‘No longer will you call me ‘my Ba’al’’: Hosea’s polemic and the semantics of ‘Ba’al’ in 8th century B.C.E. Israel

Abstract

The anti-Ba’al polemics of Hosea 2.16-18 have typically been interpreted as evidence for the existence of a cult of Ba’al in 8th century B.C.E. Israel. However, research on the semantic range of the term בעל‎ indicates an alternate possibility: within certain sections of Israelite religious culture, בעל‎ had come to be used as an appellative for YHWH. Theophoric and topynomic names from the 8th century B.C.E., both biblical and extra-biblical, point to the fact that בעל‎ was regularly used as a category meaning ‘lord’ or ‘master’ rather than as a proper name referencing the Canaanite storm-god Ba’al-Hadad. Seen in this way, Hosea’s warnings against idolatry do not indicate Israelite worship of a deity believed to be ontologically distinct from YHWH. Rather, they reveal an intra-religious debate about the character of YHWHism itself regarding the extent to which religious language from other traditions ought to be appropriated for a YHWHistic context.