The Old Testament’s War on Baalism

The Baal Prophets are slaughtered after their encounter with Elijah.

The false god Baal infiltrated the thoughts and devotion of ancient Israel throughout the nation’s existence. Baal mythology permeated from the Canaanite religion, which incorporated a family of gods. The period of influence spanned from the period of the judges until the time of the Babylonian exile. The Canaanite myth was a persistent plague for God’s covenant people. Consequently, Scripture appropriately addresses the false, impotent god of Baal in the Old Testament, with perhaps its most notable interaction in 1 Kings 18, where Elijah and Baal’s prophets face off.

Before analyzing Elijah’s conflict with Baal’s prophets, it’s proper to understand Baalism at a foundational level. The Old Testament provides a record of Baal, but a more comprehensive understanding is found in the Ras Shamra texts discovered in 1929. Not only do the texts provide deep insights, but they also corroborate the Old Testament record. Historical data indicate that Baal was one of the primary Canaanite gods, associated with storms and fertility. Another Canaanite god, Asherah, is connected to Baal in Scripture; Asherah is the designation given to his goddess counterpart in the Old Testament. The Baal-Ashera duo would become important to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Furthermore, according to the Old Testament, Baal was worshipped in many communities and exerted widespread influence. Often, places were named after the god. Just a few examples include: Baal-berith ("covenant Baal"), who was worshipped at Shechem after the death of Gideon (Judges 8:33; 9:4); Baal-hamon ("lord of abundance or wealth") is linked with a vineyard belonging to Solomon (Song of Songs 8:11), and Baal-peor ("Baal of Peor") was the god of the mountains of Moab. Of note, Israel was involved in this Moabite cult, and 24,000 were killed by the Lord (Num 25:1-9; Dt 4:3). Unfortunately, Baal would be a major distraction for Israel as they would turn away from the true God and chase the pagan deity on numerous occasions.

Consequently, Yahweh and His writers addressed Baalism throughout the Old Testament because of its influence. These interactions give context to Elijah’s experience with Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal; the Israel nation was susceptible to the perceived benefits of Baalism (cf. Judg. 2:11, 13; 3:7; 6:25-32; 8:33; 10:6, 10; 1 Sam. 7:4; 12:10). Yahweh responded in kind to this threat through His mighty acts as recorded in Scripture, and He affirmed His superiority to Baal in efforts to win the hearts of His covenant people. Interestingly, a few passages in the Old Testament describe Yahweh and His power in Baal-like fashion. Many of His miraculous acts paralleled Baal's alleged works and demonstrated that Yahweh controls the elements of weather and possesses authority over everything, not Baal.

Elijah’s Confrontation with Baalism

Unfortunately, Baal would become a centerpiece under King Ahab’s rule in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ahab married Jezebel, a Phoenician, who introduced the Baal-Ashera cult. Baalism became the semi-official religion of Israel and nearly annihilated true worship of Yahweh. As with typical Baal worship, fertility was sought from the false god, and inducing the desired outcomes involved immorality between people and temple prostitutes.

Furthermore, the incorporation of Baal was aggressive and far-reaching. This reality is demonstrated as follows: 1) Jezebel installed state prophets for Baal and Ashera (1 Kings 18:19); 2) Jezebel eventually slaughtered true prophets of Yahweh (1 Kings 18:4;19:10); 3) there was only a small remnant of true believers (1 Kings 19:18); and 4) Scripture devotes seven chapters to Ahab's reign, marking the impact of his rule. The result of this dependence on Baal provoked God to send a drought across the land. Not only was Yahweh displaying Baal’s impotence through the draught, but He would use the prophet Elijah to make the point publicly and in dramatic fashion.

As with Scripture’s other polemics against Baalism, Elijah’s encounter with the religion would follow a similar pattern by using the cult’s very concepts and framework against the false god. In 1 Kings 17:1-7, after Yahweh essentially challenges Baal via Elijah’s proclamation of a drought, God orders Elijah to go into the Jordan Valley, where he would be fed by Ravens. This event showed God’s sovereignty and His ability to provide, even during a drought that Baal could not resolve. In 1 Kings 17:8-24, Elijah finds himself in Zarephath, a city committed to Baal, where he instructs a widow to make a small loaf of bread using her remaining flour and oil. Yahweh enables the flour and oil to sustain without end until the conclusion of the drought. The event displays God’s power and can be construed as a rebuke of Baalism and its promise for agricultural fertility. Afterward, the widows’ son falls ill and stops breathing, and Yahweh revives him. The record shows that Yahweh is the sustainer of everything, including life. Alternatively, the texts demonstrate that Baal has no control over life or death.

Thus, God then orchestrates the showdown between His prophet and Baal’s prophets. The text specifically rebukes Baal in a grand fashion (1 Kings 18). The prophets of Baal unsuccessfully try to provoke their god to send fire down on the altar in a ridiculous pagan display. Elijah then prays to Yahweh, and the Lord promptly sends fire down from the heavens to consume the sacrifice. In a harsh rebuttal of Baalism, the Lord’s fire consumes all that it comes in contact with. 1 Kings 8:38 states, “Then the fire of Yahweh fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”  This total and complete consumption exposes the false god’s inability to control lightning or fire.

But the polemic against Baal in Elijah’s story does not end with the defeat of Baal’s prophets. In 1 Kings 19:9b-18, Yahweh demonstrates to Elijah that He is the ultimate controller of everything, but He is a “gentle whisper.” Yahweh is not in the wind, the earth quaking, or the fire. He is not in the violent “weather-god displays" like Baal. Contrarily, Yahweh is quietly at work, orchestrating His plan through His people. Hence, the Lord's disposition differs tremendously from the concepts of Baal.

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1 Kings 19:9-18

Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, pulled down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

 So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” And behold, Yahweh was passing by! And a great and strong wind was tearing up the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. Then after the earthquake a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a thin gentle whisper. Now it happened that when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Then he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, pulled down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

 And Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and you will arrive and anoint Hazael king over Aram;  and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. And it will be that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”