The name Baal means "lord" designating a legal state of ownership or possession. It is the most significant deity in the Old Testament with the exception of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
In the Scriptures, the word "Baal" is employed with reference to: -a husband as owner of his wife instead of a complement to him (Genesis 20); -as landowners (Joshua 24); -as the owners of the nations (Isaiah 16); -as owners of a covenant, literary confederates (Genesis 14); -owners or possessors of tangibles (Exodus 21,22; 2Kings1); -persons of things having something that is characteristic of their nature, manner, occupation, etc (Genesis 49); -a creditor of a debt, literary the owner of a debt (Deuteronomy 15); -given to anger, literary owner of anger (Proverbs 22:24); -as a judicial antagonist, literary owner of the judgment (Isaiah 50); -the possessor of the 2 Horns, literary the owner of the 2 Horns (Daniel 8); -as false gods (Judges 2); -as the Spirit of the Lord (Hosea 2).
In a land dependent upon rain-fed agriculture, given the paramount need for rain and its continuous impact upon the population, the storm-god was the most significant representation of the spirit acting as a deity in the world of the living and manifested like the rain through the daily and ritualistic lives of the individuals. An extension of the concept of the rain is that of fertility.
Baal was represented icono-graphically by a Bull. Myths recorded at length the struggle of Baal in maintaining his power against his nemesis, "death." Baal is represented as a spirit powerful enough to engage "death" in a mythological struggle colliding each other. Then Baal descending into "death" who swallows him and come back again to the living world in the same manner of the agricultural cycle.
The power inherent in a thunderstorm lends itself to the association with warring prowess. Baal is the warrior par excellence expressed by his defeat of the forces of chaos, represented by the mind (sea), and saving order and balance in the spiritual realms where the real judgments takes place.
In the world of the living, the king of a nation which revered him was suppose to imitate Baal in this aspect, to protect the mundane societies from the forces of chaos. As a result of this, he is represented as a warrior clutching lightning as a weapon.
A number of elements of the Baal cult are attested in the old Testament. Ecstatic Prophets are depicted in the confrontation of Elijah with 400 Prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel (1King18). The cutting mentioned in the ritual is related to the cult of the dead, as the death of Baal is equated with drought of power.
Baalistic cultic practices deeply affected the spiritual power of Israel. The number of liturgical themes, images, and phrases that were adapted to the theological principles diminished the Truth deeply inscribed in true worship of the God of Israel.
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