A:
According to The Bible, yes - Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, introduced the worship of Baal to Israel. However, even the Bible itself provides evidence - inadvertently - that the worship of Baal did not just begin with Ahab.
The Israelites and their neighbours often included the name of a favourite god in the names they gave their sons. Names ending in 'el' were common in Israel and to a lesser extent in Judah - this ending represented El (biblical 'Elohim), the father of the gods. Names ending in 'ah' represented Yahweh (biblical: YHWH). One of Saul's sons has a name compounded with Baal: Eshbaal ('man of Baal') and Jonathan's son was Meribbaal. These names are often overlooked because the Samuel texts substitute surrogate names compounded with the word 'shame' (Ishbosheth [2 Sam. 2.8]; Mephibosheth [2 Sam. 21.7] ), but they are correctly preserved in 1 Chronicles (8.33-34; 9.39-40). Replacing 'Baal' by 'shame' in their names demonstrates the mindset of a later century.
Modern scholars say that the early Israelites had always worshipped Baal and other gods of their Canaanite ancestors, and only later did the people of Judah remove Baal from their pantheon.
King Jehu of Israel is credited with killing Jezebel and abolishing Baal worship in Israel. He carried out a purge of her followers and executed her by throwing her out of a window. This event is recorded in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Kings.
Ahab was the seventh King of Israel. He reigned for 22 years (871-852 BC). He was the son of Omri. He married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Sidonians. Ahab, under Jezebel's influence, built a pagan temple, and allowed idols into Samaria. Elijah the prophet warned Ahab that the country would suffer from drought if the cult of Baal was not removed from the land of Israel. After three years of drought, Elijah challenged Ahab and his pagan priests on Mount Carmel. God sent down fire to ignite a sacrifice, but the priests of Baal could not summon Baal to do the same. Then the people realized that God was the only true God. (1 Kings 18:18-39). Then, rains came and ended the drought. Elijah denounced Ahab as a murderer because of the stoning of Naboth, which Jezebel, had instigated. Elijah told Ahab that dogs would lick his blood outside of the city, just as they had licked the blood of Naboth. He also told Ahab that none of his male heirs would survive and that Jezebel would be torn apart by the dogs of Jezreel (1 Kings 21:17-24). After that, Ahab went into deep repentance, and the fulfillment of the prophecy was postponed. Ahab fought Ben-Hadad the King of Damascus in several wars, and then allied himself with Jehoshaphat, King of Judah to liberate Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans. Ahab was warned by the prophet Micaiah that he would die in the battle. But Ahab went to battle anyway, disguised as a soldier, and was killed by a stray arrow. When the blood on his chariot was washed off at a pool in Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood as Elijah said. Jezebel, and eventually all of Ahab's male heirs died as the prophet said. The Bible lists Ahab as the most evil of all the kings before him (1 Kings 16:30). Ahab's son Ahaziah became the new king. The story of Ahab is found in 1 Kings, chapters 16-22. Archaeological note: Carved ivory plaques were found at the site of Ahab's palace in Samaria. Ahab was known to live in a ivory palace (1 Kings 22:39).
Jezebel is not specifically mentioned in the Quran. However, she is a figure in the Bible, particularly in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who married King Ahab of Israel and promoted the worship of Baal. She is often depicted as a wicked and manipulative queen who opposed the worship of the Hebrew God.
Baal was a fertility god. The Canaanites worshipped him because of their belief that he brought rain for their crops. This worship included prostitution and other sexual activities. I imagine the promiscuity had something to do with the lure to this type of worship.
A:At different times over the centuries, Baal and Yahweh seem almost to have been the same God to the Hebrew people. Keel and Uehlinger (Gods, Goddesses and Images of God in Ancient Israel) say that Yahweh was worshipped also as Baal in Israel during Iron Age IIB, the period from approximately 925 to 722 BCE and the end of the Israelite kingdom. Both began as storm gods and took on characteristics of a solar deity during the eighth century BCE. One very clear difference is that there is no archaeological evidence that Baal and Asherah were ever linked romantically, but writings discovered at Kuntillet 'Ajrud, Khirbet el-Qom and elsewhere suggest that Asherah was actually the partner of Yahweh. The subsequent deuteronomistic references that pair Baal and Asherah in the Bible do so in a pejorative sense, possibly to relegate Asherah.Baal was specifically the High God of the Phoenicians, while Yahweh was the High God of the Israelites and Judahites.
Prophet Elijah. After which he challanged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
King Ahab did more evil than all the kings of Israel who came before him. He married Jezebel, who introduced the worship of Baal and Asherah to Israel. Ahab also built an altar and temple for Baal in Samaria, and engaged in various idolatrous practices, leading the people of Israel astray from their worship of God.
ELIJAH
King Ahab
King Ahab, of the northern kingdom Israel, married Jezebel and worshipped Baal (1 Kings 16:31). So the princess in question was Jezebel. However, it is unlikely that she actually introduced Baal, as the kingdom was already polytheistic and Baal was probably already one among its gods.
King Jehu of Israel is credited with killing Jezebel and abolishing Baal worship in Israel. He carried out a purge of her followers and executed her by throwing her out of a window. This event is recorded in the Bible, specifically in the Book of Kings.
Today? None. This form of idolatry is defunct, just like the gods of the Greeks, Romans and Druids, as predicted by Isaiah (2:18). In ancient times, baal-worship was found in the Levant.And among the Israelites?Throughout the period of the Judges and Kings, there were individuals who permitted themselves the aberration of dabbling in the idolatry of the neighboring countries, including the worship of the various baalim, with local their local variations (Baal, baal-peor, baal zebub, baal beq, baal berith, baal me'on, baal gad, baal hermon, baal peratzim, etc.).More specifically, it was Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who introduced larger-scale baal-worship into the land of the Ten Tribes (Israel; as opposed to Judah). This deviation was soon stamped out by Elijah (1 Kings ch.18).
mannasehAnother Answer:King Ahab.1 Kings 16:32-34New International Version (NIV) 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.
She introduced the worship of the Baal into the Ten Tribes of Israel. She orchestrated the murder of Naboth.
Baal was a god of the Philistines. It made the Israelites stray away from following the one and true God. It was an idol. Many times the kings tried to reform Israel and take Baal out of the picture, but the nation had a hard time with that. Other times, the kings were the ones who encouraged the nation to worship Baal.
Jezebel was a worshipper of Baal and systematically tried to wipe out the prophets of God. * Instead of accepting her husband's faith, she openly promoted and funded Baal worship. * She was able to influence her husband away from the worship of God very quickly after marriage, because her husband King Ahab began building temples and idols to Baal. * She had many priests of Baal under her authority. * She had a very big run-in with the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings. * She also had a man killed because this man did not want to part with his vineyard, and King Ahab wanted it. So, she set the guy up and had him stoned to death, after which, Ahab took possession of the vineyard. * Many studies have asserted that Jezebel was the most wicked woman in the Bible because nothing good came from anything she did. She was selfish, self absorbed, and self-centered. * She used seduction often, and tried to unite paganism with Judaism.
The scheming princess of Tyre who married and manipulated the weak Ahab and imposed her pagan religion on Israel was Jezebel. Jezebel was a Phoenician princess who married King Ahab of Israel and introduced the worship of Baal, a Canaanite god, to the Israelites. Her actions led to significant religious and political turmoil in Israel during the 9th century BCE.