etermining whether the false worship which the prophets stigmatize is the
heathen worship of Yahweh under a conception, and often with rites, which
treated him as a local nature god; or whether Baalism was consciously
recognized to be distinct from Yahwism from the first. Later religious
practice was undoubtedly opposed to that of earlier times, and attempts
were made to correct narratives containing views which had come to be
regarded as contrary to the true worship of Yahweh. The Old Testament
depicts the history of the people as a series of acts of apostasy
alternating with subsequent penitence and return to Yahweh, and the
question whether this gives effect to actual conditions depends upon the
precise character of the elements of Yahweh worship brought by the
Israelites into Palestine. This is still under dispute. There is strong
evidence at all events that many of the conceptions are contrary to
historical fact, and the points of similarity between native Canaanite cult
and Israelite worship are so striking that only the persistent traditions
of Israel's origin and of the work of Moses compel the conclusion that the
germs of specific Yahweh worship existed from his day. The earliest certain
reaction against Baalism is ascribed to the reign of Ahab, whose marriage
with Jezebel gave the impulse to the introduction of a particular form of
the cult. In honour of his wife's god, the king, following the example of
Solomon, erected a temple to the Tyrian Baal (see above). This, however,
did not prevent him from remaining a follower of Yahweh, whose prophets he
still consulted, and whose protection he still cherished when he named his
sons Ahaziah and Jehoram ("Yah[weh] holds," "Y. is high"). The antagonism
of Elijah was not against Baalism in general, but against the introduction
of a rival deity. But by the time of Hosea (ii. 16 seq.) a further advance
was marked, and the use of the term "Baal" was felt to be dangerous to true
religion. Thus there gradually grew up a tendency to avoid the term, and in
accordance with the idea of Ex. xxiii. 13, it was replaced by the
contemptuous _b[=o]sheth_, "shame" (see above). However, the books of
Deuteronomy and Jeremiah (cf. also Zeph. i. 4) afford complete testimony
for the prevalence of Baalism as late as the exile, but prove that the
clearest distinction was then drawn between the pure worship of Yahweh the
god of Israel and the inveterate and debased cults of the gods of the land.