Jehoram, the seventh Judean king, her wicked influence established Tyrian Baalism among the royal family in Judah. Even reforms at the beginning of the reign of Athaliah’s grandson, King Jehoash, and those later by King Hezekiah, did not effect permanent removal of Baal worship. (2 Ki. 11:18; 18:4) Hezekiah’s son Manasseh rebuilt the very high places that his father had destroyed. (2 Ki. 21:3) While apparently most of the Judean kings were contaminated with Baal worship, Manasseh was excessive in his pursuit of this degraded cult. (2 Ki. 21:9-11) King Manasseh’s later reform and even the extensive purge by his grandson, King Josiah, did not bring about a permanent return to true worship. Punishment by exile and desolation of the land was the result of this thorough contamination with false worship.—2 Chron. 33:10-17; 2 Ki. 23:4-27; Jer. 32:29.

Jeremiah carrying on his prophetic work from the days of Josiah to the captivity to Babylon, denounced Israel for degrading herself by Baal worship, likening Israel to an adulterous wife who prostituted herself under every luxuriant tree and on every high place, committing adultery with stones and trees, and forgetting Jehovah, “the husbandly owner of you people.” (Jer. 2:20-27; 3:9, 14) After the captivity to Babylon and the return of the Jews to Palestine, Baalism is not mentioned in the Bible as being practiced by the Israelites.—See CANAAN, CANAANITE; GODS AND GODDESSES.

BAALAH

(Baʹal·ah) [mistress, possessor].

1. A city on the N border of Judah, also called Kiriath-baal but better known as Kiriath-jearim.—Josh. 15:9, 10, 60; 18:14; 1 Chron. 13:6; see KIRIATH-JEARIM.

2. A mountain in the NW corner of Judah, between the towns of Shikkeron and Jabneel, forming part of the N boundary of Judah’s territory. (Josh. 15:11) It may possibly be identified with the hill of Mughar just N of the Valley of Sorek and about seven miles (11 kilometers) in from the Mediterranean coast.

3. A town in the Negeb region of Judah (Josh. 15:29), evidently referred to as Balah in Joshua 19:3, and Bilhah in 1 Chronicles 4:29. It was subsequently allotted to the tribe of Simeon as an enclave city. Its specific location is unknown, but evidently it lay to the SE of Beer-sheba.

BAALATH

(Baʹal·ath) [mistress].

A border town of the original territory of Dan, mentioned at Joshua 19:44, 45 as being between Gibbethon and Jehud. It is evidently the same place that Solomon later included in his rebuilding program. (2 Chron. 8:5, 6) Its identification geographically is uncertain; Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Book VIII, chap. VI, par. 1) refers to it along with Beth-horon as not far from Gezer, another fortified city.—1 Ki. 9:17, 18.

BAALATH-BEER

(Baʹal·ath-beʹer) [mistress of a well].

An enclave city of Simeon within the territorial limits of Judah. (Josh. 19:1, 8) Also called “Ramah of the south” (or Negeb), it is evidently referred to simply as Baal at 1 Chronicles 4:33 and may be the same as the “Ramoth of the south” at 1 Samuel 30:27. The references to it would place it S of Beer-sheba, well into the Negeb.

BAAL-BERITH

(Baʹal-beʹrith) [lord of a covenant; alternately, El-berith, God of a covenant].

The Baal of Shechem, whom the Israelites began worshiping after the death of Judge Gideon. (Judg. 8:33) The designation “Baal-berith” may denote that this particular Baal was believed to watch the keeping of covenants.

A kind of treasury was evidently attached to the house or temple of Baal-berith at Shechem. (Judg. 9:4) In connection with the grape harvest, the Shechemites apparently held a festival in honor of Baal-berith, climaxed by a kind of sacrificial meal in the temple of their god. It was in the temple of Baal-berith on the occasion of their eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech, likely under the influence of wine, that Gaal incited the Shechemites to revolt against King Abimelech. (Judg. 9:27-29) Later, when threatened by Abimelech, the landowners of the tower of Shechem (Migdal-Shechem, AT) sought refuge in the vault of the house of El-berith (Baal-berith), only to perish in the conflagration when Abimelech and his men set the vault on fire.—Judg. 9:46-49.

BAALE-JUDAH

See KIRIATH-JEARIM.

BAAL-GAD

(Baʹal-gad) [lord of good fortune].

A town in the valley plain of Lebanon at the base of Mount Hermon, on its W side. It is used to describe the most northerly point of Joshua’s conquest of the land of Canaan, as compared with the southerly point of Mount Halak in the Negeb. (Josh. 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) The exact location is uncertain, but it is generally identified with Hasbeya in the Wadi et-Teim or a site nearby.

BAAL-HAMON

(Baʹal-haʹmon) [lord (or owner) of abundance, or, of wealth].

A place mentioned at Song of Solomon 8:11 as the location of a productive vineyard of King Solomon. No indication is given as to its site. While many view it as a literal location, some suggest that it is used in this poetic writing figuratively to represent the realm over which Solomon ruled and which produced great wealth.—Compare 1 Kings 4:20, 21.

BAAL-HANAN

(Baʹal-haʹnan) [Baal is gracious].

1. Son of Achbor; the seventh of eight kings of Edom who ruled “before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.”—Gen. 36:31, 38, 39; 1 Chron. 1:49, 50.

2. The Gederite whom David made chief “over the olive groves and the sycamore trees that were in the Shephelah.”—1 Chron. 27:28, 31.

BAAL-HAZOR

(Baʹal-haʹzor) [lord of the enclosure, or, owner of a village].

A place near “Ephraim” (perhaps the city of Ephrain(m) mentioned at 2 Chronicles 13:19; compare John 11:54) that served as the site of Absalom’s sheepshearing festival in which he maneuvered the death of his brother Amnon. (2 Sam. 13:23, 28) It is identified with the 3,333-foot (1,016-meter) high mountain Jebel ʽAsur, about four and a half miles (7.2 kilometers) NE of Bethel. There may have been a village by the same name at the base of the mountain. From Baal-hazor Absalom fled to the small kingdom of Geshur, E of the Sea of Galilee.

BAAL-HERMON

(Baʹal-herʹmon) [lord of Hermon, or, of the sacred mountain].

This name appears at Judges 3:3 and 1 Chronicles 5:23. In the first instance it describes a point in the region inhabited by the Sidonians and the Hivites who remained unconquered by the Israelites, and it is here referred to as “Mount Baal-hermon.” It is usually identified with Mount Hermon itself, but may refer to the Hermon range in general or to some portion thereof. At 1 Chronicles 5:23 “Baal-hermon” is used along with Senir and Mount Hermon and the region of Bashan to outline the territory occupied by the half tribe of Manasseh. While it may refer to a town or place near Mount Hermon, it may likewise be a designation for the mountainous region of Hermon.—See HERMON.

BAALIS

(Baʹa·lis) [perhaps, son of delight].

King of Ammon, who reportedly sent Ishmael to murder Governor Gedaliah of Judah, 607 B.C.E.—Jer. 40:14.

BAAL-MEON

(Baʹal-meʹon) [lord or master of the habitation].

A prominent town on the tableland of N Moab assigned to the tribe of Reuben along with Nebo, Kiriathaim and other towns of the region.