the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bible Encyclopedias
Baal-Berith
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or âBiblical Data ("the Ba'al of the Covenant"):
A form of Ba'al-worship prevailing in Israel (Judges 8:33), and particularly in Shechem (Judges 9:4). The term "Ba'al" is shown by the equivalent "El-berith" (Judges 9:46, R. V.) to mean "the God of the Covenant." In considering what the covenant (or covenants) was over which this Ba'al presided, it must not necessarily be concluded that certain definite treaties of the time were alone referred to, such as the Canaanitic league of which Shechem was the head, or the covenant between Israel and the people of Shechem (Genesis 34). The term is too abstract to have been occasioned by a single set of conditions. Moreover, the temple of the god (Judges 9:4,46) in Shechem implies a permanent establishment. Probably the name and the cult were wide-spread and ancient (see BAALIM), though it happens to have been mentioned only in connection with the affairs of Shechem.
âIn Rabbinical Literature:
The idol Baalberith, which the Jews worshiped after the death of Gideon, was identical, according to the Rabbis, with Baal-zebub, "the ba'al of flies," the god of Ekron (2 Kings 1:2). He was worshiped in the shape of a fly; and so addicted were the Jews to his cult (thus runs the tradition) that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. Baal-zebub is called Baal-berith because such Jews might be said to make a covenant (Hebr. "Berit") of devotion with the idol, being unwilling to part with it for a single moment (Shab. 83b; comp. also Sanh. 63b). According to another conception, Baal-berith was an obscene article of idolatrous worship, possibly a simulacrum priapi (Yer. Shab. 9:11d; 'Ab. Zarah 3:43a). This is evidently based on the later significance of the word "berit," meaning circumcision.
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Baal-Berith'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/b/baal-berith.html. 1901.
