[…] site also contains podcasts of reflections on each of the E100 readings (50 Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and 50 New/Second Testament) which give an overview of the content […]
On Genesis 1-2, I came across a text of mine from Seminary days (An Introduction to the Old Testament by Bernhard Anderson). On page 130 he discusses the idea that ‘El was originally a Canaanite deity and that Baal Berith was “Lord of the covenant”. Any thoughts. I really appreciate your site and am using it as a much needed refresher course. Thanks so much.
Basically ‘el is the word for a god, when used as a name in the Canaanite texts from Ugarit it refers especially to the high god. Ba’al is a bit similar the word means lord or master (a woman could use it to speak of/to her husband, or a market trader to a customer) but as a name (in both the Ugaritic texts and the Bible it refers to El’s son (also called Hadad) the storm god of the rains. (See 1 Kings 18.)
Hosea 2 gives a window into how this might cause confusion for Israelites who failed to understand that their “lord” (ba’al) Yahweh was the one and only “power” and thought of him as a god. (See in particular Hos 2:16 [18 in MT] where the term “husband” (‘ish man/husband will substitute for ba’al lord/master).
[…] site also contains podcasts of reflections on each of the E100 readings (50 Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and 50 New/Second Testament) which give an overview of the content […]
[…] E100 […]
On Genesis 1-2, I came across a text of mine from Seminary days (An Introduction to the Old Testament by Bernhard Anderson). On page 130 he discusses the idea that ‘El was originally a Canaanite deity and that Baal Berith was “Lord of the covenant”. Any thoughts. I really appreciate your site and am using it as a much needed refresher course. Thanks so much.
Hi Rick,
Basically ‘el is the word for a god, when used as a name in the Canaanite texts from Ugarit it refers especially to the high god. Ba’al is a bit similar the word means lord or master (a woman could use it to speak of/to her husband, or a market trader to a customer) but as a name (in both the Ugaritic texts and the Bible it refers to El’s son (also called Hadad) the storm god of the rains. (See 1 Kings 18.)
Hosea 2 gives a window into how this might cause confusion for Israelites who failed to understand that their “lord” (ba’al) Yahweh was the one and only “power” and thought of him as a god. (See in particular Hos 2:16 [18 in MT] where the term “husband” (‘ish man/husband will substitute for ba’al lord/master).