field on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean struck his plow against a slab
of solid rock. He discovered that the loosened rock concealed a decrepit
stairway leading deep into the earth. Fifty feet in a vaulted tomb lie hidden were
a number of artifacts and metal vessels. Beyond these ancient artifacts lay a
wavering city of the dead. The articles dated back nearly 4000 years. It also
resurrected for a brief thought-provoking moment an ancient deity Baal who,
some thirty centuries before the time of Christ, was worshiped throughout the
entire Middle Eastern world.
The excavation site became an open field displaying
bodies of the ancient dead. The clank of shovels, the careful shifting of the
earth, the silent, patient brushing of the artifacts was like a litany dedicated
to the memory of Baal, the god to the Babylonians, Mercury or Hermes to the
Greeks, Jupiter to the Romans, and Adonis to the Phoenicians. But to the
Canaanites, he was Baal, god of the sun and sex.
In Canaan his influence was so great that many minor
deities were known as Baalim to prove
the god was everywhere at once. His
symbol was in the shape of a phallus displayed in the places of worship. It was
spoken of as “Baal” as though the god himself was there. The Semitic word, baal, meant husband, possessor, or lord
and prince. His symbol was found in every home, public place and temple.
Mothers named their children after him; names like Hannibal (the grace of
Baal), Baal-Sham (the power of Baal), and Asdrubal (Baal is my helper). Cities
dedicated to him were given the names of Baal-Gad, Baal-Parazin, and
Baal-Hana).
The priests of Baal declared that the god first
appeared when a primal universal force called EI, the elemental god, and
Athirate, the goddess of the earth, who holds the ocean in her womb, became the
parents of the gods. Baal was their firstborn and was given the sun for his
throne. Soon the priests decreed that Baal and EI were one and the same, and
that Baal’s consort was Astarte or Ashtoreth. She was known as Aphrodite to the
Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, Nana to the Sumerians, and Venus to her
devotees in Rome. Regardless of her name or place, she was the wife of Baal,
the virgin queen of heaven who bore fruit although she never conceived.
Marble temples and alters honoring Baal and Astarte
glistened on sacred hills throughout the land of Canaan. At the beginning of
spring, when the winds were still, the evening fires burned on hills. With
impassioned ceremonies, the people involved their lives intimately with the
life of the god. The reproductive force was the most powerful and mysterious of
all manifestations. The power of generation was the object of the gods’
devotion, and Baal was its
personification.
Sacred Prostitution
All the land was Baal’s, and the location of smaller
temples and shrines was determined by the phallic character or the proved fertility
of natural plants and objects in the midst which suggested it was here that
Baal dwelled. Here the god’s shrines
were built and fruit trees were planted. Walls were constructed to sanctify
them. The worshippers were restricted in
how far they may enter, only the priests advanced into the inner sanctum where
the young and muscular figure of Baal, hewn out of Granite, set upon a throne
bathed in the light that filtered through an opening to the sky. Adjoining the
temple were courts and chambers for the temple prostitutes, women chosen for
special duties to gain the favor of a god who was best worshiped in the union
of the sexes (When Sex Was Religion).
When a man approached a woman in the court, he
tossed a coin to her and said, “I beseech the goddess Astarte to favor thee,
and Baal to favor me.” The money became a part of the temple treasury, and the
art of prostitution a sacred obligation to be fulfilled.
Throughout the land, the presence of Baal was marked
by pillars or tree stems stuck upright into the ground. Because Baal
impregnated the land by copulation, the ceremonies in his honor were often
imitative sexual acts. The people believed that there was a secret power
waiting to be unleashed through the rite.
Records indicate that the Semitic Canaanites were
industrious, freedom-loving people. Their houses were large with spacious open
yards between. They were great admirers of horses and loved games in which
horses played a major part. They had great knowledge of agriculture and expert
trades people who worked with clay and metal, creating impressive sculptured
pieces in bronze, copper, gold, and silver, always reserving their ablest
talent for creating statues of Baal. Images of Astarte depicted her in the nude,
holding two white doves in her hands, while at her feet a lion and a coiled
serpent lay stretched out submissively.
A thousand years of struggle were to take place
between Baal, god of the sun, and Jehovah, God of destiny, between a god of the
flesh and a God of the spirit. During these years, the Canaanites and the
Israelites intermingled, each often worshiping the other’s god. For a thousand
years the god of sex consistently triumphed and his followers increased. For a
thousand years the cult Baal worked its magic, rewarding its followers with the
joy of life in a productive land. The temples of Omri, Jezebel, and Athaliah flourished.
It was as though the god of fertility lavished his abundant harvests upon the
people to convince them that he was
mightier than Jehovah, that worship to him was honorable, and that a spiritual
power was inherent in the orgasmic rites. So successful was he that there were
Israelites who said, “if the worship of the sun god is an offense to Jehovah,
why does not Jehovah rise up and defeat the great god Baal? There were also
those who, condemning the idolatry turned from the immoral spectacles to the
rituals of their holy faith. They watched and waited to see what the God of
Israel would do.
The faithful now build new alters to honor the God
Jehovah, but in a little while a hymn to Baal echoes again somewhere deep
within the throbbing earth and steals once more into the minds and acts of
people. A voice is heard saying “the great god Baal is dead.” Or did he ever die?
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