Baalim

Baalim is the Hebrew plural of Baal, referring collectively to the various local manifestations and images of the Baal deity worshipped throughout Canaan and the surrounding region. Each Canaanite locality had its own Baal — lord of that particular territory or natural feature — and the Baalim collectively represented the full range of these local fertility and storm deities. Israel's apostasy is repeatedly described in the historical books as going after the Baalim (Judges 2:11; 1 Samuel 7:4), abandoning the covenant God for the regional lords of the land.

The Deuteronomic historians use Baalim as a shorthand for the full spectrum of Canaanite idolatry. Samuel's demand that Israel put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth before the Lord would deliver them from the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:3–4) established the pattern: repentance required the concrete removal of idols, not merely verbal profession. The prophets, especially Hosea and Jeremiah, use the Baalim as the paradigmatic example of Israel's repeated infidelity to the exclusive covenant relationship with Yahweh.