Baal was the supreme male divinity of the Phœnician and Canaanitish nations. Ashtoreth was their female divinity. The name Baal means lord. He was the sun-god. The name is generally used in connection with other names, as Baal-Gad, that is Baal the Fortune-bringer; Baal-Berith or Covenant-making Baal; Baal-Zebub, the Fly-god. The people of Israel worshiped Baal up to the time of Samuel, at whose rebuke they forsook this iniquity for nearly a hundred years. The practice was introduced again in the time of Solomon, and it continued to the days of the captivity. [Illustration: PHŒNICIAN GODDESS ASTARTE.] During the life of all the judges, Israel worshiped Baal. As soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites, who had during his lifetime been less devout in this direction, returned to it again with energy. As if in mockery of the covenant made with Jehovah, they chose to worship Baal-Berith, “Baal of the Covenant.” We are told that this Baal’s temple was a fortress, and that his treasury was filled with the silver brought in great abundance by his worshipers. Before the story of Samson is told the striking words are used, “the children of Israel did evil again in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah gave them again into the hands of the Philistines.” _Idolatry was their national sin._ From Judges xvii. and xviii., we see that often the Israelites tried to carry on both the worship of Jehovah and of idols, like the Saxon king who is said to have had both an altar to Christ and an altar to the devils in his chapel-cave. Strange to say, Moses’ own son, Jonathan, was the priest in the idol-temple of the gods of the tribe of Dan. These idols were destroyed by the Philistines. It was the custom of heathen nations to carry their idols before them into battle. Idolatry was not due to popularity alone, it was not followed merely as a fashion, for it was often carried on secretly. (Isaiah lvii., 8, and Hosea ix., 1, 2.) [Illustration: THE AMMONITE FIRE-GOD MOLOCH.] Under Samuel idolatry was formally renounced by the Israelites. But Solomon’s foreign wives brought with them the gods of their own nations. So the gods of Ammon, Moab and Sidon were openly worshiped; three of the summits of Olivet were covered with the altars of Ashtoreth, Chemosh and Moloch, the fire-god. The offering of human sacrifice was a part of the worship of Moloch. The ceremony is supposed to have been as follows: The priest stood on a platform in front of the idol, and while the people bowed down and murmured their prayers, he placed in the hands of the idol the sacrifice, frequently a little babe. By some cruel machinery the idol’s hands came together crushing the child, while the musicians beat their drums to drown its cries.