was in an elevated posture, and sustained a whip; its left hand grasped the thunderbolt. This idolatrous effigy was covered with gold. The hieroglyphical characters which can be traced on the obelisks, of which we have already spoken, and likewise on the remains of other ancient monuments in Egypt, are denominated -and are for ; מַשְׂכִּיּוֹת also, אֶבֶן מַשְׂכִּית,in the writings of Moses bidden by him, on account of their having been made objects of superstitious worship, Lev. xxvi. 1; Numb. xxxiii. 52; comp. Ezek. viii. 7-13. There is no doubt that the men mentioned in Ezek. viii. 7—13, worshipped hieroglyphical representations. The Mehestani considered the sun to be the eye of Ormuz, and next to the Amschaspands, the greatest of all the divinities: indeed they supposed him to be the body, or residence, of one of them, Zend-Avesta, part ii. p. 231. They described the chariot of the sun as being of a white colour, and wreathed with garlands of flowers. The sacred horses were white also, of the Nisean breed, and four in number. The tongue of the chariot, to which they were fastened, was covered with gold, Xenophon, Cyropæd. viii. 3. 6; Zend-Avesta, part ii. p. 264. Amon and Manasses, the predecessors of king Josiah, who lived between 699-642 before Christ; and consequently before the time of Zoroaster, placed a chariot of this kind before the gate of the temple at Jerusalam; which was burnt by the order of Josiah their successor, 2 Kings, xxiii. 11. Such was the religious veneration of the Mehestani for the sun, that they did not pray without turning their faces towards him. They saluted his rising beams with songs of praise, holding in their hands at the same time a barsom, i. e. a bundle of branches taken from the pomegranate tree, the tamarisk, and the palm. Compare Ezek. viii. 16, 17. §. 407. OF OTHER BAALS OR BAALIM. The word Baal, ye, properly signifies a master, lord, or husband. It sometimes occurred in the popular mode of speech for Jehovah himself, Hos. ii. 16. But it is in general the name of the sun, as appeared in the preceding section; or of other false deities; and we, accordingly, find it in the plural form, viz. Baalim,, Judg. ii. 11; iii. 7; viii. 33; x. 6, 10; 1 Sam. vii. 4; xii. 10, etc.; comp. 1 Cor. viii. 5. Many cities were distinguished by bearing the name of some idol deity, that was thus called; for instance, Baal-Phrazim not far from Jerusalem; Baal-Hazor in the tribe of Ephraim; Baal-Thamar in that of Benjamin; Baal-Hermon beyond the Jordan. Who the Baals were, from whom these cities were named, and what was their character, cannot now, in all instances, be determined. Baal-Zephon, by, however, mentioned in boundaries of Egypt, derived its The letter Tsade is changed into becomes Tanis by a change of Exod. xiv. 2, situated on the additional name from Typhon. Tav; in the same way that 1 the same letters. The place in question seems to have been no other than Heroopolis, where Typhon is said to have been struck dead with lightning. This Baal then was Typhon. As respects the others, although they are involved in obscurity, we may perhaps come to the following conclusions. I. Baal-Peor, bye. This was a god of the Moabites. The men bound their temples with garlands in his honour; and it was at the shrine of this corrupt deity, that the Moabitish women, in order to do him reverence, parted with their virtue, Numb. xxv. 1-9. Baal-Peor then was another Priapus. The name, to open, seems to be an allusion to the corrupt practices which were patronised by him. An account of the exceeding abominations which prevailed at the shrines of those deities, who, like Priapus, were the patrons of carnal gratification, may be seen in Augustine's book De Civitate Dei, iv. 10; vi. 9; vii. 21; comp. Bayer's Additamenta ad Seldeni Syntagma v. de Diis Syris, p. 235. Whether the idol of the Moabites, called Chamosh or Chemosh, (Numb. xxi. 29; Jer. xlviii. 7, 13,) be the same with Baal-Peor, cannot now be positively determined. II. Baal-Berith, i. e. the lord of the covenant. The Shechemites, it appears, built a temple to this god, Judg. viii. 33; ix. 4. He was the tutelary god of covenants, answering in a certain sense to the Jupiter fidius of the Romans. III. Baal-Zebub, . This god had a temple of some note in the city of Ekron, 2 Kings, i. 2. He was the tutelary deity that protected the people from the infestations of gnats. The inhabitants of Olympia and Elis had, in like manner, their ζύες απόμυος; the Trojans their Apollo σμίνθιος, so called from his having destroyed mice; the inhabitants of mount ta their Hercules Kopyoniwy, to protect them from the locusts; and the Erythreans their Hercules UKTOVOS, who destroyed vermin, Pausanias in Eliac. pr. c. xiv. p. 55; Strabo, p. 613. But, as the gods which have now been mentioned, did not by any means assume the form of the animals or insects, from which they were supposed to defend the people, we have reason for supposing that Baal-Zebub, although we are unable to say precisely what his form was, did not take the shape of a gnat. Baal-Zebub is not to be confounded with Beel-Zebul, ẞeeλeßoλ, the lord of the dwelling, habitation, or region, (viz. of the air or visible firmament,) of whom we have spoken in another place. IV. The Baal of Jezebel; i. e. the Baal, whom Jezebel the wife of king Ahab and daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, introduced into the kingdom of Israel, and clothed with so great authority; and whom their daughter, Athaliah, the wife of Jehoram, so highly honoured in the kingdom of Judah, that he had both at Samaria and Jerusalem, temples, altars, and priests. This deity was evidently the Hercules of the Phoenicians. (See 1 Kings, xvi. 31; xviii. 19-29; xxi. 5—15, 23-25; 2 Kings, viii. 18, 11, 18; x. 18-27; 2 Chron. xxiii. 17.) This Hercules, (for there were no less than six of that name, Cicero de Nat. Deor. iii. 16,) was worshipped chiefly at Tyre in a very ancient temple, and at Tartessus in Spain. It was in honour of this god, that the Carthaginians for a long time annually sent the tenth of their income to Tyre, Arrian de Exped. Alexandri, ii. 16; Herodotus, ii. 44; comp. 2 Macc. iv. 18-20. He is said to have been the son of Jupiter and Asteria. The account of the Baal of Jezebel and Athaliah agrees with that of this Hercules; since the representation of Scripture (1 Kings, xix. 18,) is the same with that of Diodorus Siculus xx. 14, viz. that human sacrifices were not offered to him, and with that of Cicero in Verrem, lib. iv. 43, viz. that the Tyrian Hercules was worshipped by kissing. This mode of adoration, however, was not withheld from other deities, Job, xxxi. 26, 27; Hos. xiii. 2. V. Bel,. This word appears to be contracted from ye or; and the deity signified by it is probably the heathen god, called by Cicero the Indian Hercules. (See Nat. Deorum, iii. 16.) Herodotus (i. 181-183) gives a description of a mag nificent temple, erected to this god in Babylon. In its construction it resembled seven towers built one upon the other. In the upper tower or story was the shrine, or the most sacred part of the temple, which was furnished with a bed and table of gold. A female dwelt here during the night, at which time the god Bel was supposed to pay his visitations to it. In the lower story there was a very large image, also a table and a throne of gold, the weight of which, as the priests informed Herodotus, was eight hundred talents. In the open court there was an altar of gold, upon which milk only was offered; and another upon which frankincense and sheep were offered. Herodotus was informed, that Xerxes took away from this temple a golden statue twelve cubits high. The temple was standing in the time of Strabo. §. 408. OF ASTARTE, ASHTAROTH OR THE MOON, AS AN OBJECT OF WORSHIP. As the sun was called the lord or the king, so the moon was called the queen of heaven, ; to whom the Hebrews (Jer. vii. 18; xliv. 17, 19.) offered cakes, 2, poured out libations, and burnt incense. It is this queen that is termed (1 Kings, xi. 5, 33; 2 Kings, xxiii. 13, 14.) the goddess of the Zidonians, also Ashtoreth, and in Judg. ii. 13; x. 6; 1 Sam. vii. 3, 4; xii. 10, is named Astaroth. The moon, as an object of worship, being connected with Baal or the sun, is thence called Baños, a word answering to ye, Eusebius, Præp. Evang. i. 10. Hesychius on the word nλons, Selden, de Diis Syris, Syntagm. ii. p. 245, 246. As the word, which properly means groves, occurs in Judg. iii. 7, for, and in Judg. ii. 13, is found in connection with Baalim, we may conclude that groves were consecrated to this goddess; and she is, accordingly, denominated (2 Kings, xxi. 7; xxiii. 6, 7.), the image or idol of the groves, and likewise, merely. Wherever, therefore, a grove or Ashtaroth is mentioned in connection with Baal, Baalim, or the host of heaven, we have reason for concluding that reference is made to the moon as an object of worship, Judg. vi. 23-28; 1 Kings, xvi. 33; 2 Kings, xiii. 6; xviii. 4. It is the moon, otherwise called Ashtaroth, which appears to be meant in 1 Kings, xv. 13; xviii. 19; 2 Chron. xv. 16, by the word ng, i. e. fear or terror; in the same way that T2, (Gen. xxxi. 42.) and the Aramean word, both of which mean fear, are put for the object of fear or reverence, viz. the deity. The worship of this goddess, as well as of the god Baal, was common in Palestine before its occupation by Moses. Hence the command to cut down the groves, Exod. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5. The Greeks and Romans were acquainted with the goddess in question under the name of Astarte, and sometimes made her in their representations the same with Juno; and at other times the same with Diana or Venus; but Lucian, or whoever wrote the book concerning the Syrian goddess, considers her to be the moon, and says that a very celebrated temple was erected for her worship in Phoenicia. Perhaps there were many Astartes, as there were many Baals. The temple which Herodotus (i. 105.) found at Ascalon, and which he reckons among the fanes of Venus, was undoubtedly a temple of Astarte or Ashtaroth, 1 Sam. xxxi. 10. The fact of groves being mentioned, in connection with the goddess, is in itself a circumstance calculated to excite a suspicion, that her worship was impure; and in 2 Kings, xxiii. 6, 7, we have a very clear proof that such was the case. Compare Is. lvii. 7; Ezek. vi. 13; Hos. iv. 13, 14. Sanconiatho, or if it be preferred, Philo of Byblos, remarks in Eusebius, (Præp. Evang. i. 10.) that Astarte was the Venus of the Phoenicians; and adds further, that the effigy of the goddess was the head of an ox, with horns, probably in resemblance of the crescent. This statement explains in some measure the expressions, Ashtaroth of horns, Gen. xiv. 5; Deut. i. 4. The Syrians also called Venus in, which is merely a עַשְׁתָּרוֹת word altered from The Arabians before the time of Mohammed worshipped the planet Venus; or the morning and evening star so called. This accounts for their making Venus's day, or Friday, a festival, although there is no command respecting it in the Koran. But the moon, likewise, was worshipped by them, and was a separate object of their adoration, as may well be inferred from their propensity to make images of the moon, which is mentioned Judges, viii. 21-26. These images were crescents, hung upon the necks |