In most of the instances in which the same designation is rendered _Baal_, it has the article, making the personal reference emphatic. "Throw down the altar of _the_ Baal that thy father hath, and out down the grove [statue of wood, or pillar carved statue or image-like] that is by it: and build an altar unto Jehovah thy Elohe.... And when the men of the city arose in the morning, behold, the altar of _the_ Baal was east down, &c.... If he be an Elohim, let _him_ plead for _himself_.... Let _the_ Baal plead against Gideon, because he hath thrown down _his_ altar." Judges vi. 25, 26, &c. Ahab "went and served _the_ Baal, and worshipped _him_. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of _the_ Baal which he had built in Samaria." 1 Kings xiv. 31, 32. "And Elijah said, If Jehovah be _the_ Elohim, follow him: but if _the_ Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings xviii. 21. So in the narrative of the destruction of the house, and the prophets, priests, and worshippers of _the_ Baal, by Jehu, 2 Kings x. 18-28, the article occurs with the name in the successive verses. And chap. xi. 18: "All the people of the land went into the house of _the_ Baal and brake it down; _his_ altars and _his images_ brake they in pieces." It is manifest from these and other like passages, that while the statues and images of Baal were many and various, in all countries and places, _the_ Baal, the real object of worship, represented by them, was one. To him, under another of his designations, that of _Moloch_, human victims offered in sacrifice were supposed to pass through the element of fire. Nor does this conclusion appear to be invalidated by the occurrence of the designation in a plural form, rendered Baalim. The usage in this respect seems analogous to that of the word Elohim. In both cases the article is often prefixed; and the reference is to one agent only. Thus, Judges viii. 33: "The children of Israel turned again ... after _the_ Baalim, and made Baal-berith their Elohim." Again, chap. x. 10-16, the children of Israel said: "We have forsaken our Elohe, and also served _the_ Baalim. And Jehovah said, ... Ye have forsaken me, and served other Elohim.... Go and cry unto the Elohim which ye have chosen.... And they put away the strange Elohe from among them, and served Jehovah." The terms, _Baal-berith_, signify _the god of the covenant_, _i. e._, of the covenant between Baal and his worshippers; as _Melach Berith_, Mal. iii. 2, signifies _the Messenger of the Covenant_ of grace. It is thus presumed to be evident beyond a doubt, that the whole system was based upon a theory and a sense of the necessity of mediation; and whether the earlier or later idolaters, the instructed or the ignorant, referred in their worship to a being beyond or superior to Baal, regarding him as created by that superior being, and yet himself as creator of the world, or whether their homage terminated in him, does not affect the question under consideration.