The God of Mount Carmel: Contending Views About the Deity Associated with the Biblical Mount Carmel

Abstract

Baal is the second deity mentioned after YHWH in the Old Testament. This Semitic god has often been in conflict with YHWH in the Old Testament. Most of the time, the Hebrew Bible mentioned only Baal. Therefore, there are many kinds of Baal (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, Baal Shamin). In the contest on the Biblical Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, YHWH and Baal were invited to prove their power, and send fire which was to come to devour (holacaust) the pieces of bull placed on the altar. The loser in this contest would be the impostor deity. Which Baal among three (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, Baal Shamin) was the competitor of YHWH on Mount Carmel? There are many hypotheses from different fields of study(Archaeologists, Historians of Religious Studies, and Specialists of Biblical Studies, (Old Testament). Our motivation in this research is to establish exactly which Baal wasin conflict with YHWH on Mount Carmel. We undertake this work using the HB and the LXX (biblical data) to understand the text of 1 Kings 18 and know the Baal invoked in this text. The extra-biblical data studies are: (iconographies, epigraphs, Akkadian, and Ugarit sources) and the research on the nature and functions of the deities (Baal Hadad, Baal Melqart, and Baal Shamin) associated with the Biblical Mount Carmel. All these deities in this research have points in common. They were agrarian deities. They were deities of the atmosphere bringing rain and fertility. These gods were worshipped by their devotees in the old Syro-Palestinian and Ancient Near Eastern societies, according to their role and functions. However, all assumptions and arguments regarding them in this research have their strengths and weaknesses. Let us summarize that finally some evidence of Baal Melqart and some details in 1 Kings 18 make a case for the Master of Tyre (Baal Melqart).