Baal

Chemosh

Molech

Sun

Moon

Stars

Golden Calf

Family Idols

Baal

Baal. Name of the most prominent Canaanite deity. As the god of fertility in the Canaanite pantheon (roster of gods), Baal's sphere of influence included agriculture, animal husbandry, and human sexuality... Baal worship became prominent in the northern kingdom of Israel during the days of King Ahab when he married Jezebel of Tyre. It later infiltrated the Kingdom of Judah.

Places for worship of Baal were often high places in the hills consisting of an altar and a sacred tree, stone. or pillar.

In the ugaritic epic material Baal is pictured as descending into the netherworld, the domain of the god Mot. That descent was evidently part of a cycle intended to coincide with the cycle of seasons. In order to bring Baal up from the realm of Mot and thus insure initiation of the fertile seasons, the Canaanites engaged in orgiastic worship that included human sacrifices as well as sexual rites. Sacred prostitutes evidently participated in the autumnal religious ritual.

Chemosh

The national god of the Moabites. He became angry with his people and permitted them to become the vassals of Israel; his anger passed, he commanded Mesha to fight against Israel, and Moabitish independence was reestablished (Moabite Stone, lines 5, 9, 14 et seq.). A king in the days of Sennacherib was called "Chemoshnadab" ("K. B." ii. 90 et seq. ; see Jehonadab). Chemosh was a god developed out of the primitive Semitic mother-goddess Athtar, whose name he bears (Moabite Stone, line 17; compare Barton, "Semitic Origins," iv.). Peake wrongly holds that Ashtar-Chemosh was a deity distinct from Chemosh, while Moore and Bäthgen ("Beiträge zur Semitischen Religionsge. schichte," p. 14) regard "Ashtar" in this name as equivalent to "Astarte," who they believe was worshiped in the temple of Chemosh. "Ashtar" is more probably masculine here, as in South Arabia, and another name for Chemosh, the compound "Ashtar-Chemosh" being formed like "Yhwh-Elohim" or "Yhwh-Sebaoth." There seems to be no good reason for denying that Chemosh was a "baal," and that the names "Baal-maon" (Moabite Stone, line 30) and "Baal-peor" (Num. xxv. 3; Hosea ix. 10) apply to what was practically the same god as Chemosh. The way Mesha brings Baal-maon into his inscription identifies the latter with Chemosh; for when Baal-maon is pleased Chemosh speaks to Mesha (Moabite Stone, lines 30, 31). Whatever differences of conception may have attached to the god at different shrines, there is no adequate reason for doubting the substantial identity of the gods to whom these various names were applied. Hosea ix. 10 is proof that at some period (according to Wellhausen, at the time of the prophet himself) the impure cult of the Semitic goddess was practised at Baal-peor (compare Wellhausen, "Kleine Prophetell"; Nowack's Commentary; and G. A. Smith, "Twelve Prophets," ad loc.). Chemosh, therefore,was in general a deity of the same nature as Baal. On critical occasions a human sacrifice was considered necessary to secure his favor (compare II Kings iii. 27), and when deliverance came, a sanctuary might be built to him (Moabite Stone, line 3). An ancient poem, twice quoted in the Old Testament (Num. xxi. 27-30; Jer. xlviii. 45, 46), regards the Moabites as the children of Chemosh, and also calls them "the people of Chemosh."

The etymology of "Chemosh" is unknown. The name of the father of Mesba, Chemosh-melek ("Chemosh is Malik," or "Chemosh is king"; compare Moabite Stone, line 1), indicates the possibility that Chemosh and Malik (or Moloch) were one and the same deity. Judges xi. 24 has been thought by some to be a proof of this, since it speaks of Chemosh as the god of the Ammonites, while Moloch is elsewhere their god (compare I Kings xi. 7, 33). Several critics rightly regard the statement in Judges as a mistake; but such an error was not unnatural. since both Chemosh and Moloch were developed, in different environments, from the same primitive divinity, and possessed many of the same epithets.

Solomon is said to have built a sanctuary to Chemosh on the Mount of Olives (I Kings xi. 7, 33), which was maintained till the reform of Josiah (II Kings xxiii. 13). This movement by Solomon was no doubt to some extent a political one, but it made the worship of Chemosh a part of the religious life of Israel for nearly 400 years.J. Jr.G. A.

Adrammelech

Sepharvite God.

II Kings 17:31

Anammelech

Sepharvite God.

II Kings 17:31

Ashima

Samaritan Moon Goddess.

II Kings 17:30

Ashtoreth

Canaanite Goddess.

I Kings 11:05

Baal

Canaanite God ("Lord") of fertility, vegitation, and storms.

 I Kings 18:19

Baal-berith

A regional variation/aspect of Baal.

Judges 8:33

Baal-peor

Moabite regional variation/aspect of Baal.

Numbers 25:03

Baal-zebub

Philistine/Ekronian regional variation/aspect of Baal.

Luke 11:19

Baalim

Canaanite Gods ("Lords"), a collective of the different aspects of Baal.

I Kings 18:18

Bel

Assyrian/Babylonian/Sumerian God ("Lord").

Isiah 46:01

Chemosh

Moabite war God.

I Kings 11:07

Dagon

Philistine/Ekronian/Babylonian God of agriculture.

I Samuel 05:02

Diana of the Ephesians

Ephesian moon and nature Goddess, ("Divine/Brilliant").    

Acts 19:35

Jehovah

Hebrew God

Exodus 6:03

Jupiter

Roman God (possibly derived from 'Zeus-pater', Father Zeus).

Acts 14:12

Lucifer

Light-Bearer

 Isiah 14:12

Mercurius

Otherwise known as the Roman God Mercury, God of communication and travel, and messenger of the Gods...which is probably why Paul was called this at Lystra.

 Acts 14:12

Milcom

Ammonite God

I Kings 11:05

Molech

Ammonite God, also called Moloch, most probably Baal-Hammon of Carthage.

I Kings 11:07

Nebo

Assyrian/Babylonian/Chaldean God of wisdom and writing, also called Nabu.    

Isiah 46:01

Nergal

Cuth/Assyrian/Babylonian war and underworld God, also called Meshlamthea.

II Kings 17:30

 Nibhaz

Avites God

II Kings 17:31

 Nisroch

Assyrian God

II Kings 19:37

Rimmon

Babylonian/Syrian storm God involved (as Ramman) with the Deluge, according to Hebrew texts; also known as Ramman/Rammon.  

II Kings 05:18

Succoth-benoth

Babylonian fertility Goddess ("She Who Produces Seed"), also known as Zarpanitu/Zerpanitum.

 II Kings 17:30

 Tammuz

Assyrian/Babylonian God

Ezekial 8:14

Tartak         

Avites God

II Kings 17:31