Did you know that in Old Testament times, Baal, Baal, could sometimes refer to Yahweh because the word meant master, lord, owner, and he was the master, lord, owner, and he could be referred to as Baal, and then at a certain point in time, it changed. Hey friends, Michael Brown here. We're going to dig into the Hebrew text of Hosea 2 and open up some fascinating things you probably never thought about or heard about before. Just a quick reminder, subscribe to our Discover Messiah YouTube channel if you haven't done so. All the videos there, debates I've had with rabbis, teachings where I'm refuting the counter-missionary rabbis, opening up proofs from the scriptures that Jesus Yeshua is the Messiah, everything there is devoted to this subject, helping you discover who the Messiah of Israel is.
So take a moment, go to the Discover Messiah YouTube channel, click subscribe, then click the bell so you'll be notified about new videos. All right, so. The the Hebrew word baal Pronounced you normally hear in English is the name Baal, but the Hebrew word Baal means master. owner or lord. It is still used in modern Hebrew as the word for a husband, even though your average Israeli wife does not think of her husband as her owner or master.
Baal simply means husband, but that is what the word goes back to. Owner, master. You could be the ba'al of a plot of land. You could be the baal over a city, owner, master. And then in the worship of God, we mean Lord.
Well, here's the issue. You could then speak of Yahweh as Baal. meaning Yahweh as Lord.
So you have Hebrew names like Ish ba'or, et bao. or Mefiba al What did these names mean?
Well, man of Baal, meaning man of the Lord. or mufiba'al meaning from the mouth of the Lord. but because Baal ultimately became associated exclusively with the false god Baal, Baal. The one that Elijah confronts on Mount Carmel, the one that the Israelites would often worship. And there were many Baalim.
You had the Baal of this city and the Baal of that city, this thunder-weather god that was revered. in the Canaanite culture and beyond.
So because the word baal didn't simply mean master, owner, lord. It now meant that false deity called Baal. You couldn't have a name with that anymore that would work.
Some Mephiba'al from the mouth of Baal, you'll find the same person elsewhere called. Mfibosheth. Why? Bochet meaning shame. from the mouth of Baal now became from the mouth of shame because you couldn't even say it.
The the same with et baal. You now have someone called Ish Bosheth. man of shame. Why? Because having Baal in your name became shameful.
It would be like having the last name Hitler after World War II. Any association with that would be utterly shameful.
So look at this passage in Hosea 2, in English 16 and 17, in Hebrew 18 and 19, Hosea chapter 2, God's going to bring judgment on the Baalim.
So Hosea's writing before the destruction of the Northern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom was immersed in Baal worship. Jezebel was a great devotee of Baal and helped push Ahab into further Baal worship. Israel plagued with Baal worship, especially in the north. when when inscriptions were found from Samaria and from Jerusalem, dating back to be before the destruction of Samaria, before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was found that Yahweh names in Jerusalem far outweighed the Baal names, whereas in Samaria the Baal names were much, much higher because the people were more idolatrous.
So God's going to bring judgment on the Baals. And it says this.
So Hosea 2.16. or in Hebrew 2.18 And that day, and in that day, declares Yahweh, declares the Lord, you will call me. Is she? meaning my husband, my man, my husband. And no more will you call me Baali.
Well, that's how they said it, my master, my husband. You'll no longer call me that, even though Yahweh was a husband to Israel. You're going to call me Ishe. My husband, not Baali, my husband, because Baal just has a negative association, period.
So I'm going to take the Baal names out of your lips.
Next verse: For I will remove the names of the Baalim from her mouth, and they shall never more be mentioned by name.
So you have the misfortune. Of having a name that was originally referring to Yahweh, the Lord.
So me. Mefibaal, me piba'al, from the mouth of Baal, meaning from the mouth of the master, from the mouth of the Lord, from the mouth of Yahweh. Bad name now, bad name.
So now you're going to refer to it differently, change it to Boshet, shame from the mouth of shame.
So God literally said, Just not gonna be on your lips anymore. You're not going to call me Baal, meaning husband, master, uh-uh, just Ishii, husband. You're not going to call me. by these names anymore because of the confusion. And if you've got this in your name, A later writer or biblical text is not going to make clear that name is actually shameful.
So, literally. The names of the Baals were taken from the lips of Israel. They could no longer refer to him as Baali, my master, my husband. Because that would sound like you're talking about Baal. The false deity that's worshipped by the pagans and worshiped to Israel's destruction.
No, no. No more. Instead, call me Ishii. My husband. That's how you're going to refer to him, because that name can no longer be on your lips.
Hope you learned something today.
